NEW FOR FRIDAY: Board Grants Liquor Upgrade To West OC Store; County Mum At Hearing

WEST OCEAN CITY — The Green Room in West Ocean City received permission yesterday to significantly expand its alcoholic beverage license to include liquor sales and a 25-seat interior bar.

Supporters for Green Room owners Sara and Dave Hambury packed their application hearing in front of the Board of License Commissioners (BLC) Thursday with no opposition in evidence, despite the fact that the Worcester County Department of Liquor Control (DLC), through County Attorney Sonny Bloxom, had confirmed earlier this month it would contest the store’s license expansion.

Having owned the Green Room for 12 years, the Hamburys told the BLC that their business is complemented and to a degree reliant on having a liquor outlet nearby. For 29 years, there has been just such a liquor mart directly adjacent to the Green Room and dating back to the beer and wine store that preceded the Green Room. But this winter the DLC announced that it will be closing that West Ocean City location next month to consolidate resources and open a new flagship store closer to Berlin.

Fearing that the loss of adjacent liquor sales would devastate the Green Room’s beer and wine business, the Hamburys applied to expand their license to include liquor sales and decided to take over the soon-to-be-abandoned DLC outlet next door, increasing the size of the Green Room from about 2,000 square feet to roughly 6,000 square feet. Worcester County initially opposed such an expansion to the store’s license, with Bloxom arguing that between the new DLC flagship liquor outlet and nearby Trader Lee’s there was no need for the Green Room to offer liquor.

“It’s not necessary to expand sales in that area. By doing so you only cut into everybody else’s profits,” he said earlier this month, “and the county has an obligation and has made an investment in this new store we’re putting in and we have a right to protect it for the citizens.”

However, county resistance stirred up a public outcry, with many people labeling the decision greedy. Hugh Cropper, attorney for the Green Room, asserted that the DLC was worried less about the need for liquor sales in the area being satisfied and more with having to share county profits with another private business. The new DLC store will be 4.7 miles from its prior location next to the Green Room and in the summer especially that distance will leave several gaps in liquor service that the Hamburys should be allowed to fill, Cropper told the BLC.

Many residents agreed including Norman Tucker, who lives in the Whispering Woods community and frequents the Green Room for beer and wine as well as the current DLC liquor mart, which will be gone by the end of May.

“We do pretty much all of our shopping for alcohol there and next door,” he said. “And we have quite a need to go there and back; it’s a circumference of two traffic lights.”

Should the Green Room not be allowed to supply liquor, Tucker told the board that a trip to the new DLC location near Berlin and back would be a major inconvenience, even more so because he would have to make a separate stop for beer or wine instead of being able to handle both at once.

While support was prevalent for the Hamburys’ application, opposition was entirely absent, including the DLC, which chose to remain silent when the Green Room was finally reviewed by the BLC.

The board unanimously approved all of the Hamburys’ requests including off-sale liquor and permission for a 25-seat bar within the new Green Room. According to Sara Hambury the bar will “focus on wine, wine education and micro brews” as well as “moderated” liquor. The couple hopes to have the new, much larger Green Room open for operation by July, though they acknowledged that such an ambitious schedule will require a lot of work and a little bit of luck.

Pollitt Introduces ‘Stable, But Not Recovered’ Wicomico Budget

SALISBURY- Stabilized, but not fully recovered is how Wicomico County Executive Richard Pollitt described the county’s proposed fiscal year 2014, which he informally presented to the County Council this week.

On Tuesday, Pollitt provided an informal presentation of his proposed fiscal year 2014 budget to the County Council and described the current economic climate in Wicomico as having turned a corner from the recent dark days of the recession, but stopped short of celebrating its demise.

“We continue to look forward to recovering from the great recession and there are signs that the worst is behind us,” he said. “Wicomico continues to lag behind, even among counties on the Lower Shore and we’re getting mixed signals about recovery.”

Pollitt’s proposed budget reflects an estimated $126 million in revenue balanced against $126 million in spending. If approved as proposed, the county’s budget represents an increase of around $10 million over fiscal year 2013.

