By MADDY VITALE
Fourth Ward Councilman Dave Winslow filed his nominating petitions Monday for the Ocean City municipal election in May.
Winslow was joined by his supporters, campaign manager, Bart Russell and John Derrickson.
The Fourth Ward is an area that stretches from the south side of 26th Street to 59th Street.
After turning in his petitions to City Clerk Melissa Rasner, the retired human resources executive, said , “I absolutely love what I’m doing.”
“I retired in January and I want to give back to the community that has been so good to me and my family,” he said.
Winslow wants to continue his focus on projects to lessen flooding and to beautify the 34th Street gateway into town.
Winslow has lived in Ocean City since 1977 with his wife, Kathleen. They have lived in the same home on Bayland Drive for 41 years and raised their three sons in Ocean City, where they went through the Ocean City school system.
“The boulevard is going to be elevated, so it is timely to make the corridor appealing. We want it to be appealing all the way to the ocean,” he noted. “It’s a major gateway. We have an obligation to make it look beautiful and give people that feeling that they have arrived.”
He said that it could be an “easy fix” if everyone works together.
“We would work with the county and it would be done in phases,” he said. “It needs to be greener. We need appealing signage. We need to talk about what we want it to look like.”
Winslow also talked about flood mitigation projects, including a plan to create a raised berm, or “vegetated wall,” along the Crook Horn Creek Nature Trail using state grant money, for better storm protection for the homes in the surrounding area.
He emphasized that the second phase of the Merion Park flood mitigation project is vital to the residents in that neighborhood to provide further relief from flooding.
“Now, we’re going into the second phase of that project and we want to keep that going,” Winslow said.
Winslow has served his community in the past.
He formerly served in elected office as a member of the Ocean City Board of Education from 1999 to 2007. He also served as Night in Venice chairman for many years. He returned to that role to oversee the 2023 Night in Venice celebration. He was also appointed to the Ocean City Free Public Library Board of Trustees over the summer, but had to step down to take the Council seat.
Winslow’s seat isn’t the only one up in this municipal election. Council candidates must submit their nominating petitions by Feb. 29 to be eligible to run in the May 14 municipal election.
On Monday, Winslow became the second candidate to turn in the petitions. First Ward Councilman Terry Crowley Jr. was the first.
All four ward seats are all up for election for full four-year terms. In addition to Crowley and Winslow, Second Ward Councilman Tom Rotondi and Third Ward Councilman Jody Levchuk, have taken out nominating petitions.
In addition, there is a vacancy that was created by the resignation of At-Large Councilwoman Karen Bergman. Bergman stepped down to take a new job as supervisor of Ocean City’s senior citizens center.
There will be a spot on the election ballot for candidates seeking to fill Bergman’s unexpired term through 2026. Former First Ward Councilman Mike DeVlieger has already announced that he will run for the at-large seat.
Former At-Large Councilman Keith Hartzell, Sean Barnes, the director at Enterprise Asset Management Inc. and a licensed captain and owner of a local sailing charter business, Sail Atlantic LLC., and restauranteur Paul Stryker have also picked up nominating petitions.
On Monday, the city clerk said that no other candidates for the municipal election have submitted their petitions to the City Clerk’s Office as of yet.
