OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

City Council Budget Meeting - Public Safety Day - April 8, 2026

Mayor and City Council & Boards — Wednesday, April 8, 2026
BodyOcean City, Maryland
SessionMayor and City Council & Boards
DateWednesday, April 8, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 47:24

Transcript — Verbatim
0:02

Good afternoon, everyone.

0:03

Welcome to this budget meeting.

0:05

Today's Wednesday, April 8th, just after 1 p.m.

0:10

Today's been named Public Safety Day.

0:12

So I'll go ahead and turn it over to Jenny.

0:15

Actually, I'm sorry, I have comments from the public first, in case anybody wants to speak.

0:20

Any person who may wish to speak on Amendment Kindle for discussion on the budget meeting agenda may be heard during comments from the public for a period of three minutes at such time as may be deemed appropriate by the council president.

0:31

Anyone from the public today?

0:33

Seeing none.

0:33

Now I'll turn it over to Jenny.

0:35

Okay.

0:35

Today we're going to be in section three of your budget book, which is for public safety.

0:40

We're going to start on page 13 with communications, uh electronics, emergency management, and speech responsibility.

0:50

Good afternoon, uh Mr.

0:52

Mayor, Council President, members of Council.

0:54

Thank you for having the time to speak to you again annually.

0:57

And I'm going to give you the budget for emergency services.

1:00

And please ask any question you may have as we go by.

1:07

Next slide.

1:12

As you can see, the overall budget has increased from 2026.

1:56

Magic touch.

1:59

Okay.

2:02

As you can see, there has been an increase in the FY27 from FY26.

2:07

It's approximately 1.4 million dollars across the divisions.

2:16

And we will do electronic services first.

2:20

The big changes in electronic services are the addition to an apprentice technician's position.

2:27

It's critical at this point that we have somebody else trained.

2:30

It takes a few years to get that person up to speed.

2:34

And after discussions, we thought an apprentice program would be a good way to proceed.

2:38

Find the right person, start your training, and see if they will eventually transition over, you know, to a full-time position.

2:46

So I'm thankful for that.

2:48

Benefit costs have gone up.

2:51

The other big item within it is a microwave link for 911.

2:56

This is half the cost of the link tying it into the county.

3:00

Last year, unfortunately, there was a day we lost 911 on both ends.

3:05

That's a problem.

3:06

We want to make sure that we have the redundant link in the future that we don't have to do that again.

3:12

An intergovernmental is up slightly also.

3:19

So the overall increase in electronic services is approximately 210,000.

3:26

And that's the new one for this year.

3:30

Any questions on electronic services?

3:35

Nope.

3:36

Thank you.

3:37

We'll go to communications next.

3:40

Communications has some increases.

3:43

It's an additional five new employees.

3:46

Four for four PCO1s for City Watch, 24-7, as well as one supervisor trainer.

3:54

There's also additional reasons we're asking for this.

3:58

In the supervisory position, it will free up man hours and records at this point because we're kind of sharing responsibilities with both records in PD and ourselves.

4:10

We have warrant coordination responsibilities that were prelude previously overseen by the county that we now have to accept and take control of.

4:19

This person's also going to be a training position for the annual and continued certification of everybody in the communications center.

4:28

We also have to take on district court discovery recordings, which is about 3,500 to 4,000 a year, now mandated by the courts.

4:38

As far as the PCO1 positions, the four other positions, they are going to be full-time City Watch 24-7.

4:46

We've worked with the police chief to see that we have this up and running all the time.

5:00

So we're going to start putting all the pieces together to have that have take place in the future at some point.

5:04

With the addition of the fusis software within the Axion contract, you're going to be able to have a single client that takes in houses everything that we presently do.

5:15

All our software, CAT, cameras, LPRs, it's all going to be in one house in one application that requires personnel to be able to handle that.

5:25

The good thing is in the future, when we do that, and we have it, we have the EOC open or whatever, you're going to be able to sit there and see everything that's going on in town in real time on real camera and have all the data in front of you.

5:38

So we're transitioning over to that.

5:43

Presently we have a minimum of six working.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Public Safety███████████████████████████████████35%
Budget Equity Analysis██████████████████████████████████34%
Technology and Innovation█████████████13%
Fire Safety████████████12%
Emergency Management████4%
Procedural██2%
Summary of Proceedings

City Council Budget Meeting - Public Safety Day - April 8, 2026

This budget meeting, held on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, from 1:00 PM to 4:49 PM, focused on the FY2027 proposed budgets for public safety departments. No public comments were received. The meeting included presentations on Police, Communications, Electronics, Emergency Management, Beach Patrol, Volunteer Fire, EMS, and Fire Marshal budgets.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No members of the public spoke.

Budget Presentations

Electronic Services

  • Proposed increase of approximately $210,000, including a new apprentice technician position and a microwave link for 911 to provide redundancy after a previous outage.

