Included in the Ocean Pines Annual Meeting reports on Aug. 10 were an overview of legal services by law firm Ayres Jenkins Gordy & Almand, and the yearly audit report from UHY LLP.

 

Attorney Bruce Bright of Ayres Jenkins Gordy & Almand spoke on the firm’s history and current duties with Ocean Pines, while Chris Hall summarized the annual audit process.

 

Bright said the firm was founded in 1973 and includes eight partners, three associates and 11 full-time support staff.

 

The firm has represented the Town of Ocean City since 1983, and currently represents the Town of Snow Hill and Worcester County Board of Education, along with several other homeowners’ associations.

 

"We're very proud and pleased to have been given the opportunity to represent Ocean Pines," Bright said.

 

He said the firm was appointed to serve Ocean Pines in May 2023. Bright serves as general counsel with assistance from Maureen Howarth, the former attorney for both Worcester and Wicomico counties, along with other partners, associates and staff as needed.

 

The firm provides general legal advice to the Board, general manager and the various departments of the Association, and engages with contract negotiations, litigation and delinquent assessments and other violations. Bright noted the Association had previously contracted with a second firm for both collections, and Compliance, Permit and Inspections (CPI) violations.

 

"We handle employment issues, compliance and regulatory issues, and really all other legal matters and needs that arise for OPA," he said. "We're trying to be a one-stop shop for all the legal needs of Ocean Pines, rather than Ocean Pines having to use more than one firm, as it has in the past."

 

Over the past year, he said the firm helped revise the CPI process by "making it clearer, more linear and easier to understand." He said the process also now complies with new state laws.

 

Bright said there were also improvements to the process of collecting unpaid assessments.

 

"The collections are getting to our office a bit earlier than in the past," he said, adding the firm has taken some of the administrative burden from Association staff.

 

Between Aug. 1, 2023, and July 15, 2024, Bright said collections have totaled more than $144,000.

 

"This service that we provide is at no cost to OPA, because when we collect the unpaid assessment, we also collect the attorney fee that goes along with that," he said.

 

Bright said the firm assisted with the new memorandum of understanding between Ocean Pines Association and the Ocean Pines Volunteer Fire Department, which he called "a very important step toward the future." The firm also aided in the contract extension for General Manager John Viola, along with several recent revisions to Ocean Pines governing documents.

 

"I'm happy to report that, in the year that we've been general counsel, there's been no litigation against the OPA," Bright said, adding, "We've been able to reduce overall legal fees for the OPA for the fiscal year 2023-2024, as compared to prior years."

 

Also during the meeting, Hall supplied the annual auditor’s report.

 

As the auditor, Hall said UHY audits and renders an opinion on the Association's financial statements each year.

 

Hall echoed Bright's sentiments and said UHY attempts to be "a one-stop shop," offering a variety of auditing and accounting services.

 

He said the auditing process starts each April, with internal control documentation and risk assessments, and continues through the spring and early summer with inventory counts, balance sheet and income statement testing of accounts and transactions, and other fieldwork.

 

The process generally wraps up in July with a review of the final fiscal-year financial statements. 

 

Once again, Hall said Ocean Pines earned a "clean" and unmodified opinion.

 

"That's the highest level of assurance that any accounting firm can on a set of financial statements," he said.