OCEAN CITY – The Ocean City Mayor and Council this week agreed to tweak the beach photography agreement by accepting the lone offer for a second franchise and consolidating the operation into one single franchise in the future.
Ocean City’s beach photography franchise is essentially divided into two separate franchises and under the town’s code, one vendor can hold both franchises. By way of background, the beach photography franchise holder sends photographers, or “scopers,” out on the beach each day in the summer to solicit residents and visitors to capture vacation memories. The two franchises are not divided geographically, but rather limit the number of photographers allowed on the beach to 15 each day.
Last year, J and S Management, which has held both beach photography franchises for over a decade, was the sole bidder on just one of the franchises at a cost of $152,500 per year. The second franchise was not bid on and remained open. However, J and S Management reached out to the city in July with an unsolicited offer of $40,000 for the remainder of the summer.
Resort officials accepted the bid at the time and promised to revisit the entire beach photography franchise system after the summer season. On Tuesday, City Clerk Diana Chavis presented proposed changes.
In August, J and S Management expressed an interest in retaining the second franchise for the 2020 to 2022 seasons and offered $76,250 per year, which is under the current required minimum bid at $150,000 per franchise. However, because J and S already holds the contract for the first beach photography franchise at $152,500 per year, adding the second for $76,250 would bring in a combined $228,750 to the town for the entire operation, which is actually more than the town brought in from the two franchises this year.
Chavis made two recommendations to the Mayor and Council on Tuesday. The first was to accept the bid for the second franchise at $76,250 through 2022. The second was to do away with the two-franchise system entirely and consolidate the entire beach photography operation into a single franchise with a required minimum bid of $225,000 per year.
The council unanimously approved both recommendations. As a result, J and S will hold a single beach photography franchise through 2022 at a rate of $228,750 per year, which is actually higher than the minimum requirement of $225,000 per year.
