Salaries, Eminent Domain Among Proposals On Tap For OC Council

OCEAN CITY, NJ — Ocean City Council will consider a proposed ordinance on introduction that sets a salary range for department heads when it meets on Thursday night. Council will meet on Thursday, Nov. 16, 7 p.m. at City Hall, 861 Asbury Avenue.

The proposed salary range would be $90,000 to $160,000, and would take effect for the first pay period of 2018. The proposal is the result of the city administration’s discussions with two new department heads and its desire to be fair in compensation, according to a memo included with this week’s agenda packet.

The administration expressed a desire to be fair to the newer department heads and the “other department heads who have been providing excellent service to the city and its taxpayers for several years.”

“This ordinance will allow the administration to have flexibility to adjust salaries (up or down) within the range and within the budget approved by council,” the memo reads. “Ultimately, the mayor will make final determination on any salary adjustments.”

Any and all increases depend on the available money, according to the proposal.

“It is the belief of the administration that we have an excellent leadership team in place, and if approved, this ordinance will allow us to adequately compensate each individual while remaining within the approved budget,” Business Administrator Jim Mallon wrote in the memo.

There will also be public hearings and final votes on two other proposed ordinances.

The first is a proposed bond ordinance to appropriate $650,000 and borrow $617,500 in bonds or notes for the acquisition by negotiation or condemnation of the property at 903 Bay Avenue. This is the old Exxon Gas Station.

The other proposed ordinance calls for the assignment of an easement by Ocean City to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to provide access to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the the Great Egg Harbor Inlet and Pecks Beach project. The city previously acquired an easement for the property, owned by Vince and Jeanie Hubach, and will provide it to NJDEP for $1.

There are also 26 items on the consent agenda. To view the full agenda, visit ocnj.us.

Patch file photo