Mayor reacts to personal slight, concern over city contracts
OCEAN CITY – Responding to criticisms over contract negotiations and a personal slight that was leveled against him, Mayor Jay Gillian said he has sacrificed for the community, deals in facts, not opinions, and he doesn’t do personal favors.
During Thursday evening’s Ocean City Council meeting, some members of the public argued the city’s lifeguards should be paid more. Others appeared again before council, asking something be done to stop a cell tower project atop a building at the corner of 34th Street and Haven Avenue. The project was before the city’s Planning Board, which has jurisdiction over a request for some minor variances, but over the past two meetings neighbors have asked council to step in.
They argue their health will be affected by radio frequency (RF) waves that are emitted by the towers, which will be at second-story height atop the Compass Building, close to where neighbors live, rather than 50 to 200 feet high like most cell phone towers.
City solicitor Dorothy McCrosson explained at the first council meeting in March that because the application was already in process, any action City Council would take would not affect it because the project is legally grandfathered in. She also noted that cell phone towers are largely regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
That didn’t stop a group of neighbors coming back to council for the March 23 meeting, raising their objections, asking for action, criticizing the Planning Board over its regulations and providing information after the fact.
Neighbor Steve Petrun criticized Council President Pete Madden for not allowing him to exceed the five-minute limit on public comment, saying he just learned from Business Administrator George Savastano before the meeting that citizens would likely not be able to meet with an independent RF engineer hired by the Planning Board to estimate the impact of the towers.
It was a comment from neighbor James Harris, however, that appeared to set the stage for Gillian. During his comments about the cell phone towers, Harris asked if the owner of the property, Eustace Mita, was getting special treatment from the mayor because of the investment Mita made that saved Gillian’s Wonderland Pier.
Harris quickly backtracked after McCrosson told the council president his comment was getting into defamation.
Just as council was about to adjourn, Gillian weighed in.
First he addressed the lifeguards, explaining they have a union with a contract. “You don’t hear anything because we’re negotiating,” he said. “We’re trying to be fair to the taxpayers and fair to the kids. Negotiations take time.”
He also pointed out the council chambers was filled with police officers.
“We’re in negotiations. We’re going to work with them. This isn’t easy,” Gillian said. “Everyone wants instant gratification and that’s an impossibility in this town.
“I’ll tell you right now, and I don’t lie, we’re going to take care of our lifeguards, it’s going to be fair, and we’re going to make sure this town is safe. That’s what we do. We have the best police department, we have the best fire department,” Gillian said.
He said the cell tower issue is frustrating because of the Planning Board’s role in town and what council and the administration can and can’t do. “We are doing everything we can,” he said, adding he won’t get into opinion, but figure out what the city can do legally.
Gillian said the city has been trying to work within the law and not jeopardize anything. He likened the Planning Board to a court, saying, “We have to be very careful. I know it’s hard, because it gets emotional, but if you think for one second that anyone on council or myself don’t care about that neighborhood, or what’s going on there, if I could do a magic wand I would do that.”
“I do take it personally every now and then, especially after this election when (they) came after me personally. I am getting a little tired of the shots.”
“The one thing I do ask if someone says I have an association with somebody and implies – and I hope it wasn’t that I give favors – I can tell you something. In the 13 years I’ve been mayor I’ve had more agencies look into me because somebody thinks I’m doing something wrong and have never found anything wrong,” Gillian said.
“I’ve had candidates come after me at each election. They’ve lied about me and said things that aren’t true. And I’ve sat here. I think that’s my job. To sit here and take it. That’s what I signed up for, but every now and then, I just need to say something.”
“I’ve sacrificed more for my family and we all know what’s happened at Wonderland, how much I have sacrificed there,” he said, “but if you think for one second someone can buy me or I’m going to do something that benefits me, then I would be sitting right at Wonderland right now. It would be a whole different thing, but I don’t do that,” he said. (Mita bought the property at Wonderland Pier, which has been in the Gillian family for three generations, after banks called in some $8 million in loans during the pandemic.)
“I didn’t take a paycheck for a long time. All these are my choices. I think we’ve done a great job and I think our senior staff does a great job,” he said.
“At the end of the day I love this town. I’ve sacrificed a lot for my family. I’ve given you everything I can. One thing I do not do is lie or take advantage of the taxpayers. I will never do that,” Gillian said. “I don’t care what people tell you about me.”
He noted so much of what is said is based on opinion, not facts, and that people have opinions based on preference. “If you like somebody they can get away with murder. If you don’t like somebody you crucify them,” he said.
Gillian noted that he is available to meet with citizens and will give them time to air their concerns. “I said from the beginning, I won’t say anything unless I know it is factual or true. I’m not going to get into opinions. I’m not going to argue,” he said.
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
