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APRIL 10, 2020
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By Josh Kim Staff Writer (April 10, 2020) Early preparation, positive attitudes and a lot of hard work resulted in the Ocean City government’s relatively seamless transition into conducting government affairs virtually. “I started looking into some programs the week of March 16,” City Clerk Diana Chavis said. “The governor had issued the mandate to restrict the number of attendees in a room, and prior to that he had mandated social distancing … and then when Diana Chavis additional mandates came out … we knew that additional measures would be needed.” City staff considered a variety of virtual meeting platforms, such as Uber Conference and Go2Meeting, but eventually settled on Zoom, which has arguably become the world’s largest videoconference portal of its kind, as a result of the covid19 pandemic. From there, Chavis said resort officials conducted the program’s first trial meeting on March 26, and she soon began scheduling dozens of meetings to prepare for budget season and closed sessions. “The process [of preparing a meeting] is a bit longer, technical and it takes a little more thought and time,” Chavis said. “… Making sure that we meet all of the requirements of the Open Meetings Act, that was on the top of the list.” Not only did the public have to be taught how to use and access Zoom, but the mayor and City Council did, as well. Nonetheless, even with around 40 percent of the 60 or so City Hall employees working from home, Chavis See OC COUNCIL’S Page 2
By Josh Kim Staff Writer (April 10, 2020) Costs associated with providing fire and EMS services to West Ocean City were once again a flashpoint for city officials, as they discussed last Thursday how to recoup around $400,000 they feel the city has been shortchanged. “Under the ambulance service fees, it’s showing a reduction of $25,000, why is that?” Councilman Mark Paddack asked. City Budget Manager Jennie Knapp said she had reduced the expected income by $25,000 based on revenue collected in Fiscal Year 2019. “There’s an adjustment that the finance department makes at the end of the year based on the collection ratio and I did not feel that we would get the $1,060,000 in the current fiscal year,” Knapp said. The actual revenue for ambulance service fees in FY 2019 was $912,737. Knapp told Ocean City Today that the city charges users according to what their insurance companies would cover. The city receives a full reimbursement from private insurance holders, but for those with public insurance, the matter becomes complicated. “If someone uses our ambulance service who has Medicare or Medicaid, we have to accept the Medicare/Medicaid rate,” Knapp said. “The consumer is not responsible for paying more than that amount, so the town has to “write off” the difference between the amount billed and the amount paid.” The county does reimburse the resort $760 per run and $190 per nontransportation call, but Knapp found that the reimbursements are often not enough. Fire Chief Richie Bowers explained that aside from the ambulance services, other expenses the city must pay are for fuel, operating an apparatus and labor. The city shoulders several other direct See SERVICE Page 2
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FUN OFF LIMITS The playground area at Northside Park on 125th Street is fenced off to prohibit children from using the equipment as covid-19 is detectible on plastic and stainless steel surfaces for several days.
County’s budgeteers embark on strange trip into unknown By Elizabeth Bonin Staff Writer (April 10, 2020) As the coronavirus pandemic continues, Worcester County government officials still cannot say exactly how it will affect the budget, although there’s little, if any, interest in pursuing a higher tax rate in the new fiscal year. The county commissioners budget work session, originally scheduled for March 31 and then rescheduled for April 7, has been rescheduled again for Tuesday, April 14, following the commissioner’s regular meeting. The county will send instructions on how the public can view the meet-
ings live via Zoom, according to Kelly Shannahan, chief administrative assistant. He said that the county finance team has been working daily to study and Bud Church project the impact the coronavirus and the economic shutdown will have on county revenue. With tough restrictions on businesses and public interaction imposed by Gov. Larry Hogan and Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan, much of Worcester County’s revenue creators, See NO TAX Page 3
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Service to WOC still issue for city Continued from Page 1 and indirect expenses as well, he said. Last year, per request by the mayor and council, Knapp found that West Ocean City residents made up 13.35 percent of all emergency service calls in 2018, or 828 out of 6,200. That means in total, the city spent more than $1 million in 2018 to provide its western neighbors emergency services. While it spent more than $1 million, the resort only collected roughly $200,000 in revenue from West Ocean City residents, as well as a $450,000
grant from the county. Subtracting the revenue and grant from the total cost means resort taxpayers absorbed an additional $395,089 to provide West Ocean City emergency services. “We provide a service and we don’t get paid for it,” Councilman Tony DeLuca said. “I think we need to take it to a work session and solve it, I don’t think it’s a budget discussion.” However, Mayor Rick Meehan and Councilman John Gehrig felt differently, and believed the city should add the true cost of providing its emergency
JOSH KIM/OCEAN CITY TODAY
The cost of providing emergency services to West Ocean City residents was a highlight of last week’s Ocean City Council budget meetings. In 2018, the city spent more than $1 million on the area.
