BRIAN GILLILAND, BAYSIDE GAZETTE
Candidates for county commissioner take part in a Coastal Association of Realtors candidate forum in Ocean Pines, last Thursday. Pictured, from left, are Josh Nordstrom (D), candidate for county commissioner District 1, Bud Church (R), incumbent county commissioner District 3, and Zackery Tyndall (D), candidate for county commissioner District 3.

By Brian Gilliland, Associate Editor

(June 8, 2018) While the Worcester County Commissioners govern the entire county, the candidates’ forum last Thursday at the Ocean Pines library had a decidedly Ocean Pines feel to it, as the county’s largest population center took center stage from the seven incumbents and hopefuls in attendance.

Almost all of the challengers were there, and five sitting commissioners attended. On the challenger’s side was Josh Nordstrom, District 1 Southern, Zackery Tyndall, District 3 Sinepuxent, Virgil Shockley, District 4 Western and Judy Butler, District 5 Ocean Pines.

Incumbents were Bud Church, District 3, Ted Elder District 4, Chip Bertino District 5, Jim Bunting, District 5 Northern, and Joe Mitrecic District 7 Ocean City.

Not attending were incumbents Merrill Lockfaw, District 1 Southern, who is facing Nordstrom in November, and Commissioner President Diana Purnell, who is running unopposed.

Bunting and Mitrecic are also running unopposed. Candidate Gary Millhoff, who is challenging Bud Church in the June 26 primary, was also not present at the forum.

All of the other contested races will be decided on Election Day, Nov. 6.

The forum was moderated by Stewart Dobson, editor of this newspaper, and consisted of questions prepared by event sponsor Coastal Association of Realtors, and from the audience as well.

Sometimes the questions were posed to the board and the candidates took turns answering, but individual candidates were also expected to answer questions alone.

The questions didn’t necessarily relate to the districts each candidate sought, but as a county commissioner, the candidate would be expected to vote on issues outside of his or her district at nearly every meeting.

Being in Ocean Pines, the issues most directly relating to that community fostered the most discussion. Chief among the residents’ concerns was the proposed “Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation” on Peerless Road.

Bunting said the proposal has not been before the commissioners, but he said if the project met the rules as they were at the time the application was made, there was little the county could do but approve the project.

Bunting said the process is no different than if someone wanted to build a residential home on the property.

The issue that got the most discussion from the candidates, however, was that of Ocean City’s request for a tax differential, and the impact that would have on the rest of the county.

“Ocean City’s intention is not to unduly tax Worcester, but as a way to get more fair funding from the county,” Mitrecic said. “Other areas get 70 percent of their taxes back.”

Intention or not, at least one sitting commissioner said that higher taxes in the rest of the county would be the result.

“If OC prevails in its lawsuit, taxes could go up four, five or seven cents because we don’t know what the overlap is,” Bertino said. “That’s the way it’s going to be. I don’t think Ocean City gets to raise taxes on the rest of the county because they chose to duplicate services.”

Bunting said he is against a tax differential or tax setoff because the money would never find its way back into the hands of the property owners. He said if a setoff was established for Ocean City, its government might keep most of the difference while offering a small tax cut to residents.

Shockley said he didn’t think any tax differential would show up on Ocean City residents’ tax bills, but said he also recalled the years when the council and the commissioners got along and lawsuits were unnecessary.

The audience also wanted to know when the orange barrels would be removed from Gum Point Road, and the question was posed to Ted Elder. He said Route 589 is one of the county’s priority projects on the state register, and the county would have to wait to see which ideas would be acted on by the Hogan administration.

Opiates were also on the participants’ minds, and Nordstrom said the county would have to be prepared to join a lawsuit by governments to sue the pharmaceutical companies that marketed opiates for pain relief on the condition they were not addictive. Church said attacking the problem begins with education.

The audience was concerned about county workers making a livable wage. Shockley said no one in Worcester County with a family could survive on less than $40,000 annually.

Bertino said the commissioners were looking at a plan to increase the pay of the county’s lowest tier employees.

However, when the first phase of that plan was presented in January, Bertino, Bunting and Merrill Lockfaw voted against it.

Bertino’s objection was procedural, rather than being hostile to the proposal.

“I understand the need, but I have a problem doing it now instead of at budget time,” he said at the time.

When the county finally adopted the plan two weeks later, Bunting and Bertino remained opposed, while Lockfaw switched his vote to affirmative.

Early voting for the primary starts on June 14, and a voted must be registered as a Democrat or Republican in order to participate in the Maryland primary. The in-person primary is set for June 26.

Of these candidates, the only one facing a primary challenge is Bud Church. The rest of the races will be decided Nov. 6.