Fenwick Eyes Flooding Grant; Council Votes To Re-Bid Beach Rental Service

FENWICK ISLAND – October’s Town Council meeting ended with ongoing business as town management was instructed to apply for grant funds to conduct engineering on two stormwater projects and to re-bid the beach equipment rental service.
Town Manager Merritt Burke announced it is time for the Town of Fenwick Island to apply for a DNREC Surface Water Matching Planning Grant to resolve flooding issues at two locations.
The grant provides a max of $50,000 requiring a one-to-one cash match from the town, which received the same grant funds last year to conduct a stormwater drainage master survey. The idea here is DNREC would like the town government to use some of its money to build clean stormwater before it enters the bays, Burke said.
In speaking with engineers the town has worked with in the past, it is projected to cost about $30,000 to conduct engineering surveys on two locations with stormwater issues, W. Dagsboro St. and Schultz Rd., which are projects on the books to be conducted during this fiscal year.
With the council’s approval, Burke would apply for the DNREC grant and write a Request For Proposal (RFP) for engineering surveys.
The council voted unanimously to approve the application.

New Bids Eyed For
Beach Rental Service
According to Burke, this past summer the council approved two beach service bids — Steen’s Beach Service for beach equipment rentals and Go Melvo for beach concessions. Both contracts were for one year with the option to renew for an additional year.
At the end of the summer season, Burke received correspondence from Go Melvo, who provided snowballs at the State Line Beach, and wanted to renew the contract for the 2014 summer season at the previous bid price of $11,500.
However, Steen’s declined the option to renew at the approved bid price of $13,212. The company stated interest in providing beach equipment rentals in Fenwick but they simply paid too much last season.
Although Burke had spoken to numerous interested beach rental concessions, Steen’s was the only bidder.
“There might be interest out there in the market place or there may not be. We would have to re-bid it to find out,” Burke said.
The council voted unanimously to accept Go Melvo, Inc.’s request to continue its contract in 2014 at the State Line Beach and re-bid the beach rental concession to serve Lewes Street to the Maryland state line during the summer season for a one-year contract and the option to extend the contract for an additional year.

Town Records Reorganized
The Environmental Committee proposed to take on a project to organize over 50 years’ worth of files in the attic of Town Hall by scanning those required to be kept on record  and shredding others.
According to Chair Marry Langan, the committee seeks to reduce the town’s carbon footprint, or in the case of a fire or a storm, protect all the town’s records from being lost. The committee suggested any required paper or digital records be moved to the new public safety building that is farther out of harms way.
Burke acknowledged there are State laws to follow regarding requirements Town governments must follow in record keeping, and the project would take a good amount of time. First, all private records, such as personnel files, would have to be separated from the public files that volunteers would sort through. However the project needs to start somewhere, Burke said, and staff is willing to work with the volunteers.
Burke also pointed out there are independent companies to hire that specialize in scanning and compiling, or destroying government records if the town is seriously considering beginning the project.
Councilman Roy Williams suggested the public records be separated from private, and then have the council decide whether have volunteers or hire a specialist to conduct the project, and the council was in consensus.

Town Website More User-Friendly
The Technology Committee introduced a new user-friendly Town of Fenwick Island website, as well as a new projection screen in council chambers for the public to view the items being discussed during Town Council meetings.

Street Parking Reviewed
In September, the Parking Committee passed forward a recommendation to extend parking striping and signage to the bayside side streets. The council decided to have a right-of-way survey conducted before intruding striping and signage on private property.
According to Councilman Gardner Bunting, since last month’s meeting it was discovered a right-of-way survey was conducted as part of a recent stormwater survey and that information is being gathered for the committee to review before returning to the full Town Council for further recommendations.