OCEAN CITY — A new member of Ocean City Council will take over as president when council reorganizes at noon Friday, July 1. Recently re-elected Councilwoman Karen Bergman has said she would like to lead council.
Sitting Council President Bobby Barr said at Thursday’s council meeting that he won’t be seeking another term as president.
During the reorganization meeting Friday in council chambers at City Hall, the new council will be sworn in and members will choose the president and vice president.
Bergman and Pete Madden were re-elected to four-year terms as at-large council members in the May 10 election. They will be sworn in with John “Tony” Polcini, who beat out three other candidates for the third at-large seat up in the election.
The new council will also consist of sitting ward councilmen Barr, from the Fourth Ward, the First Ward’s Terry Crowley Jr., Second Ward’s Tom Rotondi and Third Ward’s Jody Levchuk.
That group will decide on the new president and vice president.
“Tonight will be my final meeting as president of council,” Barr said Thursday. “I will be stepping down and allowing someone else to take the reins.”
He took the opportunity to thank everyone, including Business Administrator George Savastano, Solicitor Dorothy McCrosson and Mayor Jay Gillian.
“It’s been an honor to work with all of you,” he said, also thanking his fellow members of council for “supporting me and having faith in me.
“This is not an easy job,” he added. “When you’re trying to navigate seven different personalities, you spend more time on the phone than a teenage girl. It can be very difficult.”
“Beyond a shadow of doubt, it was a labor of love. I enjoyed it,” Barr said. “I look forward to less phone calls now that I’m not going to be president.”
Barr has two more years on his term as the Fourth Ward councilman.
Rotondi is the current vice president of the board, having been elected last August when Michael DeVlieger resigned from council.
At the July 1, 2021 reorganization meeting, Bergman sought the position as vice president, but the five-member majority at the time instead voted for DeVlieger.
When DeVlieger resigned, Madden nominated her for vice president, but the majority voted instead for Rotondi.
That was part of a political split on council leading up to the 2022 election in which incumbent Gillian was facing longtime at-large councilman Keith Hartzell. Although there had been relative harmony between the Gillian administration and council for 10 years and together they worked to undertake an unprecedented amount of capital improvements on the island that had been neglected by previous administrations, divisions began to arise on a number of issues.
Barr publicly supported Hartzell in the mayor’s race and Levchuk publicly endorsed Hartzell.
Gillian defeated Hartzell by about 400 votes — 2,348 to 1,953.
Bergman received the most votes by far in the council race with 2,328. Polcini had 2,020 and Madden had 1,991. All three were strong supporters of the Gillian administration.
Rotondi, who lost the at-large race but retains his ward seat — he is two years into his first term — had 1,948 votes. DeVlieger had 1,760 and Donna Moore, the sixth candidate, received 1,548 votes.
During the election, Bergman said she would like to take a leadership role on council if re-elected. During the election night celebration at the Flanders Hotel, Gillian told Bergman, “You should be president of council,” drawing cheers from the crowd of supporters.
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff