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Unsung heroes of Ocean Pines Public Works

(April 10, 2020) What does Ocean Pines Public Works do? The answer is a little bit of everything.

Public Works helps build and maintain Ocean Pines, from the buildings themselves, to the roads, bulkheads, ditches, and all the little things in between.

They keep the roads clear when it snows, and the amenities cool during the summer. They do visible things during major construction or maintenance projects, and they do behind-the-scenes things like keep the pools clean or build shelves inside the new Craft Club building.

While virtually everyone at Public Works covers a lot of ground, three employees were singled out as particularly prominent members of the team:

Justin Riner, Drainage



Justin Riner is a Berlin native, a local guy, who started with Public Works in 2002 and specializes in drainage.

Riner largely learned on the job, starting with how to install new pipes. He was initially surprised by the many infrastructure issues in a community that’s now more than 50 years old.

“If you shoot the grades and put them on a map, [the drainage pipes] look like a rollercoaster,” Riner said. “A lot them really weren’t kept track of when they were building Ocean Pines. Some people just set them in the ground, covered them up, and that was it.”

He said many pipes rusted or were otherwise damaged by age, or the root systems of nearby trees. Some need to be replaced, while others must be flushed out.

Public Works uses a hydro jetter to clear pipes, a machine with a hose that will put itself through a pipe and jet out water behind to break up any material lodged inside.

When flushing doesn’t work, Public Works will look at replacing smaller pipes with larger. Four or five years ago, Riner said Public Works replaced a small, failing pipe near Pinehurst Road with a larger one that helped reduce flooding by 80 percent in an area of more than 100 homes.

“That was just one pipe under the road,” he said, adding of the new one, “It clogs less because it’s a wider pipe and it just takes more water. It’s amazing how much difference it can make.”

Along with the drainage pipes, there are roughly 180 miles of roadside ditches in Ocean Pines that need to be kept clean – a herculean task for a small crew of six.

Riner said Public Works’ approach to drainage improvements is, “one thing at a time.”

“We’re a small crew. We have work orders and people call in, and we have [larger] projects we know we’re doing to try to improve other areas,” he said. “Any time it’s dry and there are leaves in a ditch, the first you do is get in there and blow them all out, try to keep them clean. Everything bottlenecks from the main areas, and one little problem just spoils everybody.”

Riner said the biggest issue with drainage is the natural terrain: 8,452 homes can put a lot of stress on a small, coastal area. When the community was built, trees and grass were taken out and roads and homes put in, and that added a lot of hard surfaces to the topography.

As Riner puts it, “The water still has to go somewhere.”

Recently, Riner has contributed to meetings focused on drainage improvements with state and local officials. Ocean Pines, for the first time, is pursuing a major State of Maryland grant for a drainage project that could bring $1.5 million in aid.

Along with money for new infrastructure, Riner said Ocean Pines could use more labor to address all the problems.

“Time is the biggest thing,” he said. “We’ve got just six guys on drainage.”

He said the general public can help, simply by keeping their ditches clean.

“If you have a neighbor who rents and doesn’t do anything, if you’re able to, try and keep [the ditches] somewhat open. Keep everything clear of the pipes,” he said. “Some people don’t know how much that helps – it only takes one stick to get crossways in a pipe and then it just builds up leaves, and you don’t know [how bad the problem is] until it starts raining.”

Among the stranger things Riner has seen are people who intentionally block pipes, jamming everything from firewood to basketballs in them. In ditches, especially along Route 90, he’s seen everything from Christmas trees piled high to old bicycles.

“There’s things that we shouldn’t have to continually do, but some people just don’t care,” he said. “They know, if they blow their leaves in the ditch, we’ll eventually have to come get them and they won’t have to worry about them. That’s one of the biggest things.”

Others have tried to put screens over drainage pipes, to try and keep the leaves out.

“When it rains, all that does is just block everything up,” Riner said. “We see that a lot. Mainly, people just need to keep them clear. When it comes to drainage it’s fairly simple: water runs downhill and keeping the pipes clear is our biggest thing.”

Riner said the job can be gratifying, however, especially when the people recognize all the work his small crew puts in.

“Sometimes people come out and actually thank you and say they appreciate it – while others just stare out the window to make sure you get it done,” he said with a laugh. “But, in the past four or five years, we’ve gotten a lot more ‘thank-yous’ than we had in the past.”

Clint Parks, General Maintenance



In 23 years with Ocean Pines Public Works, Clint Parks has done a little bit of everything, from building and maintenance, to pool care, to keeping records of the community’s 83 miles of roads and more than 300 miles of drainage pipes.

Originally from Gambrills, Maryland, Parks spent summers during high school working in Ocean City. He graduated from a vocational/technical school in Camp Springs in 1981 with a welding certification and for about 16 years worked as a skilled laborer in Ocean City.

In 1990, Parks bought a lot in Ocean Pines and built his own house. He was long familiar with the community – his mother-in-law, June Gnann, worked for 22 years as a bookkeeper for Boise Cascade and later Ocean Pines, and she helped train many long-time Ocean Pines Finance Department workers, including former controller Art Carmine and current Accounts Payable Supervisor Geraldine Tate.

In 1997, his neighbor mentioned a carpentry position in Ocean Pines that included health care benefits, something he didn’t yet have.

Public Works was expanding at the time, because much of the original Boise Cascade infrastructure needed repairs. His first job was to install “a whole new front end and glass display window for the arts and crafts building,” he said.

