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CHRISTMAS PARADE IN OC Thirty-third annual event this Saturday on Coastal Highway, from 100th to 120th streets – Page 49
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DECEMBER 4, 2015
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Countdown begins for county dispensaries Commissioners to adopt strategy for winding down government liquor business
By Brian Gilliland Staff Writer (Dec. 4, 2015) Last year, the Worcester County Commissioners decided to give the Department of Liquor Control one year and one last
chance to “rightsize” after the 2014 decision to end the county’s monopoly on liquor sales. While store closures, staff reductions and the assurances of director Bobby Cowger went a long way in securing the grace period, that time has ended, with the commissioners voting Tuesday to implement the first stage of an exit strategy developed by county staff.
The first stage of the plan requires a change in state law to allow for appropriate liquor licenses for private package stores. With the new legislative session in Annapolis set to begin on Jan. 13, the county voted to send a letter to the state-level officials requesting the rule change. Sen. Jim Mathias and Del. Mary Beth Carozza were both receptive to the idea.
“If that’s their intention, I’m happy to work with them, Mathias said. “ But the devil’s in the details. I’d like to see the private sector consulted, but we’ve been good partners working together.” Carozza said she was looking forward to hearing more about the proposal. Departing County Attorney Sonny Bloxom spoke for the internally develSee STORE on PAGE 5
City manager search goes into semifinals Interviews of best prospects to start end of next week
By Zack Hoopes Staff Writer (Dec. 4, 2015) After more than four months with its top managerial post vacant, Ocean City government is approaching the end stage of the hiring process for a new city manager. “It looks like interviews will begin the latter part of next week,” Mayor and interim City Manager Rick Meehan said this week.
Meehan and the City Council will be interviewing roughly a half-dozen candidates, pulled from a much larger pool of applicants assembled by Slavin Management Consultants, the search firm hired by the city to solicit for the position. The council previously met with Slavin representatives to parse through the applicants and select those they wanted to meet in person. “We’ve left open the option for additional interviews if needed after this first round,” Meehan said. “The See CANDIDATES on PAGE 5
Zombie mail: Addressee gone for winter, but dead letters live on to plague post office
NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH
STEWART DOBSON/OCEAN CITY TODAY
A coopers hawk, a regular offseason resident in the Ocean City downtown area, scans his surroundings for a morning meal. They’re fast, quiet and efficient, and decidedly anti-pigeon, or pro-pigeon, depending on your point of view.
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By Zack Hoopes Staff Writer (Dec. 4, 2015) With nearly all of the resort now settled into the holiday lull, you’d think there wouldn’t be that many people in Ocean City with a major logistical problem. You’d be right, if it wasn’t for the resort’s un-
sung heroes in the U.S. Post Office. “We’re definitely in a unique situation in this town,” said Dan Woods, postmaster for the 71st Street branch office. “If there’s one thing I could tell people, it’s to put a hold on your mail, get forSee POSTAL on PAGE 3
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Ocean City Today
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DECEMBER 4, 2015
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Ocean City Today
DECEMBER 4, 2015
PAGE 3
Postal options available for part-time residents Continued from Page 5 warding or packet service – just tell us something.” Every fall, the bulk of Ocean City’s population leaves – part-time residents go to spend their six months in Florida, seasonal employees depart for wherever and many of the resort’s younger workers shuffle into cheaper winter rentals. It’s a nightmare for the post office, since, as Newman pointed out in his inaugural Seinfeld appearance, even postal employees are powerless to make the mail stop. This is why, as year-round residents know, you may still be getting traffic court notices, medical bills and Taco Bell coupons for someone who lived at your address for a few weeks 10 summers ago. Or, if you have one box for the whole building, your mail is buried beneath Sears catalogs for everyone who has ever lived there since the Reagan administration. If the senders don’t update the address, either ‘It’s more because the redifficult here cipient never told them, or than anywhere through institu- else. Particularly tional inertia, with younger the mail will just people. They keep coming. tend to just “The best forget about thing to do is put a note in the box their mail. The that these names pay all their aren’t at this resbills and get all idence,” Woods their said. “It won’t stop it from information coming, but it online.’ will let us know Dan Woods, to send it back, postmaster for or recycle it. We send out a ton of the 71st Street recycling, proba- branch office bly more than any other office I know.” By law, the USPS has to hold mail for 10 days, but Woods said they hold it for 30 as a courtesy. “If the carrier notices that the box is filling up, we pull it all out and put a notice on it that no more is to go in,”
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Woods said. “Then we put a notice on it for change of address, and at the end of 30 days, we send it back to the sender. If we get a change of address, we’ll forward it.” However, to help with efficiency, the post office only forwards some types of mail, and only for a certain time, once you change your address. Bulk mail is always recycled and magazines are only forwarded for a month. Some agencies, such as the Motor Vehicle Administration, request that their mail always be returned to them and never forwarded. If you’re going to be out of town for a while, but don’t want to change your address with every possible sender of mail, the best option is packet service, Woods said. For a fee, the post office will bundle up your mail and ship it to you periodically. “It’s more difficult here than any-
where else,” Woods said. “Particularly with younger people. They tend to just forget about their mail. The pay all their bills and get all their information online.” In some large buildings, carriers have taken to putting notice cards in boxes every fall, telling customers to remove the card if they’re still there and want to receive mail. “Some routes, out of 5,000 addresses, we might only have 500 that ever get mail in the winter,” Woods said. Adding to the piles of mail that are recycled or returned to the sender, there is also the issue of sorting through communal mailboxes. Many small condominiums or multi-family homes have one large box for everyone. That, actually, is forbidden under postal code, but still continues in older buildings, Woods said.
“The condo is technically responsible to give every unit a mailbox, whether they receive mail or not,” Woods said. “But a lot of people have gotten away in the past with throwing up a single box for a whole building, even if only a few people actually take out their mail.” Even if the winter is a logistical pain, the volume is fairly static, Woods said. The Christmas rush, given Ocean City’s low year-round population, is negligible. What the Ocean City office considers its Christmas rush actually happens in August and September. “The end of August and beginning of September is when the foreign students have tons of packages,” Woods said. “They’re filling up suitcases with all the stuff they can’t get back home and shipping them overseas. That can be a huge push-up.”
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