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From left, City Council members William Kehner Sr., Mary Tighe, J.B. Feeley, Frank Edwardi Jr. and Jack Gibson.

During the “Mayor and Administration Report” portion of the August 13 City Council meeting, Mayor Desiderio officially thanked The Wawa Foundation for their donation of a grant that purchased external body armor carriers and other equipment that will help keep twenty-three of Sea Isle City’s police officers safe.

According to the Mayor, who presented Wawa’s Area Manager and local Store Manager with a plaque, Wawa is “a great community partner that is willing to help our everyday heroes.”

Following Mayor Desiderio’s presentation to Wawa, Business Administrator George Savastano updated City Council on the sale of Sea Isle’s 2019 Beach Tags. 

According to Mr. Savastano’s report, this summer’s overall sale of beach tags reached $1,325,425 as of August 12, which confirmed that beach tags sales are up compared to the same time in 2018 – and that we have already exceeded our anticipated revenue from beach tags sales for the summer of 2019.

During the “City Council Report” portion of the August 13 meeting, Councilman Gibson asked the Administration to determine if portions of some streets in Sea Isle City can be widened from 30-feet wide to 40-feet wide, where possible.  

Also during the August 13 City Council meeting, Ordinances 1642 and 1643 were Introduced with First Reading. Both Ordinances 1642 and 1643, which were written to prohibit the alteration of existing channels in the bay, will help Sea Isle City maintain our good-standing with FEMA and our current discount with the National Flood Insurance Community Rating System.  

Additionally, Ordinances 1638, 1639 and 1640 were adopted following Second Reading and Public Hearing on August 13.

Ordinance 1638 was written to adjust several aspects of the General Ordinance, including changing the allowable morning start time for construction during the summer season from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m., addressing some parking regulation issues, clarifying water fees and other “housekeeping” types of changes.

Ordinance 1639 was written to establish “No Loading or Unloading Zones” on or around bay street ends, thus preventing boats from loading and off-loading equipment over City bulkheads; and Ordinance 1640 was written to update trailer parking regulations in the Municipal Marina along 42nd Place.

Each of the resolutions on the August 13 Consent Agenda was approved, including Resolution 150, which provided for a referendum question and interpretive statement to be added to the ballot during Sea Isle City’s General Election in November. The ballot question will ask voters to decide if the City should include a swimming pool when constructing a recreation building at the site of the former public school on Park Road.  

A “Yes” vote to the ballot question means the City should add a swimming pool to the design and construction of a municipal recreation building with the added cost to the project estimated at $5,000,000 (or an estimated average of $68 per year per property for 12 years) as well as operation and maintenance costs of approximately $750,000 per year (or an estimated average of $108 per year per property) for a total cost per year per property of approximately $176 for 12 years and $108 per year per property thereafter.

A “No” vote means the municipal recreation building should be designed and constructed without a public swimming pool.

In addition to the aforementioned ballot question that is planned for the November General Election, City Council will continue to gather input about this topic from all of Sea Isle City’s property owners – regardless if they vote in Sea Isle City or not.

Our next City Council meeting will take place at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, August 27 in Council Chambers, located on the third floor of City Hall. We hope to see you there. 

Best Regards from the Members of City Council,   

Council President J.B. Feeley (jbfeeley@seaislecitynj.us)  

Frank Edwardi (fedwardijr@seaislecitynj.us)  

Jack Gibson (jgibson@seaislecitynj.us) 

Bill Kehner (wkehner@seaislecitynj.us)  

Mary Tighe (mtighe@seaislecitynj.us)