AVALON – Moran’s Dockside has been awarded the contract to operate the 14th Street Avalon Sport Fishing Center. Jim Moran and his family have been running their business at the location since 1988.
The contract, approved by the Borough Council Feb. 12, was for one year, with an option to renew for four additional years. Avalon made use of the state’s competitive contract process to seek bait shop and dockmaster services for as much as five years.
The award was not without some controversy. Kevin Dougherty used the public comment period of the Feb. 12 council meeting to raise questions about how competitive the bid process was.
Dougherty argued that requirements in the bid proposal made it almost impossible for someone like him to realistically submit a bid without incurring substantial financial risk for business creation and registration, insurance and other matters.
He used as evidence for his argument the fact that only Moran’s bid on the contract. “If no one else entered the bid process,” he said, “how do you consider this a good rollout of the competitive bid process?”
Dougherty claimed that he put his concerns about the bid requirements in an email in December, but he did not name to whom it was sent. He did say, “No one got back to me.”
Resident John Kauterman spoke against the process as well, with both men saying their only interest was to ensure a fair process is used for the Sport Fishing Center.
Both Dougherty and Kauterman have participated in Borough Council meetings for several years and raised questions about how the borough manages the fishing center. In this instance Borough Attorney Nicole Curio responded that the borough had followed all state guidelines for the competitive bid process.
The council vote on the award was unanimous.
Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
