During an OPA Board of Directors meeting on February 20, 2021, Director Tom Janasek said, "I was not required to apologize in my B-08 hearing. I only apologized to help us move forward as an organization together." More to follow on the significance of those words.

Janasek then went on to say he was going to make a request for the board to hold a special meeting to remove a corporate office position from a director. Director Doug Parks subsequently said he would second such a request for a special meeting.

As it turns out, Janasek and Parks wanted to punish OPA President Larry Perrone via a special meeting to take the office of President away from him. The punishment was related to the resignation of Colby Phillips. "The way she was treated was disgraceful," Janasek said. The subsequent special meeting did not result in the removal of Perrone as president.

The board was correct in not removing Perrone as president. An after-the-fact punishment of Perrone over the complaint filed by Phillips would have taken hypocrisy to an entirely new level because the board had previously voted 6-0-1 that Perrone had not violated so-called B-08 charges filed against him by Phillips. The vote to clear Perrone came after an investigation of Phillips' charges by Mike Neary, a human resources lawyer with the law firm of Leach Early. Phillips resigned shortly after the vote.

Many in the Ocean Pines community were incensed over the resignation of Colby Phillips and were loud in their condemnation of the board, Perrone in particular, and GM Viola to some extent. Phillips' side of the story was widely covered in local media. Unfortunately for Perrone, he found himself in the position of not being able to defend himself. Those demanding exposure of every detail of what transpired in regard to Phillips' charges against Perrone do not have to worry about possible legal action and monetary damages that could be associated with the release of very private Human Resources information.

After the board vote to absolve Perrone of any wrongdoing, this latest move by Janasek and Parks seems primarily political, and perhaps political payback for the attempt by Perrone and director Colette Horn to remove Janasek from the Board of Directors last November. Their move to remove Janasek failed only by a 3-4 vote.

That brings us full circle to Janasek's recent comment that he was not required to apologize, a comment worthy of revulsion, given the facts revealed in a public board meeting.

As you may recall, Janasek was charged last November with making demeaning public comments about OPA General Manager John Viola in public places and in front of OPA employees and association members over a period of more than six months. Janasek plead guilty and did not dispute any of the charges. Janasek said, "I want to personally apologize to John. What I did was offensive."

At that time Janasek received the support of Parks and a deal was brokered whereby Janasek would stay on the board but be censured.

Now, the duo of Janasek and Parks is leading the charge to punish or publicly embarrass OPA President Larry Perrone over an issue where the board already voted he had done nothing wrong. Interestingly, Doug Parks was one of six board members who voted Perrone had done nothing wrong, while Janasek did not vote that Perrone was guilty. Janasek abstained. The facts can clearly lead one to believe that Janasek and Parks are now using Phillips’ resignation for political payback against Perrone, Horn, and Viola for Perrone's filing of charges against Janasek last November.

All rather pathetic. And unfortunate. There is currently an extremely divisive battle going on for control of the OPA Board of Directors. Two positions will be up for grabs in the coming August election. Frank Brown, a replacement for the resigned director Steve Tuttle, is apparently not interested in running, and director Frank Daly is expected to run for another three-year term.

Currently, only association member Stuart Lakernick, husband of former board member Esther Diller has announced his candidacy. Diller is outspoken in her feelings about Larry Perrone, Colette Horn, and John Viola. She wrote that the culture of the board with Perrone as president and Horn as vice-president is one of "dictatorship." Lakernick's public comments indicate he agrees with his wife. Lakernick equivocated when asked if he would support Viola as GM if elected. He did suggest the current board conduct an investigation of Viola.

While the resignation of Colby Phillips resulted in an outpouring of support for someone who was a popular OPA employee, this infighting among board members is more consequential to the future of OPA. Colette Horn recently said how proud she was of this board. Her public pride is undermined by the infectious, sometimes public, mostly shadowy war being waged for control of OPA by past and present board members.