After serving two years as the mayor of Bethany Beach, Councilwoman Carol Olmstead stepped aside Wednesday, opening the floor for any of five of her fellow council members to take the lead role in the town’s government. Declining Vice-Mayor Tony McClenny’s nomination to continue as mayor, she then nominated the two-year vice-mayor to take her place — a proposition that won the support of most of the council, with a 5-2 vote.
McClenny then turned the tables on Olmstead, asking if she would be willing to serve as his vice-mayor. She accepted the nomination and won the support of the majority of the council, on a 4-3 vote.
In both cases, Councilman J. Robert “Bob” Parsons was nominated as a candidate by newly sworn-in Councilwoman Margaret Bogan Young, netting two votes for him for mayor and three for vice-mayor.
“I’m getting better,” he commented jovially after the second vote. Parsons garnered his own vote and Young’s for mayor, adding that of Councilman Joseph “Joe” Healy when the votes were counted for vice-mayor.
Completing Sept. 17’s council reorganizational functions, the council then received the nomination of its other new face, Budget & Finance Committee Member Jack Gordon, to serve as the council’s new secretary/treasurer.
With no other nominations, Gordon was selected to fill that role by acclaim.
Outgoing council members honored
“I’ve given this a lot of thought,” Olmstead said Wednesday in declining the nomination to continue as mayor. “We’ve had some critical issues these last few years,” she added, noting the town’s work with state and federal officials on project such as the “much needed and imminently desired beach replenishment” during her tenure as mayor. “I’ve been honored to be able to do these things.”
“But I know there are other council members who would like to serve as mayor, and they should have the opportunity also,” she continued. “Sometimes, the only way to make that opportunity available is by someone stepping aside.”
The town and new council also took the time on Wednesday to thank outgoing council members for their service, giving plaques to two-year Councilmen Tracy Mulligan and Steve Wode and to Jerry Dorfman, who had served since May of 2005.
“I’m going to miss you,” Olmstead said to Dorfman as she handed him his plaque.
Three committees mothballed
Council members also dealt with some issues related to the town’s committees during the Sept. 17 special meeting. McClenny recommended the suspension of three of the town’s standing committees, owing for the most part to a lack of business on their agendas.
With council agreement, the Traffic and Parking Committee, Intergovernmental Relations Committee and Flood Mitigation and Drainage Committee were all put in mothballs on Wednesday.
McClenny noted that the suspension of the Flood Mitigation and Drainage Committee came at the recommendation of Chairman Harry Steele, who said he felt the committee had no work to do with drainage studies complete and funding for its top priority — improvement of drainage along N. Pennsylvania Avenue — not yet given the go-ahead.
Olmstead noted that Traffic and Parking Committee Chairwoman Jean Wode had agreed that her committee should be suspended also, with their recent meetings being held as much to satisfy a town requirement for twice-yearly meetings as to conduct real business.
McClenny said he also personally felt as if council members should be handling the primary focus of the Intergovernmental Relations Committee: to liaise with officials in other municipalities, in state government and in the federal government over issues of concern to the town.
“The committee was formed because the council didn’t take that role,” Parsons — a member of that committee and a past liaison to federal officials on beach replenishment — pointed out in agreeing with McClenny that the committee could be mothballed.
Parsons and McClenny both emphasized that all three of the suspended standing committees are subject to recall by the council, should their services be needed again in the future.
McClenny aims to bring council together
Leading into new business and a transition meeting for the new council, McClenny also took a moment for an introductory speech of sorts, as the new mayor.
“Thank you — I think,” he told his fellow council members in response to their voting him in as mayor. “This will be a new experience and a new challenge for me. I will need your support.”
McClenny also found strength in the group’s known disparate opinions on some issues.
“I think this council will work well together. I know we have different opinions on a variety of issues,” he said, pointing out, however, that the prior council, in its final meeting, had come from disparate points of view to agree on a single idea. “I hope we can do the same in the future.”
The new council will hold its first regular meeting this Friday, Sept. 19, at 7:30 p.m. at the town hall.