OCEAN CITY — During a brief meeting on Monday, the Ocean City Mayor and Council took care of a few housekeeping measures, continued to debate with some in attendance the merits of the new water tower at 1st Street, approved plans to move forward with accepting credit cards on the Boardwalk trams and even had a little discussion on the importance of civility.
•Boardwalk Trams: Following a recommendation from the Transportation Committee, the council voted to move forward with adding a credit card payment option for the Boardwalk tram, which is one of the resort’s last remaining cash-only amenities and services.
Last week, the Transportation Committee discussed utilizing hand-held credit and debit card reading systems to accept payments for the Boardwalk tram and forwarded a favorable recommendation to the council. On Monday, the city’s elected officials agreed to move forward with the plan and instructed staff to work toward having a system in place before the next summer season.
•Water Tower Debate Continues: Two weeks ago, the Mayor and Council approved an $18 million bond sale to finance, among other things, a new $5.2 million water tower at 1st Street near St. Louis Ave. The concept is to replace two existing water towers at 15th Street and Worcester Street with the single new tower at 1st Street. The purpose is to improve the distribution system and expand capacity.
While the bond sale has been approved and ground has been broken on the new tower, the debate on its perceived need continued this week. Former Councilman Vince Gisriel broached the subject again during the public comment period on Monday.
“The mayor has said how important it is to maintain our infrastructure and I agree with that,” he said. “Sometimes, I think there is a difference between what we want and what we need. It has been said maintaining one water tower will be cheaper than two, but I think there is some give and take on that. Also, it has been said painting the new tower like a beach ball will cost only $7,000, but the real total is around $75,000.”
Councilman Dennis Dare, however, continued to support the new water tower at 1st Street.
“Those two towers have long been paid for and they are 60 years old and need replacing at some point in time,” he said. “The reason there were two towers in the first place is because there used to be two water treatment plants. When the two treatment plants were replaced by a new state-of-the-art plant, the need for two towers no longer existed. With the new tower, we will improve water quality and increase capacity by 10 percent.”
•Sunset Park Nighttime Hours Reduced: Following a debate that began at the Police Commission level and continued at the Recreation and Parks Committee, the council agreed on Monday to reduce the nighttime hours at Sunset Park along the bay in the south end of the resort. During a recent Police Commission meeting, it was brought to light the park was often being used at night by the homeless in the downtown area and for other illicit and less than desirable activities. To that end, a proposal was made to officially close the park at night to cut back on the unofficial activities and reduce the need for enforcement.
After some debate, the council voted to move forward with an ordinance that would close the park from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., with the exception of certain approved special events. Councilmember Mary Knight questioned if the town should follow the lead of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), for example, that closes its parks from dusk until dawn. Dare responded the ambiguous “dusk ‘til dawn” made enforcement tricky because of the gray areas and the changes of the season.
•Lesson In Civility: Gisriel related a story from a recent trip with his wife to 20 states in 22 days as a means to remind those in attendance of the importance of public discourse and civility in local government in general. Gisriel said the trip took him and his wife to Lincoln, Neb. where an inscription at the state capital read “The Salvation of the State is in the Watchfulness of the Citizens,” and reminded those in attendance of the importance of public input and discussion in the decision-making process.
“Sometimes, those who bring here a message you don’t want to hear leave without feeling welcome,” said Gisriel.
Mayor Rick Meehan agreed with the message and offered his own advice to all involved.
“We encourage everybody to be involved and engages and we welcome public comments, but sometimes courtesy needs to go both ways,” he said.
•Long-time OCPD Volunteer, Supporter Recognized: The council shared the sad news of the passing of long-time OCPD auxiliary officer and volunteer Ed Fritz, who passed away last week at the age of 90. Fritz completed the Citizens Police Academy in 1995 and volunteered as an auxiliary officer with the OCPD from 2000 to 2014, logging roughly 900 hours of service to the department.
A memorial service and celebration of life will be held on Saturday, October 24, at 2 p.m. at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church located at 10301 Coastal Highway.
