Ocean Pines Association General Manager John Viola and the Board of Directors approved spending for bulkhead replacement, two new police department vehicles and the historic task group during the board’s last meeting on June 15.
Bulkheads in Ocean Pines are pictured.
File photo
By Tara Fischer, Staff Writer
Ocean Pines Association General Manager John Viola and the Board of Directors approved spending for bulkhead replacement, two new police department vehicles and the historic task group.
For the upcoming bulkhead replacement initiative, the association received bids from Fisher Marine Construction of Chincoteague, Virginia, for $900,000, Ben’s Marine Construction of Berlin for $1.2 million, and Ocean Pines Newport Bay Construction for $1.15 million.
The OPA board unanimously approved hiring contractor Fisher Marine Construction for the 2024-2025 bulkhead replacements. According to the business’s proposal, the company will “furnish labor and materials to construct new vinyl bulkhead as designed by Vista Engineers.”
The board also unanimously approved the staff recommendation of $88,000 for Hertrich Fleet Services for two Dodge Durango police cruisers. A total of $132,400 will be spent to include the expenditures of radios, computers, emergency equipment, and lettering.
Director Jeff Heavner expressed his appreciation to Viola for the vehicle acquisition.
“I just want to say the modernization of our police force is awesome,” he said.
Aside from capital requestions, the board unanimously approved providing $2,500 to the newly formed historic task group. The committee was created with support from director Elaine Brady so that the knowledge of Ocean Pines’ past remains intact.
The funds will be used to print 200 copies of “History of Ocean Pines, Maryland,” a book written by the late Bud Rogner, which will be resold to residents for $20 each.
The publication is expected to be a 5×7 spiraled edition of the community’s history. According to Brady, the stories go up to 1998.
“[The book] has all of the early history,” the director said. “We don’t want to lose that. We want to get approval…Bud worked very hard to pull all that history and the facts together, so I would like to see that live on.”
While the book was not copyrighted, the task group has reached out to Rogner’s family for approval.