services, rather than requesting an anticipated amount based on previous grants. “I think we should put into the budget what we’ve requested to cover the service, and if they don’t provide that revenue back to us, then we reconsider what level of service we provide and for how long,” Meehan said, arguing it was better to ask and not receive, than to not ask at all. Gehrig agreed, but focused his attention on residents, rather than the county. “It’s really not the county’s responsibility, it’s the individual’s responsibility,” Gehrig. “I think we should have a database of our receivables, and … if they have a balance and they make another call they need to make a payment by credit card before we got out there. This is a business, and I think that’s reasonable. You can’t go anywhere and get something for free.” Nonetheless, Meehan and Gehrig failed to convince their colleagues, and the council voted to maintain its normal budget habits. “Our budget is a forecast, and … we have to be actual and factual,” DeLuca said. “Just because they owe it to us doesn’t mean we should put it in the budget.” It is important to note that the city and county have seen progress on this issue. On Feb. 4, Meehan and Bowers met with County Commissioners and presented the issue. Meehan suggested four solutions to commissioners — the establishment of medical response districts in the county, a year-round reimbursement to Ocean City, a direct payment to the city for the deficit or a revision of the county’s grants for credit and noncredit runs outside of resort corporate limits. As previously reported by Ocean City Today, the commissioners seemed open to what Meehan and Bowers had to say, but some expressed their desire to address the issue as a countywide predicament, and not just an Ocean City problem. Prompted by Commissioner Joseph Mitrecic, who represents Ocean City, the commissioners voted to host a discussion with all county fire chiefs to analyze the funding problem. That discussion was held on Feb. 19, and following reports from chiefs that described an overall shortage in funds and personnel, the commissioners said they would schedule a work session to examine possible solutions for the fire companies. “The bottom line is that we are operating in a deficit,” Bowers told Ocean City Today. “[However], the discussion that we had with the commissioners, as well as County Chief Administrator Harold Higgins, was very engaging, very productive, and I think we walked away from there understanding there is a need and there is help coming.”
APRIL 10, 2020
OC council’s shift to online sessions goes smoothly Continued from Page 1 said communication remained efficient, although nothing could beat person-to-person interaction. Additionally, despite initial concerns over connectivity, she said meetings have been running smoothly. However, Chavis said city staff is looking into other virtual platforms after seeing recent reports on “Zoom bombing.” Downloads of Zoom’s mobile app rose by 1,126 percent in the scope of a month — from 5.2 million users in February to more than 76 million in March. Yet, this explosion in popularity has also led to an explosion of online harassment known as Zoom bombing, which entails hackers saying and texting obscenities or posting disturbing and offensive images and videos. The New York Times reported finding hundreds of social media accounts and message boards where thousands of people gathered to organize such online harassment, and noted the issue was prominent enough to prompt the FBI to issue a warning about Zoom bombing last Monday. The company has recommended several tips to protect conference calls from hackers, but most of these tips, such as not making the call public, would be impossible for government entities under the Maryland’s Open Meetings Act. Luckily for users, Zoom founder and CEO Eric S. Yuan announced on his blog last week that the company would take several steps to address Zoom bombing, including a freeze on all new features to focus on security issues. Zoom bombing aside, Chavis said she had yet to receive any complaints from the public. She largely attributed that to the teamwork displayed by resort officials. “I’m just really impressed by the mayor and council,” Chavis said. “Obviously, everybody had their reservations and were a little anxious about converting to virtual meetings, but despite the abrupt transition, they have embraced the challenge and haven’t skipped a beat.” To read more steps Zoom will take to address privacy concerns check out Yuan’s blog post at https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/20 20/04/01/a-message-to-our-users/. S u p p o rt Yo u r Lo c a l Re s t a u ra n t s !
