OCEAN CITY – On the heels of a federal inquiry into alleged civil rights violations in a pair of incidents on the Boardwalk last June, resort officials this week veered in a different direction and initiated a process to explore creating a diversity and inclusion position.
It was confirmed last week an FBI inquiry into the alleged excessive use of force during a pair of incidents on the Boardwalk determined neither case was a federal civil rights violation and the bureau’s inquiry was now closed. Following those June incidents, state and local civil rights activists met with Mayor Rick Meehan inside City Hall, while activists conducted a peaceful protest outside.
Out of that meeting was borne the request for the city to create a diversity and inclusion work group to begin exploring some of the issues raised. At the close of Monday’s meeting, Meehan explained the need for the town to begin exploring some of the diversity and inclusion issues and issued a call for his colleagues on the council to begin exploring a diversity, equality and inclusion position within the city government.
“During that meeting, I was asked if I would hire a diversity, equity and inclusion officer for the Town of Ocean City,” he said. “I explained our council-city manager form of government, but that was certainly something I would look into for them. After our initial follow-up meeting with our now-established diversity and inclusion work group, we promised to work with these local representatives to address a number of these issues and develop a dialogue.”
Meehan said he approached City Manager Doug Miller to begin exploring the creation of a diversity position, learning there was currently a training position being advertised by the town that could be adapted to the proposed new position.
“At that meeting, I went to the city manager to discuss that position,” he said. “I pointed out that we currently have posting for a position in the human resources department for a training position. I have reviewed that job description and I think this would be an excellent opportunity to create the position of a diversity, equity and inclusion officer and possibly include some of the other job descriptions under this position as well. I suggested this posting should be pulled and discussed. I also discussed this with Council President Matt James and Council Secretary Tony DeLuca. Upon review, the city manager decided not to go this route, explaining the two positions we were discussing were entirely different functions.”
Meehan pointed out the resort is one of the largest cities in the state, but lacked a position dedicated to ensuring diversity and inclusion.
“Ocean City is the second largest city in the state for much of the year,” he said. “We are positioning ourselves to grow to the next plateau. By doing so, it’s important for us to figure out how we can become better, more diverse and an inclusive government. This will not only benefit our employees, but our citizens and residents as well. Times have changed, and changed for the better. We need to not only keep up with those changes, but I believe we always need to strive to stay ahead of those changes and be on the forefront of change.”
Meehan said the time was right to begin exploring the creation of the position and start moving the town in that direction going forward as it continues to grow.
“Diversity and inclusion are key components of our future,” he said. “As we watch the world around us, it is obvious to the importance of these initiatives. At the meeting of our diversity and inclusion work group, it became even more apparent that we need to move in this direction and do it now.”
Meehan explained his concept for the proposed new position.
“Our diversity, equity and inclusion position should work with the Mayor and Council to stablish best practices and implement employment and workplace practices to promote a culture of inclusion for individuals from all racial and ethnic identities, ages, nationalities, social and economic status, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious, political and ideological perspectives, and physical and mental abilities can strive and engage together,” he said. “The timing for this position is right. we’re currently looking into hiring employees in the police department, the fire department. We are approaching a time when many of our senior staff are moving toward retirement and we continue to look for ways to grow our seasonal workforce.”
The mayor acknowledged the town did not always keep up with the times in terms of diversity and inclusion.
Meehan added, “I hate to say it, but we are behind and need to be proactive. The Mayor and Council has positioned the city to grow and we have an excellent opportunity to do it right. We owe this to our current employees and our future employees. Let’s continue to be leaders. I recommend that the city council direct the city manager to create a job description for this position to be approved by the Mayor and Council and for that position to be advertised as soon as possible. The future is coming fast and we need to be prepared.”
DeLuca agreed the town probably needed to be more proactive on the issues.
“As secretary of the council, I totally support this and a feel like we’re very, very behind on addressing some of these issues,” he said.
DeLuca made a motion to start the process of hiring a diversity, equity and inclusion position and to direct the city manager to develop a job description to include grade level and salary and bring it back to the Mayor and Council at a work session in the near future.
James asked for clarification of DeLuca’s motion.
“Just to clarify, are you asking for a position to strictly address diversity?” he said.
City Manager Doug Miller explained his view of the proposed new position.
“My vision is, when the mayor first came to me, we were in the process of looking for a training officer. What we have a need for immediately is to hire a recruitment, retention and diversity officer because we have those immediate needs,” Miller said. “A lot of what the mayor is talking about deals with workforce issues. We’re finding that is becoming more and more of a challenge.”
Meehan said he believed he and Miller were on the same page, but not necessarily the same paragraph.
“That’s where I disagree a little with the city manager,” he said. “I think the position should be a diversity, equity and inclusion officer and those other jobs could fall under that position. That’s the premise I think we need to move forward with and what we need to promote. By stating it that way, we might attract individuals to apply for that position as a first step toward really moving forward.”
Councilman John Gehrig said the issue should really be moved to a work session in the near future, and raised some questions about the motivation for creating the new diversity position.
“Are we addressing specific problems with this?” he said. “I guess we’re going to talk about it. I know what’s going on in the world. I like to think we’re already hiring the best people, whether they are black, white or gay or whatever. Is there a problem? I want to know what the actual problem is we’re having so we can hire the right person and not just hiring a title. I want to solve the issues, and I know this is touchy, but I want to make sure we’re not just checking a box.”
Meehan said the concept of creating a diversity, equity and inclusion position was not just simply checking a box.
“It’s not to address any problem that currently exists,” he said. “It’s simply to make us better, and maybe better prepared, to address problems if, in fact, they do come up.”
The council voted unanimously to approve DeLuca’s motion to start the process of hiring a diversity, equity and inclusion position and direct Miller to create a job description for the position to bring back to a future work session to the Mayor and Council.