“We want to approach this budget very cautiously and we need to continue to control spending,” he said. “The good news is, our reserve funds are back to where they were prior to the recession and our fiscal house is in order.”

While the county’s fiscal house appears to be in order and the proposed budget represents an increase of around $10 million over the current year, the relatively good news should not be taken as a signal to open the purse strings, according to Pollitt.

“We have to slow the temptation to be more aggressive in spending,” he said. “The temptation will be to increase spending to make up for the sacrifices we’ve made over the last few years, but we have to say ‘not so fast’. There will be pressure to jump into the reserve fund, but recurring expenses will have to be paid for recurring revenue. We cannot put our bond rating at risk.”

Pollitt said Wicomico County is getting some relief from the Maintenance of Effort (MOE) for public education funding mandated by the state. State law requires the counties to spend at least as much in each budget cycle on public education as it did in the prior year, called the MOE, and last year Wicomico faced increased scrutiny for failing to hit the mark.

This year, however, subtle changes have relaxed the MOE mandates and Wicomico will actually have more money to spend on public education in fiscal year 2014, according to Pollitt.

“We were able to put that off and as a consequence, we’re able to avoid a serious dip in spending for education,” he said. “Public safety and public education make up about 80 percent of our budget and when we have to cut, we have nowhere else to go. The Board of Education took the biggest hit, but this proposed budget will provide $1 million over Maintenance of Effort.”

Pollitt said among the increases for the Board of Education in the proposed budget is $2.8 million for a comprehensive security upgrade in each of Wicomico’s public schools. Also included are increases in spending for technology for the schools along with numerous capital projects.

“The most visible and often the most emotional component of our budget remains our commitment to our children’s education,” he said. “Over the past three years, our funding for education has dropped to a level that can only be described as painful. Thankfully, increases in state and federal funding have been able to offset, to a large degree, the cuts the county has been forced to make.”

Another area of increase this year for Wicomico is the level of disparity grants from the state. Pollitt said the disparity grants have been capped in recent years at $2 million, but have been eased up this year because of Wicomico’s effort on the local level to increase its spending. As a result, Wicomico stands to gain about $4.5 million is state disparity grants for the fiscal year 2014 budget.

For example, Wicomico is anticipating $700,000 in state disparity grants for its share of Wor-Wic Community College. Pollitt said the $700,000 represents about $300,000 more than the school was seeking.

“Next to keeping us safe, we have no more important or solemn duty than to educate our children to the fullest extent affordable,” he said. “If our community is to survive, we must create an educated class that can compete with graduates from the around the world for the best jobs and the best opportunities. That is why, at the first sign of a trend toward economic recovery, I am determined to start regaining some of the ground we lost to recent budget cuts.”

Overall, Pollitt said he was pleased with the initial draft of the budget and was ready for the lengthy approval process.

“This budget is balanced and I feel comfortable it is solid,” he said. “I look forward to the upcoming work sessions as we get ready to take the next step.

Pension Changes Under Consideration

OCEAN CITY- The recently passed collective bargaining agreement this week resulted in an amendment to Ocean City’s public safety employees’ pension plan, ultimately defeating the benefit changes the former council made a few years ago.

In accordance with the ratification of the collective bargaining agreements with the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 10, the Mayor and City Council on Monday evening considered an ordinance to amend benefits paid to permit participation of new police employees in the Public Safety defined benefit (DB) pension plan and change the benefit for employees hired after July 1, 2011.

The ordinance states, from negotiations with the FOP, it has been determined that the best interest of the public is served by allowing sworn police officers to participate in a DB pension plan. The Mayor and City Council have devised a DB plan, which has a financial impact relatively similar to the cost of a defined contribution (DC) plan.

Under the proposed ordinance, Ocean City’s Public Safety Employee Pension Plan and Trust under Normal Retirement Benefits is amended in different ways. Participants who are covered employees by virtue of being sworn police officers hired after June 30, 2011, shall be enrolled in the plan as of July 1, 2013. The amount of the monthly pension will be the sum of 60 percent of the participant’s average compensation reduced by one-three hundredth of the amount computed for each month less than three hundred in his/her periods of credited service, excluding periods of credited service attributable to sick leave credits, as of his or her termination of employment.

