OCEAN CITY — At-large City Councilman Tony Polcini announced a few months ago that he was not going to seek re-election, but after others asked him to re-evaluate that decision, he agreed.
Polcini is one of the four candidates in the May 12 election for the three seats. He ran successfully with Councilman Pete Madden and former councilwoman Karen Bergman in 2022.
Also running are incumbent Sean Barnes and newcomers Jim Kelly and Jocelyn Palaganas. The third incumbent, Madden, has opted to run for mayor instead.
“People reached out and asked me to reconsider,” he said Friday, a day after filing his nomination papers with the City Clerk’s office. “I prayed about it and asked my wife and family and just felt that, hey, you know, don’t leave something unfinished.
“We’re in the middle of all this with the boardwalk and I feel like I need to see it through and hopefully, I’ll be re-elected and see it through,” he said.
He was referring to the ongoing issue over what will replace the former Gillian’s Wonderland Pier amusement park, which has been closed since mid-October 2024. Property owner Eustace Mita has proposed a 252-room, eight-story hotel on the site, which is zoned only for amusements. Mita’s plans are currently in limbo.
That fight is part of what prompted his earlier decision not to seek re-election. He was disheartened by the atmosphere surrounding the future of the site.
“If I’m really honest, I didn’t like all the negativity and anger and disrespect,” he said. Much of it has been on social media, but also at City Council meetings starting with one in August 2025. At that meeting, council first voted on a resolution to oppose referring the 600 Boardwalk property to the Planning Board for its recommendation whether it was an area in need of rehabilitation.
“People can have their opinion and believe in it, and I respect that, but it’s how we treat people. I want to treat people with respect, whether you agree with me or disagree with me. I still want to respect you. I’m not going to please everybody, but I feel like there was a lack of respect. It’s very emotional. It’s a big, big decision. And it’s not easy for council.”
He believes the disrespect wasn’t just aimed at City Council and the administration, but also at Mita and between those who are for and against a hotel.
After council voted 6-1 against referring the property to the Planning Board, it reversed itself in a 4-3 vote in December to do just that. Polcini voted no in August but in favor of the referral in December. In January, the rehab recommendation died when the Planning Board split 4-4 on its vote.
“I wanted to bring people back, just to look in the mirror a little bit and see how we were treating people,” he said. It wasn’t that he didn’t like serving on council.
“I love learning; I’ve learned so much in the last four years. I enjoy helping people. That’s what I’m here for, and continued to help families,” Polcini said. “I’m not a politician, I’ll be honest with you, but I do enjoy helping a community I’ve grown up with and love. I’ve always tried to do my best.”
He said his wish is that the community will be able to come together to create something on that boardwalk property “that everybody will love and that generations to come will love,” but he understands that could take a few years to come to fruition.
Polcini spent 28 years working at Manco and Manco Pizza, an iconic business on the Ocean City Boardwalk. He now works in sales at a different company. A graduate of Atlantic Christian School, he and his wife, Jennifer, have two sons — JD, a senior at Ocean City High School, and Michael, who has Down syndrome and is in eighth grade at Ocean City Intermediate School. He noted he was in the last class that graduated when Atlantic Christian was based in Ocean City. It had financial difficulties and closed, but later reopened off island.
Polcini noted that he and Palaganas are friends and although they are not running on a slate together, they do support each other.
Talking again about how his plans shifted, he said, “I really felt at the time, you know what, maybe it’s time for me to step down, but as people talked to me and encouraged me they said, ‘Don’t leave something in the middle that you’ve started. You could see this through and see something great happen.’ So you know, that’s what I would really like to do and why I’m seeking re-election.”
“I think I can be a good voice and a positive one for the people.”
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
