##VIDEO ID:ZJcLD46AOAc## all right well good morning I'm sorry good afternoon everybody thank you for coming out today it's always a great day in Ocean City we get to swear on our new city councilman uh this year our four award so uh it's a great honor to have him up here and I'm I'm proud everybody was come out to see this democracy and action here people getting elected get sworn in to serve the people so it's a great day for Ocean City first I would like to ask everybody to stand as Vince Ley our Pops conductor plays the national anth I I [Music] [Applause] can everybody please your remain stand it as we do our flag salute I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all please be seated now we have for uh our invation I like chapl John Jameson from the farmer Department please come up I thought I saw him I guess not all right we keep moving all right so today we have our um our elected officials here and we also have elect officials that come to join us I know Bobby bar was on his way I don't know if you made it up yet I know we're us our state of suban and state senator i' like to be here Michael Testa Eric Sims and Anon mclan they're all on the way it's a difficult day of traffic so I we do appreciate the effort to come here and join us as we welcome our new elected officials here now we're going to move into the swearing in how we're going to do this is we're going to bring up each Council elect to be sworn in that once we get through the four swearing ends each councilman have a chance to address the crowd to give the remarks um to everyone so first up we have councilman for the first word Terry Crowley throwing him in as James Sun McCulla and holding the Bible will be his family come on up [Applause] everybody okay family right over here that this one okay everybody today good wonderful beautiful day okay pronounce your name Terry Crowley do you Som me swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States I do the constit constitution of the state of New Jersey I do that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same I do to this government established in the United States I do and in the state I do Under the office of State your office city council first word to the best of my ability to the best of my ability I do so help me God so help me God congratulations thank [Applause] you I first met this great gentleman and his family uh on the ball fields of eggh har Township here's was a fellow that volunteered and his wife Jennifer for every imaginable event in the Big Town of V Harvard Township so it gives me a great deal of honor to be here to swear in my old friend Jerry Crowley and also recognize all the great Council and mayor of The Great Ocean City thank [Applause] you I'd like to bring up councilman elect from second word Keith harzel rgie ker will'll be swinging him in and Becky Fel be bringing up and holding the Bible please say I I Keith harzel Keith harzel do solemnly swear affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of New Jersey do you yes I do that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and in this state yes I do Under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of Office of the second ward councilman according to the best of my ability so help you God and so help you God thank you okay thank you now i' would like to bring forward for the third world councilman elect Joey love Melissa rasner our clerk will be swinging him in and daughter holding the Bible raise your right hand repeat after me I jod lechu I jod levchuk do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and Allegiance I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the government's established to the same and the government's established in the united states in the United States and in the state and in the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of the office all the duties of the office of third Board counsilman of third board councilman according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability congratulations thank [Applause] you and for the fourth word we have our councilman elect Dave winow ding AC cross from swearing in holding a Bible be his granddaughter and family [Applause] yeah you can slide over the whole clan here you stand you stand over there stand over there the whole I state your name I Dave David Winslow do Solly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established and the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all duties of the office of fourth W councilman of the office of fourth W councilman according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations thank you all right I'm going to ask each councilman who was just sworn in to come up and give their remarks so first we'll start with first word city councilman Terry Crowley [Applause] all right thank you everyone for coming out it's uh always great to uh to see Ocean City come to life and um you know the music per it's uh I couldn't think of a nicer place to have this event so I want to thank a number of people and um kind of explain how I got here uh it's hard to explain to myself sometimes but uh you know uh I love Ocean City I love living in the North End uh Friday night we were at the yach club with uh friends and family and it's just such a microcosm of Ocean City and um I wanted thank Gary and Denise Jessel who've always been super supportive of me um Charlie uh and Jennifer Bowman uh Charlie good friends of ours and uh just retired after 30 years as a fireman in Ocean City and um I was super proud to be part of his ceremony and I was super proud of uh maybe in January I called Jen up and I said can I come down to talk to you and I said I'm think about running again and I want you to be my campaign manager and uh typical Jen you know she says I'll do it any thing to help you she's always about Ocean City and um it was really important to me and uh thank you very much Jennifer I appreciate all that you did for me um and also you know my sister was there my brother-in-law Joe you know it's great to have your family around you um it's it's what ocean city is all about and uh kind of how I got here you know I was lucky um I met a girl from Ocean City and uh we decided we wanted to get married and obviously we wanted to be an Ocean City that was never a big discussion we knew we wanted to have kids and we wanted them to all go to to the school here and then they did that and had a great experience and um you know and I think about the yach club of so many of our life experiences and uh this weekend was special but we uh had our wedding reception there and I remember um you know eat dinner you're having a great time and then afterwards you go around and say thank you to everyone and I remember going to my father-in-law's table Dr El and uh I look at who was at the table with him um Charlie Bowman senior um mayor Gillian not not just mayor gilan but his dad um you know George loer or the the AOS the tots um and uh and Ambassador Hughes he was there with his lovely wife Nancy and I looked at those guys and that was really my formation of of what I thought Ocean City was it was a bunch of guys that were from all walks of life uh different skill sets different Ambitions certainly different political parties but they always put all that aside um to do what was best for Ocean City and they always whether they disagreed they always listened to each other and they were always gentlemen and that was the key takeaway of kind of my beginnings of life in Ocean City and I'm always appreciative of that and I got to know those guys over the years and uh they really held true to the to being gentleman and and um I really appreciate my experience with them and then thirdly I never thought I'd be involved in politics but um after my wife and I bought our house here we got invited to join a golf club out Neer Township and uh for whatever reason my schedule matched up and I started playing a lot of golf with this guy sunny sunny MCA and um I got to know him about uh 6 months in I pulled in late one day and they knocked on my window and said hurry up the mayor's waiting for you I walked around the corner and I said to Sunny where where's the mayor and he said I'm the mayor and it explained to me why everyone knew him everyone respected him and really when I got to have a friendship and a relationship with sunny I saw how he dealt with people um he listened to him he engaged with him he would make notes after they'd walk away and I'd hear him make phone calls and he always got results for the people he always wanted to do what was best for the people of a Harbor Township and and he was really the role model and I never thought he'd be in politics but I always said um consciously if I got involved with politics I would want to emulate Sunny because I I had super respect for him and um there's a lot of us that have gone into politics from that group and I I know we all you know thank sunny and think of him all the time and um I hope when you look at what I'm doing over here in Ocean City uh you know that it's a big influence of you know what what you did for me so thank you very much I appreciate it and uh and in closing I'll just say you know my Challenge and my commitment to council and to Jay and and Daddy and George is really um to listen to each other uh it's an important relationship between city council and administration and I think we're not always going to agree on everything but but I think if if we think back to our our fathers and and in-laws and we're gentlemen and we listen to each other that it will benefit city council it'll benefit the city but most importantly it'll benefit the people of Ocean City and I have no doubt when I walk into any city council meeting that everyone up there is there because they they love Ocean City and they want what's best for it so I look forward to working with everyone um super thankful for everyone to come out and uh have a great day in Ocean City thanks thank you Terry now I like to ask U second word councilman Keith Hartzel to come up for his [Applause] remarks you know there's not a better place than this nobody's getting sworn in anywhere at any time and it's as good as this this is so awesome and this is this is probably the best part of the whole thing today's a day of Celebration you know as you get older you just want to tell people how much you love them because as you start to lose friends you realize that you have have only so much time fortunately as Christians will promis something when we leave but none of us are in arrest to leave that's for sure firstly I want to thank my mom and my my Daddy I miss them so much and any of you that know me would look at my mom and dad and say how did he come out that's how great they were and everybody knows that I was fortunate enough to be raised in a Christian Home a God-fearing home I had a great childhood it was fantastic I couldn't ask for anything more I always say you can't fix stupid but my parents prayed me out of it a lot and I always say this about my mom and dad for everything I did right the Lord and my mom and dad get credit they were that great of an example that that Christlike for everything I did wrong I got all the credit I can't blame anybody to my family my sister Debbie I'm so proud of you I really am you you you've grown into be one heck of a woman a fantastic mother and Roy thanks so much for coming into our family you're her soulmate I've never seen her more happy you're my brother to my me Sarah the year you just went through would have buried people not you your faith is even stronger Tamarin I know I tease you and I get on your nerves but I love you I really do Justin I get on your nerves too and I tease you but you know how much I love you as well and last but not least um Deacon you're going to shock the world dude he's going to shock the world he's unbelievable