(Feb. 1, 2013) The Ocean City Councilโs current majority definitively ended the legislative interregnum of its predecessors Tuesday, by voting to reinstate the sub-committee system that had been eliminated by the then-insurgent council in 2010.
Unlike a previous restoration, however, no one was disinterred and beheaded. But things did get rather heated.
โThe innuendo that [the commission system] was cronyism or secrecy โฆ I take exception to that,โ said Councilman Joe Mitrecic, who supported the return to the commission structure along with Dennis Dare, Lloyd Martin, Mary Knight, and Doug Cymek.
But despite the evident dominance of the present majority, the extant members of the 2010 coup continued to voice their objection.
โI think, every chance you got, you kept undermining the whole opportunity [to operate without commissions],โ said Councilwoman Margaret Pillas.
The dissolution of the councilโs standing committees was the first action taken by the four-member majority that came to be in 2010 after Mitrecic lost his re-election bid to Councilman Brent Ashley. Mitrecicโs ouster allowed Ashley โ along with Joe Hall, Pillas, and Jim Hall โ to create a four-member voting bloc that openly bucked the previous administrative norms. The oft-called โnew majorityโ developed a relationship of mutual antagonism with Dennis Dare, then the city manager, and Mayor Rick Meehan.
In November 2010, the victorsโ first act was to dissolve the councilโs commission system, whereby separate sub-committees of three council members heard reports from city staff or interested parties and presented the information back to the full council for any decision necessary. All reports were subsequently presented in open session, before the entire body.
Despite the removal of the dominant faction in the 2012 polls โ in which Hall and Hall lost to Dare, now running as an elected official and not a paid executive, and a returning Mitrecic โ the remaining members still contend that the commission system reduces transparency by developing policy in ad-hoc legislative groups rather than before the empowered body.
But proponents of the systemโs return argue that it makes for smoother legislative action, when groups of citizens and employees, who also sit on the sub-committees, are allowed free input into any suggestions that will be brought before the full council.
โIโve worked under both [a commission and non-commission system], and what I can tell you is that I think the council is much more productive under the committee and commission system,โ said Mayor Rick Meehan.
โThey allow us to break into smaller groups and work on each otherโs behalf โฆ itโs about trust [amongst council members],โ Meehan said. โIf something was a good idea, the discussion would then turn to say, โHow can you make it amenable to everybody.โโ
Non-council city commissions, such as those dealing with building and zoning, have continued to exist. The council also provides liaisons to governing boards of organizations outside the city, as well as some internal city boards such as those for noise violations and beach franchises.
Whether the council had maintained its contact with such boards โ under the control of any majority โ seemed to be an inconclusive quagmire, as Ashley and Martin argued for some time over whether Martin had actually showed up to the Noise Board hearings when he was the council liaison and Ashley was the boardโs chairman, before he was elected to council.
But what were at the core of the debate were the standing, three-member sub-commissions for tourism, parks and recreation, and police. Of these, only the police commissionโs existence is defined by the cityโs charter, since it has independent policy-making powers.
โThe commissions were never dissolved, abolished, or done away with,โ Pillas said. โIt was a change made to bring the full council to the meeting, and bring the public to the meeting. The business of the town has always been done.โ
However, councilโs current majority contested that the previous dominant body had failed to raise the same issues before council that would be raised in committee, and instead used the committee-less system to domineer policy without other input.
โIf it was your intent to invite the public to the meeting, it was also your responsibility to schedule meetings and set agendas and bring those things before the council and the public โ but you didnโt,โ Cymek countered.
Accusations of undue interference were frequently turned back at their accusers, however, as Pillas maintained that the committees and commissions had a history of unilateral decision-making.
โIn an ideal world, itโs best to have them. But weโre not in an ideal world. We have a lot of micro-managing going on,โ she said.
โIn the eight years that I was here before, I do not remember a time where all the information did not come back to council for its entire vote,โ Mitrecic maintained.
One of the major issues was the question of how transparent the commissions would be, if and when they were reinstated. State and federal open meetings laws would only apply to committees in which the municipal government held dominant, legislative power over budgetary matters.
For instance, said City Solicitor Guy Ayres, although no quorum of the Salisbury City Council sat on the board of the Salisbury Zoo, โthe court held that because the city exercised so much control over their budget โฆ that all meetings involving the zoo are subject to the open meetings acts.โ
โThe public is always welcome to these meetings,โ Martin said. โThe only time we closed commission meetings was when we discussed [police] deployment or personnel matters.โ
Although the council moved to go ahead with the return of the sub-committee system, the details of the procedures involved will be further ironed out in upcoming strategic planning sessions.
โWe can make standing committees of the council an effective way of doing business, but there has to be some structure to that,โ said City Manager David Recor. โYou need to establish rules of procedure โฆ how the information flows back up to the committee of the whole.โ
โWe can make this work, thereโs no need to disagree,โ Recor said. โWe can come back with a structure that will work and address everyoneโs concerns. I can guarantee that.โ