Parks’ carpentry experience came in handy, as he worked with then Public Works Director Eddie Miller on “revamping and fixing a lot of termite [infested] and rotten stuff that had gotten away from the daily maintenance,” he said. More recently, he helped renovate the Beach Club bathrooms.

Parks also has the responsibility of maintaining Ocean Pines’ five swimming pools. He works with Aquatics Manager Kathleen Cook to open and close the pools each spring and fall, and to keep them clean and running during the busy seasons. The State of Maryland recently used Ocean Pines’ Sports Core Pool as a training model for state inspectors, which Parks credited to lofty standards of safety and cleanliness.

“Our pools are 100% safe,” he said. “You’ve got 90-year-old great grandparents bobbing up and down in the pools with their great grandkids that are infants – 9 and 10 months old. The water quality has got to be correct – it can’t be the YMCA.”

About six years ago, Wells asked Parks to also become the Association’s road inspector. Each year, Parks personally inspects 83 miles of roads, using Maryland state guidelines to compile data. If stretched out in a line, he said Ocean Pines’ roads roughly equal the distance from here to Annapolis.

“I come up with an evaluation of the roads and what needs to be paved per year, on our budget,” he said. “It’s 12 different things that you’re looking at, as you’re traveling each road.”

More recently, Wells assigned Parks to map out Ocean Pines drainage pipes. Parks has yet to cover The Point and Parke communities, but has so far found more than 300 miles of pipeline. That data should help in future drainage improvement projects, he said.

Parks has also contributed across many other areas. He’s worked with Assistant Public Works Director Nobie Violante on bulkhead projects, overseen groundskeeping of Ocean Pines sports fields for the Recreation Department, and even plowed roads during heavy snowstorms.

“There’s not much I haven’t done here,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve ever carried a gun and driven a police car, but other than that … ”

In his 23 years on the job, Parks said he’s watched the community just about double in size. New pools went in the ground, a new Yacht Club opened, and soon he’ll witness the opening of the new Golf clubhouse.

“Working for Public Works, we work for all of Ocean Pines,” he said. “Any time anybody in any department needs something, they always call Public Works because we can pretty much do anything and everything – and we have.

“We have a pretty good crew, and it’s the only Public Works, I think, in the country that does a whole lot more than just Public Works projects,” he added.

Butch Kennedy, Facilities Maintenance



Butch Kennedy grew up on the Western Shore of Maryland and ran a mechanical business there for four decades, specializing in refrigeration and air conditioning. When he was 55, he sold the business and moved to Ocean Pines.

“I found out that I was too young to retire, so there was an advertisement here for a refrigeration man,” he said. “That was about 17 years ago, and I just started taking care of all the mechanical [work]: refrigeration, ice machines, air conditioning, heating, and some plumbing too.”

Kennedy now runs the maintenance department, along with personally making the rounds to fix whatever is needed.

“With Kevin (Goldberg?, the electrician, and Ed (Miller?), the other carpenter, we kind of have our threesome as the service department,” he said. “I do that and take care of all the tickets and work orders, and then I still do the refrigeration.”

During the last year or so, Kennedy has also used his engineering background to help with new construction projects, including the new Golf building and Police station expansion.

“I’ve always got something going on,” he said. “It’s never slow here.”

In 17 years, Kennedy said he’s “been through three different softwares,” most recently having to learn all about the new Northstar systems. He refers to himself as an “old school” guy who prefers hands-on work, but he also said technology is vital to doing today’s tasks.

“You’ve gotta have this technology,” he said. “All the young people, this is all they know. It’s an interesting place sometimes.”

Kennedy said the biggest benefit of having a diverse Public Works Department – rather than hire dozens of smaller contractors – is the fast response time.

“The next biggest thing is the cost,” he said. “Unfortunately, in the trades we deal with – electrical, plumbing, refrigeration, air conditioning – there’s not really many educated servicepeople out there. The older ones are, but if you’re looking for somebody young to take over, you’re not going to find it.

“As it is right now, it’s a huge advantage to having a Public Works Department. If we have an issue, we’re there right away. If you call another company, ‘We’ll get there maybe tomorrow or maybe the next day,’” Kennedy added.

He also said most people don’t have a good grasp of how much Public Works does, and that even previous upper management in Ocean Pines “didn’t always know what we did.”

“They didn’t understand the knowledge that we bring here. We’ve been in these trades for a long time and you’re not finding that in today’s life,” he said. “You get a lot better response [from in-house Public Works], and it’s a more honest response.”

To put it simply, they know how the place works.

“We do,” he said. “There’s things here, if you brought in somebody else, they’d have no clue. That’s a huge plus.”

Kennedy said there’s a huge difference between the Public Works Department today and the one he came into, 17 years ago.

“I’ve seen a lot of things here,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of changes that weren’t so good, and we went back to our old ways. Ocean Pines is a wonderful place, because it has a lot of amenities. It’s a great place to live. You’ve got a great Fire Department and Police Department, and when people come to my house that have never been here they say, ‘I can’t believe how clean it is here.”

Back when he was living in Ocean Pines only part time, Kennedy remembers coming there once during a heavy snowstorm.

“It snowed bad, and we came off [Route] 90 and there was snow all over [Route] 589, and then as soon as we pulled into Ocean Pines the roads were completely clear. It was amazing, but it’s always been that way,” he said.

“It makes you feel good to be involved in this, and you want to help make the place better and keep it good for the people, because it’s a nice place. It’s not all about the money or anything but just doing your job and keeping it a pleasant place to live. That’s the way I kind of look at it,” he added.