I'm so proud of both Marin and Deacon and and the job that you two have done uh is just amazing to my partner Becky you amaze me every day with how smart you are how hard you work the Insight that you have I just enjoy watching your work um you do stuff that I I I I can't even dream of doing and running your business you're a fantastic mother you're a fantastic employer the thing I like the most about you is you challenge me every day it's not easy I get defensive once in a while but I know you do it because you love me and you try to make me a better person and I can say with you I am a better person and I love you so much to the people the second ward I really appreciate the fact that you gave me this opportunity it's an opportunity of a lifetime um I always wanted to represent the second word but there was always really good people there um starting with Andy J Dave Swift Greg Johnson Antoine mcellen Karen Bergman Tom Mundi hard act to follow but what I like about War I is number one it's small is from 4th to 12th Street so I can walk it our dog Fletcher loves it because he goes with Daddy on all his trips I also like the diversity of the ward it's the most diverse ward in the city in every level whether it be religion race economic statute we have people from all different walks of life I ran for all of you it's your diversity that will make us so strong believe it or not there's 20 zoning um zones in the second ward so there's a lot of activity we have the beach the boardwalk the downtown in the bay where the economic engine of the Town more importantly I am so encouraged by some of the people in the second W their willingness to stand up for what they believe in you know a lot of times especially in when we're in politics and we get challenged we kind of get get hurt sometimes or why are they doing that well you should fight for what you believe in and so many You' in the second ward love the second W yet when you see something you stood up I want I want to say you know personally to the folks that saved 615 Wesley it's a perfect example um you just didn't want that house to go you wanted to protect historic homes and I pledged to you that I love historic homes just as much as you do and that's my guarantee who everybody from 16 save 1650 wesle please stand and take and be acknowledged come on Nancy I know I saw you [Applause] Hogans keep doing what you think is right because you love Ocean City and that's what we all have we all love Ocean City also I'm encouraged by a group called save the marina on 10th Street there's an issue is whether or not a commercial Marina should be built in a residential neighborhood and I appreciate all the things that you've done and all the things and all the things you've talked to me about and I and I again pledge to you to help you in any way I possibly can to the folks that look at homes that have five bedrooms five bathrooms that don't really appear to be a family home and in other towns are becoming party homes I pledge to you that I will make sure that we have the the parking necessary to match the amount of people staying in a house I think that's a reasonable thing I think it's a reasonable thing that we should all shoot for um we want everybody to come here all types of people and I want to make sure that that we we can get all types of be here but at the same time that the vacation is enjoyable to themselves as well as to their neighbors and these are important quality of life issues and many many of you have asked me to look look into the parking situation do everything and anything I can through through zoning laws to make it better we want everybody here we just want to be able to park and enjoy themselves to my campaign staff I didn't have a big one Susan and Amy wow you did it I'm so proud of both of you can you both stand please come on Amy you could stand Susan are you going to stand they're shy I could even I mean this the 615 group I couldn't get Nancy to stand I couldn't I could get them to stand so but that's okay I guess in closing you know I just saw a lot of passion for a award and I have that same passion I mean it's it's where I live it's where I worship a little group here from St Pete's thanks um you know it's where I play it's where I work it's where all my businesses are um and I first moved in the ward in 1986 I I left for a little while I moved up in the beach and I hated it I just wanted to be back downtown I know that sounds weird to folks but that's kind of the way it was so in order to bolster my relationship with my voters I'm proud to announce that we're going to do everything in our power to increase Ward meetings and those Ward meetings uh the first one September 14th the Tabernacle Baptist Church it's kind of centrally located so you can walk or ride your bike um in these Ward meetings we're going to do as much accessibility as possible uh we will live stream it we will tape it so people can watch it later or you can come in person as much as I don't like zoom and I am a fudy Dy about that it's the way things are done today and I want to make sure there's maximum participation and everybody gets a chance to voice their opinion on what happens I can only succeed if I take direction from each and every one of you that's how important you are in closing I just want to mention a couple people that changed my life and ocean City's about their people uh the first uh and a couple these folks along with us is Dick Rimes from the second ward dick was the first black Postman his wife was the first black school teacher he did everything in town uh he he put together the little Lake Pop Warner started the food closet the you know the Clothes Closet I mean so many things that he did and he loved this town so much and if we had a citizen of the century it would be him no question about it one of my favorite residents is Frank polei senior this is a great story and and this speaks to the humility of all these