The six candidates for Ocean City Council ‣ Ocean City Sentinel

All answer a series of questions about why they’re running, their priorities

OCEAN CITY – Ocean City Sentinel Editor David Nahan interviewed the six candidates for the three at-large seats up for grabs in the May 10 election.

All have previously announced their candidacies and provided their backgrounds. Following are interviews with each of the six – incumbents Pete Madden and Karen Bergman and the four challengers, sitting Second Ward Councilman Tom Rotondi, former First Ward councilman Michael DeVlieger, newcomer John A. “Tony P” Polcini and Donna Moore, who ran for the First Ward seat in a November election won by Terrence Crowley Jr.

Similiar questions were posed to all six candidates so prospective voters can compare and contrast their answers when making decisions about whom to vote for on May 10, an election that also will feature the race for mayor between incumbent Jay Gillian and at-large Councilman Keith Hartzell.

CANDIDATES FORUM APRIL 25

The Ocean City Sentinel also is hosting a candidates forum from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday, April 25, at the Hughes Performing Arts Center at Ocean City High School, Sixth Street and Atlantic Avenue. The first part of the forum will be for the mayoral candidates and the second part for the City Council candidates.

Citizens who would like to submit questions for the forum can email them in advance to oceancitysentinel@comcast.net.

Questions posed to candidates will be taken from submissions and topics facing the city. A moderator will ask the questions at the forum. No questions will be taken from the audience which is why they’re asked to submit them ahead of time.

Pete Madden

You have served almost eight years on City Council. Why are you running for re-election?

I want to continue all the progress that we’ve made over the eight years that I’ve been around. I feel like your first four years you’re still wrapping your head around what’s going on. It’s a $90 million operation that has so many moving pieces. It takes time to figure out what’s happening, and these past four years I’ve felt like I’ve had a lot of influence, helping with some of the decision-making and things that are happening in the city. Now I’ve got four more years to continue that progress and see the fruits of my labor.

What are the most important things you have accomplished during your time on council?

Having four kids, the rec programs I love seeing built. The turf field (at Carey Stadium). The Civic Center work. Then you get into a lot of drainage and the dredging of the back bays. That was a monumental task because of how much had to be done and figuring out how to do it. That I was very happy to be involved with.

What qualities, background or experience do you have that make you well suited to serve on City Council?

I served on the school board and I have a family, four kids, that are in town, all going through the school system. That’s why I got involved with the school board. Getting involved in council, I’m familiar with Robert’s Rules of Order. And I’m familiar with the government process. Now that I’ve been on council a little while, I have a better understanding of how government works versus how the private sector works. It’s very, very different.

Being part of the community, having the kids and family, my background on the school board and having a business in town. I’m part owner of the business here (Goldcoast Sotheby’s International Realty). And being part of the community, being well rounded helps me on council.

How do you balance the needs of the taxpayers, the visitors and the business community?

I’m a taxpayer, so I understand it from that standpoint. Taxpayers want the best bang for their buck. You have to pay taxes so you want to make sure they’re used for good things. Over the past eight years, we’ve done a very good job with capital improvements and improving the town, being fiscally responsible but getting a lot of work done. I’m part of the business community. I look at how the businesses operate in town from a tourist standpoint and how everyone relies on tourism.

There is a balance to it; you can’t have too much, you can’t have too little. And from a visitor standpoint, we work a lot with rentals so I’m constantly on the phone with people, understanding what their needs are, what they’re looking for and how we need to always adapt to stay ahead of the curve.

Do you believe an Ocean City council member is elected to vote the will of the people he or she represents or do you balance that with your own values and priorities?

I look at my role on council as kind of a liaison between the mayor and administration and the people. My job isn’t to say yes to everybody all the time. My job is to listen to the concerns of the people and then use good judgment to help facilitate what those concerns and needs are and turn them into action through the mayor and administration.

What role does City Council have in relation to the administration? Is it advice and consent? Check and balance? Partnership?

All of the above. I think it’s a partnership because without one you don’t get the other. That’s where the checks and balance come in. The partnership, you see so many government entities not work properly because of infighting and discrepancies, which we see now on council.

When you have council against the mayor and administration, whatever idea, plan or project doesn’t get accomplished. There has to be a partnership to actually do things. If that’s not working or the mayor and administration are coming down the line with things people don’t want, because we are that liaison with the people, that’s where the checks and balance come in.

You can’t have a government that does whatever it wants whenever it wants. Council is that partnership, but also that check and balance where they’re influencing and advising the decision-making throughout the process. That comes from listening to people, and then working with the administration to get things done.

What is your view of the Ocean Wind 1 wind turbine project and what role does City Council play in relation to that project?

