Page 6 The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch August 23, 2013 Officials Weighing New Home For OCBeach Patrol The Ocean City Mayor and Council toured the beach patrol’s headquarters on Dorchester Street last week. Above left is a look at the aging building’s exterior. Above right, water damage is shown in one of the offices. File Photos By JOANNE SHRINER STAFF WRITER OCEAN CITY – There is no disputing the Ocean City Beach Patrol needs a new headquarters to call home, but how to go about it and how to fund it continues to be a mystery. Last week, the Mayor and City Council toured Ocean City Beach Patrol headquarters in advance of last Tuesday’s presentation of the draft Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) 2014-2018. The CIP draft outlined a number of proposed infrastructure projects to move ahead in the next five years and a plan to build new downtown headquarters for the patrol was included. Ocean City is currently finalizing the plan but city staff is asking the Mayor and Council to keep the needs of the OCBP in mind as the town is preparing to go to the bond market to fund the already approved Roland E. Powell Convention Center’s performing arts center and other CIP projects. This was not the first time the urgency for a new patrol headquarters was brought to the Mayor and Council’s attention. As recently as last May, City Engineer Terry McGean presented the legislative body with the decrepit facility and was approved for $165,000 to go toward a design of a new facility to be reimbursed in a future bond issue. The council authorized McGean and staff to begin the Request for Proposal process to hire a design firm. McGean reported at that time the existing facilities are all in need of significant repairs both cosmetic and structural. A brief examination SEE NEXT PAGE