people that I'm going to speak about one day I was walking by his house and he he had some kind of concoction in his hand and I thought it was a nice day I says gez Frank I'd like to have one of those without telling me anything he said oh I'll go make you one it turned out it was a muddled oldfashioned it was delicious that started tradition for over 10 years every Sunday at the same time I would stop at his house and I'd have M old fashioned and we'd catch up and talk for about a half hour it just turns out he was a very knowledgeable guy I was knock on on doors one time when I was campaigning and a guy says to me are you hard so I says yeah he says I'm so and so I'm Saturdays at 2 what what do you mean Saturdays at to well you're you're on Sundays wait a minute there's a whole Roo of yes and you're the only one that gos To Go's house how did you pull that off um a touching moment for me is Frank when he was dying acted like he wasn't right up to the last minute he was so strong that's how veterans are I went to see him in the hospital I didn't know how bad it was I prayed with him he went like this I leaned down he said sorry what Sunday he apologized for not having a drink for me that's what he was worried about as he went on to be home with the Lord Joe certa Bron star winner again humble hero great father just like Frank was many of you know Joe but I have two stories about Joe the first is every special occasion I'd show up with a bottle of Crown Royal Reserve Joe like Crown Royal I thought I'd give him the reserve so one time I show up with a bottle and Joe says oh I don't need that and I said why he says I haven't started the other one I said well Joe why not he goes I'm saving it for special occasions I said Joe you're 98 everyday's a special occasion again the humility because a lot of people don't realize that the World War II Heroes live through a depression and when they got done with that they went to World War II in my father's case he got done with that he went to Korea last but not least Pat Lavin I was running for an office one time we won't say what it was and I was walk in a neighborhood and I went by by Pat's house and I knew that Pat was dying of brain cancer and I didn't know what to do so I looked over and Pat was sitting in the doorway in his wheelchair I said Okay God I guess that's an answer uh so I walked up I put my bag aside and Pat was really glad to see me I thought that was unusual and I blured it out so Pat how you doing he says I'm doing great I said you're doing great he says yeah I says tell me all about it he says you know Keith cancer sucks but I've never felt closer to the Lord he gave me his testimony a dying man gave me his testimony and what he told me was that he had been hit in the head with a golf club at age 8 he should have been dead Miracles were performed he saidou know I got 68 years I'm taking it all the way and God's with me' as we prayed Kathy walked away he looked at me said I'm doing this for my family I want my family to know I'm okay and there Christians it's not goodbye but see you later the amount of encouragement that Pat laugh and gave me changed my life I suffered for depression up until that moment and after that moment nothing ever can make me depressed again because Pat laughing taught me that God is always with me and he'll never forsake me and that he's loved me before I loved him every time that I have an issue or a problem I say to the Lord please put Pat laughing in my head that's how much he meant to me Kathy I want to thank you for coming out I want to thank you for your husband I want to thank you how much you loved your husband and how much he loved you again I'm so pleased to be your W two city councilman may God bless you thank you Keith now I'd like to bring up third word councilman Jody loveu for his [Applause] remarks all right I'm going to try to make this quick I know we got Killer Queen at 7 o'clock tonight so a little time crunch okay all right so thank you everybody for being here today it's an honor to been reelected as your third W city councilman I appreciate it very much I just want to give you a little background of what got me here and and why I'm here uh so four years ago uh our city as well as the entire State and Country faced the covid-19 pandemic which included lockdowns public fear and tons of unknowns and like many others each of my businesses were forcefully shut down through mandates by our state government who decided to pick winners and losers in one of the most unfair practices that this country has ever seen and as a lifelong businessman here in Ocean City I knew that there was something that could be done so I ran for an unchallenged seat on the city council and I knew that our entire city would face hardship if we couldn't get open that 2020 uh 2020 season and have experienced business people like myself and my team uh to help represent our needs and to get us through that challenging time so with lots of hard work we got our simple message out to the voters of the Third Ward in a 10we campaign as a political newcomer it was it was seemingly obvious that my skill set and determination to Prevail was seriously underestimated by those who did not welcome my bid for the position so that's okay as a New York Jets fan I know exactly what it's like to be the underdog and be underestimated so our message was clear Ocean City is going to have a new representative that would not only bring a fresh new vision to our city but also protect the values and the charm of this city that we've all grown up with and known since our founding 145 years ago in 1879 so let's start with some of those protected values that we've had here since 1879 and what my commitments are to those values and what they've always been and always will be so Ocean City shall remain a family destination for All Families regardless of their soci economic status for them to come here and enjoy here it starts with a