The sky won’t fall no matter which combo of candidates wins
Ocean City voters should be pleased that they have choices in the May 14 municipal election. Having choices means they get a say in deciding who will be their representatives on Ocean City Council.
There are two candidates in three of the four ward races and the at-large race to fill the remaining two years of the term created earlier this year when Karen Bergman resigned to take over as supervisor of the Howard S. Stainton Senior Center. (It was a wise decision not to appoint her replacement with an election so close at hand.)
Only Terry Crowley Jr. is running unopposed for another term in the First Ward. In the Second Ward, it is Paul Stryker against former councilman Keith Hartzell; in the Third Ward, Amie Vaules against incumbent Jody Levchuk; in the Fourth Ward, Cecilia Gallelli-Keyes against incumbent Dave Winslow; and for the vacant at-large position, Sean Barnes against former councilman Michael DeVlieger.
We personally interviewed all of the candidates and published those interviews over several weeks in the newspaper. We had the opportunity to question them and hear them weigh in on multiple issues before an audience in the April 29 forum sponsored by this newspaper. We published stories about that as well. We have seen the incumbents and former incumbents in action and have reported on all of them on these pages over the years they have been in office.
From our perspective, we believe each candidate capable of ably representing and looking out for taxpayers’ interests on Ocean City Council. Further, we don’t believe any of them pose a danger to the operations of the resort or its future.
That doesn’t mean different candidates won’t have different effects on council. By presenting all of the information to our readers, we expect they are in a good position to determine what they want in their next council.
How much does past experience on council count?
Levchuk and Winslow are two incumbents running for re-election and Hartzell and DeVlieger are two former councilmen with long tenures trying to get back onto council.
The benefit voters have with all four of these candidates is they have records on which to run. For anyone who paid attention to the goings-on at council over the years, they should be very familiar with Hartzell and DeVlieger, who were both outspoken and loquacious on a variety of issues. Levchuk often speaks up at council so citizens know his positions. Winslow is much quieter, admittedly so, but voters can find out how he voted in his shorter tenure. While all four have experience, they are quite different from each other.
How much do people want new voices on council?
Barnes, Stryker, Vaules and Gallelli-Keyes are all offering to be those new voices and have articulated why they should be elected via their interviews and the forum, a venue that also allowed prospective voters to judge their knowledge on current topics in the resort.
Three of the four — Barnes, Stryker and Vaules — are running as kind of a package deal with Winslow. (As indicated by their nearly identical lawn signs, or perhaps they all got in on the same Groupon deal). Running together isn’t anything new or unusual. We’ve witnessed that many times over the years, including once when there were three separate mayor/council slates in the late 1990s.
Most recently, the three victors in the 2022 election for council at-large — Bergman, John (Tony P) Polcini and Pete Madden — ran as a slate.
The difference in the non-mayoral year is that while everyone in the city can vote for the at-large candidates (DeVlieger or Barnes), the ward candidates benefit only from turnout in their own wards.
While we’re nearing the end of this municipal race, we’re all still stuck in the midst of a massively divisive presidential race in which partisans believe if the other side wins, the nation is doomed. That isn’t the case in Ocean City.
The makeup of the new council will factor into how decisions are made and the overall relationship between council and the administration, but no matter the combination of victors May 14, America’s Greatest Family Resort is going to be just fine.
Please vote.
