For Beach, A Last Night To Celebrate The Mayor

Plenty of people butted heads with Gerald W. Donovan over the years. It was perhaps inevitable for a mayor who served Chesapeake Beach for nearly a quarter of a century, helping it evolve from a summer resort town, with one stoplight that was turned off in the winter, to a thriving community.

But most of that opposition was cast aside Thursday night as accolades and awards were showered on the 59-year-old Donovan during his final Town Council meeting. After 32 years in public office, the mayor is retiring, with the Nov. 4 election to decide his successor.

Just about everybody was there Thursday to honor the man who runs not only the town but also one of its most prominent businesses, the Rod 'N' Reel Restaurant and Marina and an adjoining hotel: family members, fellow Democrats as well as Republicans, state and local elected officials, neighbors, friends, developers.

"The community is making progress. Gerald has done a fantastic job of appreciating the strength of his neighbors," said Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), who worked with Donovan in the Maryland Municipal League when he was Baltimore's mayor.

He presented Donovan with a governor's citation for his service to the community and an Admiral of the Chesapeake award for his environmental work, including improvements in the town's wastewater treatment system that went well beyond state requirements.

Donovan leaves a long legacy of other accomplishments as well, said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert). "Parks all over the place," he said. Construction is about to begin on the Chesapeake Beach Railway Trail. And a renewable energy study for the town is underway.

Donovan declined to be interviewed for this story, but in interviews, his relatives, family friends and others shed light on his political and business career.

Part of the reason for Donovan's success is his willingness to take chances, said his aunt, Ethel Lou Bennett, 78.

"Gerald's like my father," Bennett said, referring to Wesley Stinnett, who was mayor from 1956 to 1963. "He takes chances like my father."

"I've been here the whole time. I've seen it grow . . . and I know my dad would be proud," she said. "He always said progress is coming, and he was so right."

That progress didn't always meet with residents' approval. The building of Kellam's ballfields and the community center prompted a fight with county commissioners. Residents also complained about Donovan's willingness to allow developers to build more and taller houses.

The decision by Donovan and his brother, Frederick J. Donovan II, to sell their beach property for construction of the Windward Key development also met opposition.