City Council will vote Thursday on hiring City Council Vice President Michael Allegretto as the director of the city’s Department of Community Services.
The department handles recreation and public relations services, among other tasks, and the director’s salary falls in a range set by ordinance at a maximum of $101,019.
Kristin Gallagher was hired in September 2014 to lead the department, but she resigned in May, and the position has not yet been filled.
“Mr. Allegretto is well-versed in local government and is active with recreation programs, city events, the Chamber of Commerce, Tourism Development Commission, Business and Neighborhood Development and the merchants’ associations,” Mayor Jay Gillian wrote in a memo to council. “His experience on City Council and the Board of Education will be extremely valuable in the day-to-day leadership of this department.”
Gillian said that, if approved, Allegretto could start work as soon as Sept. 14. He did not specify Allegretto’s proposed salary but said it would fall within the ordinance.Allegretto is a 1989 graduate of Ocean City High School and a 1993 graduate of The College of New Jersey with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.
A lifelong resident of Ocean City, Allegretto currently works as an office manager at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices. He lives in Ocean City with his wife and two children.
He was elected to his third term on City Council in 2014 and served as council president from 2010-2013. He was an Ocean City Board of Education member from 1999 to 2006 (board president 2004-05).
The state’s local government ethics law prohibits some governmental entities from hiring officials within a year of the time they leave office. But that appears to be limited to members of “independent local authorities” and not to “local government officers,” City Solicitor Dottie McCrosson said last week when asked about the potential conflict.
Allegretto will not be able to vote on his own appointment.
The public City Council meeting is set for 7 p.m. Thursday at City Hall. Here are some other agenda items that might be of interest.
- Tony Wilson Conflict: City Council will vote on approving a shared services agreement with Sea Isle City to provide plumbing inspections at $50 per hour on jobs completed by C. Leo Wilson Plumbing and Heating, the local company owned by Councilman Tony Wilson. Because Wilson, as a member of council, has budgetary control over the Ocean City office in charge of code inspections, Ocean City asked Sea Isle to take over inspections of his jobs to avoid the appearance of any sort of conflict of interest. Ocean City has received no invoices to date for inspections completed by Sea Isle City, according to a public records request from OCNJ Daily.
- Crawlspace and Storage Room Deed Restriction: Because so many, homes were being elevated after Superstorm Sandy in 2012, Ocean City passed an ordinance requiring sellers to create deed restrictions reminding buyers that ground-level crawlspaces cannot be used as habitable space. Council will vote Thursday to remove the requirement for deed restrictions (but keep the use restriction).
- Parking Changes: Council will vote on the second reading of changes to the ordinance that governs parking fees. The impetus of the amendments was to create new public parking (about 13 spots) in the lot on Sixth Street at the Ocean City Fire Department. But the city made minor revisions to the entire ordinance at the same time. A complete list of the proposed changes (marked in red) are included in the PDF below.
- Environmental Commission Report: Ocean City’s Environmental Commission will provide its annual report to City Council.
