Aquatics Committee

Gary Miller chairs the Aquatic Committee. Miller is one of the most hardworking committee members in the history of Ocean Pines. He chaired the now abandoned Clubs Committee for many years, advising the Board of Directors on how OPA should manage the OPA Food & Beverage Facilities, prior to the board outsourcing that to an independent contractor.

As chair of Aquatics, Miller and another committee member, became embroiled in a major controversy with then Director of Aquatics Kathleen Cook. Cook, praised on all fronts by OPA staff, was so outraged at comments made by Miller and then committee member Steve Ransdell, during a committee meeting a few years ago that she resigned her position with OPA.

Miller publicly apologized and remained chair of Aquatics. In fact, Miller was later even rewarded by the Board of Directors and appointed to the Strategic Planning Committee.

Ransdell apologized and resigned from the Aquatics Committee. Ransdell's reward? Appointment to the important Elections Committee where he now serves as chair. (More on Elections below).

These days, Miller and the Aquatics Committee are trying to convince the Board of Directors to add a new social event at the Yacht Club pool - something similar to the popular Family Fun Night.

Miller's initial pitch to the board was called "Cocktails & Sunset." His clearly expressed purpose of the event was a night where adult singles in Ocean Pines could meet and greet, perhaps develop friendships, over a few cocktails. OPA attorney Bruce Bright properly put the kibosh on that idea saying it would be a violation of Federal laws related to tax exempt HOAs.

Miller, never one to give up without a fight, went back to the drawing board. Now his idea is to have a social event open to every association member, regardless of age. Net effect? Adding a second Family Fun Night with a different name but a focus on booze in the name. Perhaps it could be called something like "Meet Your Neighbors Night," or “Come and Watch Adult Singles Drink Cocktails and Develop Relationships." Might be entertaining for the kids.

Whether the board likes this latest incarnation of Miller's idea remains to be seen. If it adds to the bottom-line profit of the pool operation, why not?

Elections Committee

After a Worcester County Judge found in favor of OPA board candidate Rick Farr, then represented by his private attorney Bruce Bright, and said Farr's name must be on the election ballot a few years ago, Farr ultimately received more votes than any other candidate. A political tidal wave hit the OPA Board of Directors. That new board saw Doug Parks elected OPA president with a 4-vote majority. The new board hired Bruce Bright as OPA counsel.

Things changed. The majority changed but not the animosity between those who had supported Farr and those who wanted to see him ineligible to run. 

After the next election, Farr found himself elected President with a 6-1 solid voting majority. Board member Dick Jacobs was the odd man out. That 6-1 board majority will stand until the next election results are announced in August. Some association members question whether any OPA board should have such a lopsided majority. Regardless, association members elected every sitting board member.

Back to the Elections Committee, after a disastrous vote count during Farr's first run, the entire Elections Committee resigned. Doug Parks and the new majority put their handpicked members on the committee, as they have every right to do. However, there were complaints that a particular Facebook page, a strong supporting group of the new majority, notified its members they should immediately apply since Parks indicated some sort of first-come, first-serve appointments.

To Parks' credit, he appointed Tom Piatti as chairman, a man whose integrity in unquestionable. Also appointed was Steve Ransdell who previously publicly attacked Aquatics Director Kathleen Cook, causing Cook to quit her job.

Ransdell resigned but strangely the board then rewarded him with appointment to the Elections Committee, and after Piatti left Ocean Pines to live closer to his daughter, the board appointed Ransdell chair of the Elections Committee. The latest of the first-come. first-appointed committee members back when Doug Parks again took majority control is Kenneth Petrini.

The board also recently appointed Cheryl Jacobs to the Elections Committee, an outstanding choice. Jacobs is a former OPA board vice-president and is now serving as an elected judge on the Worcester County Orphan’s Court.

Now both Ransdell and Petrini, are embroiled in another Elections Committee controversy.

At a recent public meeting of the Elections Committee, Ken Petrini said the Elections Committee under the previous chair, Tom Piatti, was a "sham." Incredibly not one committee member responded to such a personal attack on Piatti and the committee he chaired.

To his credit, Ransdell in later newspaper interviews said, "Piatti acted with integrity as chair and the committee that was in place after he resigned executed the plan for this year's election that Piatti had developed with the old committee. In no way was this a sham." In fact, Petrini's comment was a disgraceful public attack on a good man who served OPA with honor in a number of positions, including a short stint as a board member.

Then, inexplicably, Ransdell had the election materials, including the paper ballots, mailed to his home on the Western Shore, rather than to OPA for safe keeping. Luckily, the election results were not close, or any recount might be in the courts.

The Board of Directors chastised neither man, at least publicly. In fact, the Committee was praised. One can only wonder how the now sitting six-member board majority, in a similar scenario, would have reacted if the paper ballots for the disputed Farr election had been mailed by the committee to some remote destination when Larry Perrone or Colette Horn was president. Ransdell said he will not make that mistake again.

Anyway, that's that latest OPA Committee Hijinks from Lake Wobegon now located on Maryland's Coast.