Council, ex-city manager settle severance package

OCEAN CITY -- Former City Manager Dennis Dare and Ocean City Town Council have come to terms on a severance package that will allow him to collect a full salary and generous benefits through March of 2012.

Since Dare's Sept. 9 resignation at the behest of a 4-3 council vote, he has received full pay in accordance with his pay rate at the time, which was set at slightly less than $173,500 a year.
From April 1-Oct. 31, the town will pay Dare based on joint and survivor pension benefits that will equal out to $6,665 a month.

Then at the end of October, Dare will be eligible for unreduced pension benefits based on 30 years of employment with the town. Dare became city manager on April 1, 1990, and served as city engineer for about 10 years before that promotion. According to the agreement, the town deems the offered package "generous, fair and reasonable."

The town will likely hire a new city manager before Dare's pension kicks in. Councilwoman Mary Knight said council has been told a new manager could be put in place somewhere around April 1, and she said she anticipates a low-end starting salary of about $130,000, not including benefits. If this happens, the town will essentially be paying two people to fill one position.

"That's a very expensive undertaking," said Councilman Doug Cymek.

Before Dare's pension kicks in, he will be paid by the town about $133,000 for a period in which he has not reported to City Hall. Added to this will be the payment of 397 vacation hours, 16 personal hours and five holiday hours that Dare accrued but did not use.

"As they say, the devil is in the details, and we spent quite a bit of time investigating how to fulfill the promise," Dare said, referring to the contract that was in effect at the time of his resignation. If things had been worked out differently, he said, the town could have ended up parting ways with as much as four to five times the amount they will provide him.

"I think we found the most economical and most responsible way," Dare said in a phone interview on Friday. He and his wife were en route to "a little getaway," he said, something he'd been looking forward to but had been unable to act on since he'd been "buckled down" dealing with the agreement for the past three months or so.

Jim Hall, Joe Hall, Brent Ashley and Margaret Pillas voted in September to ask Dare for his resignation, and Lloyd Martin, Knight and Cymek voted against it. Those three, along with Mayor Rick Meehan, who is serving also as interim city manager, have been adamant in their opinion Dare should not have been forced out.

In a closed session on Tuesday, council voted 5-2 to approve the severance package, with Ashley and Pillas as the dissenting votes. The arrangement was first reported Friday by the Maryland Coast Dispatch.

"I fully appreciate the five councilmembers that voted on this agreement, and for keeping their promise," Dare said.

Ashley confirmed his vote, but said he was not happy it had been made public. He said also he couldn't comment on the reasons for his vote. "A closed session is supposed to be confidential," Ashley said.

Dare plans on staying in Ocean City and doesn't see himself pursuing another city manager job. He's been enjoying retirement, he says, and doesn't think he wants to relocate and pledge years of work to another municipality.

"You have to understand that for the last 21 years, I've been on call every day all day, and I've gotta say, these last three months have been great. It's been really wonderful leaving all that stress behind," he said. "Of course, I have one more year before I hit the magic 30 years, and you know, I intended to work through that, but it looks like I got there a year early."

Dare, who recently turned 63, said he is looking forward to an opportunity to spend more time with his family and neighbors. He was recently elected president of the Caine Woods Community Association.

If he ever gets bored, he can always hit the links. One facet of his agreement is free rounds of golf for life at Eagle's Landing.

"Ocean City is a great place to live," he said, "and a lot of people tell me it's a great place to retire."

smuska@dmg.gannett.com
410-213-9442, ext. 14

Prosecutor re-opens rape case

OCEAN CITY -- An Ocean City man accused of repeatedly raping a mentally disabled adopted relative during a 17-year period faces multiple sexual charges, including second-degree rape.

Charles Wynter McCready Jr., 63, of Bradley Road was initially investigated for the allegations in 2007 and 2008, but was not prosecuted. The case was reopened this year after reevaluation by the Ocean City Police Department and the Worcester County State's Attorney's Office, a review initiated after prosecutor Beau Oglesby took office.

A combination of information from two investigations has now prompted the state's attorney to file second-degree rape and second-and third-degree sex offense charges against McCready. The victim of his alleged actions, which allegedly took place as recently at February 2010, is now 32 years old. She was born with fetal alcohol syndrome and other disabilities and health problems, according to police notes from the 2008 inquiry.

