By Donald Wittkowski
Two incumbents and one newcomer are running unopposed for three City Council seats in Sea Isle City’s municipal election Tuesday.
Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. There are 1,886 registered voters in Sea Isle, according to the City Clerk’s Office.
Council members serve four-year terms and are chosen at-large in Sea Isle’s nonpartisan election.
The campaign has been quiet because of the lack of opposition, but does feature an unusual ticket that pairs the longtime leader of the local Democratic Party with two Republicans.
Mary Tighe and Jack Gibson, the Republican incumbents, have teamed up with J.B. Feeley, who has headed the Democratic Party for 40 years and is making his first foray into elected politics.
Tighe, Gibson and Feeley all agree that coastal flooding is the most pressing issue confronting Sea Isle in years to come. The city is in the midst of a flood-control study to find ways to protect the barrier island from coastal storms, including the construction of road, drainage and pumping projects.
Tighe, 48, is one of the five original Council members who were elected when Sea Isle switched from a Commission-style form of government to the Mayor-Council format in 2007. She is a nurse with the Cape May County Health Department.
Gibson, 83, who served in the state Assembly for 12 years but lost his seat when seeking re-election 2005, won his first term on Sea Isle Council in 2013. He is semi-retired, but works part-time as an engineer for Dennis Township.
Although Feeley is a novice in elected politics, he has held some appointed positions in the government world. Most notably, he formerly served for 17 years as a commissioner and chairman with the Cape May County Board of Elections.
Feeley, 68, retired three years ago from his position as senior project development officer at the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, a state agency that uses Atlantic City casino revenue for housing and economic development projects.
Feeley, a Sea Isle resident for more than 40 years, is stepping in to replace Councilman John Divney, who is not seeking re-election. Divney, 76, a Council member since 2007, said he felt it was time to give someone else an opportunity to run for city government.
