John P. Whaley
city manager, Ocean City · active 1930
Named as "City Manager John P. Whaley of Ocean City" among the thirty-odd duck hunters marooned by the blizzard of 29 January 1930 on the barrier peninsula south of the town, and rescued at Green Run on the Friday afternoon. This is the only appearance of an Ocean City city manager anywhere in this campaign's record, and the office itself was not previously known to exist — the town's charter of 1894, as amended, provides for a mayor and city council. Whether Whaley held a formal municipal office or the papers were using a courtesy title is not established. — 1945 FULL PASS, 2026-08-12: A John P. Whaley was named to Ocean City's first Zoning Commission on 24 April 1945 and served on it through 1945, and was also appointed to the town's new Planning Commission in June 1945 - the only man on both bodies. He read the law on the zoning set-up to the commission at its organising meeting on 10 May 1945 and was present when the 38-page ordinance was signed over on 20 November. ⚠ The identification with the Ocean City city manager of this record is by name and town only and is not documented on any page read. He is a separate record from person:john-s-whaley, the attorney who was asked in November 1944 to draft the zoning ordinance and who was also present on 5 April and 20 November 1945; the minutes distinguish 'J. P. Whaley' from 'John Whaley' / 'John S. Whaley' and both distinctions are preserved here rather than resolved. — 1946 FULL PASS, 2026-08-15: HE TOOK THE FOUR-YEAR SEAT - the longest of the five - on Ocean City's first Board of Zoning Appeals, confirmed 1 October 1946, having sat on the Zoning Commission that drafted the ordinance and on the Planning Commission appointed in June 1945. ⚠ The identification with the Ocean City city manager of this record remains by name and town only and is not documented on any page read, and he remains a separate record from person:john-s-whaley, the Snow Hill attorney of Staton, Whaley & Price who was appointed City Attorney of Ocean City on 9 September 1946. The 1946 minutes preserve the same distinction the 1945 minutes did.
In the record (5)
1945 · 1945-05-10
Ocean City's first Zoning Commission organised on 10 May 1945 with Frank Waller as president and Dr. C. W. Purnell as secretary.
The council met at 8 PM for the purpose of getting the Zoning Commission organized. Clark Gardner and Purnell were present to outline the programme, as was Attorney Wm. Price to aid in setting up the proper procedure. The members present were Harland R. Huston of Salisbury, W. A. Jarman, J. P. Whaley, Frank Waller and Dr. C. W. Purnell - the five men Mayor Trimper had been sent on 10 April to ask whether they would serve, and whom the council voted to accept on 24 April. Mr. Whaley read the law on the zoning set-up and Mr. Gardner went over the entire matter for the commission to consider, after which the commission organised by electing Frank Waller president and Dr. C. W. Purnell secretary, and set its next meeting for 24 May. It is six months to the week since the council first asked John S. Whaley to draft a zoning ordinance.
Ocean City Zoning CommissionDr. Charles Washington PurnellClark Gardner
Source · checked 2026-08-12
1945 · 1945-06-05
Ocean City agreed in June 1945 to license up to six jitneys, deferred its first permit to the unfinished zoning law, and appointed a Planning Commission with a woman on it.
Dr. G. P. R. Dennis, Lewis Hardcastle, Frank Sacca and Mr. Harris came before the council asking for jitney service, and the council agreed to grant permits up to six for jitneys recommended by them. The application of Roark for a permit at Philadelphia Avenue and 1st Street was left until the zoning law was completed - the first Ocean City permit deferred to zoning. John B. Lynch recommended that a Planning Commission be appointed, and at the next meeting the council appointed Mr. Harris as chairman with John P. Whaley, Lewis Hardcastle, Talbot Bunting, Mr. Anthony, Mr. Huber, A. M. Ball and Mrs. Andersen - the only woman named to either of the town's two new commissions in 1945. That meeting also carried a motion to grant permits for taxis and wrote to the Liquor Control Board asking it to keep the store open until nine o'clock on week days.
Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.
Ocean City Planning CommissionJohn B. LynchFrank Sacca
Source · checked 2026-08-12
1945 · 1945-08-27
Ocean City's Zoning Commission delivered its preliminary report on 27 August 1945, and the council voted only to receive it.
The council met at 8:30 PM with the Zoning Commission - Mayor Trimper, Councilmen Dolle and Savage for the town, and Attorney Wm. Price with chairman Frank Waller, Harland Huston, C. W. Purnell and J. P. Whaley for the commission. Attorney Price read a report of the work done by the commission and discussion followed, after which R. Dolle moved and C. O. Savage seconded that the Zoning Commission's preliminary report be received and that it receive consideration. Receiving is all the council did. The report itself is not bound into the minutes, and within eight weeks its zoning map was being used to decide a night-club permit.
Ocean City Zoning CommissionDr. Charles Washington PurnellRudolph DolleCranford O. Savage
Source · checked 2026-08-12
1945 · 1945-11-20
Ocean City's first zoning ordinance ran to thirty-eight pages, was read aloud in a single afternoon, and was signed over to the council after a steak dinner at City Lunch.
The council met the Zoning Commission at 3 PM on Tuesday 20 November: Mayor Trimper with Dolle, Lynch and Savage; Frank Waller, Harland Huston, Walter Jarman, J. P. Whaley and C. W. Purnell for the commission, with Clark Gardner, Purnell, Wm. Price and John Whaley. Chairman Frank Waller called the meeting to order and Wm. Price read and commented on the 38-page document, finishing at 6:30, at which point the meeting adjourned to go to City Lunch for a steak dinner. Afterwards the members returned to the council office, had further discussion, and the document was signed by the Zoning members and turned over to the City Council. The mayor and council then arranged for a public hearing and its advertising, to be held on the afternoon of Wednesday 19 December and the morning of Saturday 22 December 1945. On 26 November the council resolved unanimously, John B. Lynch moving and R. Dolle seconding, that the report be accepted.
Ocean City Zoning CommissionClark GardnerJohn S. WhaleyDr. Charles Washington PurnellDaniel W. Trimper, Jr.
Source · checked 2026-08-12
1946 · 1946-10-01
Ocean City's first Board of Zoning Appeals was confirmed on 1 October 1946 with the man who had chaired the Zoning Commission as its chairman - and one seat already changed hands before the board was ever listed.
'The appointment of Mr. James Farlow to take place of Mr. Harland Huston on Zoning Appeal Board for one year was approved', and the clerk then set the board out in full: James Farlow, one year; Walter H. Jarman, one year; Dr. C. W. Purnell, two years; Franklin Waller, three years; John P. Whaley, four years. Mayor Trimper named Waller chairman. Ordinance No. 99 required exactly this - five members, staggered two/one/one/one at one, two, three and four years, one designated chairman by the Mayor - and the council's instinct on 21 May had been simply 'to ask the same members to serve that were on the Zoning Board'. It substantially did: Waller chaired the Zoning Commission organised in May 1945 and Purnell was its secretary, so the men who wrote the ordinance now sat on the board that heard appeals from it. The substitution was made before the meeting: on the lawyers' draft of 4 May, 'Harland Houston' is struck through in manuscript with 'James Farlow' written above it, and the two-year seat there reads 'John W. Purnell'.
Ocean City Board of Zoning AppealsOcean City Zoning CommissionFrank WallerDr. Charles Washington PurnellDaniel W. Trimper, Jr.
Source · checked 2026-08-15