No one wants to see the wind farm offshore from a visual standpoint. I think everyone wants to see sustainable green energy. There is balance to all that. To have all that sustainable green energy, the wind farm is a part of all that. What seems like the overwhelming view of the public is that they don’t want to see the wind farm out there. However, a lot of this is out of our control and only some of it is in our control. This is a federally backed and state-backed program that is being put out there that we have some influence over because of what happens in Ocean City. (The wind farm developer wants to run its transmission cables through Ocean City to the power grid in the Beesleys Point section of Upper Township.)

In my opinion, we have to learn, understand and work with what we can’t control, and what we can control not screw up. If there is something that we’re going to be able to benefit, we want to take advantage of the opportunity, not to the detriment of the city. If this is going to be out there, we have to work to get whatever we can for Ocean City.

In the past decade, Ocean City has been on an aggressive infrastructure campaign, rebuilding the boardwalk, street and alley paving, back bay dredging and flooding mitigation involving road improvements and pumping stations. Do you believe the city is doing enough in all of these areas and how would you balance priorities for capital improvements for the next few years?

Capital improvements is one of the things I’m most proud of for being involved in. So often, taxes go out and there is nothing you can touch or feel as to why. They just go up. We’ve done a very good job. We’re in times where ratables are going through the roof, so we’re taking advantage of that natural tax increase and doing a lot of these capital projects. I think the city is doing a great job of having that five-year capital plan and starting to check off the things that need to be done and things that want to be done. We’re getting the needs and the wants out of the way while we can.

I think you’ll see if there is any type of change in the market, it’s not going to be to the taxpayers’ detriment. It’s always going to be fiscally responsible. Right now is the time to do a lot of these capital improvements and I think the city is doing a great job. I’m behind all that.

From a prioritizing standpoint, it’s so tough because no matter what you do there is a group that thinks they should be first priority. I think it’s a balance between the flood mitigation, the dredging program, the rec program and finding ways to hit all of those each year in some way.

Karen Bergman

You have served for almost the past eight years on City Council. Why are you running for re-election?

I actually served for 12 years. I was Second Ward council person from 2008 to 2012. Then they reappointed me in 2015 to cover Michael Allegretto’s term. The reason I went off council is because I moved. I always loved serving the people.

The reason I want to stay on council is, A) I want to continue to be a female voice on council and, B) I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished. And I think we have a lot more to do and I want to work with the administration to keep things moving forward for the taxpayer. I’m proud of everything we’ve done and it feels good to be on council and have that kind of relationship.

I’m running on a common-sense approach because I think we need someone who is an everyday person who can sit there, take what the administration is saying and the explanations, and the questions that the public is asking, and bring it down to a simple form and ask a question we all understand.

I feel that is something that I bring to the table. People have actually called me and said, “Hey, I was thinking of asking that question.” You have nothing to lose when you ask a question. It doesn’t matter if it’s silly or not. A question is a question. And if you have a question, have it answered. I tell my brides (at The Flanders, where she is director of catering) all the time, “No question is silly.” No question is silly. You’re a taxpayer. This is your money. If I can bring your questions and get them answered for you, I believe that’s one of the main reasons I am here.

One more thing I want to add. I think if I get re-elected I would like to take a bigger leadership role on council, president or vice president, because I believe we need a woman in leadership on council and I think it is time we have that back again. It hasn’t been since 2010 when Sue Shepherd was council president and I was council vice president in 2010, 11 and 12. I feel that I have the experience and if I am re-elected I would actively pursue getting that.

What are the most important things you have accomplished during your time on council?

As far as personally, the fact we partner with the administration and get so much done infrastructure-wise, back bay dredging, flood mitigation. But personally, my passion has always been the boardwalk because when I first started in 2008 there was so much going on. I was happy when I came back on (to council), we were in the process of replacing the boardwalk in an environmentally responsible way because that was the big topic. Also, my contributions to the Tourism Commission and its budget. I’ve watched the Tourism Commission transfer over from traditional marketing, which is TV and radio, which we still need to do, but now we have a heavy digital marketing program so I’m proud that I serve on that as well.

What qualities, background or experience do you have that make you well suited to serve on City Council?

I have a lot of life experience as a mother, 30 years as an Ocean City taxpayer. I owned a business on Asbury Avenue for seven years, which was a coffee shop so I got to feel the heartbeat of my customers. Even though that was 20 years ago, some issues never change. They’ve always came in and always talk to me. I always listened. That’s why I got involved in the first place. Now, fast forward and I’m 13 years here at The Flanders Hotel. I’m responsible for a budget of $1.5 million in revenue, I’m in the community. I handle all their fundraising events, all their social events. I’m a people-person and I’m amidst all the people in this town in a a lot of different ways. Plus, I manage a staff of probably 15 to 25 at any given time. I feel that I’m well-rounded in the community, that I can bring all that experience to the council table.

How do you balance the needs of the taxpayers, the visitors and the business community?

