October 18, 2013 The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch Page 31 Ocean City Planning Strategic Tourism Study Commission Recommends RFP To Mayor, Council By JOANNE SHRINER STAFF WRITER Regional Digest FROM PAGE 30 for the new District 38C House seat, incumbent Republican Charles Otto has filed for the District 38A House seat. Republicans Christopher Adams and Johnny Mautz IV have filed for the House District 38B seat, while incumbent Rudy Cane and current Wicomico Councilwoman Sheree SampleHughes, both Democrats, have filed for the District 37A seat. Current District 38B Delegate Mike McDermott has filed for the Senate District 38 seat. OCEAN CITY – The Town of Ocean City is looking to hire a strategic planning facilitator that will study the resort’s tourism in a general sense, such as where diversity comes into play and to explore what other opportunities will attract visitors to Ocean City. City Manager David Recor initiated a strategic planning process for Ocean City over a year ago and the completed document was released a few weeks ago. The strategic plan includes a vision that describes the value-based principles for the future of Ocean City into the next 15 years and a mission statement defined by principles. The plan also outlines goals that focus on outcome-based objectives and potential actions for Ocean City into the next five years. Under Ocean City’s strategic plan, the second goal is to be a first class resort and tourist destination, and one of the action items under that goal to be conducted in 2013 is a tourism evaluation and a market analysis. In August, Director of Tourism and Marketing Donna Abbott explained to the Tourism Commission for the past three years $40,000 has been budgeted as a line item in the tourism budget to work with Equation Research, which is a full-service strategic research agency. Three years ago, an Equation Research study was conducted regarding Ocean City’s Rodney the Lifeguard marketing campaign. Last year upon the town’s advertising firm’s, MGH, suggestion the town decided to use the budget allocation towards purchasing additional me- dia buys over conducting a study two years in a row. This year, Abbott kept the line item in the budget thinking a study would be conducted every other year. The discussion continued during Friday’s Tourism Commission meeting when Chair and Councilwoman Mary Knight pointed out the Maryland Office of Tourism Development (OTD) had recently revised its strategic plan and Ocean City should look to the working document as a guide. The OTD’s vision statement for 2015 is “Maryland’s tourism industry, and the efforts of the Office of Tourism Development, shall be recognized as a vital economic engine for the State of Maryland, generating revenues, sustaining jobs, improving the state’s image and leveraging investments in Maryland’s tourism assets. The Office of Tourism Development will pursue its mission – increasing tourism expenditures – with a focus on accountability and results. The plan lists and outlines three goals of funding and finance, destination marketing, and product development and infrastructure.” “Personally, I have been railing this for years. We are basically crisis managing every year without our own map to go forward, and putting it off another year puts us into another year of crisis management, so I believe time is of the essence,” Greg Shockley, owner of Shenanigan’s Irish Pub and member of the Maryland Tourism Development Board, said of having Ocean City place a Request For Proposal (RFP) to have Ocean City’s tourism strategic planning process get underway. In speaking with the state, Abbott gathered Ocean City’s own tourism strategic study can be narrowed down compared to the state’s document, which would ultimately lower the cost, as she initiated conversation among commission members in what the city’s focus should be in crafting a RFP. Ocean City Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Association (OCHMRA) Executive Director Susan Jones suggested investigating Ocean City’s target markets, the best way to reach those markets and what would be the message to send out to those markets. MGH Advertising President Andy Malis added the study should explore other opportunities that would draw people to Ocean City, for example eco-tourism or sand sculpture conventions. Shockley pointed out the many diversities surfacing among local businesses, such as certain events benefit some and not others, or why June is a busy month for some and not others, or some believe Ocean City’s tourism is based on special events and others think it is based on a family friendly message. “Those are the type of questions the strategic planner will ask the group and the group will have to come up with a consensus,” he