Funding Package Introduced for Ocean City Projects

By DONALD WITTKOWSKI Dredging projects and renovations to several key Ocean City public buildings top the list of big-ticket items that will be funded by a nearly $11 million bond ordinance unanimously introduced Thursday night by City Council. The projects were included in the city’s capital plan – a broad blueprint for infrastructure improvements across town – approved last year by Council. The bond ordinance puts the money in place to complete those projects and improvements, City Business Administrator George Savastano told Council. According to the ordinance, $2.8 million will go for repairs or renovations at a number of major public buildings and facilities. They include a new roof for the Ocean City Community Center, renovations to the Beach Patrol headquarters, stage lighting for the Music Pier and a new heating and air-conditioning system for the Historical Museum. Separately, $2.3 million will fund the construction and renovation of public facilities and grounds, including citywide landscaping upgrades, irrigation improvements, fence repairs, the installation of artificial turf at an athletic field on Tennessee Avenue and a new scoreboard and bleachers at the high school’s Carey Field stadium. Nearly $1.5 million will be used to buy new vehicles and equipment. Among other things, the city will purchase a police patrol boat and two new heavy-duty dump trucks for work on the beaches and for snow removal. Also, the ordinance includes $2.5 million to continue the city’s multiyear dredging program for the back bays and lagoons. The city has been clearing out sediment-choked lagoons and channels to improve boating, swimming and the bayfront marinas. The bond ordinance will be up for a public hearing and final vote at the Aug. 11 Council meeting. City Council unanimously introduces the bond ordinance but splits on two consulting contracts for dredging services. Although the bond ordinance was introduced unanimously, there was a 5-2 vote by Council for two consulting contracts related to the dredging program. The hiring of ACT Engineers Inc. to manage the dredging projects and to secure a five-year dredging permit for the city drew no votes from Councilmen Bob Barr and Tom Rotondi. Barr and Rotondi asserted that both contracts awarded to ACT – one was for $225,790 and the other for $104,306 – should have instead been put out for public bid. They said soliciting public bids using the city’s pre-approved pool of engineering firms would likely have resulted in lower prices. “It just provides a level of comfort and protection, in my opinion,” Barr said of the competitive bidding process. Rotondi maintained that it was unfair to taxpayers for the city to award no-bid contracts to ACT. “It just doesn’t look right,” he said. ACT has served as an environmental and engineering consultant for Ocean City for several years. Mayor Jay Gillian and his administration have repeatedly praised the company for its expertise in managing the city’s dredging projects during that time. Savastano, who is the senior official in Gillian’s administration, said the no-bid contracts awarded to ACT on Thursday were based on the company’s qualifications to handle the highly specialized dredging work. “We determined them to be the best qualified for this particular project,” Savastano said. Savastano explained that even if the city had sought competitive bids for the dredging contracts and received lower prices, it wouldn’t have guaranteed that the work would have been done by a company with better qualifications than ACT’s. City Business Administrator George Savastano tells Council that ACT Engineers Inc. is highly qualified for the specialized dredging work. The Council members who voted to award the contracts to ACT noted that the dredging work is seriously needed for lagoons and channels clogged with muddy sediment. Councilmen Terry Crowley Jr. said the sediment buildup is perhaps the worst he has seen in 25 years. “The back bays are in really bad shape,” he said. Referring to ACT, both Crowley and Councilman Jody Levchuk said they will closely watch the company to make sure it meets the city’s high expectations for the dredging projects. ACT won’t actually do the dredging work for the city. It will serve as the city’s manager in overseeing the dredging projects. A dredging contractor will be hired later, after the city decides which lagoons and channels will be included in the next round of the dredging program this fall and next spring. In other business Thursday, a handful of residents complained about the city’s decision to end Zoom livestreaming for the Council meetings. Thursday was the first time in more than a year that a Council meeting was not carried over Zoom. In the past, the public had the option of watching the meetings on Zoom or attending them in person during the COVID-19 pandemic. At least three residents sarcastically told Council that they would help to pay for the city to resume the Zoom option. One of them, Kathy Hogan, held a $5 bill in her hand. Hogan and other residents said that the Zoom meetings are convenient for people who can’t attend the meetings in person. They also said the Zoom meetings make the local government more accessible and transparent to the public. “We want to have our people participating in our government and not block them out for whatever reason,” said Rick Bertsch, a local resident who wants the Zoom meetings to continue. Ocean City resident Kathy Hogan urges Council to resume the Zoom option for its meetings. City Council began livestreaming the meetings over Zoom during the pandemic. One resident, Robert Forman, told Council he has an underlying health issue that makes it safer for him to watch the meetings on Zoom. Forman appeared at Thursday’s meeting wearing a surgical-style mask for protection from COVID-19. Another resident, Donna Moore, said she wants the city to livestream the City Council, Planning Board and Zoning Board meetings over Zoom. She asked Council to approve a resolution formalizing her request to have all three boards have Zoom options. Council members Levchuk and Karen Bergman indicated they would be willing to approve such a resolution. “I think it would be a real good way for us to continue to be transparent,” said Bergman, who serves as Council’s vice president. After the meeting, Council President Peter Madden said Council made the decision to end the Zoom meetings as the pandemic began to wane. “There was no other reason but to go back to normal business,” he said in an interview. Madden indicated that he would be willing to consider reinstating the Zoom option if that is what the rest of Council wants to do. “I’m happy to do what is best,” he said.