More details are coming to light as the rift between the Village of Ocean Beach and Fire Island Ferries, Inc. continues.
Mayor Jim Mallott of Ocean Beach released a video statement Tuesday afternoon responding to Fire Island Ferries’ plan to cease all public transportation to the village beginning March 1.
This means all ferry, freight and water taxi services to and from Ocean Beach would be suspended until further notice.
“I don’t feel comfortable negotiating with a gun to my head,” Mallott expressed in the YouTube video, posted by Maria Silsdorf. “I don’t think they are negotiating in good faith by telling me unless you accept our conditions, with a few minor ones you may come up with, that we are anywhere near out of the contract with them.”
Ocean Beach owns its ferry terminal, Mallott said, and the Fire Island Ferries rents it from the village every year.
The ferry company released an official statement on their website on Monday that mentions they had been operating under an expired contract for over a year and that as of Feb. 14, a new agreement had not been reached with the Village.
Mallott stated the contract was over a 10-year period and expired in 2020.
Both parties previously settled on a year extension to the contract and the ferry company would pay monthly for 12 months, Mallott said.
“We had an agreement with the ferry company not to negotiate in the time of COVID, we didn’t know what COVID held for all of us,” Mallott said. “We didn’t think it was a good idea to be in negotiations in pandemic time.”
Negotiations began in October 2021, and when the Village offered a new agreement, Mallott said it was dismissed by the ferry company.
Fire Island Ferries proposed an alternative contract and issued a 30-day notice at the end of January to end the expired agreement.
This new contract included such terms as a 30-percent reduction in rent and an increase in parking and ferry ticket book rates.
The mayor added it would be a “$300,000 loss to the village and its residents.”
“We will explore all options that are out there legally and any options that we feel are viable for Ocean Beach,” Mallott said. “We’ll keep moving forward to get this done.”
This is a developing story. GreaterBayShore will continue to keep readers updated as more details come forward.
Read our previous coverage linked below.
Previous reporting
Top: Ocean Beach in summer of 2021 (credit: Nick Esposito)
