At its regular public meeting on Thursday at City Hall, City Council learned of a plan to consider new materials to build a better Boardwalk, floated the idea of a nonbinding referendum on a special taxpayer assessment for road improvements and a heard a seller's pitch for the city to buy vacant land at Ninth Street and Wesley Avenue. But here are five other things that might be of interest.

• Business Administrator Mike Dattilo reported that the combined tax rate (schools, city and county) has been certified at 78.3 cents per $100 of assessed value. About 20,000 tax bills will be in the mail soon. Based on the date of the certification, a payment deadline extension may be likely.
• City Council voted to release money to the owners of the DuBois estate at the corner Battersea and Pinnacle roads. The money ($62,078.40) is being held as a performance guarantee for the estate to complete infrastructure work related to subdividing the vacant property into six lots. The release of the money signals the next stage in the development of the property, which was once home to a single stately home. The resolution calls for 10 percent of the guarantee to be held for two more years.
• City Council endorsed a plan by Cape May County to move to single-stream recycling. That would mean users would not have to separate bottles, cans and paper. All recycling could be placed in the same container.
• City Council voted to renew an engineering services contract with Michael Baker Jr. Inc. of Hamilton Township for road construction projects in Merion Park. The contract is not to exceed $67,900. At the request of Westminster Road resident Marty Mozzo, City Council adjusted the language of the resolution to confirm that the contractor would review engineering plans for the project.
• City Council heard further criticism from Ocean City resident Michael Hinchman about the structure of a public-private partnership agreement with Ocean City Marina, LLC, to improve the public marina at Second Street and Bay Avenue. Hinchman had distributed to local media a letter outlining his concerns, and he repeated many of his points during public comment. "We rushed," Hinchman said. "We didn't analyze the deal."