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APRIL 10, 2020
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Ocean City Today
No tax increase, but other budget changes probable Continued from Page 1 such as restaurants and hotels, are closed or operating at a limited capacity. “We know that all businesses out there are struggling with the stay-athome order and can try to continue operations the best they can,” Shannahan said. “At this point, it’s an unknown as far as exactly when we’re safe to go back outside, leave our homes and continue conducting business as we did before the covid-19 crisis.” The county had estimated general fund revenues of nearly $210 million, with budget requests topping that by $11 million. The appearance of the coronavirus, however, changed that and County Commissioner Joseph Mitrecic said that major purchases have been cut out of the budget, including new personnel hires. “We have the staff looking at their budgets, trying to decrease them as much as possible - spending as we can,” Mitrecic said. Although the budget must be finalized by July 1, he said that the budget isn’t necessarily set in stone. “The budget is a living, breathing document,” Mitrecic said. “It can change throughout the year and there are adjustments made throughout the year. Money is moved from one area to another if the need is there.” He said that he personally would like to keep all the municipal grants the same as last year and to increase the funding for emergency medical services. In addition, Mitrecic said that the commissioners are not interested in raising the tax rate. “We’re going to have to work
within our means moving forward,” Mitrecic said. Commissioner Bud Church said that the county is at a holding pattern, but that’s a good thing for public health. “There is concern with the revenue not coming in,” Church said. “Hotels are empty, so there’s not going to be room tax.” He added that he didn’t want to speculate about the potential impact of the shutdown, but does think the county’s economy and the government’s budget will survive. “We have very conservative commissioners,” Church said. “We have never overspent the budget.” Commissioner Joshua Nordstrom said it’s likely that some expenses will have to be cut, and some new requests may have to wait until next year. “We want to make sure that our municipalities continue to be funded at the same or similar levels,” Nordstrom said. “We want to make sure that that we don’t cut our services or have to cut jobs. All of those things have to come first and then after all that, we look and see what’s left.” He specified that employee raises, the Worcester County Public School’s maintenance of effort and emergency services funding are priorities. He reiterated that the county will simply have to be fiscally responsible. “That doesn’t mean requests won’t be granted, but at this point, we just don’t know,” Nordstrom said. “It’s a little bit scary, a little bit frightening to not know, but really when you’re budgeting, it’s an estimate anyway.”
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Wor. rises to 16 covid-19 cases, four recovered By Elizabeth Bonin Staff Writer (April 10, 2020) As of Thursday morning, Maryland confirmed 6,185 cases of covid-19, or coronavirus. There are 1,476 in Prince George’s County, 1,214 in Montgomery, 979 in Baltimore, 638 in Baltimore City, 505 in Anne Arundel, 299 in Howard, 233 in Frederick, 203 in Carroll, 180 in Charles, 101 in Harford, 66 in Calvert, 65 in St. Mary’s, 60 in Washington, 49 in Cecil, 21 in Wicomico, 17 in Queen Anne’s, 16 in Worcester, 13 in Talbot, 12 in Caroline, nine in Kent, eight in Allegany, seven in Dorchester, five in Garrett and four in Somerset. Worcester has had 11 new cases since last week, five of which are a male in his 40s, a female in her 60s, a male in his 60, a female in her 30 and another male in his 40s. The other six have not yet been identified. One of the cases in Worcester is a store associate at the Food Lion on Manklin Road in Ocean Pines, according to Emma Inman, external communications director for Food Lion. The grocery store will not be revealing the associate’s identity for privacy reasons. “In an abundance of caution, we took immediate action to execute an enhanced cleaning procedure as guided from the local, state and national health authorities, including the Centers for Disease Control,” Inman said. “These cleaning procedures were in addition to our ongoing, rigorous sanitary practices, which have been greatly expanded during the health crisis. Any other associates who were in close contact with this associate are self-quarantined at home.” As of Tuesday, the Worcester County Health Department has received 215 covid-19 tests and as of Wednesday, has released four individuals from public health monitoring. The Worcester County Health Department stated that it could not release where the individuals who have tested positive live, work or visit. “HIPAA protects confidential patient information, but we want to emphasize that everyone is at some risk for covid-19,” the department said in a statement. “Everyone is expected to stay at home as much as possible and take precautions. Covid-19 affects people from all walks of life. Be kind to those who are affected.” It added that it will only announce public places identified by contact tracing unless it’s considered high risk. The department will continue contact tracing and will notify those who may have come into contact with positive cases. Symptoms of coronavirus are fever, coughing, shortness of breath and, in more serious cases, pneumonia. It is spread through respiratory droplets, personal contact or surface contact
