Wildwood Commissioners Bury the Hatchet

WILDWOOD – Acknowledging that he and his fellow commissioners haven’t been playing nice together over recent months, Commissioner Al Brannen asked Mayor Gary DeMarzo and Commissioner Edward Harshaw to shake hands and start over again at a meeting on Wed., Sept. 8.
Why can’t they all just get along?
In the beginning, the three got along swimmingly.
DeMarzo supported Brannen and Harshaw in their efforts last year during a special recall election in which voters selected them over former Mayor Ernie Troiano and Commissioner William Davenport. From the time they took office, they voted as one on most issues.
That harmony was threatened when DeMarzo was forced by the court to choose between his mayor’s seat and his job as a Wildwood police officer. Superior Court Judge Valerie Armstrong ruled that DeMarzo had to pick one because the two posts had too many conflicts. He had been on unpaid leave from the police department since he was elected in 2007.
DeMarzo picked the mayor’s seat and that’s when the disharmony began.
After DeMarzo’s decision on May 26, an employment contract with the city’s firefighters was on that evening’s meeting agenda to be approved. DeMarzo asked that the contract be tabled because he hadn’t had a chance to review it. Before he gave up his policeman’s position, he was under a court order to avoid votes on measures affecting the city’s public safety.
Brannen became angry with the mayor’s decision stating that he, former Administrator Richard Deaney and the department’s union officials worked long and hard on that contract. Harshaw sided with DeMarzo, giving the mayor a chance to read the contract before it was addressed at the next scheduled meeting.
Another issue arose this summer when DeMarzo let it be known that he wanted to take over supervision of the city’s Public Safety Department.
On Aug. 11, a measure calling for the commissioners to switch departmental assignments was put to a vote. Brannen objected to the measure, stating that it would be a bad idea for DeMarzo, a former police officer with a history of legal battles with the city, to be given oversight of his former supervisors. In the end, Harshaw and DeMarzo approved the change despite Brannen’s threats to resign.
“Until a few weeks ago we were a team, I felt there was nothing we couldn’t do,” Brannen said at the time.
Most recently, Brannen made a motion on Aug. 25 to have the mayor’s seat rotate as well to Harshaw. DeMarzo objected to the switch and Harshaw said he didn’t have sufficient time to donate to the mayor’s office. But Harshaw did suggest that Brannen take the mayor’s seat on Dec. 14, the anniversary date of when the commissioners took office.
After all this animosity, Brannen offered his hand as an olive branch Wednesday and the others accepted.
“That being said, it doesn’t mean I’m always going to agree with what these two schmucks say,” Brannen added, garnering laughs from the panel members.
Following the meeting, DeMarzo told the Herald he never had any hard feelings for Brannen.
“I’ve just been focused on achieving the goals that we set for the city,” he said. “But I’m happy for him if this makes him feel better.”