During the initial investigation, McCready admitted to an OCPD detective -- verbally and in writing -- that he'd had intercourse and oral sex with the alleged victim. McCready said he and the victim had a sexual relationship for 10 years, according to police documents.

The victim alleged McCready had been having unwanted intercourse with her, and engaging in other sexual acts, since she was 12 years old. They were living in Carroll County at this time, the victim said, and the abuse continued when McCready moved to Ocean City in 1999, when the victim was 18, according to police.

Oglesby said weighing whether to charge McCready with sexually assaulting the victim when she was underage is a matter for the Carroll County State's Attorney's Office, because of jurisdictional reasons.

His office has been in contact with those prosecutors, he said.
A preliminary hearing for McCready is scheduled for Dec. 19 at 9 a.m. in Ocean City District Court.

"We'll be re-examining, and if we feel there are additional charges we want to incorporate, we'll certainly evaluate the grand jury for additional charges," Oglesby said.

When the investigation was reopened in June, the victim reiterated an account of her allegations to a forensic interviewer in Mississippi, where she now lives. They were similar to accounts she gave Martin, according to Ocean City police.

The victim also reported McCready controlled the money she obtained from disability checks, and would tell her she "owed" him whenever he would give her food, money or help.

Woman charged with harassing councilmen

OCEAN CITY -- Three Ocean City Town councilmen allegedly received multiple early morning calls of a harrassing nature from an Ocean City woman.

Amy Lee Durham, 39, of Ocean City, was charged by the Worcester County State's Attorney's office with three counts of telephone misuse. The charges stemmed from calls Durham allegedly placed on Oct. 4 and 5 to Councilmen Jim Hall, Joe Hall and Brent Ashley, according to charging documents viewed Friday.

Ashley confirmed he received a number of early-morning phone calls in October from a private number, but declined to answer further questions. The three councilmen said they had been instructed to direct inquiries to the State's Attorney's office, and they wished to follow those instructions. Ocean City Mayor and interim city manager Rick Meehan also declined to comment.

Durham misused telephone facilities and equipment for repeated calls with intent to "annoy, abuse, torment or harass" the three councilmen, according to the charging files. The files do not state the specifics regarding the exact time or nature of the calls.

Assistant State's Attorney Paul Haskell is handling the case, and would not comment further on the allegations except to confirm that he had filed charges.

The calls came at a time when the three councilmen and Margaret Pillas were facing scrutiny from some town residents over a 4-3 vote they made to ask longtime city manager Dennis Dare for his resignation.

A preliminary hearing in Durham's case is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Dec. 12 in Ocean City District Court.

smuska@dmg.gannett.com
410-213-9442, ext. 14

State: Evacuation made sense

OCEAN CITY -- Richard Muth, Maryland's director of emergency management, says he backs the timing and the reasoning of Ocean City officials who evacuated the resort in anticipation of Hurricane Irene.

Muth visited a Town Council work session where officials from the Ocean City Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Association voiced questions and concerns they had with the way the evacuation was executed.

Muth said numerous factors -- including the necessity to close the Chesapeake Bay Bridge when winds hit a certain speed, and the evacuation of multiple low-lying areas in Delmarva and the immediate area -- made the decision to evacuate in the days before the storm hit a prudent one.

"It was the right decision made based on the information they had at the time," Muth said of the Aug. 26 evacuation date, echoing a comment Mayor Rick Meehan has made about the decisions. The brunt of the storm came about a day later.

Fishtales owner and HMRA member Shawn Harman pointed out during the discussion that Ocean City had been evacuated before places like Cape Hatteras, N.C., an area that was hit by the storm hours before Ocean City.

Muth said it didn't matter to his staff what other states and towns had handed down evacuation orders when Ocean City did, adding that in that situation, places often look for a town elsewhere to make the initial move before following suit.

By leaving Ocean City early, people were able to get away from the Eastern Shore without some of the traffic congestion some areas of Delaware saw when they evacuated later, Muth said.

"If the Bay Bridge had been closed when people were trying to leave, that would have taken away a very important route," he said.

Councilman Joe Hall said the storm was a real threat, and that town officials took it as one. If Ocean City had felt the force of the storm that some areas north and south of the resort had, there wouldn't be a discussion about the evacuation, he said. Instead, there would be one about rebuilding the town.

