OCEAN CITY – City Hall will be seeing some new additions to its hallways after the City Council voted unanimously Monday night to approve the proposal to display the history of Ocean City throughout the hallways of City Hall.
City Engineer Terry McGean, along with Mayor Rick Meehan, presented the Mayor and Council with the idea to adorn the hallways of City Hall with a history of Ocean City and of City Hall. The idea is to make the halls of City Hall a history of City Hall.
McGean explained that two years ago, money was set aside for renovations of City Hall in an effort to preserve the downtown charm of Ocean City. Although many renovations were completed, some of the interior finishings remain to reach completion. McGean explained that he hopes to finish those renovations this year, including renovating the north entrance to match the south entrance and replacing the wallpapering throughout the hallways. It was the latter renovation that sparked the mayor’s idea to adorn some of the hallways with a history of City Hall.
“I think the people are intrigued by the history of Ocean City,” Meehan said.
McGean explained that the city would be using Adler Display, which is the same display company that the town used for the Ocean City Lifesaving Station Museum. The intention is to have 14 display boards with four of the boards depicting the history of Ocean City. The remaining boards will display City Hall history, Sunfest, a birds-eye view of Ocean City landmarks, city officials and an introductory panel. A few of the board’s themes are yet to be determined.
The display boards will cost roughly $89,500, but McGean added that funding would also be needed for repainting the hallways and changing the lighting from chandelier lighting to something more appropriate for the display boards. In total, McGean estimates that the project will cost around $100,000. McGean noted that there are leftover savings from other projects that could be allocated for this project.
McGean explained to the council that he would need its approval of the Adler contract as well as approval of the direction of the budget to allow roughly $100,000 to be appropriated.
“Well, I think it’s a great idea,” said Councilwoman Nancy Howard.
The council voted unanimously to approve both the allocation of funds and the Adler contract to create the display boards.