By Greg Ellison

(Dec. 17, 2020) Worcester County and community representatives met Friday with Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R-38C) and minority leader Sen. Bryan Simonaire (R-31 Anne Arundel) to highlight their priorities ahead of the new Maryland General Assembly session in January.

The contingent of government, school and health officials, as well as business and civic leaders, gathered at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center in Ocean City to offer state officials, which also included Capital Budget Chairman Sen. Doug Peters (D-23 Prince George’s), a comprehensive overview of the “Shore Way of Life.”

“This is our opportunity to shine,” Carozza said.

Simonaire, who was recently installed as Maryland Senate minority leader by Republican caucus officials, selected Carozza as policy and communications chairwoman earlier this month.

The duo had a comparable session scheduled Friday afternoon with Wicomico officials.

Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan was first to address the senators and expressed gratitude for prior legislative support to establish “Special Event Zones” aimed at halting unruly road behavior during the unsanctioned pop-up car rally in late September.

“It made a difference in our community to help temper down that event,” he said. “We’ve made progress, but we would not be able to do that without that legislation.”

Meehan said the resort’s priority this covid-cursed year has been the health and safety of residents, employees and visitors.

Meehan praised dining, lodging and retail establishments for managing to operate while adhering to the state’s covid-19 health-safety guidelines and CDC recommendations.

“They’ve been creative and they’ve been resilient,” he said. “The government and business community are on the same page and we’re here to support each other.”

Looking at the 2021 state legislative session, Meehan said Ocean City and Worcester officials are seeking legislation to require third party rental platforms, such as Airbnb or VRBO, to pay state sales tax and county room taxes.

“Locally, we have no way to require payment of those taxes and we have no way to enforce,” he said. “Not only is Ocean City losing millions of dollars in uncollected revenues, so is the state and other jurisdictions.”

Meehan also said Annapolis lawmakers’ consideration of  amending or abandoning Maryland’s Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights could cripple the resort’s already challenged police recruitment effort.

“Public safety and the safety of our officers remain our number one priority,” he said.

Worcester County Commissioner Diane Purnell also called on state officials to recognize that only a united effort will get the county and state through the debilitating circumstances brought on by the pandemic.

Using the county health department as an example of that close coordination with other county entities, she cited schools, medical facilities, and the business community for their cooperation as well.

“In order to survive we have to work together,” she said. “We look at Annapolis to work with us on the Eastern Shore to make sure that we get through this storm together because we are vital to this state.”

Another downside of the pandemic is crime. OCPD Chief Ross Buzzuro said crime rates at the resort had been decreasing for the last five season before going up this year.

He also echoed Meehan’s comments regarding special event zone legislation.

“With the special event zones and enhanced fines. we believe we’re stemming this tide,” he said.

Turning to the issue of police reforms, Buzzuro told state officials the department had difficulty maintaining order on the Boardwalk in June.

“This is a larger issue that happened throughout the country,” he said.

Buzzuro said he hoped widespread concern about policing tactics would die down in 2021, he acknowledged that the burden is on police officers to adhere to acceptable rules of conduct.

“We have to get it right,” he said.

He also said that reform measures should be considered objectively.

“I’m not going to be doing this forever,” he said. “I need officers to come behind me and it’s getting very difficult to attract younger folks into the field of law enforcement.”

On another embattled front, Worcester County Superintendent of Schools Lou Taylor said keeping students on the right educational path during the pandemic has been hampered by internet connectivity issues in the rural areas of the county. He also didn’t miss his chance to remind legislators that Worcester is the lowest funded school system in Maryland, even though 43 percent of its students live below the poverty level.

“We would ask the legislature to take look at the funding formula,” he said.

Taylor also mentioned mounting concerns over food insecurity for students in Worcester and other jurisdictions statewide.

“State and federal funding is paramount for us to continue food distribution to kids,” he said.

Facing as great or even greater covid-related challenge than the schools, however, is the Worcester County Health Department. County Health Officer Becky Jones told the group that more than 38,000 coronavirus tests have been processed in the county since last spring, producing roughly 1,500 positive results.

“About 1,300 of those have been released from isolation and quarantine,” she said.

Jones said the department investigated 355 complaints about businesses failing to adhere to health-safety guidelines.

“Restaurants did an outstanding job of being compliant,” she said. “We have over 700 facilities we regulate, and we only closed two.”

Offering some optimism was Atlantic General Hospital President and CEO Michael Franklin, who said the facility was among 25 in Maryland about to begin a vaccination roll out.

“We have 50,000 doses of vaccine being delivered this week,” he said. “More than half to residential health facilities throughout the state and the rest to front line health care workers as second level of priority.”

Representing the largest population base in Worcester County was Ocean Pines Association President Larry Perrone.

Perrone said since Ocean Pines is governed by a homeowners association, it has no authority to tax residents, but does charges homeowners annual assessments fees to cover shortfalls and to balance the operating budget.

That leaves Ocean Pines heavily dependent on revenue it gains from community amenities such as the Ocean Pines Golf Course and Ocean Pines Yacht Club.

“Our budget is based on the revenue that we’re able to generate from our amenities, as well as whatever grants and fees we’re able to develop,” he said.

That said, Perrone added that more state aid would be needed to help the community restore its stormwater drainage system.

Perrone said the Maryland Coastal Bays program helped secure a $549,000 state grant for Ocean Pines through the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

“We are in the process of trying to replace our storm system and the filtration issue is a primary concern,” he said.

Perrone said although further state aid is being sought, the OPA is also heavily invested.

“We are spending about $300,000 of our own money this year on stormwater systems and have committed $350,0000 to the grant from Maryland,” he said. “These are huge projects and we only have so many resources we can allocate.”