Veteran reporter will face incumbent Charlie Dorman in election, set for May 1

Brian Gilliland

By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(March 29, 2018) Ocean City Today staffer Brian Gilliland filed paperwork to run for Snow Hill Mayor on Tuesday and will challenge incumbent Mayor Charlie Dorman in the May election.

Originally from Trenton, New Jersey, he moved to the area in 2002 with his wife, Lora, who is the executive director of the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art in Salisbury.

Gilliland, 42, started in local media with now-defunct Oceana in 2003 and worked for the Salisbury Daily Times until 2008. He joined Ocean City Today in 2014 and is currently an associate editor.

The family ended up in Snow Hill about six years ago when Lora was pregnant with their second child. They have two boys, Grady and Julian.

“Our house in Salisbury, which we’d rented for about 10 years, was too small and we spent a lot of time looking around. On a whim one day we said, ‘let’s go to Snow Hill,’” Gilliland said. “When we were passing through we saw this ‘for sale by owner’ house and it had a solar array on the roof and there was a sign on the door that said: ‘Welcome hippies.’”

Gilliland contacted the owner and toured the house “and I said, ‘oh my God, this place is perfect for us.’” His wife, at the time about seven months pregnant, agreed.

“We looked around in Berlin and we looked around in Ocean Pines, and, yes, the tax rate is higher in Snow Hill, but the houses were cheaper, so this was well within our price range. And it was a great house for us and our growing family.”

He said the decision to run for office was “something [he’s] been considering for a while.”

“In the media environment, you have a person like [Berlin Mayor] Gee Williams, who went from the media into a very successful political career. [Worcester County Commissioner] Chip Bertino did the same thing and he’s doing well for himself, coming from media,” Gilliland said.

“I spent a lot of time in journalism and particularly a lot of time in government,” he continued. “I covered the Town of Berlin, I covered Ocean City, I covered the county – so I have a lot of this in my head already. I don’t know if I have it to the depth of somebody who has actually served in office, but I’ve got a great foundation.

“I view journalism as sort of a public service. I’m just choosing to do this now, for me, as a goal I had,” Gilliland said. “I haven’t ever found the right office, something I really wanted to go after, but I think this is it. I think this is a place for me to jump in and try to solve the problems, rather than observing and reporting.”

He said his goal for Snow Hill was to help the town realize its potential.

“There’s a great little downtown there. There’s a high degree of safety. There are wonderful schools,” Gilliland said. “Snow Hill is also adjacent to many different things that my wife and my family, and I think a lot of people with young families, can enjoy.”

That includes the beaches in Ocean City and Assateague, and camping in the Pocomoke Forest, not to mention kayaking in Snow Hill, he said.

Despite its natural assets, Gilliland said Snow Hill is still often overlooked.

“Last year, some professionals [led by county officials] took a bus tour around and everything I heard from that meeting was, ‘Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, this is all right here. We’ve got to bring this to people – people need to see this,’” he said. “I think those things will help drive Snow Hill to be more economically viable, while at the same time retaining its own character and doing its own thing.

“I’m really excited with this opportunity,” he added. “I think this is a good step for me. I think it’s a good step for the town. I think I can bring a lot to the table.

“I have a lot of respect for Charlie Dorman and the work he’s done and the accomplishments he’s had,” Gilliland said. “This is not a personal thing – this is something I want to do for myself.”