Five candidates are running for three open seats on Ocean City Council in the May 13 municipal election.
The winners will serve four-year terms in at-large positions. City Council includes seven members — four elected from the city’s individual wards and three elected at-large by the entire Ocean City electorate.
Candidates are (in reverse alphabetical order): Eric Sauder, Pete Madden, Mike Hyson, incumbent Keith Hartzell and incumbent Michael Allegretto.
The following includes biographical and platform information provided by the candidate and a brief profile — along with a favorite Ocean City memory (just for the fun of it).
BIO:
Age: 59
Education: Bachelor of Science degree from Elizabethtown College
No. of years lived in Ocean City: 10 full-time (vacationed at family property since 1960)
Family: Father of three children (two sons and one daughter)
Occupation: Retired audit officer for bank holding company and systems analyst for Case-New Holland Farm Equipment. Works part-time in Ocean City.
Public service: Regular attendee at City Council, Planning Board and Zoning Board meetings in Ocean City
PLATFORM:
- Thrive as a Community: “First priority should be to try to restore our year-round population and business community.”
- Get Control Over Spending: “It is unbelievable that out of a $70 million budget, we can’t find money to address our basic needs. We need to take a long, hard look at how we spend money.”
- Invest in Our Town: “In the last several years, we have watched our infrastructure deteriorate. Finally — in the fourth year of this administration and eighth year of our incumbent council candidates — we are beginning to address our huge infrastructure and maintenance needs with a capital plan that borrows $50 million over the next five years. We need to catch up, but the key is to allocate adequate funds out of the annual budget for infrastructure and maintenance on an annual basis.”
- Restore System of Checks and Balances: “Divergent opinions and interests from people of good will need a place at the table. We have a wealth of expertise and experience among our citizens that is largely untapped.”
- Let’s Build This Community: “My pledge to you is that I will bring citizens and property owners into the process.”
REPORTER’S PROFILE:
An independent voice, Sauder was a fixture at City Council meetings long before he had any intention of running for office.
Sauder champions a number of causes, but common themes are what he sees as the decline of Ocean City as a year-round community and the loss of small businesses.
“They are so preoccupied with rezoning this town for development,” Sauder says. “Zoning really is the key to the future of Ocean City.”
“The key to getting our business community going is to get our residency up. The two go hand-in-hand.”
He suggests the city should do more to uphold zones for single-family homes and should aggressively market Ocean City as a place to live.
Sauder has never been reluctant to challenge conventional wisdom and regularly speaks at public meetings.
On the oft-repeated phrase that “we’re working as a team, Sauder says, “That’s really not what effective government is. I think we need people to be more independent.”
Sauder vows, if elected, to hold community meetings frequently and to solicit expertise from within the community.
He approves of the city administration’s commitment to spending more on improving Ocean City roads and infrastructure, but he believes the city should do at least some of the work without borrowing money. At the same time, he says he sees the potential for spending cuts.
“I think we could cut the budget easily by 5 percent, and I think that should be a goal,” Sauder says.
DEFINING OCEAN CITY MEMORY:
Sauder’s dream Ocean City day started by riding one of those vintage canvas-coated rubber rafts on his knees until they bled. Then he’d go to Campbell’s with his Dad for takeout seafood before heading to the boardwalk in the evening.
COMING UP:
Ssauder will hold a “Meet the Candidate” event 7 p.m. Monday (March 31) in Room N116, at the Ocean City Free Public Library (17th Street and Simpson Avenue). All are welcome.