said. Recor agreed time is of the essence and the first step would be to prepare and go out for RFP to choose a strategic plan facilitator. In the meantime, stakeholders to be involved in the process need to be identified. The Tourism Commission was in consensus to send a favorable recommendation to the full Mayor and Council to send out a RFP for a tourism strategic plan facilitator. Drop-Off Sites Posted BERLIN – Local law enforcement agencies are teaming up on the National Drug Take-Back Initiative next week with drop-off locations all over Worcester County. During the National Drug Take-Back Initiative, residents are urged to bring in unused or expired prescription medications for safe disposal. Medications sometimes fall into the wrong hands, or are frequently flushed down the toilet or sink and leach into the water system and harm the environment. For the last few years, local law enforcement agencies have provided drop-off locations for residents to safely dispose of unused medications. On Oct. 26, from 10 a.m-2 p.m., allied law enforcement agencies will be operating drop-off sites at the Worcester County Health Department in both Snow Hill and Pocomoke, the Ocean City Firehouse on Keyser Point Road in West Ocean City, the Ocean Pines Firehouse on Ocean Parkway, the Maryland State Police Berlin Barrack on Route 50 and the Berlin Police Department on Williams Street. Credit Rating Upgraded Worcester Youth Director To Leave Post By TRAVIS BROWN STAFF WRITER BERLIN – The local community will bid farewell to one of its charitable leaders later this year when Worcester Youth and Family Counseling Services (WYFCS) Executive Director Teresa Fields leaves the shore. “I’m going to miss everybody here. They’re like my second family,” said Fields, who is relocating with her husband, Fred, to Washington, D.C. “It’s going to be bittersweet.” Captaining WYFCS for nearly 15 years, Fields has had a hand in all of the programs the agency has come to be known and respected for on the lower shore. That’s why she found it difficult to choose any of her favorites, though she admitted that youth-centric efforts are special to her. “They all equally resonate with me. Obviously, all of our youth programs are near and dear to my heart because I feel like youth are really the future and as many youth as we can help, the better our community in the future,” she said. “But I love all of the programs equally.” Though not from the Eastern Shore originally, Fields fell in love with the area over the past few decades. “I grew up in the city and moved down here in the ’80s. And from where I grew up to here, just the people here are very caring,” she said. “Whenever there’s TERESA FIELDS a need in the community, people step in and help anyway they can, regardless of their economic status. We’ve had people help out with volunteering, we’ve had people help out with donating their money, we’ve had people who lend their talents to the organization, their expertise. It’s something that I will keep with me forever.” Fields is not sure when her last day with WYFCS will be but did confirm that it will be this fall, most likely by the end of November. The organization has already begun the process of assembling a search committee to vet potential candidates for the new executive director. At this week’s Berlin Mayor and Council meeting, Fields had the opportunity to say good-bye to the town that her agency has partnered so closely with in recent years. On behalf of the council, Mayor Gee Williams thanked Fields and wished her happiness and luck after she leaves the shore. “We’re obviously going to miss you, but I think it’s nice to know that you’ve invested your life in something that will go on for a long, long time,” said Williams. Fields assured the council that she is leaving WYFCS in capable hands and that she is excited to be going on to the next phase of her life. SALISBURY – Wicomico officials this week announced the county received historic upgrades to its credit ratings from two of three New York bond rating agencies, further signaling an improving financial outlook. In recognition of the county’s outstanding financial performance, Moody’s upgraded Wicomico’s rating to AA2, while Standard and Poor’s upgraded the county’s rating two notches to AA+, just one step away from AAA, the highest rating available. Fitch Ratings maintained the county’s rating of AA-/Stable. Historically, satisfactory reserve levels and strong management conditions were among the reasons cited for the upgrades. “Receiving historic upgrades from the New York bond rating agencies, including a doublelevel boost from S&P, is a resounding endorsement by the country’s top financial analysts that Wicomico County is at the top of our game,” said County Executive Rick Pollitt.