During a public OPA Board of Directors Meeting on the evening of November 25, 2025, the board voted unanimously to allow General Manager John Viola to negotiate a contract for management of OPA’s food and beverage operations with one specific bidder from the three who submitted bids in response to a Request for proposals.

The name of that specific bidder was not made public. The following companies submitted bids : Touch of Italy, Matt Ortt, and Sodel. Interestingly, the board members do not know the name of that bidder. Apparently, there was a three-hour closed session a week or so ago where Viola reviewed all three proposals with the board but referenced the pros and cons of each bid as A, B, and C. Viola recommended one of those three - by letter. He now is authorized by the board to finalize a contract with that bidder, subject to a final approval by the board. 

Association members scan expect that board vote in the next few weeks. Based on comments by each board member when voting unanimously to allow Viola to proceed, the board seems intent on approving the company Viola selected upon completion of contract negotiations with that company, essentially leaving this operational decision up to the General Manager.

Obviously, the two companies not selected by Viola will know they have not been selected for a contract negotiation.

Will, OPA see a return of Matt Ortt or a new management firm of either Sodel or Touch of Italy? We will know the decision in the near future.

Based on the motion discussion, it is obvious all seven board members voted with the best long-term interests of OPA at heart.  Here are the comments from each of the seven board members prior to the board’s unanimous approval allowing Viola to negotiate contract terms with one of the three bidders:

Dr. Stuart Lakernick, OPA President:

I want to thank John Viola and his team for their hard work and thorough and professional handling of this important matter. Thanks also to the companies who prepared and submitted proposals and took considerable and conscientious time and energy to do so.

The process leading to tonight and after tonight's meeting, initially, there was a request for proposals issued Sept. 16, 2024. John Viola's team worked with bidders to resolve questions, permit inspection of food and beverage amenities, and provide information.

John Viola's team included Linda Martin, Steve Phillips [and] Josh Davis, with legal counsel involved as needed on legal issues.

Proposals were submitted Oct. 18 of 2024. Three proposals were submitted. Two others were interested, but decided not to submit.

Between Oct. 18 and last week, the three submitted proposals were analyzed and considered carefully and thoroughly by the management team, keeping the Board updated, focusing on four broad criteria: proposal response, how extensive and thorough was the proposal; Infrastructure, the capabilities of bidders, operationally, staff and management wise and personnel and HR processes; projected P&L financial projections, including financial return to Ocean Pines; and vision, what was the vision of the bidder for itself and for its management of Ocean Pines’ food and beverage amenities.

Last week, the management team met in closed session with the Board and legal counsel and, after a lengthy discussion of the proposals, made its recommendation to the Board as to which bidder to select, explaining fully its reasoning and thought processes. In that regard, the Board has always considered the decision making and analysis of these proposals to be principally an operational management responsibility.

It further trusted capabilities and judgment of John Viola’s management team in risk regard and, as always, as a group intended to give deference to the management team's recommendations, while also be cognizant of fulfilling our fiduciary duties.

The purpose of tonight's meeting is to vote on a motion to accept management’s recommendation as to the selected bidder [and]authorize management to proceed with contract negotiations with the selected bidding company.

Should contract negotiations result in an agreed contract, at a subsequent special or regular board meeting, the Board will consider and vote on a motion to authorize John Viola to execute a contract.

As to revealing the identity of the selected bidder, this will not happen tonight. The Board does not know the identity of the winning bidder. It will happen only after the contract negotiations are completed and an agreed set of contract terms has been arrived at. The Board and management believe that the interest of Ocean Pines Association are best served by maintaining confidentiality as to the identity of the selected bidder until there is an agreed and fully negotiated set of contract terms.

This approach is also fair to the counterparty, as contract negotiations proceed from here. This approach is also consistent with many other contract situations, where sensitive contract negotiations are ongoing and have not been completed, and an agreed set of contract terms has not yet been arrived at with the negotiating counterparty.

(Added at the end):

John, I want to thank you for the Herculean task you undertook, the time to vet and give the Board your recommendations.

Elaine Brady:

I think all of us are extremely thankful to John Viola and his team … It was done in a manner that would be the most fair to all parties involved, and allow us to really make a very clear understanding of the differences of the different bidders, without any other thoughts. We were really able to look at the data in an extremely fair way, and I think they did a terrific job on that. And it was a very long meeting. We had a lot of questions, [and] they did a great job of answering that for us. And I think our community can be assured that this was an extremely fair process.

John Latham:

I thought the process that we went through thus far was extremely professional. And being a person that actually works in kind of procurement space, it was very, very impressive. I thought that the criteria that were used – the infrastructure, projected P&L, vision – was very, very well thought out by the respondents. And it was very, very clear that we put forth a very good RFP.

Monica Rakowski:

I just want to [commend] John and his team for hiring an RFP specialist. We brought in somebody well beyond our means to help us through this process … so I think we have done our due diligence and have tried to put our best foot forward to bring the best opportunity to the membership that we can.

Rick Farr, OPA Vice President:

Also included on John’s team is Eddie Wells, who I think also played a very integral role on this as well.

One of the things that I kind of honed in on with this whole process was the vision of the respondents and where they're going to take all of our food and beverage into the future, and being able to see that, and also the P&L [is] very, very important to us here in Ocean Pines, as far as with our financials and what it's going to do as far as returns to Ocean Pines. I think that was very, very important, and it was very clear and very concise … I think this definitely is going to be at the best interest of Ocean Pines, moving forward.

Jeff Heavner:

Our function is really to analyze the data that John Viola and his team presented to us, and I'll never say that he made it easy, but he made it clear  – crystal clear – we're still clear as to what the choice should be. And I want you know the data was presented to us and a standard, accepted business practice format, and it definitely made our job easier.

Steve Jacobs:

I think John and his team has conducted a comprehensive and professional operation by keeping Ocean Pines’ best interest in mind. And I think it's essential that we trust the process as we go forward. Our goal should be … to ensure that we maximize revenues from our food and beverage facilities. And frankly, assuming the issue of who the recommended party is, by keeping the identity of the applicants confidential, we moved any particular advantage that one candidate might have over any other candidate, and that makes the process neutral on its face and neutral throughout, until we complete the contract process.

And I believe I'm correct that the Board will meet again in open session to vote once the contract negotiation is complete. So, there will be … another another vote taking place, and we'll go from there, but … I think we’re in good shape.