My biggest thing is that I’ve worked in this community in all different ways. I’ve raised my son here. I moved five different times and lived in all the different wards but the Fourth Ward. I feel that my work experience has brought me in contact with so many groups of people in this town. You wouldn’t believe the groups we have, Friends of the Ocean City Library, Ocean City Married Couples, American Italian Club, VFW, American Legion. They all do their events here so I get to know all the different issues of all the different groups.

Do you believe an Ocean City council member is elected to vote the will of the people he or she represents or do you balance that with your own values and priorities?

I believe we’re elected to vote the will of the people. However, I feel it is our responsibility to educate them. If someone is upset about something, it’s our responsibility to find out what we can do with it. Sometimes we need to educate them on policies and procedures even though they’re upset about it. We need to educate them on what we can do or why we’re doing it. I believe we’re elected to serve the people, but also to educate them.

What role does City Council have in relation to the administration? Is it advice and consent? Checks and balance? Partnership?

I think it’s a partnership. That’s how I attack being on council. I’m not a lawyer, I’m not a CFO, I’m not a business administrator. I think my role is to take the information they give us and then think about how it would affect the taxpayer and what the taxpayer would really want. I consider us to be partners, that we bring concerns of the taxpayers to them and they either implement it or explain to us why they don’t implement it.

It’s hard to do checks and balances when you’re not a professional in certain areas. I’m not an engineer. I can review different things and I’ll look over the budget because I do a budget every year, and I’ll pick out things and ask, ‘Why is that?’ And they’ll explain it to me if I disagree with it. We’ll talk it out. That’s why I consider it more to be a partnership.

What is your view of the Ocean Wind 1 wind turbine project and what role does City Council play in relation to that project?

Personally, from what I’ve heard and what I’ve read, I’m not for it. With that being said, it’s a state and federal issue. I don’t know how much control municipalities have over things of that magnitude that are coming to that area. One of my biggest concerns is we make sure that environmentally they do their homework, but I don’t think we have that much control over it.

I just want to make sure whatever they do, if they’re going to interrupt our infrastructure in any way, that we need to be compensated back to the taxpayers. I would love it if we had a bigger role. I don’t think it’s fair that we don’t. I’m not in agreement with the home rule that was passed last year. (The state Legislature passed a law, signed by the governor, that gave power over use of rights of way for projects such as the wind farm to be decided by the state Board of Public Utilities, taking that control away from municipalities.)

You balance priorities on where the need is. Flood mitigation is still the biggest need in this town. As we move from area to area, who gets the most flooding, who gets the most water, 13th Street, 14th, Simpson, Haven. They get a lot of water there, so I think we need to assess where the most difficult spots are and then go ahead and tackle it.

I think we’re doing so much. We’ve done more in 12 years than they did in 25 years before that. And there was a lot to be done because so much was neglected in the past. Especially with flood mitigation.

I remember a storm in the fall and streets that were underwater. When I went off the island to ShopRite it went down by the time I came back, so it’s working. What we’re doing is working.

We’ve gotten good at balancing salaries and office and administrative costs with capital improvements. I really think we have a great CFO. I think the world of Frank Donato. I think he does a great job. And I think the way he watches over the taxes and the taxpayers’ money is to our benefit. The fact that we are so fiscally sound gives us a leg up on our bond ratings and how we can borrow money. To me, that is huge.

I watch all that goes on and hopefully I learn in my own personal business here in being able to manage a budget. I’ve learned a lot from Frank and Leon (Costello, the city auditor).

Tom Rotondi

Although you’re not yet halfway through your first term as a ward councilman, what has motivated you to take a run at an at-large seat and, if elected, what difference would that make in your approach on council?

I actually like being on council and although people say not to say this, my family is growing. I want to remain on council. With Keith (Hartzell) running for mayor, there was a vacated seat. More importantly, I work really well with the other ward councilmen. How I fight in my ward seat is the same way I’m going to fight in my at-large seat. I’ll be able to represent everybody on the island.

Right now, when people call me from the (other wards) I’m directing them to Councilman (Jody) Levchuk or Councilman (Bobby) Barr. I’ll be able to assist alongside them, which I think the at-large council should do. It’s a unique opportunity to grow in my position, but the approach is still going to be the same. I’m still going to do what is best for the taxpayer and promote Ocean City the best way that I can.

What are the most important things you have accomplished during your time on council?

I think the main one is creating transparency, pushing for transparency. I think with the engineering contracts that we had, one company was getting 66 no-bid contracts. Developing that engineering pool to create transparency and to have competition in pricing over the last few contracts, it’s proven it’s a good thing to do. Having a pool of engineers protects the city from any improprieties, looking like they’re doing something wrong. It also protects the vendors, allows them to create competition and at the end of the day saving money for the taxpayers allows us to put in more pumps and pipes and do more quality-of-life projects. Saving taxpayer dollars … maybe some can go to parks and recreation.

