OCTOBER 31, 2024
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BERLIN • NORTH WORCESTER COUNTY• OCEAN PINES
OPA gets multiple bids for food services vendor GM Viola tells board he will make his recommendation some time in November By Tara Fischer Staff Writer (Oct. 31, 2024) The Ocean Pines Association’s general manager is looking to make a food and beverage contract recommendation to the board of directors next month. Matt Ortt Companies is the community’s current food and beverage vendor. In March 2018, the group signed a two-year deal with Ocean Pines to manage the neighborhood’s food service locations: the Ocean Pines Yacht Club, the Ocean Pines Beach Club, and the Clubhouse Bar and Grille. The initial arrangement was extended by five years in 2020. Ortt’s contract with the community ends on April 30, 2025. As the agreement nears its completion, OPA released a request for proposals (RFP) on Sept. 13 to seek out potential new food and beverage vendors. At the OPA Board of Directors meeting on Saturday, Oct. 26, Viola reported that the association had received “multiple bids, definitely more than one,” vying for the new contract as of the Oct. 18 deadline. The agreement awardee should be announced soon.
“The team is working on it,” Viola said. “I believe it is on track. I am looking somewhere around November to make a recommendation to the board.” OPA Board of Directors Vice President Rick Farr said the decision to seek proposals from firms outside of the Matt Ortt Companies was based on advice from the homeowner association’s legal counsel, Bruce Bright of Ayres, Jenkins, Gordy, and Almand, and the community’s governing documents regarding the RFP process. The OPA bylaws state that “all purchases and contracts for services or supplies for the Association shall, to the fullest extent practicable, be made by open competitive procedures.” Despite the broadened search, Matt Ortt Companies could still bid on the new contract. The Ocean Pines community has largely expressed satisfaction with Matt Ortt’s operations. On Friday, Sept. 13, the day the community announced the proposal request, OPA resident Budd Shea wrote on the community’s online forum, “Ortt has done an outstanding job, but…nothing helps business better than competition.” Viola assured board members that his team is reviewing all proposals and will soon submit a final recommendation.
Cell tower conversations continue in Ocean Pines HALLOWEEN FUN
PHOTOS COURTESY OF OP RECREATION AND PARKS
Warm weather brought out solid crowds last Saturday for the annual Halloween Fall Festival, which was highlighted by a costume contest for the kids. Above, the Hershey family was first place in the 2-and-under age group for this toddler’s scarecrow costume and get up. Also pictured are Hadley and Hayes DiMare as Velma and Scooby who won first place in the 3- to 4-year-old division.
By Tara Fischer Staff Writer (Oct. 31, 2024) Last week, Ocean Pines Association officials updated the community on the potential initiative to strengthen the neighborhood’s reception with a cell phone tower. During the public comments portion at the OPA Board of Directors Saturday, Oct. 26 meeting, residents Mark Goldwater and Karen Kaplan
asked the community officials to clarify what the cell phone tower project will entail and where it currently stands. OPA leaders maintained that nothing is set in stone, including a possible site, and the initiative is still in the preliminary stages. Still, OPA General Manager John Viola assured that community personnel have been in contact with the See OP Page 3
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