In addition, one-twelfth of two percent of the participant’s average compensation multiplied by months in his/her periods of creditable service are attributable to sick leave credits.

The normal retirement benefit is based upon the participant’s attainment of age 55 and completion of 25 years of service and the participant contributing eight percent of his or her annual salary to the date of retirement or the date on which a DROP participant terminates employment.

Those participants shall no longer participate in the ICMA Retirement Corporation Government Money Pension Plan and Trust and his or her accrued benefits under that plan shall be actuarially converted and, along with the corresponding assets, be transferred directly to and merged with this plan and used to fund the participant’s benefit accrued under this plan.

Councilman Brent Ashley, who was part of the former council majority who voted to change the pension plans a few years ago to take care of pension costs in the present versus taking on long-term debt, was a lone wolf when it came to debating the ordinance.

“Virtually every city in the country as well as the federal government is looking for ways to reduce long term debt and enact pension plan reforms,” he said. “Ocean City was one of the first cities to achieve this with the adoption of an excellent 401(a) pension plan for new hires. And now, despite the success of the 401(a) plan and a large unfunded liability in the public safety defined benefit plan, the FOP and the majority of this council want to go back to the defined benefit plan further increasing our long term debt. This decision will kick the debt can further down the road for our children and grandchildren to pay.”

Council President Lloyd Martin responded it was three years ago when the former council majority voted to change the city’s pension plan for new hires without discussion or knowing the costs.

“We heard from our actuaries at that time, that some people had changed from a DB plan to a DC plan, and a year later they changed back because they found it wasn’t prosperous,” Martin said. “I understand there has been towns that have gone back and forth and around in circles. I just look at Ocean City being fiscally responsible with looking out to the future. We are trying to do it now with these changes, try to save money, and trying to make sure our employees are taken care of moving forward.”

FOP Lodge No. 10 President Shawn Jones reassured the council this is what their membership called for.

“Prior to sitting down at the table, once we realized where the discussion regarding pension was going, we went to each individual member who is affected by this and all of them unanimously said they would like to go into the DB plan,” he said.

The council voted 5-1 to approve the ordinance to amend public safety employees’ pension plan in first reading with Councilman Brent Ashley opposed and Councilwoman Margaret Pillas absent.

Ashley asked Mayor Rick Meehan to consider vetoing the ordinance as he had done in the past when the former majority was making changes to city employee pension plans for new hires without an actuarial study. However, a veto cannot take place until the ordinance passes in second reading.

“I will just lay the groundwork then,” Ashley said.

Resort Council Tackles Budget Requests

OCEAN CITY – After cutting and reviewing individual budgets, Ocean City’s departments have been coming before the Mayor and Council this week to present their respective fiscal year 2014 (FY14) spending plans.

Budget hearings for the FY14 proposed budget began last Thursday and were scheduled through Wednesday of this week with the final budget wrap up today.

At the conclusion of this week’s Mayor and City Council legislative session, Councilman Joe Mitrecic stressed the amount of work that goes into the budget process.

“The budget is something that I personally as a councilmember take very seriously. I make sure I am at all the budget hearings and I am prepared for them,” Mitrecic said. “We start with a proposed budget. It is called a proposed budget because it is not what we normally end up with. I want the people in this audience to know and the people watching to know that this council is going to do everything we possibly can to bring that budget in at a reasonable number. We do have a couple of things working against us … we are starting in a bit of hole this year because of the arbitrary penny gave back last year at the last minute.”

The FY13 budget reached first reading last year with a tax rate set at the constant yield rate of 46.85 cents per $100 of assessed valuation of real property.

The former council majority amended the budget and reduced the tax rate by one penny to provide relief to the taxpayers of Ocean City. The reduction in the tax rate required about $863,000 to be taken from the fund balance to fund the budget rather than with tax revenue.

