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NOVEMBER 19, 2021
SERVING NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY
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IN SEARCH OF NEW AGENCY City staff begins sifting through 10 proposals from companies bidding to serve resort– Page 6
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Tourism department to get huge overhaul Director gets council’s OK for new hires, realignment of existing staff positions By Greg Wehner Staff Writer (Nov. 19, 2021) When Ocean City officials agreed to hire Tom Perlozzo as the director of tourism and business development, their intent was to strengthen the resort town as a yearround destination while also creating a dynamic and coordinated team to lead the efforts. Perlozzo was also charged with putting together a strategy to achieve the goal of developing a destination marketing organization. On Monday, Perlozzo showed City
Council members the direction he wants the department to take, and they responded with a 6-0 endorsement of an ambitious plan that entails the realignment of the tourism department and the addition of several new positions. “There’s three strategic elements that we’re requesting approval of, based upon your vision of tourism and business development,” Perlozzo told council. The first of those elements, he said, is the approval to advance the internal destination marketing team by realigning some current positions. For example, the administrative assistant would become a full-time position instead of part-time, and the See TOURISM Page 10
Housing critical to return of international workforce GREG ELLISON/OCEAN CITY TODAY
VETERANS DAY
Isabella Sbriglia with Scout Troop 621, preforms Taps, along side Color Guard members Glen Reely, left, and Michael Higdon to end the Veterans Day ceremony at American Legion Post #166 in Ocean City on Thursday.
Body cam overload State’s Attorney Heiser tells county timely processing of videos requires bigger staff By Jack Chavez Staff Writer (Nov. 19, 2021) Worcester County State’s Attorney Kristin Heiser made the case to the county commissioners on Tuesday that her office is going to struggle to keep up if the county’s 12
law enforcement agencies implement body-worn camera footage ahead of the 2025 state mandate. Appearing during the commissioner’s meeting with Worcester County Sheriff Matt Crisafulli, Heiser said that the unfunded mandate has strong potential to burden her understaffed office and that moving up the schedule, as some towns such as Ocean City want to do, would only See HEISER Page 4
J1 student recruiters say program jeopardized by lack of suitable quarters By Mallory Panuska Staff Writer (Nov. 19, 2021) Before covid and the uptick of Airbnb and VRBO rentals, Ocean City was a place that could comfortably house thousands of seasonal workers, many of whom traveled overseas to fill out employee rosters. Now, as the effects of the pandemic linger and property owners are enticed by higher dollars signs associated with weekly online vacation rentals, the local living quarters supply is dwindling, and the organizations tasked to bring foreign workers to the resort are wondering if they need to look into alternative spots.
Last week, United Work and Travel, one of several groups that places J1 and H2B foreign workers in resort towns for summer seasons, issued a letter to Mayor Rick Meehan asking for support in finding a solution to the impending housing shortage for summer 2022. “Many of our program landlords have either sold, updated to weekly VRBO/AirBnB rentals or are no longer renting seasonally to international students,” the letter said. “Others are requesting more than $2,500 in seasonal rent for BridgeUSA students. With the wages that are being offered by town employees, which are fair wages, seasonal rent in excess of $2,500 does not make sense for many BridgeUSA students. They will simply choose to participate in other seasonal areas of the USA, where the See HOUSING Page 8