day trip to explore Ocean City it quickly turns into a week here and there for relaxation for the family where they like it the most on the island and eventually turns into an investment one that will live mostly for generations for people who choose that route and anyone that I've ever met that has been to Ocean City once they want to come back and they eventually want to purchase a second home earned investment property and for many many people I hear them say that it's their dream it is their dream to own even a Shack in Ocean City so third keeping our Dry Town it's the secret sauce to Our Success I talk about that all the time that means no bars no nightclubs no liquor stores on our Island there's no doubt in my mind that this tiny detail is what shapes the entire psychology of our City Public Safety I love to flaunt that Ocean City is a wildly safe town it's my three favorite words wildly safe town anytime anyone asks what's your number one priority as a city councilman I will always tell them is to keep Ocean City a wildly safe town I don't know of many places where you can walk any time any day or any given inch of that municipality and not ever once have to think about your safety and Ocean City is one of them and it'll never stop being top of the list and everybody knows it everybody has a voice in Ocean City we live in a democ where everyone and that includes guests homeowners residents second homeowners and of course our children all have a say that's why I made sure for the last four years that I've returned every phone call every email every challenge every compliment that was sent my way because all of those should all be considered and answered no matter how ridiculous some of them actually were you never know what what simple idea what one simple idea can turn into and by not listening to Everyday People in our ideas we potentially miss out on countless things now for the freshness of what I like to bring to city council I've been part of a family business my entire life I know that often times it takes a 100 ideas to try to get the one that will work well and I also know that everyone will not always agree and that is where the challenge on moving forward with smart decisive and welld discussed action is is key so when I entered four years ago I knew there were several things we needed to do that had not been done yet the first was that I love to tout our our safety and that if we're going to be a wildly safe town I knew that we needed a state-of-the-art public safety building after a few years of collective ideas and discussion it was just a few months ago that city council up here we all unanimously approved not one but two brand new police stations for less money than what was proposed 4 years ago one of those police stations will stay right where it is now at 9th and Central where it belongs and the second will be right across the way right over here at aan Boardwalk these buildings will not only look beautiful but they'll also have the tools and space our police department will need for the next several decades for us all to be able to enjoy we added restroom facilities anyone who's ever been to Disney or an Eagles game or even the mall knows that a restroom is always nearby if you go to a Jet game you don't really need to worry cuz we don't get the sold out crowds like the eagles do so bathroom's a little easier but there's always one nearby but if you happen to be a young child or an elderly at 10th in Boardwalk the restroom here and the restroom at 12th Street seems so close yet so far and you should see people's eyes when they saw how far they had to walk to the closest restroom you have the horrible feeling of oh no when you see that and that's why I knew the city needed to reconsider adding these critical two new restrooms that you now see at 10th and 11th Street on the boardwalk those restrooms were unanimously approved by us and in 20 in 20121 and they've been a great success ever since we changed some zoning the boardwalk is the crown jewel of Ocean City it's also fair to say that it's the only Zone in Ocean City that has not experienced any kind of major overdevelopment that's why it was important for me to remove a loophole that would allow certain residential communities to be built in the boardwalk Zone what does that mean it means that property owners on the boardwalk such as myself and my family we could move to develop retirement housing in place of things like amusements I found this loophole to be one that was about to be taken advantage of which was why it was closed the boardwalk should remain a place that has all the amusements and fun things families want to do hey kids you want to go to the boardwalk and place some mini golf eat pizza and go shopping oops sorry we turned that part into a uh retirement community now never mind we can't do that so of course we don't want to have that happen using this as an example will be expanding my knowledge and everything that I learn from cerning on the planning board for the last two years to instill better Planning and Zoning when it comes to the overall development of our Island number four is infrastructure I could say with 100% honesty I believe our City's run very well and it comes to INF infrastructure improvements we got this drainage overall cleanliness all of that is evident through the hard work you've seen our Administration do as well as through our budget and capital Improvement plans I know the Administration has no problem spending money in these key areas which is why from day one I advocated for the residents of West 17th Street as well as those on 14th Street for all new infrastructure widen drainage new curving raised streets brand new black top fresh lines of paint both of these projects were completed thanks to our Administration in a timely manner and they have made life-changing differences for residents in these neighborhoods parking we all know parking has been a challenge