I am really proud that I stood up for the Ocean City Beach Patrol when that whole thing broke on the internet. (Multiple allegations were made of improper and inappropriate behavior by some male guards.) Reading that, when I asked questions I didn’t really like the answers I got back so I wanted to make sure we were doing the right thing for the kids and for the Beach Patrol and to protect the city as well. To me, calling for an independent investigation and having someone from outside Ocean City handling it, it shows Ocean City cares about its kids. It shows that we’re not going to let those kind of things slide and if you’re going to do things that aren’t protecting Ocean City’s families, we don’t want you here.

I can’t speak to the investigation, but I know five individuals didn’t get asked to come back to the Beach Patrol. If that’s all that happens, I’m completely happy with that.

What qualities, background or experience do you have that make you well suited to serve on City Council?

I grew up in a restaurant, dealing with people all the time. When you grow up in a business, you see how everything you do affects everything that goes on. When you’re in charge of a bunch of people and see your family working hard, you realize it’s more than just you doing something. That gives me perspective.

Walking around as a councilman, I realize it’s not just me. There are families and businesses who depend on me making the right decisions for Ocean City. The city as a whole runs much better when you understand it’s not just one group of people who need to be catered to, but it’s the entire island and the entire ecosystem of the island.

Going into the military and being a police officer and a corrections officer creates honor and integrity and character in you that allows you to stand up to situations that are tough. Where a lot of people would go along to get along, I always try to find the right thing and then balance my decision on how you get to the right end.

I consult with businesses all the time to evaluate what they’re currently doing from top to bottom, to make sure they’re doing the right thing and one area isn’t affecting another area. Trying to find balance and how they’re working with outside vendors.

It’s the same thing with the city. All those things come into play when you’re making decisions on council. It’s my integrity, my willingness to stand up when something is wrong and fighting for the city and the families in the city.

How do you/will you balance the needs of the taxpayers, the visitors and the business community?

When you think about it, the taxpayer and the visitor are really the same people. The taxpayers physically live here, but the visitors come here because they want home but they want it at the shore. Some people can only afford to be here for four days, some can afford to be here for two weeks, some can stay the whole summer. They’re coming here because it’s a family-friendly, safe environment they can bring their families to and can enjoy the week, the month or the summer.

For the taxpayer, we have to make sure we’re doing the right thing for them year-round. I think everyone who is a year-round resident is used to the influx of visitors. Most of us want the visitors here. I grew up in a pizza shop and when summertime came I knew that was the time for the locals to make money.

You can’t ignore the taxpayer who is on the island year-round but you have to make sure there is a friendly environment for the taxpayers who keep coming, because if they don’t come, things start to dwindle and some of the services we have start to go away.

Tourism really funds the machine that is Ocean City. I think we’re unique in that way. People come here because they want to be safe. They want to know that you have the boardwalk, the streets are clean, the police are here, you can let your kid go up on the boardwalk and not worry about them. It’s just like home.

You obviously want to take care of the businesses, making sure it is a friendly atmosphere for all businesses, not just a few. You want to grow opportunities.

Do you believe an Ocean City council member is elected to vote the will of the people he or she represents or do you balance that with your own values and priorities?

I think 100 percent you’re elected to represent the people that put you in office. There are two sides to it. There’s the getting elected part and then actually doing the job. If you’re good, you go out and talk to people, you knock on doors, not just one or two but hundreds and hundreds. You begin to thread the needle, that this is what the community wants, because you’re talking to the people.

A lot of people don’t have the opportunity to come to a council meeting. We’re elected to be their voice. That’s how the system was set up. They don’t have the time to read through contracts, to see what vendors are coming through or what’s happening with public safety or public works. They elected us to do that. We have to go out there and make sure their voices are being heard.

The values I believe in are just like any other family. You want a safe place to sleep, you want to make sure your kids are protected, they have good schools, and you want to know at the end of the day you can repeat it all over again. Everything in my character, my integrity, lends itself to that. You have to represent the people but you have to do it with your integrity and values.

What role does City Council have in relation to the administration? Is it advice and consent? Checks and balance? Partnership?

I think it’s all three. When it comes to appointing people to boards, I think it should be advice and consent. With the no-bid contracts, that was a check and balance put into place. We put a check in place and now we have bidded contracts that create competition and we’re saving money. The city administration when they say they’re going to do it we ask questions, be as transparent as possible, and make sure it’s the right thing for the city. Most of the time the city administration is doing a wonderful job. It’s the few areas where the check and balance comes into play.

For the partnership, there should be a relationship with the administration that this is the one-year plan, five-year plan, 10-year plan, 20-year plan, and you’re working together those kind of things are being done. With anything in life, if you don’t have one-, three-, five-, 10-year goals, I have goals all the way until the day I die. I try to reverse engineer it. With the city you have to have a 100-year plan and reverse engineer that back to today, and see where you want to go, otherwise you get lost.