According to Recor, the preliminary FY14 General Fund budget is based on the constant yield tax rate of 46.20 cents plus an additional 2.44 cents for a total preliminary tax rate of 48.64 cents per $100 of property value. Based on an average assessed value of $221,000, the average tax bill would increase by $39.56 when compared to the 2013 tax rate of 45.85 cents. The proposed tax rate includes making up for the penny reduction from the last fiscal year.

“That figure was achieved by a lot of collaboration and discussion and cooperation with the city’s departments,” Recor said last week of the preliminary General Fund budget total. “There have been $4.2 million in reductions from what the departments had originally requested to the figure that is included in the Preliminary budget that is equivalent to 3.30 cents on the preliminary tax rate.”

On Wednesday afternoon, the Mayor and City Council reviewed two of the larger portions of the budget the with fire and police departments.

The overall Ocean City Fire Department (OCFD) FY14 proposed budget is $10.2 million with budgeted revenue of around $2.2 million leaving a town contribution of about $8 million, which is a 3-percent increase from last year’s budget.

The OCFD is divided into three divisions — Volunteer, Fire Marshal, and Fire/EMS Division. The Volunteer Fire Division’s total proposed budget for FY14 is $1.3 million with budgeted revenue of $2,500 leaving a town contribution of about $1.3 million. This results in a budget decrease of 17 percent, or almost $264,000.

“The total budget was reduced from last year … largely due to a grant that we were successful in receiving,” Fire Chief Chris Larmore said.

According to the proposed budget, the line item of Operational Supplies decreased by about $150,000 from the FY13 revised budget, which included $200,000 for the first year of a three year replacement of the department’s self-contained breathing apparatus. A grant was received to cover all but the $20,175 local match.

The Fire Marshal Division’s total proposed budget for FY14 is about $1 million with budgeted revenue of $137,000 leaving a town contribution of about $950,000. This is a budget decrease from last year of 9.9 percent, or about $104,400.

“A large portion of that was a reduction in overall staff,” Larmore explained of the decrease.

Seven full-time employees are included in the Fire Marshal’s division. One full-time fire marshal position was eliminated in FY11. In FY12, the assistant chief deputy fire marshal position was eliminated through reorganization after the retirement of the deputy chief fire marshal.

Wage increments for all full-time employees have been included. Savings are realized through the retirement of a long-time employee. Increases in health insurance and worker’s compensation costs have been offset by reductions in the projected funding for pension and retiree health.

The Fire/EMS Division’s total proposed budget for FY14 is about $7.8 million with budgeted revenue of about $2 million leaving a town contribution of about $5.7 million. This results in a budget increase from last year of 7 percent, or almost $396,700.

Most of the increase is due to personnel changes. The FY13 budget included 37 full-time positions. Six Firefighter/EMT positions converted to part-time in FY13 have been included as full-time employees in FY14. A reduction was made in part-time staffing to partially offset the conversion to full-time.

‘It is also due to the increase of overall salaries based on the collective bargaining agreement,” Larmore said.

The overall Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) FY14 proposed budget is almost $20.7 million, including a new roof for the Public Safety Building at an estimated cost of $631,000 and bullet proof vests in the amount of $18,800, which succeeds last year’s budget by over $340,000.

“We did see an increase of approximately $150,000 in our part-time salaries, this will include seasonal officers,” Captain Michael Colbert said.

According to the proposed budget, the allocation for part-time sworn officers to handle some of the duties of special events, background investigation, training and hack inspection were increased by about $49,000. A request to fund 10 patrol watch Public Safety Assistants (PSAs) for 14 weeks has been included for about $62,700. Seasonal officer staffing increases were sought by about $11,200.

The OCPD’s proposed budget also includes the purchase of 14 additional Tasers to equip police officers at a total cost of almost $40,000.

“This purchase would help us outfit the majority of our officers,” Colbert said.

Colbert was disappointed to include the cost to replace the roof in the OCPDs budget because the project’s expense sent it over last year’s budget.

“This was added to our budget and I know there have been talks about pulling this out and finding funding in a different way,” Colbert said of the new roof.

Colbert explained that the proposed budget includes 100 percent funding for new bullet proof vests but recommended only including 50 percent of funding so the department can secure a grant from the federal government to cover the other half.

