A Week In Business

A Week In Business
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Women Honored At Dinner

OCEAN CITY – Approximately 250 people gathered in the Crystal Ballroom of the Clarion Resort Fontainebleau Hotel for the Ocean City Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Association (OCHMRA) Holiday Dinner Meeting on Dec. 13.

The main attraction of the evening was a tribute to the “Steel Magnolias”, a name given to the women who started the hospitality industry in Ocean City. Some of the women are past presidents of OCHMRA, the years are noted in brackets. The first OCHMRA dinner meeting dedicated to honoring “Steel Magnolias” was in 1997. The honorees at that time were Thelma Conner (85-86), Kathleen Harman (71-72), Lois Harrison, Eleanor Kelly (73-75), Ann Showell and Dorothy Taylor.

At this event, however, the focus was on Rose Brous (83-84), Susan Cropper (77-78), Eunice Sorin and three who were honored posthumously, Carol Alfonsi (81-82), Kate Bunting (78-79) and Betty Frame (79-80). Family and friends fondly recounted the histories of these truly remarkable women.

Ocean City was originally known as “The Ladies’ Resort to the Ocean”. Many of the women of Ocean City opened their houses to vacationers. They had to move their own families into attics, or into one room, in order to accommodate the visitors.

It is said that the women who built Ocean City as a resort seemed to fall into three categories: widows with children to support; women with husbands in businesses, such as commercial fishing merchants, watermen, etc. and women with inadequate husbands.

At last week’s dinner meeting, guests donated more than 300 toys to the NOEL (Nothing Other than Eating and Loving) Project at St. Paul’s by the Sea Episcopal Church.

Company Leaders

BERLIN – ResortQuest Real Estate recently announced that, for November, Sales Associate Despina Kaneles recorded the company’s highest listing volume and Associate Broker Bill Hand posted the company’s highest sales volume.

Firm Additions

BERLIN – Shamrock Realty Group, located in Berlin, welcomes Rosie Beauclair, Jack Tellman and Bonnie Heim to their office in the Gray’s Corner Professional Center.

Beauclair has been selling real estate for the past five years in the Ocean City/Ocean Pines and surrounding areas in Maryland and Delaware.

Tellman began his real estate career in 2002 following retirement from MBNA America Bank.

Heim, a veteran agent from the Baltimore area, relocated to the Eastern Shore last year.

Education Continued

BERLIN – Members of Atlantic Dental Cosmetic & Family Dentistry attended a Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies (LVI) Regional Event in Virginia Beach to continue their education of the latest dental procedures.

Dr. Geoffrey Robbins accompanied his associate Dr. Christopher Takacs, office administrator Terry Huston, hygienist Debra Smith, dental assistants Tina Catapano and Alisha Oates, and receptionist Tammy Scholl to the two-day event. The course presented by Dr. Chong Lee, DDS and Dr. Hamada Makarita, DDS, MAGD who discussed aesthetic restorations, the power of neuromuscular dentistry, impact of dentistry of patient’s lives, and how to improve the office environment.

Serving The Needy

OCEAN CITY – Agents and staff from several Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage coastal offices are again giving to underprivileged children in the area through the Salvation Army’s Little Angels program.

The program provides information on children, including clothing sizes and wish lists, and participants then select a child to sponsor. So far, approximately 80 "angels" are being sponsored by the 57th and 120th streets sales offices in Ocean City, the Ocean Pines sales office, Bethany Beach’s Rental Accounting, and the entire Rental Division of CBRB.

"The CBRB team has always stepped up to help provide for the needy in our community," said Gregg Holland, branch vice president of the 120th Street office, who coordinated the effort. "I feel so fortunate to be associated with this great group of people!"

Municipal Bonds Sold

OCEAN CITY – The Town of Ocean City sold $22.32 million of General Obligation Municipal Purpose and Refunding Bonds on Dec. 12, which will result in a savings of over $744,000 in future debt service for the

town’s wastewater, water and general funds.

The town accepted bids via the Internet utilizing Parity, an electronic bid submission system. Ocean City attracted national interest in the municipal market as six prominent underwriters competed for the bonds.

The bids ranged from the low 3.763 percent to 3.872 percent. The bid was awarded by Mayor Rick Meehan to Robert W. Baird & Co, Inc. Samuel Ketterman, of Davenport & Company, the town’s financial advisor for the sale, stated the town’s interest rate compared favorably with municipal market indices for the day.

Proceeds of the new bonds will refund the town’s outstanding Series 1996 and 1997 bonds, which were issued for reconstruction of Baltimore Avenue from 15th to 33rd Streets, the Boardwalk, City Hall improvements, wastewater plant improvements and water mains. The sale resulted in a net present value savings of 5.476 percent of refunded principal.

Additional proceeds of $9.2 million will fund an expansion of the Public Safety Building, street paving, park improvements and wastewater pumping stations.

Prior to the sale, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services affirmed its underlying rating on Ocean City’s general obligation debt outstanding of

‘A,’ citing strong management based on a review of key financial practices, fund balance reserves and multi-year planning. Other credit characteristics that support the Ocean City’s rating include its stable, but limited, tourism-based economy coupled with the town’s good financial operations, adequate wealth and income factors, manageable debt burden and the effectiveness of the governing process to manage performance and address problems.

Moody’s Investors Service assigned an ‘A1’ rating to the new Ocean City bonds and affirmed the ‘A1’ rating for the town’s outstanding debt.

Fitch Ratings gave a outlook of "stable" and assigned an ‘A+’ rating to

the Ocean City bonds and affirmed the ‘A+’ rating on the town’s other outstanding general obligation bonds.