What is your view of the Ocean Wind 1 wind turbine project and what role does City Council play in relation to that project?

When this came up on our agenda and we were going to start talking about this, I did a lot of research … what people are saying for it, saying against it, because I want real perspective. I love the ocean, I surf, I love being in the ocean, I’m also an avid outdoors person. I want to protect the environment. … I came to realize that wind turbines are the least effective green energy out there. To me, if you’re trying to achieve green energy I don’t think this is the most optimal way to do it. I know a lot of people say it’s better than nothing, but I would sooner see something inland, whether nuclear … or solar, but I would rather it be on every rooftop in every city than putting these things into the ocean, destroying the ocean beds. That’s what’s going to happen.

When you start pounding these things into the ocean, you’re going to scare fish away and some of them won’t come back. You hope you have some really smart people like Elon Musk and in a few years you’ll have (better ideas). If you’re trying to be green, and want to put up windmills to feel good about ourselves, then great, you achieved that. But if you’re actually doing it because you want green energy, it’s the least effective way to do it with the most damage to the environment.

I think the city has done a good job with flooding and back bay dredging. No one is complaining about that. I’m going to go back to the 66 no-bid contracts. I think we need to make sure we’re doing it at the right cost with the right people because I think we could have had a lot more done. There are some areas we need to focus on more. I think we need to continue with the capital improvement projects, but I’d like to see more quality-of-life stuff, parks and recreation. Also coordination of streets. We have all these different projects where we’re paving streets and putting in pipes and pumps, and then a few weeks later — and I hear this all over the island — the gas company came in or somebody came in and ripped it up again. There should be more coordination with the projects.

The infrastructure projects that are going on are pretty good. If we can save the money and do it for the right price, we can get a lot more done. For instance, I think the public safety building is a big issue – $47 million or $45 million for a public safety building when we need a new police station. To me, build a start-of-the-art police station where you’re protecting the police officers and the citizens and take the extra money and put it into quality-of-life stuff. Or speed up the timeline on the flood mitigation.

Michael DeVlieger

You served more than two full terms, then a family crisis led you to resign from council last August. Now that it has been resolved, you are eager to resume your work on City Council. Why do you want to return?

The simplest way to put it is unfinished business. There are a number of initiatives that I was involved in that are still active, that still need to be addressed and taken through to completion. I want to continue to be a positive influence on those matters because I believe they affect our community.

We have an $88 million budget target for this year. It’s important that we have people who challenge those things, that do their homework, because it’s a lot of money and needs to be allocated properly. I pride myself on listening to my constituents and working hard. I do my homework and I’m independent. I think that brings value to the council. The simplest way to say it is I care and I work hard.

What are the most important things you have accomplished during your time on council?

I think some of the littlest things can be very significant because they might affect a family, a community group. They’re all in their own ways special. Probably the project I’m best known for and I enjoyed as a labor of love is the skate park. It was coordinating with varying interests, different types of skaters, the community that surrounded the park, just finding the ideal location was a journey. I believe we got it right. We have a balanced park in its design. It’s safe, it has been really well received and brought us a lot of attention nationally. It’s helped tourism. Most importantly it has helped our youth because not every kid is going to make the basketball team or the football team, but virtually every kid at some level can skate.

I had one individual that stands out in my mind that came to me. He’s in college now and he said it saved his life. He said, “I didn’t have friends. I didn’t know where I fit in in school.” And he said when the park opened he was there every day. He said, “I got to know everybody that was coming in and I practiced and practiced and got better.”

That individual comes back and volunteers and runs things at the park now and is such an outstanding young man. To have him say that, all of what I have done on council did not add up to what that young man said to me. It really touched me.

You have flood mitigation. Those streets in the north end, Third Street, going back to the bay, we raised that two and a half feet. Think about the amount of flooding that was happening in that area. Not only did we put the pumping station in, but we elevated all that and leveled it back properly to the houses and pitched it right. We got those pumps that work beautifully now.

It doesn’t stop flooding. We can’t stop flooding. That’s the nature of the beast, but it gets the water out of there fast afterwards. It floods at my house, too. I can’t stop it, but once the tide goes down and the rain stops, it pumps right out and we go back to business. Undoubtedly that increases the real estate value of that whole area back there. The quality of life of those residents was improved on a daily basis. Things like that. It might be a playground. Each project affects different people so it’s hard to measure if one is better than the other. It’s all relative to the person who is helped out.

What qualities, background or experience do you have that make you well suited to serve on City Council?

