Mayor's Message: Sept. 6

Dear Friends,

Now that we’re past Labor Day, capital improvement projects will be starting back up, and here are some important updates:

• Drainage and concrete work for a major road project within the area from 18th Street to 33rd Street, between West Avenue and the beach, will begin on the week of Sept. 16.
  
• Our contractor for the road project on West Avenue from 18th Street to 26th Street will return to complete a punch list that includes some concrete and sod restorations.
  
• A paving project for West Avenue from North Street to Ninth Street will begin after the Fall Block Party in early October.
  
• Work on the Merion Park flood mitigation project continues. Please be prepared for lane shifts on Roosevelt Boulevard starting next week as the contractor makes connections to the outfall pipes and new pumping station.
  
• The HVAC project at the Ocean City Free Public Library is underway. While the library is temporarily closed, curbside pickup remains available. Thank you for your patience.
  
• A contract for resurfacing the Fifth Street tennis courts will be awarded next month, and work will take place over the winter.
  
• Remediation of contaminated soil at the new open space along the 1600 block of Haven Avenue is complete, and monitoring wells will be installed next week. While we await results of the monitoring process, we will clean up and landscape the area and seek feedback from the community on potential uses for the property.
  
• The Aquatic & Fitness Center pool renovation project continues on schedule for an early October opening.
  
• We expect to award a contract for the 2024-25 bayside maintenance dredging project in October.
  
• Conceptual work for a neighborhood pumping station project along Haven Avenue from 18th Street to 26th Street has been submitted for our review. The work remains on target to begin in 2025.
  
• We expect to award a contract for construction of the new police substation at Eighth Street and the Boardwalk in October with work to begin soon after.

The major renovation of the pool at the Aquatic & Fitness Center continues to make good progress. Work on one of the key elements of the project, the replacement of main drainage system under the pool, is underway, and new pipelines will be installed next week.

I want to remind everybody that the off-season schedule for trash and recycling pickup begins on Monday, Sept. 9. The schedule moves from twice-a-week to once-a-week. More information is available here.

Recycling material should be placed directly in containers for pickup and never in plastic bags. This is extremely important. The county’s single-stream recycling center cannot and will not process recyclables in plastic bags, and our contractor will not pick them up. If you store your recyclables in plastic bags in your home, please dump the cans, bottles, and other material into your recycling container at curbside, then dispose of the plastic bag with your trash. Also remember that our contractor cannot pick up any trash or recycling containers that weigh more than 50 pounds.

The county will hold its Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day next Saturday (Sept. 14) and more information is available here.

Street rods and classic cars will be on display on the Ocean City Boardwalk on Saturday afternoon (Sept. 7) and Corvettes will take over on Sunday afternoon (Sept. 8). Tickets are still available for a Saturday night concert (Sept. 7) featuring the Ocean City Pops performing with The Duprees. Further information on all these events is available here.

I want to encourage everybody to attend our annual 9/11 ceremony at 6 p.m. Wednesday (Sept. 11) outside Ocean City Fire Department headquarters at Sixth Street and Asbury Avenue.

Even on the night of the attacks in 2001, Mayor Bud Knight invited the community to a prayer service at the Tabernacle, while the fear of that day was still fresh. This will be the 24th time we’ve gathered in Ocean City on 9/11. It seems as if everybody who lived through that day was affected in some way, and it’s far enough in the past now that young citizens have no memory of it. I think it’s important to reflect on the lives that were lost that day and on the way our nation came together in the wake of the attacks. Our new fire and police chiefs will join me in offering remarks at the ceremony.

Warm regards,

Mayor Jay A. Gillian