Five Things to Know About City Council's Thursday Agenda

City Council has a full agenda for its public meeting 7 p.m. Thursday (April 25) at the Ocean City Free Public Library, but here are five things that might be of special interest (see attached PDF for supporting detail on all agenda items):

• Ethics Board: City Council will vote on the second and potentially final reading of an ordinance that would eliminate the Ocean City Ethics Board. (Read more about the issue and first vote.)
• Car Wash Invoices: City Council will vote to approve a $22,414 retroactive ("alternative non-advertised method") contract to Shore Shine Car Wash of Marmora for the cleaning and servicing of city-owned vehicles in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. In a series of recent City Council meetings, Ocean City resident Ed Price has raised questions about requesting the work without soliciting bids and about choosing a vendor from outside Ocean City.
• Department Reorganization: City Council will consider the first reading of a new ordinance that merges the Public Works Department and Community Services Department into a new Department of Community Operations. The reorganization will produce efficiencies, savings over time through attrition and a more centralized approach to capital improvement and other projects, according to a memo from Business Administrator Mike Dattilo. (See PDF for more detail.)
• Yellow-Pine Boardwalk: City Council will vote to advertise for bids to replace the entire boardwalk (substructure and deck) between Fifth and Sixth streets as part of a multi-year project to continue the same work to 12th Street. The specifications call for using previously purchased southern yellow pine for the boardwalk decking. The city has been testing different materials that could be more durable than the traditional yellow pine.
• Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance: The city will consider the second reading of an updated flood prevention ordinance. The changes include adoption of the Advisory Base Flood Elevation (ABFE) maps recently adopted by FEMA. Read more.

The agenda also includes items that would allow demolition work on storm-damaged structures during the summer, would revise a city ordinance to conform with single-stream recycling and would make appointments to the Environmental and Utilities Advisory Commissions.