for a long time in Ocean City which is could be divided into two different categories public parking challenges at the boardwalk in downtown as well as parking challenges within our residential districts let's start with the commercial districts over the last four years I've worked with the city to place major focus on that challenge in the last four years we've expanded a city parking lot at Ninth in Atlantic we added at least a dozen parking spaces there we've added a successful and growing Jitney service and this year we recently added a new campaign thanks to the mayor called Always a spot powered by technology that will allow drivers to find open parking spaces among an array of City Lots we have also conducted a parking feasibility study the first in 14 years to see if a parking garage would be a sound idea for Ocean City and while some have doubts I truly believe that a parking structure in the center of our town will be something that serves our residents guests and businesses extraordin arily well in our neighborhoods selfish under selfish overdevelopment as opposed to responsible good development has plagued in some ways some of our neighborhood streets and what I mean by that is building a seven-bedroom home with seven bathrooms and a pool and limiting yourself to two one or zero parking spaces for the residents or visitors of that home is completely unacceptable and selfish it creates a senseless challenge for the neighborhood as many of us have come to experience that's why when I took notice of this new trend I worked with the planning board I worked with Council anonymously and we introduced to set new uh new parking and pool setback regulations in our zoning which has come in very handy to stop some of that over selfish overdevelopment and I will continue to Monitor and make sure responsible development is the only Trend that we see in Ocean City not 7 bedroom 7even bath let me close off my parking spaces and park in front of everybody else's house type of zoning so I have a lot of people I want to thank today first and foremost I want to thank the voters and residents of Ocean City for believing in me a second time and yes that includes my brother who's my business partner my neighbor and a lifelong voter in Ocean City some people haven't done their homework and it's a shame that that man what that man is going through it's a subpoena his records of where he volunteers his time to try to scrape the barrel to prove a point whether he should vote here or not shame on you so twice now you've all believed in me and believed in my message and you've taken your time to exercise your right to vote for your candidate so thank you very much I'm very blessed to have a strong team that believes in our cumulative abilities so I want to thank my team starting at Jiles so many of you volunteered your time to help in this campaign whether it's riding around town knocking doors with me driving me around listening to me complain brainstorming ideas but mainly handling the business in my absence while I represent this fine City I want to thank my campaign team Holly you're my campaign manager now twice she is so creative smart caring she knows the city so well and she is a great voice of reason there is nobody else I would have imagined going down this road with and you just are an amazing star in this whole entire thing and I thank you for everything Amy Schultz she's been my marketing coordinator for about 8 years now she played a critical role in two big wins for me now from designing all of our marketing materials and coordinating different events Amy is exactly the first letter of her name A+ she's a friend she's a mentor she's an overall good person and quite frankly she'd be one heck of a city council woman here in Ocean City or any other elected official uh that I could tell you herself I want to thank my parents for flying in from Florida to be here today my dad who was my biggest and only financial donor my mom who tell probably tells all her maang buddies about her son as the councilman thank you Mom and Dad for always being there for me and continuing to instill the highest expectations in me love you thank you I want to thank my extended family my in-laws family for driving hours to be here and stay here to be here to watch this and to always listen to me and finally I want to thank my wife Jill and of course my daughter's Lenny Lenny who can't be here today she's at sleep away camp miss her deal and Jordan who is here and when you run a position like this I I can't stress how important it is to have the blessing of your wife and your children prior to starting and all throughout it is so important and so critical to the sanity and it's not always easy they tolerate me missing many many important events due to my city commitments they also see the stress that comes as a result and having the unconditional love and understanding of my family is key in all this it makes me 100% cuz all I got to do is think about that they do it with more understanding that I could even stand here and describe to you quite often my wife will say to me I wish I could mimic her I I'm not good at it but she'll say something like how do you deal with all this and my answer to who is very simple it's because I know you're behind me so I just want to say again thank you Ocean City thank you thank you thank you the best is yet to come thank you Jody now I would like to bring up our fourth word councilman Dave wio for remarks [Applause] good afternoon mayor Gillian fellow council members members of the administration and the many friends and uh supporters volunteers for my campaign that are here today I'm humbled to be here today as I embark on the journey to continue my work as a fourth ward representative one city council but I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for the support of many residents of Ocean City we worked as a team first and foremost I'd like to thank my