Yesterday, I had the pleasure of traveling to Atlantic City, where the New Jersey Association of Floodplain Management was hosting its 14th Annual Conference & Exhibition at Bally’s Hotel & Casino. Neil Byrne, Sea Isle’s Floodplain Manager, hosted an educational session while attending the entire three-day conference, which had over 400 floodplain officials from across the State in attendance.
Neil asked me to attend on Wednesday afternoon because Sea Isle City was receiving an award from FEMA for being the only Class 3 CRS Community in the entire state of New Jersey (and one of only a handful of communities in the nation with that honor).
In the event you are not aware, being a Class 3 CRS Community is a very big deal that comes with a 35% discount on flood insurance premiums for compliant policy holders. Naturally, I was more than happy to accept the award on behalf of our entire community – and I am very grateful to all of our local property owners for working with our Administration during the past 25 years as we strived to improve Sea Isle’s flood standards and became one of our nation’s most respected flood resilient communities in FEMA’s eyes. Clearly, this is something we can all be proud of, and it is quite the “feather in our cap.”
In other recent news, on October 13 the Sea Isle City Environmental Commission hosted their annual Autumn Beach Clean-Up, which brought together 180 volunteers who cleared trash and debris from our beaches and dunes – and also planted dune grass along Sea Isle’s entire shoreline. My thanks go to the Environmental Commission’s members who did a fine job organizing the event and to the many volunteers who donated their time and energy to make the gathering a success.
Special thanks also go to the businesses and families who contributed to the beach clean-up in very special ways, including the Monichetti family for hosting a free luncheon for the event’s volunteers at Mike’s Seafood Restaurant, Approach Clothing Company for donating high-quality T-shirts for the volunteers, Spinners Pizza & Ice Cream Shop for donating coupons for free ice cream cones, Sea Isle Scooter for also donating coupons to the volunteers, and the Weiler family for donating bottled water to the event. Thank you all!
Looking ahead, at 10 a.m. on Monday, October 29, we will be hosting a press conference on the third floor of City Hall, which will be immediately followed by the unveiling of our new “Project Medicine Drop Box” in City Hall’s lobby. During the press conference, we will highlight the importance of properly disposing of prescription medications – and how the misuse of those drugs can often lead to opiate addition and ultimately heroin use.
Now that we have a new permanent medicine drop box at City Hall, residents are encouraged to continually clean out their medicine cabinets and to rid their homes of any unneeded drugs so they don’t fall into the wrong hands. If you are available, I hope you will join us on Monday morning for this very worthwhile event.
Also next week, the City’s Recreation Office will host a “Trunk-or-Treat” gathering on Halloween night next to the Welcome Center for residents, businesses and organizations that would like to give out candy to trick-or-treaters but don’t often get many kids knocking on their doors. There will also be traditional door-to-door Trick-or-Treating on Halloween night in Sea Isle, which will be aided by a list of addresses compiled on our “Trick-or-Treat Route” that will help families know which property owners will be giving out candy on October 31.
So, plan on spending Halloween in Sea Isle, and I guarantee that you will have a “frightfully” good time. For more info about our “Halloween Happenings,” see the special section of this newsletter.
Now that the “off season” has returned, our municipal construction projects have recommenced. Thank you for your patience as we continue to strengthen our infrastructure and improve our roadways in anticipation of paving. Before we know it, it will be “smooth sailing” on our roads once again – but in the meantime, please be sure to follow all construction signs and drive safely through town.
On a sad note, last week we lost a valued member of our community who was known for always giving from the heart. Grace Felix, a volunteer with our local Ambulance Corps for more than 25 years, passed away after living a truly service-oriented life. Grace was a humble person who was the longstanding treasurer for the Volunteer Ambulance Corps, and she will be greatly missed.
During the Mayor’s Message in our last E-Newsletter, I spoke at length about our future Fishing Pier & Kayak Launch. Unfortunately, we were waiting for the arrival of an artist’s rendering of that project, which did not arrive in time to be added to the digital newsletter. Well, the rendering arrived and it looks great. Here is that image.
A newly released artist rendering shows what the fishing pier and kayak launch facility will look like when completed in late 2019. (Courtesy Sea Isle City)
Smile … You’re in Sea Isle!
Mayor Leonard C. Desiderio
