Bethany Beach voters will have a chance to go to the polls this September to make their voices heard, as this Tuesday’s deadline to file to run for one of four available seats on the town council passed with seven candidates filing applications with the town.
Three of four incumbents — Steve Wode, Tony McClenny and Jerry Dorfman — filed for re-election.
Wode was elected to the council in 2006, on a platform for change amid a wave of citizen dissatisfaction. He and McClenny tied atop the voting tally in that year’s election, making for McClenny’s second term and Wode’s first. After two years on the council, McClenny was selected in 2006 to serve as the town’s vice-mayor. Wode has strongly pushed for more attention to pedestrian safety during his first term.
Dorfman is seeking his second full term on the council, having been appointed in 2005 to fill a vacant seat and narrowly elected in 2006 to his first full two-year term. He has been serving as the council’s treasurer/secretary.
Former Council Member Lew Killmer and 2007 candidate Margaret Young return to the mix for this year’s voting.
Killmer has been appointed to the council twice to fill vacancies, both in 2005 and 2006. The most recent appointment came in 2006, when Killmer — who lost re-election by just five votes — was chosen to fill the council vacancy created by outgoing Mayor Jack Walsh’s unexpected resignation from the council.
He opted not to run for re-election in 2007.
“This year I feel that it is an excellent time for me to take a ‘break’ and allow others a chance to serve our community,” Killmer told the Coastal Point in 2007. Instead, Kilmer accepted the council’s appointment back to the town’s planning commission, which he had headed briefly before joining the council. He was again selected to lead the commission and has done so for nearly a year.
Young ran unsuccessfully for a council seat in 2007, coming in just seven votes shy of unseating Mayor Carol Olmstead. She has served with Olmstead on the town’s Cultural and Historical Affairs Committee, helping to operate the town museum, as well as the Bethany Beach Historical Association that founded the museum.
Also a member of the Bethany Beach Women’s Civic Club and a volunteer for the Beach and Bay Cottage Tour and Bethany Beach Farmers’ Market, Young ran in 2007 on a platform emphasizing preservation of the town as a quiet, family-oriented place.
Two new names on the ballot this year are Jack Gordon and Joseph C. Bellistri. Gordon currently serves on the town’s Budget and Finance Committee. He endorsed Olmstead in the 2007 elections. Bellistri is a language-arts teacher and wrestling coach at Selbyville Middle School, and has served on the board of directors of the Bethany West Recreation Association.
Mulligan opts out
Absent from the candidate filings on Tuesday was Council Member Tracy Mulligan, who won election in 2006, also on a platform of change and enhanced communication with citizens. He has since headed the town’s Communications Committee, helping to oversee the redevelopment of the town Web site in the last year.
“I have the increasing opportunity of involvement with four generations of extended family such that the balance among family, other interests and council service would not continue,” Mulligan wrote in a letter this week informing the town council of his decision not to seek re-election.
In the letter, Mulligan also noted his devotion to ideas of open government, checks and balances, longer-term planning and tapping into the town’s citizenry for its knowledge and experience. Mulligan said he hopes to continue to work with the Communications Committee and possibly other town committees.
“I enjoyed serving, learned a lot, met wonderful people and contributed to a community in a democratic form of government,” Mulligan said Tuesday. “A chunk of my efforts have been to make it easier for people to serve and to encourage participation.”
“I am happy to provide any knowledge I have gained to anyone, just as others who served before me have done when I contacted them,” Mulligan wrote in his letter. “This, and not serving on council, may actually support both continuity and transition.”
Bethany Beach’s elections this year are set for Saturday, Sept. 6, from noon to 6 p.m., with in-person voting to take place at town hall during those hours.
Bethany Beach property owners who are listed on the Town’s Property Tax List are not required to register to vote in town elections. Residents of Bethany Beach who do not own property must register to vote at least 30 days prior to the election. Residents may register at Town Hall or request a mailed registration form by telephone, mail or by e-mail.
The last day to register for this year’s election is Aug. 6.
Absentee ballots for the Sept. 6 elections can be obtained by filing an affidavit with the town. Affidavits are available by calling (302) 537-3771 and online on the town’s Web site at www.townofbethanybeach.com.
All absentee ballots must be filed with the town by noon on Sept. 5 in order to be counted.
A meet-the-candidates event hosted by the Bethany Beach Landowners Association is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 5, at 7 p.m.