"We did the right thing for the town of Ocean City," Hall said.

HMRA Executive Director Susan Jones said the association did not wish to question the decision to evacuate, but wanted to speak with council in an effort to make practical improvements in the event another natural disaster looms on the town's horizon.

The town's official press release on the evacuation was confusing, and calls to a hotline listed on the release gave HMRA members conflicting reports on what they were to do, Jones said. Meehan and the council acknowledged that improvements can certainly be made.

Ocean City spokeswoman Donna Abbott recommended the town make plans to establish a joint information committee that can be assembled in the event of another impending disaster. The group could form a comprehensive communication plan, and training for facets of the group could be provided by the town. Muth pledged the state's help with training if necessary.

Councilwoman Margaret Pillas commended the community on its actions in the time leading up to the hurricane.

"You have criticisms, but you still followed through and complied," Pillas said.

The Ocean City Fire Department has already been analyzing its actions before and during the storm, as part of an effort to create a department plan that will allow them to begin planning for a storm up to 96 hours before it hits, Chief Chris Larmore said later in the meeting.

smuska@dmg.gannett.com
410-213-9442, ext. 14

Street performer eyes bayside park as venue

OCEAN CITY -- Popular Boardwalk magician George Gilbert is taking initiative to begin a new street performer tradition in Ocean City.

It's not involved in a lawsuit, and will likely avoid blowback from town officials -- two pluses that buskers lately haven't been used to. It could even help alleviate some of the tension that has built up through the year among performers, town officials and a selection of Boardwalk merchants.

Gilbert, who has been performing in town the past eight summers, wants to set up a "Sunset Celebration" in the town's rarely-booked Sunset Park, on the west side of Philadelphia Avenue near the Inlet.

He proposes a nightly event where street performers would entertain guests for two or three hours both before and after that evening's sunset, with a specified main event beginning immediately after the sun goes down. The performers would bow out on nights when other park events are scheduled. The Sunset Park Party Nights concert series takes place Thursdays during the summer, but the park is void of any official celebrations most other nights.

Gilbert calls the area beautiful, but underused. "Basically, my goal is to create this to enhance the Ocean City experience," said Gilbert, who is spending the off-season performing in Florida and other places. "We want to open up a new artistic venue that gives our guests a unique artistic and family friendly experience."

Performers would be allowed to set up at the park without council approval, since it is one of the areas in town where buskers are greenlit to display their talents, according to mayor and interim city manager Rick Meehan. He said it's a great location, and a great idea. There would be no need for permitting, either, he added.

"If they want to organize and do that, that'd be terrific," said Meehan. "We would love to have the performers at Sunset Park." If council approval had been needed, Meehan said he didn't believe council would object to the celebration.

Gilbert wants to take on the planning and execution responsibilities for the celebration. He doesn't want the city to incur any cost or departmental headaches. He simply wants access to the venue, he says -- the rest would be organized and taken care of by performers.

For some time, Meehan and the council have been working to ramp up laws constraining public performances, especially on the Boardwalk. For years, performers have had to register with the town and attain a permit to perform on the planks.

In June, Town Council voted unanimously to forbid street performers and others from putting on shows in the North Division Street access area of the Boardwalk. The decision was made for safety reasons, and Meehan signed the rule into law as an emergency ordinance. Graffiti artist Mark Chase took exception to the law, calling it unconstitutional, and lodged a First Amendment complaint against the town.

In September, U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander ruled that performers are allowed to sell their wares on the Boardwalk without having to be permitted by the city, a ruling that will stand at least until the trial's end.

Chase is all for what Gilbert is doing, he said. However, Chase still plans to set up on the Boardwalk to "help progress" his First Amendment battle.

Inspiration for an OC Sunset Celebration came from similar events Gilbert has seen during his travels. The system he has come up with is a combination of what he feels are the best ideas from setups all over the country; one of the most popular has been a tradition at Mallory Square Dock, in Key West, Fla., for years.

"It's really huge (in Key West), and everybody looks forward to it," said Councilman Brent Ashley, who initially brought Gilbert's idea to council's attention during a November meeting. "Whether we could get to that level or not, I'm not sure, but it would be a similar celebration that would attract people to Sunset Park. I don't see any negative in it at all."

Movement of some performers to the park could lessen Boardwalk congestion while giving vacationers an additional in-resort entertainment option, Ashley added.

