OCEAN CITY, Md. -- Town councilmember Peter Buas is challenging incumbent Rick Meehan. Both told us on Wednesday that they are confident their campaigns have reached voters.
In the last election cycle, Meehan ran unopposed, but things are different this time around. However, Meehan believes he's built relationships at the local and state level that will allow him to remain in office.
"It's important for the mayor to be able to go to Annapolis, to utilize those relationships, to be able to talk to the different committee heads and let them know specifically why this is important to Ocean City," said Meehan. "I think we've been very successful in being able to do that."
Meehan specifically pointed out the special event zone legislation he helped establish and the funding the town acquired to expand its convention center.
Candidate Peter Buas, however, worries those relationships have become stale.
"I really think our relationships have gotten sort of stagnant, and sometimes a new face can kickstart old logjams and try to get us moving in the right direction," said Buas.
Both Meehan and Buas also pledged to continue fighting against proposed offshore wind projects, including any negative impacts they could have on commercial fishermen.
Meehan said at the start, the town was mainly concerned with how close wind turbines could be to Ocean City's coast, and while that's still his attention, fishermen are on his radar.
"Our issue with the wind turbine project is not just the distance, it's also its effect on our commercial fisherman and what it would do to our commercial fishing industry here in Ocean City and West Ocean City, and it's become a priority," said Meehan.
Buas said standing up for fishermen will be a piece of a much larger plan.
"We need to work with the county and our own businesses to figure out what else we can do to stop their onshore operations," said Buas. "At the same time, start a PR push to convince Marylanders, and mainly on the other side of the bridge, that their only beach town is in jeopardy."
If re-elected, Meehan said he wants to focus on the basics, including the dualization of Route 90 and renewing a federal agreement for the town's beach replenishment project.
Ocean City has a 50-year agreement with the federal government, the state of Maryland and Worcester County to protect beaches and properties by building up the seawall and dunes. Meehan said they are now well past the halfway point of that agreement.
"That project is imperative for Ocean City and I think it's imperative for our future that that be extended, so that we have assurances that that beach and that protection will be there for future generations," said Meehan.
Buas would like to reinforce town staffing.
"We've got a lot of challenges in front of us, public safety staffing is a top one and like I said, we've got an issue with the loss of our seasonal program and we've got a lot of challenges with staffing coming up," said Buas. "We need to be able to work with the county to figure out how to resolve those problems and get us moving forward."
As for other areas of the towns workforce, seasonal workers have struggled to find affordable housing. The town has incentives for developers in place, but Meehan said more can be done.
"We need to keep looking at ways to give incentives for property owners to supply housing because that workforce is essential to the town of Ocean City," said Meehan.
Buas wants to see the town make adjustments.
"There's certainly changes we can make and we need to trust our staff and our businesses and our planning and zoning department to come up with changes that may be more effective," said Buas.
Voters in Ocean City will see their choice on their ballots on Election Day, November 5th.
