While the OPA Board of Directors continues to wallow in what seems to be an obsession with battling a few association members at a personal level, primarily women, General Manager John Viola continues to more or less ignore the nonsense going on at the rarified board level as he and his staff pile up continued operational success in the much more important $$$ bottom line department.

How long Viola can maintain this level of financial success remains to be seen. There will always be bumps in the road. As a fishing guide in the wilds above the tree line in northern Manitoba said after failing to net a trophy Arctic Grayling, “Nobody purrfect.”

Regardless, Viola’s success must be viewed in the miracle category by those around to watch the disasters of the pre-Viola years. Interestingly, only a few years ago it seemed the influential Facebook group Get Involved wanted another OPA staff member and one of the group's founders to replace Viola. Had this current board majority been in charge back then, Viola might be long gone, and recent success stories never written.

Reminiscent of a scene in Lawrence of Arabia where Prince Faisal is talking with an American reporter regarding success in battle, the person who can bring financial success to OPA is valued above all others.

Recent $$$ success also points out a truism applicable to the entire history of the Ocean Pines Association - the General Manager is more important to the success of OPA than any Board of Directors. Obviously, the board hires the GM and controls general policy, but the GM position is similar to that of a CEO who makes or breaks a company. While association members witnessed arcane, endless board resolution discussions and colossal board partisan battles over the past few years, mostly involving one faction attacking the other at personal levels, Viola ignored the political storm and produced operational success in spite of the too often meaningless, school-yard board battles.

Golf is a major success story for Viola and the staff. From the audited end-of-year report for April 2023, Golf showed an operating profit of $320,000. The last audited report had golf depreciation at $363,000. Incredibly, golf this past fiscal year was only about $43,000 shy of breaking even after depreciation. In 2019, golf was $500,000 shy of breaking even!

The current fiscal year began on a sour note, with bad weather and resultant reduced spending at major amenities. A few association members expressed concern over declines in income for the Yacht Club, grumbling about bottom-line operational profit down perhaps $70,000 at the end of June compared to the prior year. With better weather, the Matt Ortt Companies management team closed that gap to only $25,000 by the end of July, and August looks like a blockbuster.

Golf remains on fire, doing $45,000 year-to-date better at the end of July 2023 than the same time last year - and last year was exceptionally good. Even the Clubhouse Grill, also under Ortt's management, is doing much better than last year.

Overall, in spite of early weather issues, the July 2023 monthly report indicates a year-to-date OPA operational profit increase of around $300,000 compared to the same time last year.

In OPA, John Viola is the man valued above all others.