OC OKs 4-year Pact Sharing Administrator

OCEAN CITY – City Council Aug. 9 unanimously approved a four-year deal with Sea Isle City to share its business administrator.
This summer, Sea Isle City administrator George Savastano has also served as Ocean City’s administrator, filling in since the departure of James Mallon as of June 1.
Savastano’s agreement was set to expire Aug. 31, but city council unanimously approved extending it through June 30, 2022.
As of Sept. 1, Savastano’s salary will be $184,750, with the cost divided between both towns.
Savastano has also served as Ocean City’s municipal engineer, an arrangement that will continue under this agreement.
“Under a short-term agreement this summer, George has been extremely effective in project management, budget control, and in leading the city team. I’m very excited by the potential of what we can accomplish together over the next four years,” wrote Mayor Jay Gillian in a statement released before the Aug. 9 meeting.
In it, he said Sea Isle City Mayor Leonard Desiderio was equally excited.
“The agreement represents a substantial savings to both towns, and the shared knowledge and resources will be invaluable. With George’s intimate knowledge of Ocean City and his experience as an engineer, we are able to combine two positions and get more effective leadership at the same time,” Gillian wrote.
The vote took place as part of a collection of routine resolutions during an exceptionally brief meeting. There was no prior discussion, but after the vote, council members praised the job Savastano had done in Ocean City.
Those remarks were made in response to comments from resident Bill Hartranft, who raised concerns about the combined position. He said it would be beyond anyone’s ability to handle. He said the position oversees important categories of city operations. He estimated Mallon must have worked 10 to 12 hours a day, five or six days a week to handle his responsibilities.
“Jim Mallon was totally engaged in his job,” Hartranft said. “It boggles my mind that we would now go with someone part-time. It has nothing to do with the man; it has to do with the process.”
He cited Ocean City’s nearly $80-million budget and massive infrastructure work undertaken under the Gillian administration.
“If you’re going to go ahead with this, my suggestion would be that you build a booth next to the charging station so when the call comes over from Sea Isle, he can go into the booth and come out as Superman so he can accomplish the things that have to be done,” Hartranft said.
Councilman Michael DeVlieger said he had watched carefully over the past two months to determine whether one person could handle the responsibilities. He said Savastano had done well.
“I’ve found George to be an excellent communicator,” he said. DeVlieger said Savastano has made improvements, adding that there is a clause in the agreement that allows for changes.
“He’s jumped into the frying pan when it was real hot, and he’s fared very well. He’s doing a great job,” DeVlieger said.
Councilman Robert Barr said he was also skeptical at the start of the summer but said Savastano had won him over.
“He came in in the middle of a project when stuff was really flying around hot and heavy. He’s a mover and a shaker and I have the utmost confidence in him … that he can not only do the job but do it excellently.”
Savastano made no comment during the meeting, but afterward said the combined responsibilities can be handled with the right experience.
The state has pushed for shared services, he said, and Ocean City and Sea Isle City have worked well together already.
Ocean City managed the project when Sea Isle City built its new City Hall and Public Safety Building after Hurricane Sandy, he said, and he has served as Ocean City’s engineer for some time.
He added that the two towns have the same form of government and that both mayors are committed to making this work.
Savastano lives in Ocean City, where he served as the Public Works director before taking the job in Sea Isle City 11 years ago.
He first came to Ocean City while working for the Army Corps of Engineers, working on the city’s first federal beach replenishment project in the early 1990s.
Under the agreement, Ocean City will pay $8,000 a month for the business administration services and an additional $5,000 for the municipal engineer services. That comes to $156,000 of Savastano’s salary.
That leaves $2,333 a month for Sea Isle City, plus all costs for health and employee benefits, a vehicle, pension and other “legacy costs,” according to a statement released by Gillian’s office.
Desiderio could not immediately be reached for comment on this story after the Ocean City vote.
To contact Bill Barlow, email bbarlow@cmcherald.com.