Gilbert is actively seeking performers who want to be involved with the show who would begin this summer. He'll pick the acts as part of his organizational responsibilities, and invites those interested to contact him at george@george-gilbert.com.

His qualifications for making the selections are, according to Gilbert, his own extensive experience with many things street performer-related.

"I'm a variety performer; I'm a juggler, magician and balloon artist," Gilbert said. "I eat fires. This is what I do all over the country."
smuska@dmg.gannett.com
410-213-9442, ext. 14

Pole workout proves popular

Angela Houck, owner of The Pole Power Studio in West Ocean City, teaches a class. / ERIC DOERZBACH/THE DAILY TIMES

OCEAN CITY -- Angela Houck will get you to climb 12 feet on a shiny silver pole, high enough to slap the roof of her studio, in eight weeks or less.

In the four or so years since she's been teaching pole dancing for fitness, every single one of her students has gotten to the top of her Pole Power studios, where they snag one of the silver markers -- affixed to the ceiling -- and sign the black surface.

Houck's flawless success rate is part of the reason she's been named the East Coast's best pole dancing instructor for this year. Her two locations in West Ocean City and Salisbury were named the best studios, as well, by Pole Dance International Magazine, a trade publication for the tight-knit pole dancing subculture. The magazine makes its judgments based on nominations and votes from students who have taken to the poles. Houck says most of her pupils are 30 to 50 years old, but she's had students who are 18 and 80.

Some of Houck's students say they come to the hardwood-floored building in West OC with mirrored walls and poles raised all around the room to gain, or regain, some self-confidence. Others enjoy the camaraderie that comes with the all-female workout, and a few are looking for a new and challenging exercise method to break up the monotony that sometimes comes with more traditional fitness measures. For some, it's all three.

Houck was a critical care nurse who gravitated toward pole dancing when she was trying to get back in shape after having two children. She gave up nursing to open her first studio in 2007, in hopes she could help other women feel the mental and physical transformation she found in dancing.

"We have a lot of girls who come in here who are in 'Mommy Mode,' and I think seeing their faces when they begin to rediscover and get in touch again with who they really are is what made me fall in love with teaching," Houck said.

During Houck's hour-long classes, in dim lighting with high-paced music, the women sweat and share laughs while they watch themselves work in the floor-to-ceiling mirrors.

"It's really just hanging out with the girls and having fun," said Coleen Catrino, who has been taking classes for about three years.

"This is much more personable than a gym," added Terri Street after she'd just completed her first session. And the ladies applauded wildly when Nina Wheeler climbed to the roof after completing only two sessions.

"This is just something new and something fun," Wheeler said.

Houck says many are hesitant to come in the door due to a stigma that equates pole dancing with stripping, she says. Once they're in the studio, they're often self-conscious about pole climbing, but the feeling usually dissipates after a session or two, when they really start to get into it.

"I think everyone who comes in here is a little intimidated at first, but after a while they all leave with more confidence," says Sandra Kerstetter, one of Houck's co-instructors.

It's addicting, Houck says, because there are so many facets and moves that can be learned, and once a woman masters one she often wants to advance to the next.

Houck says she's optimistic about the elimination of the stripper stigma. It is nearly non-existent in many other countries, and in some more urban parts of the United States, she said, to where it isn't uncommon for men and children to get pole-centric workouts. A recent issue of Pole Dance International even featured an article on the future of pole dancing fitness for children.

"I think the goal is to get people out of that typical mindset (regarding pole dancing)," Houck said.

"It's not like the gym. It's a challenging and rewarding type of exercise, and we'd like to push thought it in that direction."

Houck doesn't offer under-18 or co-ed classes, but said she'd consider involving men if interest was shown. On occasion, usually around Valentine's Day, she'll convince some guys to give climbing a shot. They usually leave admitting it's a more difficult and physically demanding practice than they'd thought, she said.

Houck is holding an open house Oct. 7 and Oct. 8 at the Salisbury and West Ocean City studios, respectively, and new eight-week sessions begin Oct. 17.

 

OC fans find lots to 'like'

Facebook, Twitter feeds a hit with visitors

OCEAN CITY — By the end of September, nearly 362,000 people had clicked the “like” button on Ocean City’s official Facebook page.