wife Kathleen uh who's been my rock and my best friend for 42 years 43 years and who she's the one that kept me sane through all of this and to my sons Jason John and Ryan who are here today also they helped me with the social media and all the the uh online uh advertising that we did during the campaign and they are every day they encourage me to remember the reason why I was running for reelection to keep Ocean City that great place we all love and call home many thanks to my campaign manager Bart Russell MC mcnorton Who provided great political advice and steadfast support Lisa Mansfield and Jane kuster CER who were ENT supporters and many who helped in various ways including Phil and Candy Young Dean and Kelly Adams Brian broley Michael doery Doris mcnorton uh Frank and Francis warell uh John potsy pots Ed and Joan helinski Gary and Denise Jessel Scott and Jane Halliday ly and Steve Spangler Donna Yuri Chuck and Jane deal families of Ocean City United in success Pete Madden Nelson and Allison Maloney John derkson uh Bill and caranas Jay Gillian Kathy fogy Carol heeden Leslie Graham and many many more who we work together as a solid team I often reflect on all that Ocean City has to offer and I'm proud to call Ocean City home we have pristine beaches an action-packed Boardwalk a vibrant downtown a state-of-the-art community center with a senior center Aquatic Fitness Center Historical Museum library a golf course and Airport the Ocean City Pops here on the Music Pier Three schools a Performing Art Center at the high school athletic fields playgrounds marinas a multitude of recreational activities and services a clean city with a lot of improved infrastructure and a high- performing police department and fire department to ensure our safety we are one of a kind and it's thanks to the administration and the city council uh for making this happen I will do my best to preserve the great family values and Heritage of Ocean City while ensuring the vibrant quality quality of life we've come to experience in this great town continues while keeping the city moving forward uh into the next Generations the wants and needs of Those whom I serve are always at the Forefront of any every decision I'm out in my ward every day I return every phone call talk to people daily um so that I really keep a pulse on what's going on and I always try try to strive for results that both parties come out better after the transaction by keeping attention on the fourth ward by working together with my neighbors my fellow councilman and the administration to do what is right for Ocean City in an appropriate Financial manner I see an incredibly bright future for Ocean City we have a lot of work to do let's not kid ourselves there is a lot of work to do but together we can keep Ocean City the Envy The Shining Star among great towns I promise promise to always stay true to my one and only agenda keep Ocean City that great place we all know and love a community where Dreams Are Made many call Ocean City their happy place they call it their Paradise let's all work together so that we can preserve our happy place our Paradise now and for future Generations thank you thank you Dave now it's time to move into our business portion of the meeting so I'm going to turn over to the city clerk Melissa rasner from the re organization meeting thank you hey at this time I would like to call the reorganization meeting of Monday July 1st 20124 to order and begin with our roll call Mr Barnes here Mr Crowley here Mr harzel here Mr lechu here Mr pulini here Mr Winslow here Mr Madden here he adequate notice of this meeting has been given pursuant to Public Law 1975 chapter 231 and nominations are now open for the office of council president for a one-year term beginning July 1st 2024 and ending June 30th 2025 all nominations will be voted on in the order they are received are there any nominations at this time i' like to nominate Pete Madden for president okay is there a second second har okay any other nominations okay the motion is on the table for Pete Madden as council president for a one-year term which has received a first and second motion roll call Mr Barnes yes I believe yes Mr Crowley yes Mr harzel no Mr lovchuk no Mr Pini yes Mr Winslow yes Mr Madden yes okay nomination election of Vice President of city council nominations are now open for the office of council vice president for a one-year term begin beginning July 1st 2024 and ending June 30th 2025 again all nominations will be voted on in the order in which they are received are there any nominations at this time like to nominate ter Crowley for vice president I'll second second okay are there any other nominations okay the motion is on the table for Terry Crowley as Council vice president for a one-year term which has received a first and second motion roll call Mr Barnes yes Mr Crowley yes Mr harzel yes Mr luk yes Mr Pini yes Mr Winslow yes Mr Madden yes and I will turn the meeting over to council president Mr Madden thank you uh we'll move into reports from a Administration none okay we'll go right into resolutions all resolutions listed on the consent agenda will be considered routine in nature and will be acted upon on one by one motion if the mayor or any council person wishes a particular resolution be considered separately it will be removed is there anything to be removed on I have a motion to approve this consent agenda so moved second winow Mr Barnes yes Mr Crowley yes Mr Hartzel yes Mr lechu yes Mr Pini yes Mr Winslow yes Mr Madden yes now we open up to Citizen comment uh we'll start on this side of the room on up to the microphone go ahead state your name and address for the record three or five you three three minutes we can now we can do five minutes um Ed O'Donnell I read Saturday the Declaration of Independence Constitution and the Bill of Rights and I would urge everyone to do this but but listen to these words about the purpose of America