Longtime city councilman explains why he is running for mayor, outlines his key positions
Editor’s note: This is the first of a planned ongoing series of profiles in the Sentinel on candidates for mayor and City Council in Ocean City’s May 10 election. See Hartzell’s related petition filing story here.
OCEAN CITY – City Councilman Keith Hartzell has been going door-to-door in Ocean City since last June, talking to constituents as he geared up for this year’s race for mayor. He believes talking face-to-face nets him honest opinions and said those came back with a common theme: voters want change.
The at-large councilman who has served since 2006 is challenging three-term incumbent Mayor Jay Gillian in the May 10 election. Gillian is seeking a fourth term in office.
Hartzell, 65, who is in his 16th year in office, said he thought about retiring from council but decided he didn’t like what he saw on the horizon and this was the time to step up and do something about it.
“The major thing for me is the town is feeling like it is slipping away from us a little bit, our charm, our culture, that type of thing. I felt that in my bones, so to speak,” he said in an interview with the Sentinel last week about his decision to run for mayor.
He is worried about boardwalk business owners who want to build condos or hotels, even though they aren’t currently permitted there, and about potential development in neighboring Upper Township along Roosevelt Boulevard, which could come about if the resort allows its neighbor to run sewer lines that would connect with the city’s processing plant.
Hartzell asserts the current administration is not as connected with the city’s residents as it should be and he has positions and ideas he believes are better for the community, such as a road czar to stop the same streets from being torn up time and time again, and replacing the current police station rather than a more expensive joint public safety building.
Motivated to run
Hartzell said he began to think about seeking the mayor’s office because he didn’t like what he heard on the boardwalk after Eustace Mita invested in the property for Gillian’s Wonderland Pier, which was having financial troubles exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic that stopped owner Jay Gillian from refinancing debt. Mita is CEO of Achristavest, LLC, a real estate company, and chairman and CEO of Icona Resorts, a luxury hotel brand with locations including Diamond Beach, Avalon and Cape May.
Gillian announced early last year he was partnering with Mita. During his own re-election announcement in January, Gillian said he gets asked a lot about the future of Wonderland. His comment then was, “Stay tuned for new rides and new adventures.”
Gillian added that as the park’s theme song says, “try the roller coaster ride and the giant wheel and touch the sky. You will be touching that sky and grabbing that brass ring for many more years here at Gillian’s Wonderland Pier.”
Hartzell said he heard rumors about plans for the Wonderland property but it wasn’t just that. He said he was contacted by other owners who felt they needed a residential component to upgrade their stores and businesses on the boardwalk. “Whether that be a hotel or condos, I didn’t feel good about that,” he said. “I believe the boardwalk is good the way it is.”
He acknowledges that zoning does not allow for that type of development on the boardwalk and that last summer Ocean City Council closed a loophole that could have permitted condos. However, he said, as mayor he could be an added bulwark against that if it comes up in the future. “I’m making sure that I don’t want any type of residential or hotel component up there.
It’s a thing about quality of life and culture.
“My tag line is ‘preserving our town, securing our future,’ making sure the town stays the way it is.”
No outside sewage to limit development
Related to stopping overdevelopment on the boardwalk is trying to prevent development in Upper Township. Hartzell said he doesn’t want the city to accept sewage from any other communities. Allowing sewers along Roosevelt Boulevard in Upper Township could mean development in that corridor that would exacerbate crowding in the resort.
He said that is another issue voters have brought up to him. “People would say, ‘Please no.’ I think the major reason why is that parking is a tough issue in town. What would happen if they overdevelop Upper? They would go to the beach and go back. It’s not like they would use our businesses here. And people already feel we’re overcrowded. There’s no place to park in the summer and why would I help another community overdevelop and come over here? There is really nothing in it for us,” he said.
Answerable to the people
When asked what people want most when he approaches them during his daily visits, Hartzell said, “I think the biggest thing they say is ‘change.’ I was surprised by that. I didn’t really know what they were going to say. I think people feel disconnected from the administration and a lot of people said when they call, they don’t get an answer and I’m very good at responding.”
He related it to his job as a paper products salesman and how if someone calls him, he is quick to respond.
“This is going to sound funny to you, but not many people call up and say they want to buy toilet paper. They already have a place to get it. So if somebody calls me, I’m on it right away. It’s just kind of how I am,” he said. “When a constituent calls I call right back. That is the biggest thing – people felt disconnected form the government and the more I go out door to door the more enthused I get. Just talking to people is great. They really appreciate I’m coming out.”
