OCEAN CITY — Worcester County Commissioner Joe Mitrecic this week briefed the Ocean City Mayor and Council on a wide variety of county issues pertinent to the resort including the ongoing dispute over the 911 operating system, a new state recycling law for special events and the future of the county-run Department of Liquor Control.
Mitrecic, who represents Ocean City’s stand-alone commissioner district in Worcester County, briefed his former colleagues on a wide variety of shared issues during the regular meeting on Monday. During the short, informative presentation, Mitrecic told the Mayor and Council that Ocean City would be receiving grant funding from the state for its 911 call center, just as the other municipalities in Worcester would. That announcement led to a broader discussion about the long simmering feud between the town and the county over the 911 operating system.
Currently, all 911 calls placed in Ocean City are routed first to the county’s central 911 center in Snow Hill before being rerouted to the appropriate law enforcement or emergency services agency in the resort for response. For years, the Town of Ocean City has asked the county to consider eliminating the step in the process that first sends 911 calls to Snow Hill and then back to Ocean City, pointing out the resort handles about 95,000 calls per year, while the county at-large handles around 120,000.
However, the idea has consistently met resistance from the county. There are major state and federal dollars attached to maintaining the 911 service and Worcester County officials over the years have been reluctant to give that up, despite a potential improvement in efficiency and timeliness.
Mayor/Acting City Manager Rick Meehan, who has been on the front line of that discussion for years, asked Mitrecic if the timing of the new grants would make it appropriate to renew the debate.
“All of our calls go to the county,” he said. “Is it now timely to bring up that conversation again? It’s been a conversation I’ve been involved in for about 20 years.”
Mitrecic, who served on the Ocean City Council and waged his own battles with the county on the 911 issue, said it was a priority for him, but said he didn’t expect the county to budge.
“The county is not willing to give it up,” he said. “It is at the top of my list, but I’m getting a lot of push back thus far.”
Mitrecic also informed council members of the recent departure of Worcester County Economic Development Director Bill Badger, although they had likely heard the news. He said the bad news for Worcester is Badger could land in a neighboring jurisdiction if he hadn’t already.
“He became more and more frustrated and felt he didn’t have the support he needed in Worcester,” he said. “The bad news is Wicomico County is courting him.”
Mitrecic told Ocean City officials to keep a close eye on a new state law that would require recycling for special events that include 50 or more participants, a threshold under which most Ocean City events would obviously fall. He told the Mayor and Council the burden of paying for recycling at special events would fall on the organizers and promoters, which could cut into their bottom line and curtail their fundraising efforts. Mitrecic told the council the County Commissioners voted 4-3 not to enforce the law and was sending a letter to the state requesting an exemption for Worcester.
Mitrecic also told the council about improvements in the water and wastewater systems at Mystic Harbor and the county’s recent abolition of the old Shoreline Commission, which served the same function as the Board of Port Wardens in Ocean City. He also reported on another proposed law change at the county level regarding special events and concerts on the water.
Earlier in the summer, a promoter pitched a proposed concert on the water in the Isle of Wight Bay during which concert attendees which view the show from boats anchored in the coastal bays behind the resort. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources approved the in-water concert at first, and it appeared the county had no purview over the approval, but the promoter eventually backed out amid some controversy, safety concerns and logistical issues.
In response, the commissioners are now considering amending a section of the code which, if approved, would force future promoters of similar events to come before the county for approval. Mitrecic said the section of the code would also provide some purview for neighboring municipalities, which Ocean City would be in the above example.
In addition, the discussion came around to the issue of the Worcester County Department of Liquor Control. Mitrecic, who has made no secret about his growing dissatisfaction with the DLC, said another review of the county-run liquor dispensary system was expected in the near future.
