By MADDY VITALE
Ocean City knows how to take some of the tenseness out of the heated race for mayor and three City Council At-Large seats.
When it came down to selecting ballot positions Friday afternoon, Mayor Jay Gillian and his opponent, Councilman At-Large Keith Hartzell, flipped a coin. Hartzell chose tails and won the toss for the first slot on the ballot for the May 10 municipal election.
Hartzell is leaving his Council seat in order to run in the mayoral race.
And the six Council candidates vying for three at-large seats did something even quirkier than a coin toss – they picked their ballot positions from purple plastic eggs.
“It’s like picking out of a hat,” City Clerk Melissa Rasner explained. “We are close to Easter, so why not make it fun? It makes what could be a tense moment a little lighter.”
Rasner noted that the selection process out of a “hat” or, in this case, a reusable bag, is not new.
“Whenever we have multiple candidates, we do it to be fair,” she said.
Council incumbents Karen Bergman and Pete Madden are running for re-election in the at-large election. Bergman and Madden are seeking their third, four-year terms. Their running mate, John “Tony P” Polcini, is making his first foray into elected politics.
Second Ward Councilman Tom Rotondi, who won his Second Ward seat in 2020, is another candidate seeking an at-large seat. He does not have to give up his Second Ward seat to run for at-large. However, Rotondi would have to resign from the Second Ward if he won an at-large seat.
Former First Ward Councilman Michael DeVlieger is looking to get back on the governing body by running for an at-large Council seat.
Local environmental advocate Donna Moore is also seeking an at-large seat. She ran unsuccessfully for a First Ward seat against Councilman Terry Crowley Jr. in the November election.
The formal names of the candidates and their positions on the ballot are as follows for the nonpartisan election to be held on May 10.
For Mayor: Keith P. Hartzell has the first slot, then Mayor Jay A. Gillian.
For City Council At-Large, the order on the ballot will be: Tomaso J. Rotondi, Karen Bergman, John A. Polcini “Tony P,” Michael DeVlieger, Peter V. Madden and Donna A. Moore.
