OCEAN CITY The second time
was the charm this week as a bid
was accepted to enhance the
Boardwalk's camera network.
In early December, the City
Council voted to re-bid the work to
install an enhanced camera network
on the Boardwalk. At that time,
there was only one bid received on
time and one late bid received out of
10 expected bids.
City Engineer Terry McGean ex-
plained this week it is usually city
protocol to re-bid projects that are
expected to have a competitive bid
if there is only one or a couple bids
received.
"In this case, I felt it was nothing
very specific or proproitary in this
bid. I felt we should have had more
competition for the project and that
is why I recommended you reject
the single responsive bid that we
had and rebid it, which is what we
did," McGean said.
This time around, the city receiv-
ed three bids on time. The two high
bids were Royal Plus Electric in
Ocean City, with the price of
$99,740, and Singhal Company Inc.
in Ocean City with the price of
$135,210 but did not include the re-
quired bid bond.
Again, the only responsive bidder
that included a bid bond was the ap-
parent low bidder of Stoika Con-
struction in Berlin with the price of
$91,990. The staff estimate for the
project was $100,000.
The City Council voted unani-
mously to accept Stoika's bid and
remand the bid to staff for review.
The bid will return to the council for
its approval following staff review.
The project includes cable from
South 1st Street to Worcester
Street, cable from Worcester to Tal-
bot streets, and cameras at Dor-
chester Street, North Division
Street, 1st and 2nd streets and at
5th, 7th and 12th streets.
According to McGean, there are
already about 100 cameras in-
stalled throughout the Town of
Ocean City, mostly within the Public
Safety Building, that are all connect-
ed to the same software system.
The new cameras will be added to
the existing software and two new
work stations and a large video wall
at the Dispatch Center was included
in the budget of $150,000.
The Mayor and City Council vot-
ed in August to use part of
$1,170,000 cost savings from the
Boardwalk reconstruction project
and Fire Station 4 project in the
2012 bond issue to fund Boardwalk
safety enhancements, such as the
cameras and call boxes.
Coming off a summer with an
increase in serious crime activity on
or around the Boardwalk, the instal-
lation of cameras have been refer-
red to as a form of increased intelli-
gence to deter criminals from com-
ing to Ocean City.
"Any area where you have a high
volume of people, we do have our
incidents. However, perception is
reality. As we look forward, we are
looking at technology," said Police
Chief Ross Buzzuro in an interview
last year. "Even before that, we are
looking at how we can maximize our
resources, our personnel, their
placement on the Boardwalk, trou-
ble spots that we have previously
seen and how we can place our offi-
cers in a deliberate fashion as we
move forward."
Buzzuro furthered, "We also
want to introduce technology in the
form of video cameras as a force
multiplier so we can have those ad-
ditional eyes that can give us assis-
tance and place them in strategic
places based on our data from pre-
vious incidents. That will help maxi-
mize our defense and maximize
public safety. You have the person-
nel, the ground forces, and the in-
troduction of more technology for
the Boardwalk in the form of video
cameras."
When asked if the department
utilized the current cameras on the
Boardwalk as a way to react to
crime incidents taking place, then-
Public Information Officer Michael
Levy, who has since retired, said
that was not the case.
"It's not an active system. It's a
passive system. We use them when
we need them for big events. For
the most part, the ones that are ac-
tive now are used for tourism and
for accountability," Levy said.
Boardwalk Camera Bid Accepted
Page 14
January 17, 2014
The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch
By JOANNE SHRINER
STAFF WRITER