Commissioner Joe Mitrecic is calling on county leaders to consider staggered terms ahead of the 2026 election to instead of electing all seven officials every four years.
The Worcester County Government Center in Snow Hill is pictured.
File photo
Bethany Hooper, Associate Editor
Commissioner Joe Mitrecic asked county leaders this week to consider staggered terms.
At the close of last week’s commissioners meeting, Mitrecic called on county leaders to evaluate terms ahead of the 2026 election. Every four years, all seven board seats are up for re-election.
“We replace the entire board every election, and in an election year we could actually end up with seven new commissioners,” he said. “Looking at the slate for the next election, two years from now, this may in fact be the time to look at staggering the positions in two different election cycles.”
Mitrecic said he has considered the possibility of staggering board terms since he was first elected. With Commissioner Jim Bunting stating he would not seek re-election, and he himself weighing his options, he said he wanted to have a discussion now.
“Certainly, I don’t know if I’m running again, but if I was looking at a two-year term instead of a four, I might,” he said. “And if one of the other commissioners was on the fence, and we could change that to a two-year term, that would give us our stagger. It would be four elected to a four-year term and three elected to a two-year term in the next election, and then after that you would just go on four-year terms.”
Mitrecic noted that most other counties, as well as municipalities within Worcester, have staggered terms. While he noted it was unlikely that an entire board would be replaced in any given election, he said he didn’t like the idea that it could.
“We’re looking at a lot of different things, and I think that’s one of the things we really need to look at,” he said. “You know, you could end up with seven new commissioners at the same time, which to me is a scary thought, but it may not be to anybody else … So I would like to start looking at that, if there’s any interest in it, and try to move that forward.”
Worcester County’s most recent election was held in 2022, during which the only uncontested seat was the one held by Mitrecic, who presents District 7 (Ocean City). In District 1 (southern end of the county including Pocomoke), Caryn Abbott defeated incumbent Josh Nordstrom. In District 2 (court-mandated minority district including part of Berlin), incumbent Diana Purnell defeated Catherine Freeman. In District 3, which includes West Ocean City, Eric Fiori pulled ahead in a four-way race to fill a seat left by Bud Church’s departure from the commissioners. In District 4, the western area of the county that includes parts of Berlin and Snow Hill, incumbent Ted Elder won by a six-vote margin. In District 5, most of Ocean Pines) incumbent Chip Bertino defeated challenger Grant Helvey. And in District 6, (northern area of the county including Bishopville) incumbent Jim Bunting defeated Richard Addis.
Most of the winners were determined in the primary race that summer.