OCEAN CITY – Ocean City transit officials expect to install camera surveillance equipment on the town’s municipal buses later this year, after receiving a timeline from state officials detailing the current bidding process.
In a Transportation Committee meeting Tuesday, Public Works Director Hal Adkins relayed ongoing efforts to install camera surveillance equipment on municipal buses with grant money the resort received late last year.
The town received a $500,000 grant to install multiple surveillance cameras both inside and outside Ocean City’s entire bus fleet, at the recommendation of the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA). Officials could then go back and check the saved footage in the event of an incident or accident. The original goal was to install the cameras before the 2017 season, but timeline issues have moved the target date back to next fall at the earliest.
Hartford County’s transit agency is crafting the request for proposal (RFP) on behalf of multiple state transit agencies, including Ocean City, and has since submitted a request for concurrence to MTA officials, which will give them permission to send the RFP to vendors.
In a prior committee meeting, Brian Connor, assistant superintendent for transportation, told members that the RFP has become a cooperative purchasing agreement for the multiple agencies to ensure a lower cost in obtaining and installing the equipment.
Resort officials had expected the equipment to be installed for the 2017 season, but unforeseen medical issues involving the director of the agency spearheading the RFP delayed the process. In Tuesday’s meeting, Adkins explained that a timeline provided by the MTA now estimates that Ocean City to have the equipment by early fall, barring any other delays or issues with the current RFP.
“That’s as fast as that process will go,” he said.
Beth Kreider, director for the MTA, sent an email to Ocean City transit officials late last month explaining that the resort had the option to submit its own bid using certain specifications in the interest of time, but Adkins told committee members that the aforementioned director had since returned and is doing his part for the town.
“He has since come back to work, made the submission, and the project as a whole is moving forward under the name of Hartford County,” he said.
Adkins said officials will now have to wait until fall, much to the dissatisfaction of committee members.
“We are still very, very disappointed with the timeline,” Councilman Tony DeLuca said.
Mayor Rick Meehan, chair of the committee, also expressed his frustration with the delay.
“I think the timeline is what we were most concerned about,” he said. “It is what it is.”
Councilman Dennis Dare, however, said the delay could give the town more time and flexibility during the offseason to install the equipment.
“It really isn’t the worst thing in the world to have some time and work out all the kinks, learning how to get the word out and have it in place, working well at the beginning of the season as opposed to rushing,” he said.
Adkins agreed, but added that his estimates of the installation could still be pushed back even further.
“That, of course, will depend on who it’s awarded to, who the vendor is, the vendor’s availability, how many of the other agencies identified in the table try to get an assignment before we do,” Adkins said. “I would say to shoot for early fall.”