I think it’s a combination of things. It’s my personal theme that I say that I care. It means you go the extra mile to get things done. I’ve had a lot of varied experience growing up. I was here every summer of my life. I worked in half of the places in town. It’s in my blood. I was blessed to great opportunity and a great education at Penn. That’s one factor. A degree doesn’t mean everything, but it means you can get something accomplished and work through things. It helps me all the time.

I’ve owned a business in town. I’ve had responsibilities for other people’s families and lives through my business. I have worked with my hands. I love the beach, I love the bay. When we have dredging and beach replenishment, I go down and check them out and ask questions. One of the first things I did on council is I mapped every pothole in the north end and put together a binder and gave it to the city and said I want to work through these. That’s what we started to do. Eventually we got to paving those roads.

I think if you have someone who has hustle, and isn’t afraid to get their hands dirty, and a certain level of intellect — I’m not going to say I’m a rock star or anything, but I care. I think that goes a long way.

How will you balance the needs of the taxpayers, the visitors and the business community?

I consider them all taxpayers — the citizens, the visitors and the business community — and I think it is a careful balance between the three because we have a formula here in Ocean City that has worked to our benefit for over 100 years. It’s no secret that livelihoods of most people involve hospitality, vacations, tourism, real estate and everything here. You have to stay true to our brand.

America’s Greatest Family Resort is very befitting for our community, but if you do everything for the citizens of Ocean City, and don’t think about the tourists and second-home owners, you get out of whack because they won’t want to be here. They are a vital part of our formula.

Saving the high school years ago (voters approved a referendum and the new high school opened in 2004) was critical for keeping businesses here anchored in Ocean City. That was the right thing to do because otherwise we wouldn’t have wintertime businesses. They would all disappear. And that would hurt the quality of life of the year-round citizen.

Each aspect has to be address individually based on the merits. You can’t go too far one way or the other. You have to keep it in harmony. I think you have to take a hands-on approach to it and you have to plan, five-year plan, three-year plan, one-year plan, of what you’re going to accomplish. While doing that you have to keep in mind to keep it balanced, the end goal is that you’re helping all three proportionately.

Do you believe an Ocean City council member is elected to vote the will of the people he or she represents or do you balance that with your own values and priorities?

I have been very lucky in the sense that I don’t know of a vote that I’ve had to make that was in conflict with the will of my constituents. I can’t think of anything, frankly. I’ve enjoyed that. But at the end of the day if I was faced with a situation where the majority of my constituents wanted something that I opposed, I would have to do some deep soul-searching. I can’t think of what that would be, but I think you elect someone because you have some level of faith in their moral barometer. I look at the historical trajectory of our community. It’s family-oriented, it’s moral, it’s friendly. I think if we continue to be progressive in our community without going against our secret sauce, our values, we’ll be in great shape.

What role does City Council have in relation to the administration? Is it advice and consent? Checks and balance? Partnership?

It’s all of the above. By the nature of the design of our government, we’re legislators and we have responsibility for approval of the budget and how it’s spent. You can’t do that without good communication and mutual respect with the administration. I’ve been involved in years that went beautifully and I’ve see seen years that it hasn’t. Usually when there is an issue or a conflict between the two, it’s usually one side or both sides saying, “It’s either my way or the highway.” Good government is when you can sit down and respect someone and maybe have that tough conversation but find middle ground where you can get things accomplished. At times I think we’ve run into that challenge and I’d like to bring a little more of that balance back when I come back. I’ve had a little time to reflect on things and that is one thing I would like to drive home.

Whomever is our next mayor, whether it’s Jay (Gillian) or Keith (Hartzell), I’ve worked with both successfully and I think we have to get back to basics and treating each other well and doing things that are right for the community and not all one way or the other. Plans have to be willing to be tweaked. That rigidness isn’t good.

What is your view of the Ocean Wind 1 wind turbine project and what role does City Council play in relation to that project?

What role do we play? We’re entrusted by our constituents to advocate for their best interests. This project, as it’s been presented and the way it’s being driven right now, is not in the interests of Ocean City. It might be in the best interest of folks in north Jersey, but they’re not paying the price that we will. And not just Ocean City, but all of Cape May County. We have one of the lowest employment rates in the state and the vast majority of our employment is tied to tourism and fishing.

This stands to negatively affect both of those things. …. When it comes to tourism, that affects everything. If people don’t want to come and look at the windmills offshore, and they don’t want to see the industrial park being built, with all these ships and drilling and banging, and helicopters are going to be flying above. … We’re going to be looking at that. Do you think people want to vacation and look at that? … If you’re hurting tourism here, you’re hurting property values here. If you’re hurting property values here, our ratables will go down and our tax rate will go up. We’ll all be paying higher taxes.

They’ve already told us the price of energy will be more expensive, not less expensive .… I firmly encourage our community and the county to fight this legally and fight it as long as we can. Time kills all deals. This administration will not be in forever, and I think we have a fighting chance of stopping this.

