Incumbent Jay Knerr, newcomers Matt Stoehr and Tony Weeg likely to be sworn in as Oct. election likely to be canceled

By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

(Sept. 10, 2026) Berlin’s municipal election isn’t shaping up to be the most energetic of contests, with three candidates officially filing to run for the three Town Council seats up for grabs this fall.

That could still change if a write-in candidate enters the race before the Sept. 25 deadline, but the regular candidate filing deadline came and went Tuesday without any additional contenders vying for chance to serve on Berlin’s five-member governing body.

The positions to be determined by the Oct. 6 election are currently held by Vice President Dean Burrell, representing District 4; Steve Green, representing District 1; and Jay Knerr, the council’s at-large representative.

Burrell is retiring after 32 years as a Town Council member. His last meeting will be Monday, Sept. 28.

After being unopposed for a council seat in 2022, Green was elected to the Worcester County Commissioners in June and will leave his Berlin council seat at the conclusion of his current term this month. Since he is unopposed in the November general election, Green (an editor with this publication) will be sworn in as the county board’s District 4 representative Dec. 1.

The three candidates who have filed for the Berlin municipal election are Berlin Planning Commission Chair Matthew Stoehr, who is seeking Green’s District 1 seat; We Heart Berlin founder Tony Weeg, who is running for Burrell’s District 4 seat; and incumbent Jay Knerr, who is seeking another term to the at-large position.

Unless a write-in candidate files by Sept. 25, the election will most likely be canceled.

Stoehr, who announced his campaign for District 1 earlier in the summer, has served on Berlin’s Planning Commission since 2019. He has chaired the group for the past two and a half years.

Stoehr moved to Berlin from Ocean City in 2015. After graduating from Stephen Decatur High School in 2006, he earned an undergraduate degree in finance from Salisbury University and a master’s degree in business administration from Wilmington University in Delaware.

Stoehr is the owner of Mast Contracting, a home remodeling company. He has said his background as a business owner has given him experience with accounting, budgeting, and making difficult decisions, traits he believes will serve him well as a Berlin councilmember.

Stoehr told the Bayside Gazette in August that one of his priorities as a councilman would be maintaining open and honest communication with Berlin residents.

Stoehr also said he would oppose annexation and instead support continued development on vacant properties within Berlin’s existing boundaries.

During his time on the Berlin Planning Commission, Stoehr said the commission has maintained a firm position against annexing additional land into the town.

“The other thing I hope to accomplish is continuing with infill,” he said last month. “… we fill in the empty lots in town. I want to continue to push for that, whether it’s commercial, mixed residential, mixed commercial, mixed use. That is one of my main objectives, to try and maximize our empty lots that aren’t bringing much to the town.”

Stoehr also emphasized the importance of listening to people with differing opinions, something he said he learned through his work on the planning commission.

Weeg, the founder of the nonprofit We Heart Berlin, is running for council for the third time.

He first sought a council seat during a 2020 special election following the resignation of then-councilman-at-large Thom Gulyas. Weeg was ultimately defeated by Knerr.

Weeg later campaigned for the District 4 seat in 2022, losing to Burrell. He is again seeking the District 4 position this year.

Weeg moved to Berlin in 2018 and has said he hopes to bring his background in technology and software development to the council.

Among his proposals is a searchable database of the town’s past government meetings. Weeg said he developed an artificial intelligence-based system that compiled records from council, planning commission, and zoning appeals meetings dating back to 2016.

He said that the system allows users to search past decisions and other pertinent meeting information.

Looking ahead, Weeg has identified Berlin’s property tax rate as one issue the council will eventually need to address.

The town’s current property tax rate is $0.8275 per $100 of assessed value. Weeg has said that while he does not support raising taxes, he believes the council should examine the rate earlier in each fiscal year rather than waiting until budget discussions are underway.

“I am not for raising taxes,” Weeg told the Bayside Gazette in June. “I am for making the town run more efficiently with what we’ve got.”

Weeg has also said he wants to preserve Berlin’s eastern side from development encroachment, improve pedestrian and bicycle connectivity, and add more crosswalks throughout the town.

He has pointed to the potential difficulty pedestrians and bicyclists face crossing Route 113 between the east side of Berlin and downtown and said he would favor a network of crosswalks as an alternative to a more in-depth and costly infrastructure project.

Weeg works as a photographer and videographer in addition to his software development work.

Knerr, the incumbent at-large councilmember, joined the council in 2020 following Gulyas’ resignation and was elected to a full term in 2022.

During his time on the council, Knerr has highlighted the town’s efforts to maintain a steady property tax rate while continuing to provide municipal services, advance development projects, and preserve Berlin’s historic character.

Among the municipal projects he has worked on during his tenure, Knerr emphasized the redevelopment of the former chicken-processing plant at Heron Park, which the town sold to developer Palmer Gillis. After a few bumps in the road, the property’s revitalization is now moving forward.

Knerr has also highlighted the council’s efforts to revive plans for a community center at the former Flower Street School site. The town announced this year that $1.4 million in funding had been secured for the project.

Looking ahead, Knerr has said he wants to continue balancing the needs of year-round residents with Berlin’s status as a tourist destination while allowing the town to grow without losing its small-town character.

“We fought off the big developers, we don’t see sprawl,” Knerr said earlier this summer. “…I think one of the biggest projects is protecting our neighborhoods’ community and character. We don’t want this massive growth to spread. It would not serve our town well.”

Knerr has also cited infrastructure improvements, including roads and sidewalks, continued grant funding, police staffing, and maintaining a stable tax rate among his priorities.

Knerr is originally from Massachusetts and moved to the Eastern Shore in the 1980s before settling in Berlin in 2000. He is the longtime owner of the Ocean City Kite Loft and has served on the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce and the TidalHealth Atlantic Board of Trustees.

Berlin’s municipal election is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 6, and the three council members elected will each serve four-year terms. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day.