Wildwood Commissioners Disagree over Firefighter Contract

WILDWOOD – It took only a few hours for a judge’s decision on Wednesday, May 26 to cause controversy in this city’s governing body.
That afternoon, Superior Court Judge Valerie Armstrong directed Mayor Gary DeMarzo to choose between his elected office and his job on the city police department, which he’s held since February 1998. She was enforcing an appellate court order issued in February.
DeMarzo announced at the start of the commission meeting at 6:30 p.m. that he was forsaking his police job to remain mayor.
Once the meeting got going, DeMarzo asked city Clerk Chris Wood to pull a resolution from the agenda. It was a resolution to authorize a labor agreement with the fire department.
“I haven’t had a chance to read it yet,” DeMarzo said.
Al Brannen, commissioner of public safety, disagreed. He agued that if the judge hadn’t made DeMarzo choose “a few hours ago,” the mayor wouldn’t even be allowed to vote on the resolution.
Prior to his decision to give up his job as a policeman, DeMarzo had been under a court order banning him from voting on measures dealing with public safety because of conflicts of interest.
Brannen, who was visibly losing his temper, insisted that the resolution stay on the agenda. He said that himself, Administrator Richard Deaney and the firefighters had worked hard on the union contract since February and “it’s a damn good agreement.”
Commissioner Ed Harshaw called for a 10 minute recess so that “cooler heads could prevail.”
When the hearing resumed, Brannen made a motion to accept the labor agreement, but neither DeMarzo nor Harshaw seconded the motion, which effectively killed the measure for the evening.
During public comment Fire Captain Chris D’Amico worried that pulling the resolution would mean that contract negotiations have to start over.
“Does this mean we have to start from scratch?” he asked.
In an apparent effort to alleviate such concerns, Harshaw announced that he had a chance to review the agreement with Deaney and agreed that “it’s a very good contract.” He said he would definitely vote to approve the contract when it is reintroduced at the June 9 commission meeting, but he felt it was only fair to give DeMarzo the courtesy to read the contract before voting on it.
Brannen reiterated that he thought the city should “move forward” with the contract, saying, “Damn it, I think we should pass it.”
This kind of friction is unusual in Wildwood since Brannen and Harshaw joined DeMarzo on the Board of Commissioners following a recall election in December 2009. The three commissioners speak with one voice and vote identically on nearly every measure.
This conflict harkened to the days when DeMarzo would battle with then-Mayor Ernie Troiano and Commissioner Bill Davenport on nearly every measure.
Mary D’Amico, the fire captain’s sister, said she was impressed with Brannen for sticking up for the firefighters and standing up to DeMarzo.
“You have a lot of stones there sir,” she said with a smile. “I was really surprised.”
But in the end, the commissioners seemed to bury the fire hatchet.
Brannen and Harshaw personally thanked DeMarzo for choosing to remain on the governing body.
“We may have some battles down the road, but I’m glad he did what he did,” Brannen said. “He’s the best man for the job.”