Meredith pushes removal of Wichmann's censure

At an Ocean View Town Council meeting on Feb .16, Mayor Gordon Wood read correspondence from former mayor Gary Meredith, encouraging the town to rescind the censure Councilman Bill Wichmann received in July 2006, after he admittedly authorized a generator installation without council approval.

Meredith voted to censure Wichman, although at the time he expressed difficulty in making that decision, as he noted they were friends. This week’s letter sought to encourage the council to expunge Wichmann’s record, and Meredith expressed regret in his decision to cast the vote in the 3-2 decision for censuring Wichmann.

Wood then pointed out that former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford had not been censured after last year’s scandal.

“As for censures, in the State of South Carolina, adultery, absence from not only the state, but the country, under false pretenses, abrogating duty, being unavailable and out of contact should emergencies arise, etc., failed to meet the bar for censure,” Wood said. “For me, I believe censure should be only for deliberate and premeditated failure to follow law or for criminal acts.”

“Censure is a severe punishment in my book,” Wood said, adding that what Wichman had done did not rise to the level of censure, in his opinion.

“Why am I doing this?” Woods later sought to clarify in a statement to the Coastal Point. “To redefine the standard. In the case at hand, to remove censure while also stating the intent was not dishonorable but that things might have been handled differently. I want to avoid confusion about my motive,” he added. “Simply said, I think it is the right thing to do.”

During citizen’s privilege, former councilman Roy Thomas, who was on the council with Wichmann and Meredith when that incident occurred and who was instrumental in bringing the censure, said that he “couldn’t wait” until the council brought it up again in March and was looking forward to “rehashing it” in public.

Candidate filing deadline is March 11

Ocean View’s annual town council election is coming up. The deadline to file to run for a council seat is March 11 at 4:30 p.m. Interested parties must be 18, a U.S. citizen, a Ocean View resident for one year preceding the election and a resident of the district in which they are running at the time of filing and for the remainder of their term. They also must not have any felony convictions and must be an eligible voter in the town.

Among the current council, Councilman Bill Wichmann, who represents District 2, is not eligible to run for a third term, per the town charter, but Councilman Richard Nippes, representing District 1, could run for re-election, if he so chooses.

If there is a contested election, with more than one candidate for either of the two seats, a candidate’s night event will be held March 31, at 32 West Avenue, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Clarifying the town’s election rules at a meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 16, Town Manager Conway Gregory explained that if no one seeks election to either or both of the seats – for example, if no one runs for Wichman’s seat or Nippes decides not to run for re-election and no one else runs for his seat – the council could appoint someone to the empty seat(s) and then hold a special election to confirm the appointment, at which time another candidate could come forward.

He planned to post that information in its entirety on its Web site for citizens to peruse, he said.

Town manager’s mayoral duties questioned

Gregory on Feb. 16 also answered questions about his recent appointment as the mayor of Denton, Md., the town in which he lives, in conjunction with public comment on the recent blizzards.

Resident Steve Cobb expressed gratitude for the town staff, including Public Works employees Jared Steele and Mike Casale, and all their hard work during the snow storms, but he questioned Gregory’s dedication. “Thanks to the police, to Jared and Mike, to the volunteers. But the town manager was not here,” he said pointedly.

He added that, during other storm situations, the town manager was in town, and said, “It seems as if he made a conscious decision to not be here. I wouldn’t expect him to shovel snow, but he could have answered phones, gotten blankets, just been part of the team here. How can one man serve the town of Ocean View and the town of Denton?”

He also asked the council when they were informed of Gregory’s status as mayor of Denton, when the public was going to be notified and what the duties of mayor of Denton are.

After several other comments – some in support of Cobb’s view and some in support of Gregory, saying he had done a fine job remotely by cell phone and e-mail – Gregory responded, explaining that at the time of his interview and hire as Ocean View’s town manager, the council knew of his position on the Denton Town Council.

“I welcome the comments and would be happy to respond,” he said, going on to explain his whereabouts during each of storms and his availability to department heads. He was in town for the first storm, he said, and was working remotely during the second and could not have legally returned to Ocean View under the governor’s state of emergency.

“I average 80 to 100 hours bi-weekly as town manager and informed the mayor at the time [of Gregory’s mayoral appointment] that Ocean View would come first,” he said. “I average three to nine hours a month as mayor of Denton. Being mayor is purely ceremonial in scope,” he added, saying that the mayor is selected annually from the five-member town council and serves a one-year term.

During citizens’ privilege, Thomas said that “only in Ocean View” is the town manager at fault when things go wrong but not given credit when things go right.

“This is about management. If things get done when he’s not here, that’s the sign of a good manager,” Thomas said.

Storms bring praise for staff, more concern over drainage

Also on Feb. 16, Mayor Gordon Wood read correspondence from U.S. Sen. Thomas Carper, saying that he appreciated the opportunity to come to Ocean View and discuss issues such as West View’s drainage problems. He wrote that he would make a call to Lt. Gov. Matt Denn, who is in charge of all of Delaware’s stimulus funds, and would try other federal agencies to see if funding for West View could not somehow be appropriated.

On Tuesday, the council also voted on another emergency ordinance to authorize Gregory to spend up to $5,000 if the West View area needed to be pumped again in light of the recent storm activity and resulting flooding.

The council and audience gave Public Works Director Charlie McMullen, Steele and Casale (who was not present) a standing ovation for their commitment during the blizzards. While much of Sussex County and the state was still covered in ice and snow, many Ocean View roads had been plowed once or, in some cases, twice. McMullen noted the work when he gave his administrative report for the month. “We plowed,” he said simply, to laughter.