That YMCA thing did not in any way cause me to have "a hard spot in my heart for Joe Moore." He made a mistake. It was costly and we lost a very nice piece of land. That said, I have a great deal of respect for Joe Moore and had no problem with Moore as OPA counsel.

The problem began when Bill Rakow was OPA president. I think Marty was on the board at that time as well. Rakow said all this legal stuff was just "common sense" and OPA did not need counsel at meetings - as had traditionally been the case.

I have argued frequently that the board should have counsel present at every OPA board meeting.

I have also suggested that for what OPA recently spends on legal fees, it could hire a full-time employee as counsel, just as the County does, to be at every meeting. Outside specialty counsel could be hired as needed. Let me also add that always allowing some insurance company attorney to represent the board is not a good idea with a $25,000 deductible in place. Defending a case in Snow Hill should see OPA represented by local counsel, not some unknown person from Rockville or Baltimore area.

All that said, these days way too many decisions are made via email, and not always involving a unanimous vote of the directors as required by law.