life liberty and the pursuit of happiness but what that means is that everybody treats everybody with love kindness friendliness Mercy forgiveness courtesy respect old-fashioned manners and then the Declaration of Independence says all people are created equal this means that the sanitation worker the garbage man the janitor the maintenance person the homeless person is as as important as the President of United States and it means we have to devote Our Lives to helping the people at the bottom of society and then it says the Bill of Rights innocent until proven guilty and Ocean City is very good about giving people Second Chances third chances it's a community with a lot of mercy and some of you Council people reference that but I would urge that we have a new constitutional convention in Charlottesville Virginia if you ever need Rejuvenation go to Charlottesville Virginia it has magical healing powers I've been telling the mayor to go there for the last five years and um a new a a new Constitutional Convention to really start the government over again say is there anything missing is there anything we need to work on and you'd have a 100 delegates two from each state two alternates be a great experience for them but I would urge you uh next couple days to read these documents they're they're absolutely amazing documents Declaration of Independence Bill of Rights Constitution thank you thank you anybody else from this side of the room over here for citizen comment go come on up check one okay all right uh hello everybody good afternoon uh congratulations to the new members on the board uh I love I'm so sorry I love the Town of Ocean City congrat congratulations to you folks um so hello everybody my name is Samantha willall um I am a writer for a whs in Washington located in Washington DC I'm also one of my great uh ancestors happens to be Ellie Vel who was a Nobel Peace Prize winner and who actually had a asteroid planet named in his name from the NASA in California um I also happen to be an author as a recent graduate from Stockton University in Galloway here in New Jersey in relevance to the new um ordinances that may come about within the uh Town of Ocean City and further I just wanted to highlight some recent uh work within uh uh Washington DC actually that my father and I had the opportunity to recently Endeavor in uh my father and I recently visited the Billy Graham statue located uh at the Capitol Hill building in Washington DC and quite ironically my great ancestor by the name of leie V cell has a carving of him at the National Cathedral in Washington DC as well I just wanted to put an emphasis on the writings that are in the sculpture of the Billy Graham sculpture and also the location of the na National Cathedral there are two inscriptions on the um sculpture the Billy Graham sculpture by the um references of John 3:16 Romans 10:9 and John 146 what is the relevance of this some may Wonder as someone in the social sciences from Stockton University I would like to respectfully Advocate um that Bibles be brought back into schools I am a follower of Jesus Christ I am a Christian um there was a super there was a super attendant at an Oklahoma school 4 days ago there is an article on CNN and ABC news that he ordered within the public school that Bibles be brought back into uh the schools which I find very interesting uh secondly furthermore um in in relevance to this um within uh the December month um here with the nocean city we are known for having the Santa mailbox on Asbury Avenue I would just like to propose the general idea or thought for you folks that um folks encouraging their children to believe in Santa May I'm just saying may just as a proposition to you folks May prohibit people from wanting to believe in someone like God just hear me out folks the Town of Ocean City has been based off of Christian morals and principles since the 1800s and I truly believe as a Christian that that is what makes us different I would just to like generally propose to you folks just to consider just to consider for one year giving a break to the Santa mailbox and in lie or instead of uh implementing something like a mailbox on Asbury that children can write to the uh store owners on Asbury thank you for your service thank you for the wonderful merchandise you've been providing my family or uh a mailbox um for children's be able to write to the Ocean City Tabernacle that provides after school um programs to kids after they attend the public schools here in town lastly thank you folks for your time uh in relevance to this um I would like to propose as someone in the social sciences um who uh writes for DC that um history of princesses hear me out folks should be implemented into the the school systems um there was a there was a young lady by the name of Princess Grace Kelly she was a um princess by law who resided in Europe folks she moved to Wesley Avenue here in Ocean City if you folks show your children and if you go on Google there's a legal have 30 seconds left okay thank you folks there's a legal princess who lived here in Ocean City New Jersey by the name of Princess Grace Kelly as a president of Ocean City I happen to live um on the same street as her I say that to say um in lie of encouraging kids to not believe in this fake Santa why don't we encourage our kids to look to the history of princesses that as a Christian I you know advocate for living by the fruits of the spir fruits of the spirit thank you folks thank you thank you folks have a good daybody from this side of the room for public comment anybody from this side of the room for public comment all right seeing none can I have a motion to adjourn second great just want to again want to thank everybody for coming out today wish our newly elected City Council Members good luck in their next four years and we're going to conclude with our Vince conductor playing God Bless America thank you very much for coming [Music]