commentary by Joe Reynolds

On Wednesday July 17 the OPA Board of Directors, the BOD, will hold a special meeting to discuss a "Capital Improvement Plan," otherwise known as the CIP.

Each phase of the CIP will include one or more "Milestone Decision," otherwise known as an MD.

Each "System Acquisition" (SA) under the plan will include three MDs -- MD A, MD B, and MD C.

Now, the CIP will depend to a great extent on the Facility Master Plan, otherwise known as the FMP; and the Facilities Maintenance Plan, otherwise known as the other FMP.

The other FMP will depend on a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS).

Finally, the CIP will establish an Annual Capital Investment Program, otherwise known as the ACIP.

Here's how all this might work:

The GM through his FM...... oops, Facilities Manager, will define each MD and/or SA. The GM, utilizing the CIP and considering the FMP, will submit an ACIP to the BOD as part of the OPA budget. The ACIP may include one or more SAs. After OPA BOD MD approval, the GM will look at MD A, MD B, and MD C for each MD and/or SA. Once an item in the ACIP has final SA approval it may or may not go out for an RFP.

Assuming the SA is completed, the GM and his FM will use COTS CMMS to maintain the completed project according to the other FMP.

The current 19-page CIP represents only Phase 1.

So, what are talking about here? What we are talking about is how OPA might collect $15-$20 million, or more, from you in advance to fund a variety of unapproved capital expenditures. Any project would require approval each year by any four board members at the time, perhaps the weak link in this impressively acronym-riddled plan.

The numbers included in the CIP are also of interest. The CIP calls for spending another $1.2 million on golf drainage, bringing the total spending on that project to perhaps $6 million or so. The CIP currently includes $0 dollars for drainage improvements in other areas of Ocean Pines.

Everyone should read the CIP. It appears to be written by a committee of 15 retired federal government IRS regulation writers who miss the good old days at the office.