THEY’RE BACK: Remember
PINK RIBBON: With Breast Cancer
those little VWs and Audis last year? This year’s rally is at Fort Whaley, a little farther out of town PAGE 6
Awareness Month just days away, the lineup of fundraising events is set through the coastal area PAGE 49
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: BUSINESS . . . . . . . . . 46 CLASSIFIED . . . . . . . . 70 ENTERTAINMENT . . . . 53 LEGALS . . . . . . . . . . . 72
LIFESTYLE . . . . . . . . . 49 OPINION . . . . . . . . . . 20 OUT&ABOUT . . . . . . . . 65 SPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . 38
DRINK NO WINE BEFORE IT’S TIME? THE TIME IS NOW…PAGE 51
Ocean City Today SEPTEMBER 28, 2012
WWW.OCEANCITYTODAY.NET
FREE
City sees savings from healthpackagechanges Revised plans lead to cost reductions of $100k in FY12 ZACK HOOPES ■ Staff Writer
benefits consultant, the city saved $100,000 in insurance premiums for this past fiscal year. In their presentation to the council, they said the reduced cost is due to measures undertaken in the past several years to offer lower-cost options and incentives to city workers. “Because of all the things the town voted on to reduce costs without effecting employees too much … all those plan changes really made a big difference in the utility of your program,” Moran said. “We had a good experience with negotiating on the fixed costs. You can’t negotiate on the claims, but you can affect the claim usage … you can put in place programs [to encourage less excess costs.]”
As Ocean City firefighters shoot water from a tower, the sun behind the volumes of black smoke lights up the sky to a point where it is difficult to distinguish flames that engulfed a unit at the Bradley on the Bay condominium at 37th Street Wednesday night.
(Sept. 28, 2012) In a somewhat obscure — but potentially influential — political windfall this week, the Ocean City government’s insurance contractor revealed Tuesday that the city’s revamped employee health benefit system is doing extremely well in terms of both financial savings and, in its opinion, service to employees. As it stands now, according to Human Resources Director Wayne Evans and consultant Kay Moran of Bolton Partners, the city’s employee insurance
BRADLEYINABLAZE
Hall files for re-election ready to state his case
Relief efforts begin just hours after fire engulfs 37th Street condo units
ZACK HOOPES ■ Staff Writer
PHOTO COURTESY DEE SHANNON-DOBSON
NANCY POWELL ■ Staff Writer (Sept. 28, 2012) Area residents started coming together in a relief effort less than 24 hours after a fire destroyed several units of a bayside condominium Wednesday. Three to six families were reportedly displaced by the fire at Bradley on the Bay, a condominium complex at 37th Street, that started at about 5:30 p.m. All lived in units on the top floor of the threestory building and some were at home at the time of the fire, said Ryan
Whittington, spokesman for the Ocean City Fire Department. The Red Cross provided hotel accommodations for some of the victims; others stayed with relatives or friends. Firefighters from several fire companies battled the blaze and members of the Ocean City Fire Marshal’s Office were at the site Thursday to conduct an investigation into the cause of the fire. Monica Hanshaw of Ocean Pines said she believes five of her co-workers at Fager’s Island were See MONETARY on Page 18
OCEAN CITY TODAY/BRANDI MELLINGER
Fire crews battle the blaze Wednesday from the south side of the Bradley on the Bay condominium building.
(Sept. 28, 2012) As anticipated, City Councilman Joe Hall has filed for re-election, kicking off his own campaign and also providing fuel to a political contest in which he has been a target of criticism by his opponents. “Many people have said it, and I forget how the quote goes exactly, but if people aren’t criticizing you, you haven’t done anything important,” Hall said this week. Hall’s rise to fame, or infamy, began in 2010 when a new council majority was formed. Newcomer Brent Ashley joined Hall and Margaret Pillas, as well as current Council President Jim Hall, to form an alliance that went on to
See CITY on Page 25
Councilman Joe Hall
make a number of major — and controversial — changes. The most notable of them was reducing the employee pay scale and benefits system for new hires following an exceptionally bitter council battle, the effects of which went on See HALL on Page 3