OC Today WWW.OCEANCITYTODAY.NET
MARCH 4, 2016
SERVING NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY
SPORTS
SHE SHOOTS SHE SCORES Decatur senior Dayona Godwin nets her 2,000th point, leads team to conference title – Page 30
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City Hall stands pat on final offer to IAFF Shift hours changes leads to impasse, new pact will be what city left on table
By Katie Tabeling Staff Writer (March 4, 2016) With no deal reached and the deadline to establish an agreement with the local firefighters union having expired midnight Monday, Ocean City officials de-
clared Tuesday afternoon they would move on with their last offer on the table. That labor proposal to Chapter 4269 of the International Association of Fire Fighters includes the primary obstacle to reaching an accord: the mayor and council’s decision to change the fire department staffing schedule to 12-hour shifts from the long-standing practice of 24 hours onduty, followed by 72 hours off-duty.
“It’s been misrepresented that the union was caught by surprise by moving to 12-hour shifts, but we have talked about it in 2010 and 2013 that we wanted to move in this direction,” Mayor Rick Meehan said in a press conference. “We’re not going to 24-hour shifts.” Contracts with the IAFF, which represents all non-management level firefighters, paramedics, and fire marshals run for three years. The
current contract is set to expire on June 30. City officials said they are open to other hour combinations in the contract, such as 10 or 14-hour shifts, but believe the round-the-clock shifts could leave firefighters fatigued. “Many safety professions have restrictions on 24-hour shifts since it affects cognitive abilities,” said See RESORT on Page 3
Trawler can’t clear inlet, ferries catch Boat can’t get to harbor, so unloads haul from downtown condo’s dock
GREG ELLISON/OCEAN CITY TODAY
The Royalton Hotel, a fixture on the Boardwalk at 11th Street since its construction in 1927 by Harry and Ethel Kelley, parents of the late Mayor Harry Kelley, is reduced to rubble Tuesday afternoon by a wrecking crew. Recent renovations revealed severe structural problems.
Boardwalk landmark makes way for new hotel By Greg Ellison Staff Writer (March 4, 2016) A Boardwalk landmark fell to the demolition crew this week, as the 89-year-old Royalton Hotel was brought to the ground to make way for a new hotel on the Boardwalk at 11th Street. Built in 1927 by the Harry and
Ethel Kelley, the parents of the late Ocean City Mayor Harry Kelley, the Royalton had structural problems that were beyond repair. The property’s owners, the Di Filipo family, will build in its place the Hotel Monte Carlo Ocean Front and will incorporate some of the old-time Boardwalk flavor by incorporating
the Ocean City Development Corporation’s downtown design guidelines. The Di Filippos are Boardwalk fixtures in their own right, having operated the Royalton for more than four decades. “In 1970 my dad (Carlo Di Filippo Sr.) came here and went in with three See ROYALTON on Page 9
By Brian Gilliland Staff Writer (March 4, 2016) Though an adjusted schedule hastens the arrival of the Currituck to dredge the commercially paralyzed Ocean City Inlet, at least one boat, the Instigator, has begun offloading its catch at the White Marlin Marina on Somerset Street in Ocean City. On Monday and Wednesday, the 80-foot trawler was forced to use the marina as a backup mooring location, unloading thousands of pounds of sea bass onto a smaller fishing boat, the Skilligalee, which hauled the catch from Ocean City to the commercial harbor in several trips. The catch was then processed normally as the smaller vessel reported no problems navigating the inlet. Merrill Campbell of Southern Connection Seafood said he diverted the Instigator to the resort after the Betty C, a clamming vessel that has repeatedly run aground because shoaling, was once again held up at the inlet for about 90 minutes. Campbell and White Marlin Marina Dockmaster Rob Hern both said the new temporary dock tenant See BOAT on Page 8