Hartzell noted he has always gone door-to-door campaigning from the time he first ran for council in 2006 and even when he was running unopposed.
“My girlfriend thought I was nuts,” he said when she learned he was campaigning during an uncontested election. “I told her, ‘Here’s the thing, when I needed the votes I knocked on doors. When I don’t need the votes I would be a hypocrite if I don’t knock on doors.’ That’s when you find out what people think and what people want.”
That’s why he started back in June 2021 for a May 2022 election.
“I knew this was going to be a long battle and it was important to talk to as many people as I could. And that’s what I’m doing. That’s what I do every day for four hours a day. I talk to people and hear their concerns,” he said.
“More importantly than anything they know who I am and they know if they call me I’ll call them back. The real message I’m trying to get across is that I’m here, I’m here for you, I’m at your door and any time you need something I’ll be there for you. I’ll answer your call and I’ll take care of it.”
Going door-to-door, he said, puts him in better touch with residents.
He pointed out that political polls have often been wrong in recent years and he believes people aren’t comfortable with them. “What happens is when you talk to people you get their honest opinions,” he said.
“My grandmother lived here from 1962 to 1976. She was my favorite person in the world. Every time I come over that bridge I think it’s 1966 and I’m in my dad’s Dodge Dart and I’m coming to see grandmom. Every time I have a sense of calm. I love this town with all my heart and I just want to maintain this town for what it is,” he said.
“Most people who live here love it here. There is such a love for this town. I haven’t seen that anywhere else. And I experience that every day going door-to-door talking to folks.”
Against a joint Public Safety Building
In 2021 Gillian Administration proposed a $42 million Public Safety Building at the site of the current Ocean City Fire Department headquarters at Sixth Street and Asbury Avenue. Hartzell is against that. He said the OCFD headquarters is a brick building that is only 40 years old and still has a long useful life. He also doesn’t want the skate park, that is less than 10 years old and is adjacent to the headquarters moved behind the Ocean City Primary School, where it would eliminate green space and a playing field.
He said the building that needs to be replaced is the aging and outdated police station on Central Avenue between Eighth and Ninth streets.
“Everyone agrees we need a new police station. Most people don’t think we need another firehouse and that (the police and fire) need to be together. We need to give police the proper building that they need,” he said, at the same location. That, he said, will save money, which he believes should be put back into projects throughout the city.
Residents, he said, “want the money put back into the neighborhoods and not into a mammoth public safety building that they don’t need. That’s been clear at almost every door that I go to.”
Road czar for
better coordination
Hartzell said the administration and City Council have worked well together on flood mitigation projects throughout the city, but that the pace of all capital projects could be improved if there were better coordination.
He proposes having a “road czar” who would coordinate street work. A major complaint of residents is not being able to get from one end of the island to the other without a detour in the off-season when road work is being done and seeing construction done over and over again, he said.
“I would find someone who is good at looking at the big picture and make sure no one is ripping up the same street over and over,” he said, having the czar stay in close contact with utilities to know their plans a few years out to prevent road repairs from recurring in the same locations.
Hartzell credited fellow Councilman Tomaso Rotondi for spearheading a change to have the administration create a pool of pre-approved engineers from which to bid out projects, rather than past practice of having a single firm doing most of the work without going to bid.
Campaign to be proud of
When Hartzell filed his petitions last week to run for mayor, he said he wants to be the mayor for the entire town, not a “select group.” He didn’t specify who was in that group, but that “most of town feels there is a small group of people who benefit and the rest don’t. It’s uncanny how many people feel that way.
“This town is for everybody. Not just a small group of people. That has come ringing in my ear loudly by everyone I talk to. Some say all towns are like that, but it does’t have to be here,” he said.
Hartzell has pledged to run a positive campaign.
“I want to be as positive as I can about how I love the town, how I don’t want it to change, how much I don’t want it to slip away, how much it means to me,” he said. “I was contemplating retiring after 16 years (on council), but when I started to look at it I realized there is work that needs to be done and I just want to be a mayor for all the people. I don’t think people feel that way” about the current mayor.
“After speaking to people every day, four to five hours a day, that has rung true to me more than anything and that’s the primary reason I am running,” he said.
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff