Ocean City officials this week approved a charter change they believe will clarify residency requirements for people seeking elected positions in municipal government.
Following a public hearing Monday, the City Council voted unanimously to add a legislative intent statement to the city charter. The language, officials say, clarifies the city’s expectation that candidates must maintain their primary residence in town.
“This adds language relating to the intent of the charter as it relates to domicile,” City Solicitor Heather Stansbury explained.
During a special session in February, when the Ocean City Council had to determine if former Councilman Tony DeLuca had maintained his domicile in town, members expressed their frustrations over what they believed to be a lack of clarity involving residency.
While agreeing that DeLuca had met the letter of the law, and therefore should maintain his council seat, some argued he did not meet the intent of the charter – that only those who live in Ocean City year-round should be able to serve on the council.
With that said, the council voted to bring the issue to a future work session, which was held in May. And from those discussions, officials agreed to explore several charter revisions.
However, after noting the challenges of implementing some of those changes in time for the fall election, city officials last month opted to scrap the amendments.