OCEAN CITY — Resort officials this week approved the reallocation of $60,000 in savings from the completed Boardwalk access control project to fund security improvements at City Hall.
Last year, the town of Ocean City completed a two-phase project aimed at limiting vehicular access to the Boardwalk for safety reasons after a series of terrorist attacks involving vehicle and large crowds of pedestrians in the U.S. and around the world. The improvements included gated entry points in some locations along with bollards and obstructions in others where vehicles could formerly access the Boardwalk.
That two-phase project has been completed and came in nearly $173,000 under budget. As a result, City Engineer Terry McGean this week requested $60,000 of that savings be redirected at a project aimed at improving security at City Hall. Following a parallel course to the Boardwalk access control project has been enhanced security at city-owned facilities including the Public Safety Building, Northside Park and City Hall.
McGean said on Tuesday he and his staff wanted to utilize the $60,000 to enhance the security improvements already in place at City Hall. The improvements would limit public access at City Hall to the main lobbies on the first- and second-floors with access available to the billing department and the Planning and Community Development offices. Access to other areas of City Hall would be restricted with card-readers, new walls and partitions.
Councilman Tony DeLuca urged putting off spending the $60,000 until a clearer revenue picture from the summer season and the ongoing pandemic emerged.
“I would like to put this on hold until next year,” he said. “I don’t think we need to spend this $60,000 right now.”
However, Councilman Mark Paddack made a motion to approve the expenditure.
“Our employees at City Hall are more important than putting off this $60,000 right now,” he said. “This has been a long, ongoing project and we brought in experts to evaluate our security at City Hall. Our doors are closed, so we can start doing some of these things right now.”
McGean agreed with City Hall closed currently, much of the work could be designed, put out to bid and completed rather quickly.
“I support this project right now,” Council President Lloyd Martin said. “We do need to take care of security at City Hall. We’ve done it at our other facilities and this just makes sense.”
Councilman Dennis Dare said he could see both sides of the equation, but also said he would not like to compromise employee safety at the risk of saving $60,000.
“I support doing this 100%,” he said. “The planning and bidding can be done this summer, but I’d like to delay a commitment until September or October when we see how the summer plays out with revenue. Hopefully, we don’t have to make a decision between employee safety and $60,000, but I’d like to delay this until the season is over.”
After more debate, the council voted 6-1 with DeLuca opposed to appropriate $60,000 from the savings from the Boardwalk access control program to fund the planned security improvements at City Hall.