Over the last decade, the administration and council have been very responsible in picking up where a lot of other administrations didn’t invest in our infrastructure. It had gotten really bad. We absolutely need to continue in that direction. There are still areas in town that could be a lot better.

Flooding isn’t going to stop. We’re going to continually need to battle that. We’ll have continuing maintenance on the pump stations and everything else. The utility companies are always seeming like they’re always ripping something up. I would like to see the utility companies work in collaboration with the city better. They’re supposed to. We have to incrementally plan for infrastructure improvements because once they get done you have to start over again. It’s the nature of maintenance. It’s like putting oil in your car. You have to do it if you want to maintain your vehicle. By ignoring it, you’re just going to drive your car into the ground. You can’t do that.

There were a lot of administrations who did drive their car without oil. I credit both the administration and council with being aggressive about it.

John ‘Tony P’ Polcini

Why are you running for an at-large seat on City Council?

I want to take the experience that I’ve had and put families first. I grew up here my whole life and I feel the taxpayers and residents are what make Ocean City. I want to be a voice for them.

What are the most important things you want to accomplish during your time on council?

I feel there is a lot of division right now on City Council and I’m hoping to bring some of that unity back. I feel that it’s about the taxpayers, the families that are here. It’s not about us. I feel like we as a council need to come together and make the best decisions for the taxpayers and the people who live here in Ocean City.

What qualities, background or experience do you have that make you well suited to serve on City Council?

I’ve been a lifelong resident and lived her pretty much my whole life. I was fortunate enough to work at one of the most successful business on the island (Manco and Manco Pizza). Mr. and Mrs. Manco taught me so much about working hard, that you’ll be rewarded for your hard work, and that working hard paves the way for so much more in life.

I feel, too, that I was taught that you have to spend money to make money. In City Council, I want to take some of those values that I learned and grew up with in this town, that I raised my family with in this town, and hopefully take them to council and continue the values and traditions I grew up with.

How will you balance the needs of the taxpayers, the visitors and the business community?

It’s a check and balance. Just as in life, it’s a balance. You can’t please everybody. If you’re pleasing everybody, you’re doing something wrong. And if you’re pleasing nobody, you’re doing something wrong. But if you’re pleasing some and not others, I think you’re doing the right thing. That’s what I hope to bring. I hope to bring to this community the knowledge and I hope to learn something every day if I am elected to council.

I feel in this town there is so much that we are doing. I think the mayor has done such a great job. I feel to continue what he is doing here and the momentum, I want to be a part of that team to keep the momentum going.

Do you believe an Ocean City council member is elected to vote the will of the people he or she represents or do you balance that with your own values and priorities?

I think it’s a little of both. You do what’s best for the taxpayers and Ocean City, but also living in this town, you want to do the right thing. I think you want to put the taxpayers first, but you also bring the values you grew up with and make that part of the decision-making.

I believe in God, I believe in prayer and I believe that on a lot of decisions for this town you want to do what’s right, especially with how you’ve grown up and with your values. I think your values are important in any decision you make. If it’s being made for the city, I think you use your values and also what’s right for the people.

What role does City Council have in relation to the administration? Is it advice and consent? Checks and balance? Partnership?

It’s a little of all. It is a partnership. Like I said before about City Council, we need to bring it back together. It’s a little divided. Bringing us all unity and keeping everybody in check and balance. I feel a balance is so important in life in anything that you do, whether it’s City Council, whether it’s a job, you have to have good balance in life. I definitely see it as a partnership with the administration. Ultimately it’s their decision, but it’s a partnership. I hope the administration comes to us with suggestions and vice versa, that we talk it out, hear each other’s points and reasons, and come to a collective decision.

What is your view of the Ocean Wind 1 wind turbine project and what role does City Council play in relation to that project?

Not being on council, I don’t know much about it. I want to get more informed about that to make an educated decision. Right now, I don’t have a lot of knowledge on it. I’m neither for it or against it. I want to learn more about it before I have an opinion on that.

I think [Mayor Jay Gillian] and his administration has done a great job with improvements and infrastructure. Look at our boardwalk and how beautiful it is. The dredging has been done as needed. Our tax rate, with the property values in this city, is one of the best, if not the best, in the area.

This year we haven’t raised taxes. Again, I think Jay’s administration has done a great job and will continue. Hopefully I can be part of that team to continue to help infrastructure in this city. As far as Ocean City, I think we’ve done a wonderful job and I want to continue doing these projects and helping the city stay as strong as it is.

Donna Moore

Why are you running for an at-large seat on City Council?

My goal is to be a voice for year-round residents’ quality-of-life issues within neighborhoods throughout our island community, and to raise awareness of and encourage protection for our natural assets that make us special as a barrier island.

What is the primary thing you want to accomplish on City Council?

