OCEAN CITY—In the briefs this week, the town secured the company that handles the grandiose tent setup from the town’s major festivals, the Board of Zoning Appeals officially got their new members, and the town boasts its social networking skills.
Tent Contract Secured Until 2012
City Council voted to extend the current contract for three years to the company that puts up the giant white tents that are apart of the town’s Sunfest, Springfest and Winterfest events.
Select Event Rentals bought out the town’s current contracted company, Party Perfect Special events, and offered Ocean City a proposal to extend the contract for three years at the exact same price for term.
Special Events Director John Sullivan spoke of the company’s reliability and noted that the contract will stay on par with the town’s budget.
“This contractor does exactly what the town wants us to do, and they put the stakes in the exact same holes every time to cut down on any damage, and the extensive booth framing has been built to fit under these tents,” said Sullivan. “Also, when Eastern Shore Gas was kind enough to come in and put the gas lines under the service for the festivals with these tents as the basis for their pipe installation.”
Most notably, according to Sullivan, is the fact that the last time that the town went out to bid on this particular need, the next closest bid was over $113,000 more than the bid of the current firm.
Still, councilwoman Margaret Pillas, who is a big advocate of the bidding process, hoped that in the future, the contract would not just be extended without going to bid.
“Just because there are many things that are designed to fit these tents in particular, doesn’t preclude any business from their right to getting their fair shot at the job,” she said.
Council President Joe Mitrecic disagreed.
“I think the most important thing to me is that they are holding the price that we’ve had for the last three years, for the next three years,” said Mitrecic. “I’m sure that weighed heavily in the recommendation.”
BZA Fills All Open Positions
The openings on the roster for the Board of Zoning Appeals were officially filled this week as Mayor Rick Meehan swore in Dean Langrell on Tuesday alongside new alternates Danelle Amos and Bruce Kennington.
The BZA is made up of five full-time members and two alternates, with one of the alternates sitting in on the monthly meetings when a full time member is unable to attend.
Langrell had been an alternate member for two years, and was essentially promoted after both Susan Davis and Jeff Thaler stepped down last month on the same evening.
“I’ve been learning about this for a few years, and there is certainly a learning curve with this type of thing,” said Langrell “Luckily, (Zoning Administrator) Blaine Smith is a huge help to us on the board and I am looking forward to serving the town.”
Langrell’s fellow alternate Lanny Hickman was also promoted to full-time member when he was sworn in last week by Meehan at City Hall.
Meehan said that Amos and Kennington have been long time contributors in the community and have the knowledge necessary to be viable alternates for the BZA.
Town’s Social Networking “Well Ahead” of the Pace
At last week’s Maryland state Travel and Tourism Summit at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center, one of the topics broached for the advancement or improvement of drawing people to the various tourism destinations throughout the state was the usage of social mediums like Facebook and Twitter.
According to council woman Mary Knight, the information that was pitched during the seminar was things that the town has been using for some time and felt very strongly about how the town is sending the right message to the growing masses who use social networking sites everyday.
“I’m convinced that our tourism department either (public relation director) Donna Abbott or (tourism director) Deb Turk could have taught that seminar as we are so far ahead of the curve in the realms of social media and how to use it effectively in an advertising campaign,” said Knight.
With the guidance of MGH Advertising, Turk and Abbott have helped spearhead a sort of word of mouth campaign for the town by using and interacting with people on the websites, which has created a vast number of followers and fans, and has also established a sizeable gap between Ocean City and it’s competition.
Ocean City boasts well over 20,000 friends and fans on Facebook, according to Knight, whereas several other east coast resort destinations have yet to achieve half that total.
“Technology is always changing and you have to be ahead of the curve and have a real understanding of how people are getting their information and where they are spending their time,” said Mayor Rick Meehan.