COURT HOUSE – Three mayors and a representative for a fourth brought members of the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce up to date on projects and goals for the foreseeable future at a lunch meeting June 18.
Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian, Dennis Township Mayor Zeth Matalucci, Upper Township Mayor Curtis Corson and Laurie Boyd, reporting for Woodbine Mayor William Pikolycky, addressed the chamber’s monthly meeting, held at the Shore Club, at the former Wildwood Golf and Country Club.
Gillian, who is serving his fourth term as mayor, said it has been his goal to keep Ocean City safe, clean and accessible. He said Ocean City has one of the largest police forces in New Jersey with 68 full-time officers, which is supplemented in the summer by Class II officers. The city also has 68 firefighters, all of whom are EMT-certified.
He boasted of a senior center that is open seven days a week, and of recognition given veterans, including the daily flag raising ceremony at the Music Pier.
He spoke about flood mitigation, which is a constant barrier island issue. Gillian said the city had paved roads and improved drainage on more than 70% of the city’s streets and alleys in the past decade, as well as installing a pump station.
He said the city has also participated in 10 beach replenishment projects since 1990, and has also been engaged in a back-bay dredging project, establishing a sediment trap to help preserve some of the dredged materials.
Mayor Curtis Corson.
Since he became mayor in 2010, the city has rebuilt the boardwalk between Fifth and 12th streets, and established a police substation on the boardwalk at Eighth Street. The city is renovating the 34th Street playground, making it ADA-compliant. He said the city also established a new parking system by which it directs drivers to available spots, and has plans for a new terminal at the municipal airport.
The city, he said, hosts 240 events every year. This year will include an appearance by the Beach Boys, he said.
Since February 2022 Boyd has been the confidential aide to Mayor Bill Pikolycky in Woodbine, while also serving as the interim clerk and the municipal airport manager. She has a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s in records administration.
She told the chamber members that Pikolycky was born and raised in Woodbine, was elected to the council in 1978 and has been mayor since 1991, making him one of the top three longest-serving mayors in New Jersey. She said his philosophy of government is to understand all levels of government in order to put them to work for constituents.
She said for Pikolycky, government is not political, but is about people, saying it was purposeful and personal.
Woodbine, she said, was once home to seven factories, after having been established as a farming community for eastern European Jews who were forced to leave their homes because of pogroms. The town became a shining spot in Cape May County, but World War II led people relocate, and eventually the factories and other businesses failed, she said. The borough remained in economic decline for many years, and has a poverty rate three times the state average, but Boyd said it is seeing a renaissance.
Already home to the Woodbine Developmental Center and the Stockton University Annex, Woodbine is looking forward to a $7 million park project, Boyd said. The borough already has $50 million in capital improvement projects, and is collaborating with other agencies to bring in sewer lines. It is looking forward to a 10 megawatt solar array’s being installed on top of a former landfill.
The borough has three campgrounds and eight miles of biking and walking paths, she said, and former farms are being repurposed as equestrian centers. She said the Seashore Line railway is hoping to extend through Woodbine to Dennis Township.
Matalucci is a deputy sheriff and serves as the confidential assistant to the sheriff. He previously worked in the Secret Service during the administration of President George W. Bush.
“I hate politics,” Matalucci said in one of his earliest remarks, right after acknowledging that he couldn’t do the job of mayor without the other members of thecouncil and the administrator. He said one of his goals as mayor is to “keep Dennis Township as it is.”
At the same time, there are important projects he wants to see accomplished, such as the capping of two landfills, where solar arrays would be constructed. The result, he said, would be a 20% savings on electrical costs, plus a $3.5 million lease by the vendor, which will benefit taxpayers, who will need it after an anticipated 15.8% increase in the school tax that he said was approved by the state.
“Township government has no part in that,” he said.
The township is repaving and improving drainage on 21 roads, and the township library is being upgraded to take electronic book requests. He said the Chestnut Street Park fieldhouse went through a $1.7 million renovation. Township hall was also recently renovated, along with getting ADA improvements.
Matalucci said a new $617,000 jet vac truck was fully funded by grants and will be used to clean out storm drains.
Corson batted cleanup for the event. He is a 13th generation resident, his family having arrived in 1680. In 1989 he became involved in local politics, and in 1993 he was elected to the committee. He has served nonconsecutive terms as mayor, most recently being sworn in this year.
Corson described Upper Township as a very diversified portion of the county, including everything from beaches to forests and with significant business areas. The township, he said, is patrolled by the State Police, as is Woodbine, and he said he feels lucky the township does not have to hire and maintain a police department.
He said the township looks for ways to keep the tax rate down, and does so in part by working with neighboring municipalities and the county. He said the township has always been business-friendly, and is looking at two large development projects that would create mixed uses.
Corson said Upper Township was the best place to live in Cape May County.
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or call 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