Communications

  • Proposed increase of approximately $407,000, adding five new employees: four Public Safety Communications Officers (PCO1s) for 24/7 City Watch operations and one supervisory trainer. The trainer will free up records staff and handle warrant coordination and mandated court discovery recordings. The new positions will also reduce overtime and support a new all-in-one software platform (Fusis).

Emergency Management

  • Proposed increase of approximately $72,000, covering higher salaries, logistics for special events, and vehicle repairs ($13,000) for the OC1.

Beach Patrol

  • Proposed increase includes six new code enforcement positions (salary $76,000) and $46,000 for fireproofing repairs at headquarters due to code requirements. Also, increased hours for beach patrol and code enforcement, with equipment (ATVs, uniforms, radios) funded from existing budget.

Police

  • Proposed FY2027 budget: $32,671,326, an increase of approximately $3,006,005 from the FY2026 adopted budget of $29,667,661. The increase includes $1,780,092 in salary and benefits and $1,226,952 in operating expenses. Highlights: upgraded Axon contract (Taser 10, AI report writing, drone mitigation, in-car cameras with license plate readers), a real-time crime center (3-5 year project), and new applicant background investigation software. Grants decreased by $39,669, but two new grants were awarded. Police chief noted the Axon contract cost is about $5 million and will integrate with other city safety systems.

Volunteer Fire Company & Fire EMS

  • Fire Chief presented a strategic plan review (ICMA study expected in May). Budget includes realignment of expenses across divisions. Key changes: hiring an executive administrative assistant, four additional full-time firefighter/EMT/paramedics, and an administrative lieutenant for training and inspections (placeholder for future discussion). Battalion chiefs' pay was adjusted to a 45-hour work week (from exempt 40-hour) to eliminate comp time backfill issues. Also, a new Tahoe vehicle for Fire EMS, replacing an older vehicle for community outreach.

Fire Marshal’s Office

  • Budget includes $18,000 increase for two bomb technicians to attend training (due to federal delays), and replacement of bomb suits on an 8-10 year cycle. Community outreach coordinator costs moved to this division. Fire marshal investigators will continue using pickup trucks.

Key Outcomes

  • No votes were taken on the proposed budgets; the meeting was a presentation and discussion session.
  • The council voted unanimously to adjourn at 4:49 PM.
  • Next steps: Police chief noted a finalized report on the school bus grant will be shared soon. Fire chief expects the strategic plan draft in May, with future discussions on additional positions after summer. Beach patrol will begin Memorial Day weekend, with possible mobile patrols earlier. The council will consider the code enforcement ordinance changes at a future work session.

Meeting Transcript

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to this budget meeting. Today's Wednesday, April 8th, just after 1 p.m. Today's been named Public Safety Day. So I'll go ahead and turn it over to Jenny. Actually, I'm sorry, I have comments from the public first, in case anybody wants to speak. Any person who may wish to speak on Amendment Kindle for discussion on the budget meeting agenda may be heard during comments from the public for a period of three minutes at such time as may be deemed appropriate by the council president. Anyone from the public today? Seeing none. Now I'll turn it over to Jenny. Okay. Today we're going to be in section three of your budget book, which is for public safety. We're going to start on page 13 with communications, uh electronics, emergency management, and speech responsibility. Good afternoon, uh Mr. Mayor, Council President, members of Council. Thank you for having the time to speak to you again annually. And I'm going to give you the budget for emergency services. And please ask any question you may have as we go by. Next slide. As you can see, the overall budget has increased from 2026. Magic touch. Okay. As you can see, there has been an increase in the FY27 from FY26. It's approximately 1.4 million dollars across the divisions. And we will do electronic services first. The big changes in electronic services are the addition to an apprentice technician's position. It's critical at this point that we have somebody else trained. It takes a few years to get that person up to speed. And after discussions, we thought an apprentice program would be a good way to proceed. Find the right person, start your training, and see if they will eventually transition over, you know, to a full-time position. So I'm thankful for that. Benefit costs have gone up. The other big item within it is a microwave link for 911. This is half the cost of the link tying it into the county. Last year, unfortunately, there was a day we lost 911 on both ends. That's a problem. We want to make sure that we have the redundant link in the future that we don't have to do that again. An intergovernmental is up slightly also. So the overall increase in electronic services is approximately 210,000. And that's the new one for this year. Any questions on electronic services? Nope. Thank you. We'll go to communications next. Communications has some increases. It's an additional five new employees. Four for four PCO1s for City Watch, 24-7, as well as one supervisor trainer. There's also additional reasons we're asking for this. In the supervisory position, it will free up man hours and records at this point because we're kind of sharing responsibilities with both records in PD and ourselves. We have warrant coordination responsibilities that were prelude previously overseen by the county that we now have to accept and take control of.

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