“If we funded at 100 percent, we wouldn’t be able to get grant money from the federal government for some of the vests because they won’t allow supplanting, or use it for something we already budgeted for,” he said. “If we funded it at 50 percent as in the past, they will pay for the other 50 percent.”

If the new roof for the Public Safety Building and 50 percent of funding for bullet proof vests is removed from OCPDs proposed budget, the budget will be decreased from last year at a total of $20,045,000.

Sidewalk Safety Concerns Raised; School Sign Request Approved

BERLIN — Concerns over sidewalk clutter arose during this week’s Berlin Historic District Commission (HDC) meeting including perceived safety issues with restaurant tables and A-frame signs.

At end of their meeting on Wednesday, several HDC members voiced concern about the condition of sidewalks in town, specifically the A-frame signs and even a few tables that have been blocking pedestrians recently. For example, HDC president Carol Rose drew attention to several tables that had been placed outside of The Globe restaurant.

“If you had to walk by there today, you’d have to go into the street to get past those tables,” she said.

HDC member Joel Todd agreed but pointed out that nearby Siculi restaurant has done the exact same thing and limited pedestrian routes by putting tables outside of their location.

“It’s going to be a real problem this summer,” he predicted.

Planning and Zoning Director Chuck Ward told the HDC that he has heard a number of complaints about the tables and that they are not permitted under town code.

“The code is very clear that business is to be conducted wholly within closed buildings,” he said, adding that there is a little leeway with something like the porch at the Atlantic Hotel.

However, Ward is unable to take official action against the restaurants because he “can’t enforce zoning in a public right of way.” When the State Highway Administration (SHA) recently put in new sidewalks, Ward said that he’d hoped something might be done. Since nothing changed, he told the HDC his office doesn’t have many options at the moment.

Town Councilmember Lisa Hall, who attended the HDC meeting, said the sidewalk blockage should be considered an issue of public safety.

“I have the fear of a car jumping the curb and rolling into those tables,” she said.

Hall didn’t just take issue with tables being put on the sidewalk. She also mentioned concerns over A-frame signs advertising stores also blocking the public right-of-way. The congestion keeps the paths from complying with American Disability Act (ADA) standards, she said.

“The fact that the state has stepped up and made the sidewalks in Berlin ADA required sidewalks, I feel that Berlin has a duty to maintain these sidewalks to be ADA required,” she said.

With A-frames at least Ward confirmed that draft language for revisions to the town code, which are currently under review by the Planning Commission, would only allow signs on private property, not in the public way. This would mean that the A-frames can’t be placed on the sidewalk and could only be set on a piece of property owned by a business such as a yard or porch.

Permanent Coast Guard Beacon Tower Installed Next Week

OCEAN CITY — The familiar beacon at the end of the north jetty at the Ocean City Inlet will be replaced with a more permanent structure starting next week.

The original beacon tower, roughly 20 feet tall, which for years alerted boat traffic to the presence of the rock jetty and the entrance to the Inlet, along with its somber alarm that could be heard from miles around on the clearest of nights, was swept away by Hurricane Irene in August 2011 and was never seen again. When the height of the storm subsided, all that was left of the beacon was a rusty stub bolted to the giant rocks at the end of the jetty.

The Coast Guard beacon was one of over 500 aids to navigation destroyed during Hurricane Irene in the mid-Atlantic area alone and certainly the most conspicuous. In the wake of the storm, the Coast Guard discovered the tower had been swept away and a search for the 20-foot, 3,500 pound beacon was undertaken in the waters in and around the Inlet to no avail. In late 2011, sonar pings picked up by a search vessel appeared to indicate the massive structure was still on the sea floor just north and east of the Inlet jetty and a recovery operation was undertaken, but the apparent beacon on the bottom turned out to be a false alarm and the original tower was never found.

Crews from the Coast Guard Aids to Navigation (ANT) teams in Chincoteague and Elizabeth City, N.C. built a new tower for the end of the north jetty at the Inlet in Ocean City and shipped it to the Ocean City Municipal Airport in January 2012. About two weeks after its arrival, the new tower was hoisted by a Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and carried across Assateague and the open ocean before being delivered to waiting crews at the end of the rock jetty.