That’s about 30,000 more people than were physically in town for Fourth of July weekend, when the year’s population hit its highest point. It’s also more clicks than any of the other resort destinations in the region can boast — by a long shot, in most cases — according to Andy Malis, president of MGH, a Baltimore-based advertising firm that has been creating campaigns under contract for the resort for years.

The people who like the page see Ocean City’s frequent updates, posted mostly by city and MGH staff, on its Facebook newsfeed. Updates promote events like Sunfest and Winefest on the Beach; keep residents and visitors privy to emergency information; and sometimes are just for fun, like on Sept. 29 when a status urged fans to post some of their favorite beach photographs from the summer.

No matter what the subject matter, the updates almost always get a smattering of user comments.

“It has served as a very good tool of outreach for people who are interested in what’s going on in town,” said Ocean City spokeswoman Donna Abbott. The town also has an official Twitter feed, too, where many of the same information is posted to nearly 3,000 followers. And Mayor Rick Meehan is embracing Twitter with his own account.

The virtual fan count grows daily, and so far Ocean City has blown most of the other vacation destinations in the region out of the water with its grip on social media and other online marketing efforts, Malis said. The town began taking social networking sites seriously four years ago. Since then, Ocean City’s social media presence has grown exponentially, to the point Malis thinks it will be hard for other towns to ever catch up.

So what good comes of all the tweeting and posting? Tourism Director Deborah Turk said social media use is critical and calls it one of the greatest tools in the town’s marketing arsenal.

“Social mediums have become a full-time job, and I really credit (MGH) with being on the cutting edge of knowing what’s coming next,” Turk said. “We’re always one step ahead, and never ever behind, which is a good place to be.”

Social media outreach is low-cost, and it allows city officials to monitor feedback immediately. Both are huge advantages in marketing, said Ryan Goff, MGH’s director of social media.

“Our large networks are like an ongoing focus group,” he said.

“You get to see what people are saying about things going on in Ocean City, so it’s a two-way communication avenue,” said Abbott.

MGH often submits recommendations on using the social media megaphones to attract more visitors to the area. Visitor acquisition and retention have been at the forefront of council discussion and action in recent months. It has become a rarity for meeting agendas not to include at least one item pertaining to the subject.

Among MGH’s recent ideas is a “check-in” mechanism Malis hopes to add to the resort’s official smartphone application. The feature would use a phone’s GPS sensors to allow people to announce they’ve showed up at a bar, restaurant or other business. The idea mirrors one brought to prominence by the Foursquare app and Facebook’s check-in feature.

Each time a person “checks in” to a participating business, they would be alerted to any special deals at that business, and they would also be automatically entered in a drawing for a free week’s vacation to take place in 2013, according to Malis’ proposal to council. The idea would need council approval to be included in a proposed “Summer of Thanks” campaign.

Turk said she sees more and more people using existing check-in features and anticipates a positive response if Ocean City decides to include it in its app.
It can be good for individual businesses, as well.

“This location stuff is really giving exposure for a lot of these businesses that might not have otherwise gotten it,” Goff said. “You’re able to see how many friends have been to a place, and they can leave tips and recommendations, so it’s an engaging way for people to discover things.”

People use mobile devices to access the Internet much more now than in the recent past, Goff said, so to focus on smartphone-friendly tools can be beneficial.

“People just aren’t tethered to their computers anymore,” he said.

People are also plugged into more sites and programs, so the town has to cross-post things simultaneously to its Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr accounts.

The convenience factor is appealing to Nicole Ciarapica, a Greenbackville, Va., resident who gets all her resort news from the Facebook page. She sees an update on her news feed most days, she said, which is how she found out about an unexpected tornado that hit the 75th Street area near her grandparent’s condo in September.

“I found out and called them, and I was thankful for that information,” Ciarapica said. “It’s an easy way for me to find out what’s going on rather quickly.”

Ocean City’s Chamber of Commerce has followed the town’s lead by setting up its own Facebook and Twitter they use to publicize events, deals and specials for its members. Social media marketing is pushed to people who have opted in to the information by liking a page or following a feed, which is helping replace cold calls or random mailings, said Chamber Executive Director Melanie Pursel.

“It’s someone who has expressed interest, so you know they really truly want to receive info about what’s going on with the organization,” she said.

smuska@dmg.gannett.com
410-213-9442, ext. 14