Five Things to Know About City Council's Thursday Agenda

City Council has a full agenda for its public meeting 7 p.m. Thursday (May 16) at the Ocean City Free Public Library. It includes second and potentially final readings of ordinances related to summer demolition work and post-Sandy zoning relief. Full documentation of all agenda items is attached to this story as a PDF, and here are five things that might be of special interest.

• New Director of Community Operations: City Council will vote to approve Roger D. McLarnon as director of the new Community Operations Department. In a memo to City Council, Mayor Jay Gillian said McLarnon is an Ocean City High School graduate with more than 25 years of experience in engineering, zoning, planning and capital projects management. He worked with Walker, Previti, Holmes and Associates of Marmora. Council will vote on a separate ordinance setting his 2013 salary at $110,000 and his 2014 salary at $112,000. City Council balked in 2011 at raising salary caps for other department heads.
• U.S. Life Saving Station 30: City Council will vote to award a $512,854 contract to Aliano Brothers General Contractors of Vineland for exterior restoration of the historic Life Saving Station at Fourth Street and Atlantic Avenue. Council had earlier approved the funding to restore the historic station.
• Beach Mats for South End: City Council will vote to approve a $39,427 contract with Deschamps Mats Systems of Cedar Grove for mats to provide easier beach access over a protective berm at the south end of the island. In a memo to City Council, Public Works Director Mike Rossbach said the mats were tested last summer and offer and cool and mold-resistant surface — and are both durable and easy to remove. He said the mats will be used south of 49th Street.
• Beach Easements: City Council will vote to approve the use of any legal means, including eminent domain, to obtain easement rights to complete beach replenishment projects. Not all beachfront property owners have agreed to permit access for the work to continue.
• Snug Harbor Dredging: City Council will vote to authorize the obtaining of easements to allow the dredging of Snug Harbor (between Eighth and Ninth streets on the bay). The work could be added to an existing contract for dredging of lagoons between 15th and 34th streets. A small spoils site near the Route 52 causeway would likely be filled by this project.

See Also: Ocean City to Vote on $71 Million City Budget.