Keith..........try thinking before you speak. As to his blind followers, try not accepting his words, facts, and figures next time. Engage in your own thinking.

In 1981, an amendment was passed to the Municipal Land Use Law mandating that every municipality adopt a Storm Water Management Plan and implementing ordinances. The first step in any attempt to control flooding must and should be a review of that document along with the Capital Improvement Plan to determine whether they are consistent with each other.

marty lives in an area that suffers severe flooding so it is understandable that he would be in favor of the $125 assessment. however, there are several examples of money being wasted when the city did attempt to alleviate flooding, such as the recurbing in the center of the island, merion park, and some of the valves on the bay that still allowed flooding to occur. my concern is not in spending money to repair the roads and to stop the flooding, but in spending the money wisely. so while i was against the $125 assessment, i totally support keith in coming up with a comprehensive plan to study the flooding problem. i do not believe that ocean city is capable of doing this on our own and support turning this study over to professionals. lets get it done right.

There are two issues here:

1) storm water flooding
2) tidal flooding

They're both mutually inclusive at times. If the tide is high, then how is the storm water suppose to flow out?

Storm water is a function of land cover and use. The more impervious cover on a site, the more is going to be run off. It doesn't take a scientist to figure out that the island has more impervious cover than in years past. Are there enough drainage inlets to meet demand? Judging by the water pooling during large rain events, I'm going to say "no".

Tidal flooding, well there isn't much you can do about that other than raise low lying areas higher than the highest tide.

Really, the tidal flooding is just part of living on a barrier island. It's a sand bar that is surrounded by water. Other than raising the land, there isn't much you can do. Tide gates help, but if the tide is high and it's raining, then what?

Our taxes have just gone up yet again! I'm tired of all the waste and of the politicians who seem to be completed out of touch with the working class they are supposed to be representing!! Thank you Mayor for stating up for the tax payer!!

Other than a giant vacuum from the planet Spaceball, the only way to eliminate flooding when the town is lower than high tide is to do what Galveston did. Raise the town and all the buildings and roads by 6 feet.

This quote from article underscores one of the problems: "But the politically sensitive part of his proposal: to ask voters if they'd be willing to foot the bill. "It was always non-binding," Hartzell said. "This has always been about the taxpayers."

A large number of OC taxpayers are not "voters." Our primary residence is out of state. We own in OC, spend summers here, and have never rented the property. When various issues arise that require voter approval, we are left out of the equation, but are then expected to comply with outcome. Surely this is an example of "taxation without representation."

Marty.......I hardly think Hartzel or any if you can say there was thinking outside the box........raising a fee or tax was the immediate thought and suggestion. Yea, that is really thoughtful! Our taxes just went up again so do not come to us for more.

I was pretty hard on Councilman Hartzell. I wouldn't criticize anyone for being bold or for making the hard decisions. I can respect that. I just don't think this was one of those situations. There's nothing hard or bold about raising taxes. What is hard is to find another way to do it. And I don't think this thing was thought thru. But it was good to open a dialogue. I think much was learned from the process. Hopefully the next proposal will benefit from it. Let's define the problem, do the grunt work, brain storm a solution, and then look at WAYS to fund it. There are two separate problems, as was pointed out; street flooding and paving. Obviously they're inter related and we can't address the one until we address the other. To those of you that have a flooding problem and want it fixed yesterday, I can empathize. But let's take the time to do it right. Another quick fix that doesn't do the job won't get us anywhere. I'm glad Mr. Hartzell isn't giving up on this and hope we can come up with a better plan.

Eric you are the man, and I love Mr. Hartzell and his golf cart

Let's spend a billion dollars and make it so it doesn't flood on a barrier island with low elevation. Even better let's study it. Hartzell's nuts.

What should be put to referendum for the voters AND all taxpayers is term limits for all city council persons as well as the Mayor. Then no one individual can be in office long enough to get too comfortable, too complacent and too arrogant. Let's put that out to vote! Also, I find it quite hypocritical of Hartzell to want OC as a year round residential place when he voted for the Business Administrator for Perillo to be permitted to live "off" the island. I, believe, that was a $150,000 job given away to someone "off" the island. Hmm, politicians never change. They can always be counted on to vote in any manner that works for them. Again, term limits, NEVER again allow anyone in the City's Administration to live off the island. Reverse that ordinance, then come talk to taxpayers, of course after you have worked out all of the city's lawsuits.