JUNE 26, 2025
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BERLIN • NORTH WORCESTER COUNTY• OCEAN PINES
PHOTO COURTESY BERLIN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
MAIN STREET HOOPERS About 75 kids of all ages took to Main Street for some hula hoop action during intermission of last week’s Berlin Bathtub Races, organized by the Berlin Chamber of Commerce. See page 16 for more photos from last Friday’s event.
Voters to get referendum refresher Public hearing will give Pines homeowners chance to hear about south fire station By Tara Fischer Staff Writer (June 26, 2025) Ocean Pines homeowners are invited to a public hearing on the upcoming referendum on the whether the Ocean Pines Association should help pay for a new South Station Firehouse. The ballot question will be put before voters in conjunction with the 2025 Ocean Pines Association’s Board of Directors election, which has four candidates vying for one of three open seats. The referendum question will ask voters whether the OPA should contribute to the Ocean Pines Volunteer Fire Department’s new South Station. The referendum reads, “Do you authorize the Ocean
Pines Association’s Board of Directors and Administration to proceed with the construction of a new South Fire Station at a target cost to OPA, Inc. of up to $3.4 million, with a possible cost variance of up to ten percent (10%)?” The meeting will be held Friday, June 27, at the current South Fire Station, located at 911 Ocean Parkway, beginning at 2 p.m. With approval from OPA, the fire department was directed to determine the layout, design, interior dimensions, color schemes, and furniture. Upon the completion of that rebuilding, the OPVFD will pay all property taxes and maintenance associated with the South Station space and its improvements. The agreement between the town and the fire department also states that the fire company will use “grant and bond funds previously secured toward the project’s conSee OPA Page 6
County gets $1 million from pot tax By Brian Shane Staff Writer
(June 27, 2025) State tax revenue from recreational cannabis sales has given Worcester County a $1 million kitty from which to distribute community-based impact grants. The Worcester County Reinvestment and Repair Grant Program will distribute money that’s been
See COUNTY Page 4
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Bayside Gazette
June 26, 2025
June 26, 2025
Bayside Gazette
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Commissioners now allow public comment By Brian Shane Staff Writer (June 26, 2025) For the first time, members of the public will soon be permitted to comment at meetings of the Worcester County Board of Commissioners. Under a proposal from Commissioner Joe Mitrecic (District 7, Ocean City), public comments would be scheduled for the start of every meeting. Comments will be limited to the topic of items of that days’ meeting agenda, and speakers would get two minutes to talk. “After watching the budget hearings that we had here, and the discussions we had, and seeing everybody sitting out there on their hands anxious to speak, I’m going to make a motion that we institute a program of public input,” Mitrecic said at the close of the June 17 meeting during a period reserved for commissioners’ comments. The commissioners voted unanimously and without any discussion among themselves to pass Mitrecic’s motion, with Commissioner Eric Fiori seconding. The president of the commissioners – a role now held by Commissioner Ted Elder – would have to include the public comment period on each meeting agenda. The policy would take effect at the next sched-
uled meeting on July 1. It’s not the first time Mitrecic has sought to include public comment in the county government meetings. He introduced the same motion last year in response to a newspaper editorial critical of county officials for their years of not offering public comment, which several other local elected bodies, like the county Board of Education and the Ocean City Council, already do. “I found that disheartening, to say the least. We like to have our constituents involved in local government. The more we have the better,” Mitrecic said at the board’s Jan. 16, 2024 meeting. The commissioners voted at that time to have Chief Administrative Officer Weston Young research the matter and present his recommendation to the commissioners. Two weeks later, the commissioners ended up deciding not to adopt public comments during regular meetings – an outcome resulting from Commissioners Caryn Abbott and Eric Fiori flip-flopping on their positions. Both initially supported the push for public comments but changed to a “no” vote when the motion was made. Fiori at the time said the idea lacked specificity in its execution and,
for that reason, he didn’t think the commissioners should alter their usual meeting format. “The motion was too incomplete,” Fiori explained Feb. 6, 2024. “What was documented was such a range of options, there was nothing to vote on there.” Abbott agreed, saying, “They didn’t present a way for Worcester County to do it. There was nothing to vote on.” Some commissioners who opposed that measure argued that the public can still reach commissioners directly through emails, phone calls, and other correspondence. Tuesday’s unanimous vote in favor of public comments marks a 180-degree shift from positions some of the commissioners took as recently as a year ago. Commissioner Chip Bertino (Dis-
trict 5, Ocean Pines) in 2024 noted that public comments can be successful when there’s a back-and-forth dialogue between officials and constituents, rather than a one-way interaction where citizens make a statement that may go unanswered. A newspaper publisher by trade, Bertino also said some members of the public have been known to use the public comment period for “theatrics” that don’t necessarily help to advance a discussion. “In my experience as a reporter covering meetings, public comments don’t necessarily provide more effective government,” he said at the Jan. 16, 2024, meeting. “The issues before government are complex, and they’re much more important and detailed than a slogan or a contrite statement.” See PUBLIC Page 4