Ocean City Today
APRIL 10, 2020
Coronavirus cases in Worcester County timeline: March 19 – Worcester County confirms its first case of coronavirus, a male in his 30s March 21 – A woman in her 20s tests positive March 30 – A county resident diagnosed out of state is confirmed as the third case April 1 – A woman in her 20s tests positive April 2 – A man in his 40s tests positive; health department releases three cases from public monitoring April 4 – A man in his 40s and a woman in her 60s test positive April 5 – A man in his 60s and a woman in her 30s test positive April 6 – A man in his 40s tests for a total of 10 positive cases in Worcester; four total cases have been released from public monitoring April 9 – Six more people test positive for a total of 16 cases
with the virus on it. Atlantic General Hospital personnel said people who are experiencing these symptoms or have come into contact with a confirmed case should call their medical providers so they can prepare with the proper protective gear. Do not show up unannounced to a medical facility. The hospital is streamlining coronavirus testing to the 10th Street Atlantic Immediate Care. There are a few other urgent cares conducting tests if the individual cannot get to the 10th Street location, according to the health department. Atlantic General said that test results may take several days since there is a large volume of tests going into a limited number of labs. Although a number of tigers at a New York City zoo have reportedly tested positive for coronavirus, the Center for Disease and Control said the chances that infected animals can spread the virus to people is rare. It added that there is a small number of pets, including cats and dogs, that have been infected outside the United States. There have been no reports of pets testing positive for coronavirus in the United States. It can spread from people to animals in some situations. The Worcester County Health Department has opened a hotline Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to determine if a person should be tested. Call 410-632-1100 and select option eight. For general information on the coronavirus call the health department 24/7 at 410-632-4321 or visit worcesterhealth.org. View updates from Atlantic General at atlanticgeneral.org/patients-visitors/covid-19-updates/. To track Maryland cases, visit coronavirus.maryland.gov/.
JOSH KIM/OCEAN CITY TODAY
Atlantic General Hospital and the Worcester County Health Department are streamlining coronavirus testing to the 10th Street Atlantic General Immediate Care.
U.S. District Court sides with OC on female topless lawsuit By Greg Ellison Staff Writer (April 10, 2020) Ending a year’s long legal battle on Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge James Bredar ruled that Ocean City will not be required to permit female toplessness on beaches or within town boundaries. This puts to rest litigation from a handful of woman, lead by Chelsea Eline, who argued that prohibiting females, but not males, from publicly displaying their breasts is a violation of the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause and Article 46 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights. Ocean City Councilwoman Mary Knight, who testified against the proposal, said public sentiment was undeniably opposed. “This was an issue people were really concerned about,” she said. The topic was raised in August 2016 after Eline informed the Worcester County State’s Attorney Office and the OC Police of her intentions to sunbathe topless on the beach. In June 2017, Ocean City officials adopted an emergency ordinance to preserve the “family-oriented character and quality of Ocean City and its beaches, and to protect the sensibilities of Ocean City’s residents and visitors.” The rationale for the ordinance was that while some may not take offense with female toplessness, it remains unpalatable to larger society. Eline, along with co-plaintiffs Megan Bryant, Rose MacGregor, Christine Coleman, and Angela Urban, filed suit against Ocean City officials in January 2018. Knight, along with Ocean City
Mayor Rick Meehan, served as witnesses during the court proceedings. Meehan testified that the issue had a larger impact beyond the individual plaintiffs. “While we respect [Eline’s] desire to express what rights she believes she may have, Ocean City is a family resort and we intend to do whatever is within our ability to also protect the rights of those families that visit us each year,” he said. Speaking on Wednesday, Knight said the outpouring of negative public sentiment regarding the proposal was plainly evident. “I have never received so many phone calls [and] emails,” she said. “I would walk into a store and people would stop me.” The court echoed those conclusions in its decision. “The overwhelming majority of these commenters expressed disapproval of public female toplessness in Ocean City, with many saying they would not return to Ocean City if it permitted female toplessness,” the decision stated. Meehan told the court resort officials were inundated with concerns from residents and vacationers about the potential for the resort to permit topless sunbathing. The court’s ruling, however, focused on the fundamental issue of whether prohibiting females to be topless in public out of deference to the majority is constitutional. In the decision Judge Bredar wrote, “laws may acknowledge the physical differences between men and women, so long as such genderbased classifications do not ‘create or perpetuate the legal, social, and economic inferiority of women.’”
