Mayor's Message: Dec. 3

Dear Friends, Michele and I would like to extend our deepest condolences to Tony and Jennifer Polcini. Tony’s mother, Nancy Polcini, passed away last Friday. On the same day, Jennifer lost her father, John O’Driscoll. Many of you may have enjoyed Tony P’s pizza when it operated up on the boardwalk at 10th Street. Our hearts go out to the Polcini and O’Driscoll families. As usual, we are taking advantage of the off-season to make infrastructure improvements in advance of the 2022 season. Here are some updates on projects planned or in the works:

• Work continues on West Avenue from 26th Street to 34th Street. We expect concrete work to be done in next two weeks. If weather cooperates, final paving will take place in the first week of January. This project included the elimination of antiquated siphon drains at 26th Street, 29th Street and 31st Street. The project was funded in part by a municipal aid grant.
• We awarded a contract for work on Asbury Avenue from 36th Street to 39th Street. This project will eliminate siphon drains on 38th Street, and pipe work has already started. This project also will be funded in part by a municipal aid grant.
• The Public Works team is working on boardwalk decking replacements from 18th Street to 20th Street, and work is about halfway complete.
• New Jersey American Water has about two weeks left to complete its sewer main project near the 34th Street playground.
• NJAW pipe work to replace the water main on 10th Street from Bay Avenue to West Avenue is complete. Work to replace existing services will begin next week.
• NJAW water main replacement will begin next week on Central Avenue from 34th Street to 40th Street.
• As a result of an emergency sewer repair on the 1000 block of the Ocean Avenue/Wesley Avenue alley, the entire roadway there will be repaved.
• Bayside dredging work at seven different lagoons in Ocean City will begin this month. Ocean City’s 2021-22 back bay dredging program will include maintenance dredging at North Point Lagoon, Snug Harbor, Carnival Bayou, Venetian Bayou, Sunny Harbor Lagoon, South Harbor Lagoon and the approach to Clubhouse/Bluefish Lagoons. Using the citywide dredging permit, private owners can now arrange to have their boat slips dredged at their own expense by a private contractor. The more material we can remove from our waterways, the easier it will be to maintain depths. More information is available here.
• Contracts for the Civic Center renovation and City Hall rest rooms are now ready to be closed out.
• We opened bids for a major neighborhood drainage project from 10th Street to 14th Street. Because they far exceeded estimates, they were rejected by City Council last night. We remain committed to this project and are actively pursuing infrastructure grant money and looking to advance some parts of the project in advance of new bid solicitations.
• We opened bids yesterday from our engineering pool for another phase of flood remediation at Merion Park. We will be able to make recommendations to City Council shortly.
• The Clubhouse Lagoon bulkhead is now installed with only some restoration work still to be done. We will move next to the bulkhead at 8th Street.
• The Music Pier HVAC system is complete and ready for closeout.
• We eliminated a pinch point in the drainage system on the beach block at Fifth Street where flooding was occurring.
• We received another municipal aid grant for road and drainage work on West Avenue from North Street to Ninth Street.
• We have submitted a grant application to the N.J. BPU for electric vehicle charging stations.

Ocean City will celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Jan. 17, and each year we honor residents of Ocean City with Community Service Awards. We are currently seeking nominations for this year’s awards. More information and an online nomination form is available at www.ocnj.us/mlk. We are also seeking entries for our Holiday House Decorating Contest, and more information is available here: www.ocnj.us/HolidayHouse. I hope to see you all at the Christmas Parade tonight. The parade runs from Sixth Street to 11th Street on Asbury Avenue and starts at 6 p.m. Have a great weekend. Warm regards, Mayor Jay A. Gillian