From The Press of Atlantic City — A proposed competition for township-contracted jobs appeared unlikely Tuesday night after Mayor William Kennedy again broke ranks with his fellow committee Democrats.

The panel, short the absent Republican Committeewoman Kathy Chasey, extended its engineering contract with Marathon Engineering on a month-to-month basis through December. However, Democratic Committeemen Michael St. Amour and Bernard Graebener said they support soliciting price quotes from the open market as soon as possible.

“I just think it’s good open government,” St. Amour said. “If they do a good job, what’s the harm in going to an RFQ (request for quotation)?”

Other jobs such as solicitor and public defender are awarded by annual majority vote in the same manner the engineering contract is, and St. Amour’s proposal could have extended to those jobs, too. But the engineering contract was up for renewal first, and Republican Committeewoman Janet Forman accused St. Amour of ambushing Marathon out of personal dislike for the company.

“I just don’t think it’s right to go about things this way. It’s not broke, let’s not fix it,” Forman said.

Chief Financial Officer Dawn Stollenwerk and Clerk Kimberly Johnson buttressed Forman’s argument, saying they work well with Marathon, which has held the engineering contract for more than a decade.

Forman said Chasey agrees with her. As for Kennedy, who several times this year has broken ties in the Republicans’ favor, he said he doesn’t oppose competition but opposes change for its own sake.

“It’s going to cause more trouble than I think it’s worth,” Kennedy said.

The committee meets again Oct. 28. Graebener and St. Amour expressed interest in researching bidding-process models for a future vote, but unless the opposition wavers, it would seem to be in vain for some time to come. The lone election race this fall pits Kennedy against Republican Joseph Maultz, whose campaign treasurer is Chasey.