Council president faults mayor over mention of request to close bridges
By BILL BARLOW
Special to the Sentinel
OCEAN CITY – In a rare public show of dissent withing city government, City Council President Bobby Barr rebuked Mayor Jay Gillian at the Thursday, March 25, City Council meeting.
On March 11, Gillian presented his state of the city address to council, outlining some of the extraordinary challenges of 2020 and the steps the city took to address them.
“The city team had to make a lot of tough decisions. From closing the beach and boardwalk in the spring, to purchasing masks, to canceling all the events we love. None of that was easy. Not much of it was popular. That’s part of being a leader. You have to serve in good times and bad. My job is to do what’s right, not what’s easy,” Gillian said.
But it was what came after that drew a response from Barr.
“There were a lot of emotional calls to shut down the bridges. But we kept calm. We stuck to the facts. We made reasonable decisions,” Gillian said.
Barr said he led the push to shut bridges leading to the resort island as COVID-19’s spread intensified.
“I want to talk about why I was at the forefront of that,” Barr said at the meeting. “And I want to own up and say yes, it was me, who wanted to pass a resolution at the time asking the governor to give us authority to close the bridge.”
He did not expect Gov. Phil Murphy to approve the move, he said, but constituents were overwhelmingly asking for it. On a more personal side, he said, his brother’s immune system is extremely compromised.
“A year ago … I was scared. Very scared. We didn’t know what to do. We were worried. We were panicking,” Barr said. Compounding the fear, he said, he would see New York and Pennsylvania license plates in his neighborhood. “I thought to myself, I have to do something.”
He said he called Councilman Keith Hartzell and former member Tony Wilson, who responded to Barr’s passion on the subject.
“They agreed to join me in composing the resolution,” he said. “I wanted my constituents to know; I wanted my brother to know; I wanted my mother to know – who was worried sick – that I did all that I could to protect them.”
He said Hartzell proposed an emergency meeting to approve the resolution. According to Barr, members of the administration said that yellow tape was not attractive.
“This wasn’t about yellow tape. I wasn’t about being appealing. It was about saving people’s lives,” he said.
At the Thursday meeting, Barr spoke about both closing the bridges, which did not happen, and the city’s closure of the beaches, boardwalk and playgrounds, which did. Wilson went to the mayor and asked the public places be shut.
“I think the mayor, because in his position being a local businessman, that’s hard. But Mr. Mayor, I wish you would have chosen some better words. I wish you would have said that we did this together,” Barr said. “That comment you made, it really really upset me. I just felt I had to correct the record.”
Both Hartzell and Councilman Michael DeVlieger credited Barr with improving their understanding of multiple issues.
City now owns former
dealership parcel
Mayor Gillian announced that the city now owns the entire city block of Simpson Avenue from 16th Street to 17th Street, the site of a former car dealership next to the city’s community center.
The city has sought to buy the property for years, and even had an agreement of sale before a Fairness In Taxes-backed petition drive challenged the funding ordinance. The city eventually moved to condemn the property for public use, launching a drawn-out process.
“The final cost is still to be determined by the court, and there are issues still to be resolved. But the property is ours. I look forward to developing short- and long-term plans for the public to use the area,” Gillian said.
At the same meeting, he said the city has been named one of the six best places to live in New Jersey by the publication Pure Wow.
“But we all know we’re No. 1,” he said.
City Council introduced several traffic control ordinances, making official the installation of a stop sign at Ninth Street and Atlantic Avenue and making changes to several handicapped parking spaces in the community based on the recommendation of police. Council members sought to put on the record that the city was not reducing the number of reserved spaces.
Some spaces are being removed, but more will be added under the ordinances.
A final vote was also held on an extension of a lease with the Ocean City Theater Company for 1501 West Ave., the former rescue squad building that has been the theater’s home for years.
At a previous meeting, council members and several theater participants lauded the program as invaluable both to young people involved in the theater and to the community.
The $1-a-year lease was approved for five years, with two five-year renewal extensions. Council said yes unanimously.
Also at the meeting, Gillian announced that city employees and community volunteers had so far helped 357 Ocean City seniors make appointments to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
“There is nothing more important we can do than make sure everybody in town is safe and healthy,” Gillian said in his weekly statement to residents and visitors. “If you know of any local senior who is still having trouble with the process, please have them call (609) 399-6111.”