Crowds gathered at the Inlet to watch the spectacle as the 20-foot tower was carried by helicopter across the open water. After a few minutes of careful maneuvering, the tower was successfully lowered onto the rocks and bolted into place while the ocean spray generated by the helicopter swirled.

That tower has stood in place since, but was only a temporary solution. The permanent jetty beacon will be delivered to the Inlet early next week and will be installed by private contractors with a project expected to take about two weeks. However, the delivery and installation of the new tower will not be nearly as dramatic as the last, according to Coast Guard Petty Officer and Officer in Charge of ANT in Chincoteague Aric Deuel.

“We’re not bringing this one in by helicopter,” he said this week. “They’re going to move the temporary tower out there now closer to the end of the jetty and it will remain there during the project, which is expected to take about two weeks. Then they’re going to erect the new tower in the same spot as the original tower and the temporary one will be removed.”

Deuel said the new tower will have roughly the same specifications as the temporary tower including a height of around 20 feet and about 3,500 pounds. It will hold similar equipment including the light and the familiar sound beacon along with some new, more technologically advanced aids to navigation.

The new tower will also have a more stable concrete base and the hope is it will be better suited to sustain strong storms, high winds and large waves. The project is scheduled to begin on Monday and will take an estimated two weeks.

Assateague Superintendent Leaving For Missouri Post

ASSATEAGUE – National Park Service officials last week announced Assateague Island National Seashore Superintendent Trish Kicklighter was leaving the position after nearly four years to become superintendent of the New River Gorge National River in Missouri.

Kicklighter became the superintendent at Assateague Island National Seashore in 2009 and shepherded the federal park through changing times. During her tenure as Assateague, Kicklighter led the park in developing an innovative General Management Plan that addresses the potential impacts from climate change and sea level rise and oversaw various construction projects such as the seashore’s new visitor center and island ranger station, and helped with the creation of an environmental education facility.

Kicklighter also oversaw repairs from storm damage from four different storm and hurricane events at Assateague, most notably Hurricane Sandy last fall. She also led the effort to reduce the park’s carbon footprint by establishing a recycling program and increasing the use of solar power.

Last week, however, National Park Service officials announced she has been selected as the new superintendent of the New River Gorge National River and the associated Gauley River National Recreation Area and Bluestone National Scenic River. She will succeed the park network’s former superintendent, who moved to Alaska earlier this year to become the superintendent of the Denali National Park and Preserve.

Kicklighter will begin her new position in mid-May although no timetable for her replacement at Assateague has been named on the eve of a new summer season. NPS officials praised Kicklighter for her work at Assateague and her future work in Missouri.

“Trish brings a wealth of experience to her new position,” said Northeast Regional Director Dennis Reidenbach. “She is a superb leader with a clear vision of how to cooperatively manage for the right balance of preservation and recreation. He groundbreaking work on the General Management Plan at Assateague set a new benchmark for the National Park Service in how we address the realities of climate change in various park environments.

For Kicklighter, the new position represents a homecoming of sorts. Kicklighter has spent 30 years working for the National Park Service. Kicklighter started her career in the Park Service as an interpreter at Ozark Scenic Riverways in Missouri and Cabrillo National Monument in California.

She then switched to administration specializing in budget at Point Reyes National Seashore, the Pacific West Regional Office and the Harpers Ferry Design Center.  In 2001, she transferred to Shenandoah National Park as the Deputy Superintendent and Chief of Administration where she was responsible for overall park operations. 

Kicklighter is a native Missourian, and graduated from Missouri State University with a B.S. in Wildlife Conservation and Management.  She and her husband Wayne love to travel and especially enjoy canoeing and white water rafting.  Her other hobbies include being an avid quilter and photographer.

“I am honored to be chosen as the new Superintendent at New River Gorge,” she said.  “I started my career as a river ranger at Ozark National Scenic Riverways.  I am thrilled to be returning to my roots – a river and the mountains what a wonderful combination.”