I am listening to our residents’ concerns about the effects of redevelopment of oversized structures on the quality of life in their neighborhoods. Our Municipal Land Use Master Plan, written as a guide for our municipal development, continues to lose its protective strength as guidelines are expanded to allow increasing building density and are skirted by developers’ “hardship” variances.

Our island’s post-Sandy storm redevelopment with height limits expanded to 50 feet for residential structures has been beneficial in the areas of lower elevation experiencing the most damage. Conversely, the 50-foot height increase in areas of higher elevation is driving redevelopment of structures that present as detrimental to the existing integrity of neighborhoods not damaged by Sandy or flooding.

What qualities, background or experience do you have that make you well suited to serve on City Council?

I have been a member of two citizen volunteer groups appointed by our municipality, and continue to be a member of citizen advocacy groups. During several years of Zoning Board meeting attendance, I have observed the variance procedures used for redevelopment. During my years of environmental advocacy and attendance at City Council meetings, I have regularly read agenda packets informing me about our municipality’s conduct of business. All of the above facets of municipal participation have prepared me to seek a seat on our Ocean City Council.

How will you balance the needs of the taxpayers, the visitors and the business community?

Our municipality maintains a strong tourism economy, in attending to the needs of tourism, real estate and development, and to our downtown and boardwalk commercial sectors. I see a need for our municipality to strengthen its attention, in addition to its focus, on roads and drainage, in listening to the quality-of-life concerns of our year-round residents in their neighborhoods.

Do you believe an Ocean City Council member is elected to vote the will of the people he or she represents or do you balance that with your own values and priorities?

My years of City Council meeting attendance and listening to the concerns of our year-round residents have formed the base of my campaign platform.

I have sought for our municipality to understand that applying synthetic chemical lawn pesticides on our barrier island is exposing our families, children, pets and wildlife to these contaminants, and polluting our marine ecosystems via rain and flood runoff. During my years of environmental advocacy, I have learned that many of our year-round residents are also concerned about our environmental issues here.

What role does City Council have in relation to the administration? Is it advice and consent? Check and balance? Partnership?

As City Council members work to represent the various groups of voters who elected them; then I perceive the duties of council to be a mixture of at times advice and consent, when the administration is aligned with their constituents’ concerns, and mutual partnership in goals for our municipality, or at times as checks and balances, when diplomacy is required, in negotiating for the best interests of our island as a whole, for our citizens and our taxpayers.

What is your view of the Ocean Wind 1 wind turbine project and what role does City Council play in relation to that project?

First we acknowledge that our scientific community has informed us for decades of our need to reduce our human-initiated production of global warming gases, but we have been slow to use this information for redirection of our energy production.

Now our warming Earth is driving the increasing frequency and magnitude of storms and flooding, affecting many populations of people globally, while the effects of global warming are interrupting ecosystem balances that terrestrial and marine species need to survive. Our children’s and grandchildren’s futures are at stake.

I see an urgent need to maintain open communication with Ørsted in its Ocean Wind 1 wind turbine project. As a future council person, I will advocate for the best interests of our community, for potentially rerouting transmission cables and for the most current and protective engineering designs to be used in the components of the project to which our community will be exposed. Definitive answers must also be sought in the methods of and responsibility for the decommissioning and dismantling of the expended turbines.

Residents in many areas over our island are pleased with our municipality’s ongoing infrastructure projects in roads and alleys repaving, flooding mitigation and the dredging of many lagoons. As these projects are completed, and while other flood mitigation projects are under way, routine maintenance will of course continue for some areas, such as our existing flood mitigation pumping systems and preserving our boardwalk.

As the integrity of the recently repaved street surfaces continues to be affected by perpetual redevelopment street openings; then we need to look at a system of responsibility for resurfacing of these streets that does not burden the taxpayers.

Through a whole-island approach in continuing to address various methods of flooding mitigation, it is time to critically assess the continuing decrease of permeable land in higher elevations of our island. Focusing on greater runoff absorption in these areas, through sufficient permeable land surfaces, and also in the use of permeable pavers for paved surfaces, will help improve onsite mitigation of runoff and avoid contribution to and complication of flooding issues in adjacent areas of lower elevation, and further potential associated taxpayer costs.

In continuing a whole-island approach, sufficient parking is an urgent infrastructure need. As the building density of our neighborhoods increases, our year-round residents are observing that the parking spaces allotted for the large redeveloped structures is insufficient for the number of vehicles associated with these buildings’ use, and that consequently adequate parking in their neighborhoods becomes an issue.

These resident observations are helpful in understanding the potential need to increase parking space requirements for the large redeveloped structures. Additionally, longtime residents in older neighborhoods continue to ask about year-round resident parking permits as their older neighborhoods experience greater peak-season congestion. While the proposed downtown parking garage would relieve parking issues in that area, we need to take the above proposed whole-island approach to solving the parking needs within our many residential neighborhoods.