Letter to the Editor: Ocean City Taxpayers on the Hook for Government's Dredging Mistakes

To the Editor:

What an exercise in futility. A year or so ago we contracted to have the bay and lagoons dredged but discovered (after the fact) that our spoils site didn’t have sufficient capacity. When the City tried to back out of the contract with the dredging company (according to what I read in the press) it was sued.

There is between $5 and $6 million available through the State DEP and National Fish and Wildlife Federation for dredging and using the spoils to build up the marshlands. The City hired a consulting firm to make application, but the funding has not been approved.

According to what I heard, and from what I saw of the application, the NF&W people came to the conclusion that we weren’t interested in using the spoils on the marshlands and only wanted the money for dredging. In fact, as a part of the application process, the City asked for the expansion of existing spoils sites (a dead giveaway.)

Now, like with so many other projects we’ve undertaken where we failed to obtain a grant, local taxpayers will be on the hook for the entire cost of the project. I’m sure it’s not easy securing a grant, but we have all these administrators working for the City and I hear we even have a grant writer.

Nevertheless we outsourced the application. And I can’t help but wonder how much money the City has already spent on dredging the bay and lagoons without any discernable result?

It seems to me this mayor is challenged when it comes to dealing with regulatory agencies, issues of compliance, permitting, and an application process that has to faithfully be followed in order to secure grants.

For whatever reason we just can’t seem to get anything done. And I think it’s ridiculous that the mayor is now pointing fingers.

If you’re not getting the job done don’t blame anyone else for it. We didn’t know that we had to get the spoils tested? How could we not know that? Testing could and should have been done a year ago. Now another summer lost? Has anyone in this City ever heard of a Gantt or PERT chart? It seems we think sequentially when a lot of this work can be done concurrently. This is beyond belief.

It’s unfortunate that the mayor gets so frustrated but he is his own, and our worst enemy. We need competence in city government; not yes men and back slapping good old boys.

OC Flooding found what appear to be systemic failures in the road rating system and the roads and drainage plan, and probably know more about the city’s stormwater system than just about anyone in city government (we actually read the reports) but you know our government officials are so insecure they won’t even talk to us? Is that not the epitome of the small mindedness that characterizes municipal government?

No Mr. Mayor, we’re not a fringe element or a bunch of trouble makers. We are the taxpayers and citizens of this town; the people YOU are supposed to represent. The true minority in this town is the small enclave of government officials that are unresponsive and insulated from the people, and who are failing us by failing to get the job done. If you don’t have the expertise, how about availing yourself of the people living in this town that do?

Save us the relentless spin, the blame throwing, and the excuses. We want results.

Eric Sauder / Ocean City

EricLSauder@gmail.com