Margate OKs emergency spending for Sandy cleanup

Written by SHAUN SMITH Tuesday, November 20, 2012 11:19 am

MARGATE – The city commissioners approved a resolution Thursday, Nov. 8 authorizing a $1.35 million emergency appropriation for Hurricane Sandy cleanup.

The commission also authorized the dedication by rider of an “emergency restoration fund.”

The commission also voted to approve emergency contracts of up to $250,000 for Perna Finegan, up to $65,000 for Feriozzi Concrete Co., $105,000 for Agate Construction Co., $53,000 for Peterson Concrete Co., $36,000 for R.Maxwell Co., $52,500  for Ocean Ridge Transport Co., and $14,640 for American Contractors Services, Inc.

City Clerk Tom Hiltner said the emergency restoration fund gives the commission a line item to appropriate money to, and the emergency contracts will be paid for out of emergency notes.

“With an emergency like this you don’t want to be paying for it out of this year’s budget,” Hiltner said in an interview Monday, Nov. 19. “If we did not declare the emergency, we would not be able to do this work.”

He said the emergency notes can be paid over the course of a three-year or a five-year period, depending on what the commissioners decide.

Hiltner said that as the qualified purchasing agent for the city, he is authorized by statute to suspend normal bidding in the best interest of public health, safety and welfare once the emergency is declared and the resolution is passed.

He said that in an emergency, the process allows him to negotiate prices in a faster timeframe than the public bidding process allows.

He said the public bid threshold is typically $36,000.

The commissioners also approved a resolution to waive permit fees for flood-damaged properties per the Federal Disaster Act and issued an extension on November tax payments to Monday, Nov. 12.