For those still undecided on whom they want for Ocean City mayor and the three at-large City Council positions — we have suggestions.
We say “suggestions” because in recent years this newspaper has moved away from most straight-out endorsements. We have done that for a number of reasons, not least of which is that voters don’t need (or want) to be told by a media outlet who is the best candidate for any position. Voters can make up their own minds.
Our role in helping people decide has already been accomplished. The Ocean City Sentinel did what hyper-local newspapers are supposed to do. The Sentinel published announcements from all of the candidates that described their backgrounds and reasons for running, conducted and printed in-depth interviews with all candidates outlining their positions and priorities, and last week hosted an in-person and live-streamed candidates forum and printed stories about them answering questions submitted by members of the community.
We have given Mayor Jay Gillian, his challenger, Councilman Keith Hartzell, and all six council candidates — Donna Moore, Pete Madden, Karen Bergman, Tom Rotondi, John “Tony P” Polcini and Michael DeVlieger — ample space to tell voters about themselves and why they would be the best choice.
Overall, we suggest people have perspective.
Ocean City is a well-run community with incredible amenities and services that are the envy of communities across the country. We have the beaches, the boardwalk, the school system, the library, a community center and civic center and a vibrant downtown, to name a few. Here, a major dilemma is about where to put additional pickleball courts – not exactly life and death.
The island is a safe place to live, raise children and visit because of the top-notch police and fire departments. For what a taxpayer gets, the cost is low.
No matter who wins May 10, Ocean City will remain in this envious position because of the professionals who do the day-to-day operations of the city. There is no reason to vote for or against anyone out of fear for the future.
Gillian has served three terms as mayor. If voters like what he has accomplished during his time in office and believe the city is on the right track, it makes sense to return him for a fourth term. Before being mayor, he served on the school board. People don’t need to guess what he has done or what he is about.
Under Gillian’s leadership, the city has undertaken an unprecedented amount of capital improvements, replacing the boardwalk, extensive flood mitigation work, dredging and street and alley repairs, much of which had been neglected by prior administrations.
To accomplish all that, Gillian had the support of City Council, which deserves credit as well. That includes Hartzell, the current longest-serving member.
Like Gillian, Hartzell is well-known and to add to that, he has been actively going door to door for almost a year talking to constituents. Hartzell says voters have told him one message: they want change.
Indeed, if voters believe it is time for a change in leadership in the top spot, even if only for change’s sake, Hartzell is their option.
We have to note the partisan rancor enveloping the nation hasn’t gotten a foothold in the resort’s election for two reasons — one is the nonpartisan nature of office here and the other, frankly, is that most elected officials all belong to one party anyway.
Any long-serving incumbent, however, always faces the burden of why he or she should remain in office, and there is little doubt Americans everywhere are an unsettled bunch. Here we have two candidates who have been in elected office for a combined 28 years.
What does change represent in Ocean City?
Hartzell has had his hand on the steering wheel with Gillian on virtually all of the initiatives for most of the time the two have been in office. That relationship frayed as he contemplated running for mayor and as he has argued for going in a different direction.
Hartzell has campaigned on a few major planks — vowing to fight against high-rise hotels and condos on the boardwalk, against alcohol sales and accepting sewage from Upper Township, something that would allow Ocean City’s neighbor to do more development in the Roosevelt Boulevard corridor. He said he fears the resort is beginning to change and that he wants it to remain the same.
All of these are concepts that could or could not come to pass. Hartzell said being mayor would allow him to make sure they don’t.
Alcohol sales, even BYOB, will not happen. Period. Although it has been linked to a hotel proposal, it isn’t in the cards. Gillian is against it. Hartzell is against it. All six council candidates are against it and voters are overwhelmingly against it.
Hartzell doesn’t want development in Upper Township that could only happen if there were a sewage system that leads to Ocean City. He asserts there have been negotiations about that; Gillian says by law the city’s sewage treatment plant cannot accept sewage from another community. It isn’t clear that Upper Township wants this.
That leaves hotels. We have zero doubt there are property owners and/or developers — including the one who swooped in to help save Gillian’s Wonderland Pier from bankruptcy — who would love to build hotels or condo projects on the boardwalk.
The idea is real, but is the threat real? This is where voters have to decide if this is an issue.
These types of projects aren’t allowed on the boardwalk. It would take a council majority to change that and Gillian said he is against it as well. For him to change his position on this would forever damage his legacy and given how he feels about his family’s name in town, it is hard to imagine him doing that. Hartzell has argued strenuously he needs to be mayor to stop the concept from becoming reality.
We don’t envision Gillian or Hartzell wanting to fundamentally change this town. We believe both are fully capable of running it.
Voters know who they are and should be able to make an informed choice about who should serve as mayor.
City Council
Voters are fortunate to have six candidates from whom to choose for the three at-large seats on City Council, including two newcomers and four with council experience.
Incumbents Pete Madden and Karen Bergman have been vocally supportive of the Gillian administration and believe all the work that has been accomplished by city government has come about because of positive collaboration between council members and the administration.
They have nearly eight and 12 years, respectively, on council. Madden previously served on the Ocean City Board of Education and Bergman has links to many community organizations through her work at The Flanders Hotel. They want to continue the progress.
Second Ward Councilman Tom Rotondi is seeking an at-large seat. He is not quite two years into the job and has set himself up as an independent voice. He led the charge in how engineering contracts were awarded. Former First Ward councilman Michael DeVlieger was elected three times but resigned from his seat last August because of a family crisis. Now that it has been resolved he wants back on. DeVlieger also is more of an independent member of council and is best known for literally tilting at the windmills of the Ocean Wind I wind turbine project.
Although Rotondi and DeVlieger are independent, they aren’t rogues fighting the administration tooth and nail on everything; they have joined most unanimous votes council takes because that is what it takes to run government.
Newcomer Tony Polcini has made clear that although he lacks experience in politics, he supports what the administration has accomplished, which is why he is running on a ticket with Bergman and Madden.
Donna Moore ran unsuccessfully for the First Ward seat last November. She is well known to those who watch council for her regular advocacy for the environment. Moore got the city to change how dangerous pesticides are applied to protect the people, especially children, who use public fields and to protect the surrounding waters from contaminated runoff.
They, too, have been profiled extensively. Voters have a good field from which to choose.