Longtime city councilman says he will oppose high-rises on the boardwalk, importing sewage, joint public safety building, will fight for quality-of-life issues
OCEAN CITY – Ocean City Councilman Keith Hartzell officially filed petitions Wednesday to enter the race for mayor in the May 2022 election.
The three-term, at-large councilman, who served two years as council president, said he believes the time has come for leadership more in touch with the people of Ocean City.
“I am proud to officially announce my candidacy for mayor of Ocean City,” Hartzell said in a press release after he filed his petitions in the City Clerk’s Office. “As your councilman for the past 16 years, I have been a fierce, independent advocate and a voice for the people of Ocean City. Today, our town stands at a tipping point. As I went door-to-door over the course of the past few months, the residents of Ocean City spoke. I listened. They want new and positive leadership with a clear vision for the future of our great town. They want leadership with ‘HART’.”
Hartzell will face three-term incumbent Mayor Jay Gillian who is running for a fourth term. A third Ocean City resident, Michael Mercurio, has taken out nominating petitions for mayor but has not turned them in. The deadline to return nominating petitions is Monday, March 7. Gillian returned his petitions and had them certified.
The Ocean City election is May 10 for mayor and three at-large City Council seats.
Hartzell said as mayor his mission will be to “preserve our town and secure our future. Ocean City deserves someone who is a passionate, transparent, and trustworthy advocate for the people. I believe I am that person,” Hartzell said. “It’s time to take action about how we aggressively resolve some of the most serious issues facing our community – specifically, our flooding problems, the windmills on our horizon, and how we keep additional high-rise buildings away from our beachfront.
“We have heard the rumors going around – I’m here to tell you they are not rumors. They are facts. At least three Boardwalk property owners have approached me about their intentions to build either hotels or condos on their properties. If this becomes a reality, there will be no turning back,” Hartzell said. “This will begin a domino effect that we will be powerless to stop. Our beachfront landscape that we know, and love will change forever. I am vehemently against this.
“As mayor, my administration and I will work with all property owners and merchants to provide the highest quality entertainment, retail, and restaurants for our residents and guests, preserving ‘America’s Greatest Family Resort’ for years to come,” he said.
He added he will continue to oppose a joint public safety building at the site of the current Ocean City Fire Department Headquarters across from Ocean City Primary School, calling it “overpriced.” Instead, he wants the police station rebuilt on the current site on Central Avenue.
Hartzell, 65, who has been a resident of Ocean City since 1986, said he is against a proposal to bring sewage from other communities into Ocean City facilities, saying that “threatens to divert time and resources from our own sewage program.”
He said he will fight to keep taxes stable and put “quality-of-life issues on the forefront, so our Ocean City residents further benefit from a safe, prosperous, and family-friendly resort community.”
Hartzell is a regional sales manager for Von Drehle Corp. (paper products) and local businessman who owns properties in the resort. He has served as the former president of Main Street Ocean City, a booster member of Ocean City Veterans of Foreign Wars, a member of the Sons of the American Legion post, and member of Ocean City Exchange Club. He was a former board member of the Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Business and Neighborhood Development (BAND)organization.. He has been honored as the Ocean City Citizen of the Year in 2005 as well as receiving the Martin Luther King Community Service Award in 2007.
“I, along with friends and volunteers, am launching a campaign that Ocean City will be proud of,” Hartzell said. He called it a “campaign of problem-solving on behalf of our taxpayers’ needs over politics and a ‘select group,’ and of speaking up about projects and policy to ensure the best business practices are in place to protect our community and fiscal health.”
– By DAVID NAHAN, SENTINEL STAFF