05 May Borough Meeting Highlights 05-01-2019
Dear West Wildwood neighbors,
West Wildwood borough held its 5th meeting of 2019 on Wednesday, May 1st at 3PM and was attended by approximately 35 taxpayers. The Mayor and both Commissioners were in attendance and provided reports on their respective departments (copy attached to this newsletter). Much of the discussion focused on the Ferentz Brady letter, the hiring of Mayor Fox’s daughter as a full-time police officer and the change of meeting date and time.
- In response to one of the CTWWW’s question, Borough Solicitor, William Blaney responded to the Brady Letter question. He explained that an officer’s credibility may come under scrutiny and cause problems with their testimony; however, the officer can perform duties as required. Counsel Blaney’s opinion is that Police Chief Ferentz was issued a “pre-Brady” letter. There has never been a judicial determination regarding the matter, however, Counsel Blaney contacted the Cape May County Prosecutor’s office and requested Ferentz’s name be removed from the Brady List and the Cape May Prosecutor denied the request.
- The BOWW passed resolution #2019-039 to hire a conflict counsel, Mr. Haggerty of Hammonton, NJ, to determine the appropriateness of Ferentz’s name on the Brady List.
- A late addition to the agenda was Resolution # 2019-047 which was passed to hire Nicole Fox, Mayor Fox’s daughter, as a full-time police officer. Taxpayers’ concerns were raised regarding conflicts with the mayor, her father, and Police Chief Ferentz, her father’s long-time roommate, and her ability to police her childhood friends and neighbors. Also, the commissioner’s prior decision to refuse not to adopt a nepotism policy was discussed as it relates to the hiring of Nicole Fox.
- Attendees again expressed displeasure with the meetings held on Wednesday afternoons @ 3pm. Taxpayers requested 4-day work week shift to Tues- Friday to allow for out of town residents to conduct borough business and reestablish borough meetings on Friday evening @ 7pm.
- Comments from the public will be welcomed next month with regard to the 2019 budget. With the sale of municipal property at R Avenue, suggestions were made to set aside or reserve funds from the sale of the property. Preliminary budget comments included no tax increase for property owners, but a $ 0.07 decrease in the school tax rate will not be passed on to taxpayers and will go towards the payment of the $ 1.7 million judgement.
- The ADA ramp for the beach is going out to bid and may be completed in early July.
- Approximately 2 to 3 homes need to repair their sewer caps and should be resolved shortly.
- The Mawhinney lawsuit mediation date is set for June 13th in Hammonton, NJ. This is a closed meeting.
- The JIF appeal has not been scheduled for oral arguments at this time.
- The application for the Living Shoreline Project is in the process of being completed. The engineers believe BOWW will receive funding for the project.
- A taxpayer also questioned if permits have been issued for the various construction projects going on in the BOWW. Commissioners explained the permit process has changed recently, but the BOWW believes it would be best to have zoning permits issued.
- Master Plan should be completed by June and only minor changes will be made.
- Repairs will be made shortly to the flood siren and should be accurately sounded at noon.
We encourage you to watch the video of the monthly meetings to fully understand the discussions. To view the videos go to the https://ctwww.org/ website. The latest video is always on the homepage. There is a separate page for the prior videos. Also the newslink page has articles and the communications page has the newsletters.
We appreciate your support through becoming a member and your generous donations. We welcome your feedback as it helps us address the issues most important to you and your family.