Ocean City Mayor and City Council Regular Meeting – September 2, 2025
Ocean City Mayor and City Council Regular Meeting – September 2, 2025
Meeting convened at 6:00 PM and adjourned at 6:32 PM. Councilmember Proctor was absent for the entire meeting. The council approved a consent agenda, discussed a public art mural for Northside Park, awarded a major wastewater treatment plant contract, passed five ordinances and two resolutions, and offered tributes to a deceased community leader. No public comments were made.
Consent Calendar
- Approved unanimously (6–0) the following items:
- Minutes of the August 26, 2025 Work Session.
- Acknowledgement of standing committee agendas (Police Commission, Tourism, Transportation, Coastal Resources Legislative, Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory) with noted time/location changes.
- Private event approval for the AGH Penguin Swim (January 1, 2026).
- Private event approval for Sand Duels Beach Soccer (June 6–7 and July 25, 2026).
- Approval of the 2026 Mayor and City Council Meeting Calendar (Councilmember DeLuca questioned two consecutive blank weeks in June; no change was made).
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public spoke.
Discussion Items
- White Marlin Catch and Release Award Check Presentation: Mayor and council honored the angler Hannah and Captain Bobby Leighton for catching the first white marlin of the 2025 season. A ceremonial check was presented. No vote required.
- Northside Park Building Mural (Recreation and Parks Committee Report):
- Public works staff reported that muralist Brandon Bell offered to design and paint a mural on the back of the east gym at no cost to the city, with maintenance provided for 10 years. The city manager selected a design (Option 1).
- The Recreation and Parks Committee (Councilmembers Gehrig and Proctor) did not approve the design, instead referring the matter to the full council for input.
- Councilmembers discussed whether to include the Ocean City brand mark and the word "smile." Councilmember Gehrig opposed the selected design, preferring broader input; others supported it.
- Motion to approve the city manager’s selected mural (Option 1) carried 5–1 (Gehrig opposed, Proctor absent). The artist remains open to minor tweaks.
- Wastewater Treatment Plant Influent Headworks Improvements – Bid Award and Funding:
- Public Works Director Hal Adkins reported that two bids were received; the low bid from Ronka Inc. was $41,641,000 (estimated at $42 million). The project rebuilds facilities originally designed in 1967 and will take about three years.
- Staff requested three approvals: (1) award the contract to Ronka Inc., (2) transfer $3 million from the wastewater fund balance, and (3) acknowledge the need for a $5 million supplemental resolution (later approved as Resolution 2025-21).
- Motion passed 6–0 to approve all three recommendations.
Second Readings – Ordinances (all passed 6–0)
- Ordinance 2025-20: Adopt FY25 Budget Amendment #2 (as presented on August 12).
- Ordinance 2025-21: Amend Chapter 34 (Fire Prevention and Protection) to align with Maryland State Fire Code NFPA 1 and 101 changes (approved July 29).
- Ordinance 2025-22: Amend Chapter 39, Article III (Beach Photographers Franchise) as reviewed August 12.
- Ordinance 2025-23: Adopt mutual aid agreement with Worcester County Commissioners and Sheriff’s Office for reciprocal aid with Ocean City Police.
- Ordinance 2025-24: Adopt reciprocal mutual aid agreement among multiple law enforcement agencies in Worcester County.
Resolutions (both passed 6–0)
- Resolution 2025-21: Declare intent to reimburse expenditures with proceeds of debt (not to exceed $5 million) for the Wastewater Treatment Plant Influent Headworks Improvement project.
- Resolution 2025-22: Authorize disposition of surplus personal property.
Key Outcomes
- Consent agenda approved 6–0.
- Northside Park mural approved 5–1 (Gehrig opposed, Proctor absent).
- Wastewater treatment contract, fund transfer, and funding resolution approved 6–0.
- Five ordinances (2025-20 through 2025-24) each approved 6–0 on second reading.
- Two resolutions (2025-21 and 2025-22) each approved 6–0.
- Upcoming special meeting scheduled for Tuesday, September 9, 2025 at 9:30 AM to hear appeals of five revoked business licenses, followed by a closed session and work session.
- Council expressed appreciation for city staff’s summer efforts and offered condolences on the passing of Dr. Berger, a prominent community leader and hotelier.
- No public comments were received.
- Meeting adjourned at 6:32 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening, everyone. Welcome to this regular council meeting. Today is Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025, at 6 p.m. First on the agenda, I have our prayer and pledge. Both of those will be led by Councilmember Yates. Let us pray, please. Lord, we're grateful and humbled that you gave us the gift of another day in your beautiful creation of Ocean City. Lord guide us on our decisions and our positions as we strive to keep our city safe and secure. We are honored to serve the people who live and work and play here. Lord, we are saddened a bit this week. Businessman, Mr. Larry Holden Sr. He passed away on Friday afternoon. And may rest uh Lord, may you please rest him in your arms. Amen. Thank you. I pledge allegiance to the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Larry. Next we have items presented by the mayor and city council. We have the award check for presentation for the 2025 first white marlin catch and release. Mr. Mayor. Well, this is one of those fun things that the Marin City Council gets to do. And uh since we're the White Marlin capital of the year, capital of the world, uh, I think everybody knows that we do offer as the town uh a prize for the first white marlin that's caught each and every year. And this year uh we do have uh the angler for that caught the first white marl. I'd like to ask the angler, the crew to please come on up. And before we take that picture, let's we're gonna have to say a few words. Captain, Captain Bobby Leighton on the record, and they were the first ones out there to catch this white marlin. So maybe tell us a little bit about it. Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, we were fishing uh tuna's in tieres, it's actually just a tuna tournament, a ladies tournament. So there was five or six six lady anglers on the boat. Um, and then Cody's my mate, and then Zach is Hannah's girlfriend, so he was riding along to help out. And we called a few tunas and then shoot, it was probably 30 minutes into our day, and a white marlin came up, and we all knew there hadn't been one called yet, so we're all freaking out, screaming and stuff. We're like, oh, it's money, you know, money swim by on the boat. So came up and then we hooked him and it started jumping and we got everything in and went back as fast as we could and got them up and got a picture of them and threw them back and pretty much got on the radio right away to make sure. I was like, hey, I think we caught the first one of the season. Everyone's like, yeah, we sure did. Thanks a lot, you know. But no, it was great. And then Hannah did a great job. Everyone did a great job, but it was pretty awesome. So congratulations, both of you. Hannah, would you like to tell us what happened? Uh well, he pretty much covered the gist of it, but we had a great group. Um, we went with a bunch of friends um from the captain to the mate to our anglers. Um we had a great time. And it was very unexpected, like he said as a tuna tournament. We had no idea what was gonna come up.
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