APRIL 10, 2020
Ocean City Today
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More executive orders, additional protection By Josh Kim Staff Writer (April 10, 2020) Gov. Larry Hogan issued another set of executive orders last Friday, this Sunday and this Tuesday, April 3, 5 and 7, to fortify protections granted to Marylanders during the covid-19 pandemic. “I’m enacting an executive order that prohibits mortgage lenders from initiating the foreclosure process,” Hogan said Friday. “Nearly 70 of Maryland’s largest banks, credit unions, mortgage lenders, state agencies, and other financial entities and institutions have agreed to provide additional flexibility to borrowers to lessen the economic impact of covid19.” Under the order, Marylanders were now eligible for 90-day period of forbearance or deferral for mortgage payments, and would not suffer from late fees or negative effects on their credit. Additionally, the executive order expanded protection from evictions to include industrial and commercial evictions, as well as prohibited repossession of cars, truck and mobile homes. “In addition, during this state of emergency, all executive state agencies will suspend debt collection activities,” Hogan said. On Sunday, Hogan issued an executive order requiring all nursing home staff to wear personal protective equipment, create separate observation and isolation areas for residents and to expedite all testing through the state public health laboratory. This was in response to a mass outbreak of the virus at nursing home facilities across the state, one of which at Pleasant View Nursing Home in Carroll County that has resulted in 10 deaths. On Tuesday, Hogan announced
that the Trump administration had agreed to designate the greater BaltimoreWashington corridor as a priority area. “In addition to being home to more Gov. Hogan than 5 million people and hundreds of thousands of federal workers and nearly all federal agencies, the Baltimore Washington corridor is also home to the NIH, the FDA, Fort Detrick, critical health agencies which are on the front lines of the battle against the coronavirus as well as Fort Meade, the NSA, the U.S. Cyber Command, and other federal installations that are critical to the security of the nation,” Hogan said. The governor also announced the launching of statewide strike teams composed of the National Guard, representatives of local and state health departments, the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems and hospital systems to provide triage, emergency care, supplies and equipment to overburdened nursing homes. “We’re the first state in the nation to launch such a coordinated response,” he said. Another executive order was issued by the governor, which granted new powers to local health departments to modify, severely limit or shut down businesses they deemed in violation of the governor’s previous orders. This executive order also bolsters the power of state and local law enforcement agencies. Businesses who fail to adhere to health department demands may be subject to up to a year in jail, up to a $5,000 fine or both. During the Q&A portion of Friday’s press conference, Hogan expressed his frustration with the federal gov-
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ernment’s lacking response to state needs. Hogan chairs the National Governors Association. “I’ve actually been leading the national discussion with the governors of why we haven’t been getting this stuff [critical supplies], and I’ve had meetings with governors in six different conference calls with the president, and I’ve brought this up on every single call,” Hogan said. “We got nothing. Last week, we got FEMA in charge and we got the first distributions of anything to anywhere. I’ve continued to push, but it’s very frustrating.” The governor also reiterated the severity of the pandemic, and reminded the public that everybody is susceptible the virus. “The reality is that this disease does not discriminate, and no one is im-
mune,” Hogan said. “… I wish that I could tell you when we’re going to turn the corner — when you’ll be able to go back to work, to school, or to church, or when any of us will be able to get back to living a normal life again. Unfortunately, I’m not able to do that. We simply don’t know just how bad things are going to get, or exactly how long this is going to last.” Nonetheless, while the governor has been straightforward about the gravity of this crisis, he also made sure to encourage citizens to remain positive, and look toward the future — his modus operandi as of late. “It may seem hard to believe right now, but I am hopeful, and I do believe that our state will make it through this together, and that eventually we will come back stronger and better than ever before,” Hogan said.