Failures, Conflicts, and Bias: Everything That Went Wrong at the September 25 City Council Meeting

The Ocean City Council meeting on September 25th revealed everything that is wrong with our local government. In one evening, residents saw a stunning collapse of transparency, legal integrity, and public accountability—led by Council Vice President Pete Madden and City Solicitor Dottie McCrosson. Here’s a clear breakdown of what went wrong.

1. Council Vice President Pete Madden reintroduced the Wonderland rehabilitation resolution without public notice—violating the City’s own rules.

Ocean City’s Municipal Code is clear: No resolution can be added to the agenda at the last minute unless four council members vote to allow it, which vote must occur before any discussion is allowed to ensue. The resolution should also, if at all possible, be distributed to the other council members in advance. Madden did neither. No notice. No materials. And no vote to waive the notice requirement. His fellow council members and the public were blindsided.

The whole point of these requirements is to prevent sneak attacks like this and to ensure that the public has proper notice whenever possible. If the majority believes an issue can wait, it waits. That didn’t happen.

2. City Solicitor Dottie McCrosson failed to do her job—and actively pushed the vote forward.

McCrosson, who is sworn to uphold the law, should have immediately halted the discussion and reminded Council that the rules regarding prior notice had not been followed, which could violate the NJ Open Meetings Law and erode public trust. And she should have explained that Council needed to take a preliminary vote to add the matter to the agenda before engaging in a discussion and vote on the motion. Instead, she did the opposite: she argued that the vote proceed.

This wasn’t a legal gray area. It was a bright red line. McCrosson chose to cross it.

3. Their conduct wasn’t just procedurally wrong. It was a deliberate betrayal of public trust.

Everyone involved knew how contentious and high-profile this issue was. Just four weeks earlier, hundreds of residents packed Council chambers to oppose the same resolution, which was voted down 6–1. The message from the public was overwhelming. And yet, Madden and McCrosson tried to slip the exact same resolution through the back door, with no notice, debate, or transparency.

This can’t be dismissed as just poor judgment, but must be viewed as an intentional violation of trust.

4. Their justifications were dishonest, contradictory, and misleading.

Madden wrongly claimed that “nothing is happening” at Wonderland and that the Council needed to act. Councilman Barnes immediately corrected him: Council had in fact already acted by voting overwhelmingly to initiate a full master plan review, and was moving forward with good discussion on process and timing. Madden’s action was an attempt to stop that progress.

Madden also said “time is wasting.” But he ignored public calls for a master plan back in 2024. He ignored citizen calls for a plan to activate the north end of the Boardwalk. And he knows full well that a rehabilitation study invites lawsuits and delay. It’s not a fast track. It’s a detour into litigation.

Even more misleading: Council members have said they want to move forward with a process to determine how to evaluate Boardwalk zoning and whether it should be adjusted for different uses. But a rehabilitation study doesn’t actually do that. It only looks at the current condition of one property, not at what uses should be permitted. A master plan, however, is the precise process to address zoning and whether a hotel is a good fit or not. It does so through a holistic, fact-driven, and equitable review of the whole Boardwalk. Yet neither Madden nor McCrosson explained that. They misrepresented what was at stake and what the public process should be.

5. Their bias is obvious—and it’s warping the city’s planning process.

McCrosson acted more like Madden’s advocate than the city’s chief legal officer. She never mentioned the master plan. Never acknowledged the litigation risk of the rehabilitation path. Never explained how a master plan could actually bring developers and the city together in a productive way. Instead, she presented a one-sided advocate’s view of the rehabilitation process, rather than a balanced assessment of all available options.

Madden, meanwhile, claimed the only interested buyers for Wonderland want to build condos and that zoning must change to reflect that. But that logic is backward. If the city has signaled openness to condos, it’s no surprise that’s who’s calling. A master plan could invite amusement-oriented investors by reaffirming the site’s intended use. Madden is creating the very problem he says he's trying to solve.

Final Thoughts

This was a bad night for Ocean City. Not because of the vote outcome—thankfully, the rest of Council held the line—but because two of our top public officials acted like the public doesn’t matter. And frankly, it’s not the first time. Madden and McCrosson have repeatedly made it clear they don’t work for the citizens of this town. They seem to work for someone else.

Madden rarely offers insights at meetings. He doesn’t hold town halls to our knowledge. In private meetings with us, he seems bored, dismissive and disengaged. And when given the chance to lead with integrity, he chose manipulation instead.

McCrosson, for her part, has served as Mayor Jay Gillian’s personal lawyer, and her private firm, McCrosson and Stanton, works in real estate related legal matters in Ocean City. 

Residents should remember this night. We deserve leadership that works for us, not for private developers, not for backroom deals, and not for personal agendas.