NORTH WILDWOOD – A North Wildwood resident with 34 years of experience working in the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said he wants to help the city find a resolution to its ongoing feud with the regulator, but the city isn’t interested in his perspective.
Lance Miller, who lives year-round on 24th Street after retiring to the island on which he grew up vacationing, said he joined the DEP right out of college in 1976. Miller worked his way up in the agency, eventually serving as an assistant commissioner before he retired.
Miller believes his experience inside the DEP and his connection to the city give him a unique perspective and put him in a position to help both sides stop the fighting and come together to work out a sensible solution to alleviate North Wildwood of its beachfront vulnerability.
He said he learned the city had an Environmental Commission and found on the city website that it had a vacancy. Miller said he reached out to Ron Simone, who was then the city administrator, to ask about the vacancy, but he received no reply.
Soon after, Simone took a job with the county, and Miller emailed his successor, Nicholas Long, who told him the position was no longer available.
“I went back on the website and looked up the Environmental Commission again. There weren’t any vacancies. Ron Simone had been appointed,” Miller recalled in an interview with the Herald.
That’s one example, he said, of the way the city views his input.
“They see me as a bother,” said Miller. “I contacted the city administrator to see what the process was. The process was we don’t want this guy on the Environmental Commission. We’re going to appoint our old city administrator.”
Miller said Mayor Patrick Rosenello, who recommends appointments to City Council for the Environmental Commission, would prefer to operate in an echo chamber.
“He likes to do things his way. He thinks whatever he wants to do is the right thing. He’s sadly mistaken,” Miller said.
When reached by the Herald for comment, Simone pointed to the city’s various environmental achievements during his time as administrator, including earning a Class 6 Community Rating System (CRS) rating for floodplain management, a bronze certification from Sustainable Jersey, certification from Tree City USA, and founding other recycling and trash cleanup programs.
He said after leaving his professional role with the city, he wanted to stay involved in environmental issues in North Wildwood, where he lives.
“That is why I personally expressed interest in serving on the North Wildwood Environmental Commission before my last day in the office,” Simone told the Herald. “I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to serve on the Environmental Commission.”
In an email, Rosenello told the Herald he believes Simone has a shared vision and the requisite experience for the Environmental Commission vacancy.
“People are appointed to Boards and Commissions with the City when their vision and beliefs for what is best for North Wildwood align with the governing body. I have very little knowledge of Mr. Miller, his vision, and beliefs. I can assure you, however, that Mr. Simone, after starting as an intern and rising to City Administrator, before making the step up to Deputy County Administrator, has the education, knowledge and shared vision required for this commission,” Rosenello stated.
A Different Approach
Miller said he certainly would have taken a much different approach than Rosenello, who has bashed the state agency in the media, flouted its regulations, and then sued for $21 million.
“Continuing to take a belligerent, antagonistic position with the DEP is only going to harden their position,” Miller warned.
He said the DEP is not a collection agency and does not prefer to fine municipalities. It’s something reserved as a last resort when they cannot work with a town to get them compliant.
Now, North Wildwood is facing almost $13 million in fines for unauthorized work it did along the beach.
The DEP “probably said ‘enough is enough. Let’s get their full attention that we’re not kidding around,’” said Miller, adding the $21 million counterclaim “could have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
“These administrative orders and penalties were probably in the works for quite some time. I think the state was waiting to see if the city was going to come around and comply. I guess when they filed that countersuit, they got their answer,” Miller theorized.
He said he has a few strategies the city should employ to get the best version of storm protection and save some of the money its spending fighting the DEP and that it will eventually spend paying fines imposed by the agency.
First, he thinks the city should withdraw the $21 million counterclaim it filed against the DEP, a suit he described as demanding the DEP pay for all the illegal work North Wildwood did.
“That lawsuit has absolutely no chance of winning,” Miller said. “Can you imagine the other municipalities in the state saying, ‘North Wildwood can sue the DEP? We’ll sue them, too, for not providing protection for flooding on the Raritan River or the Passaic River or any other river in the state.’ It’s just ridiculous.”
Miller said the city could also move its Beach Patrol building landward. In its current location, the building sticks out into the natural dune line. He suggests relocating it or building a new one on the site of a parking lot just west of where it sits now.
He also recommended the city take on supplemental environmental projects, like replacing old city vehicles with new electric ones or other green initiatives. Projects like that can mitigate penalties issued by the department.
Miller also sees problems in the city’s construction office, where permits were issued for work on Seaport Pier and other locations that were not compliant with the DEP’s process.
“We need to do something about our construction officials. Our construction officials are issuing permits that are in violation of state law. They need to be trained not to do that,” he said.
Perhaps most important, Miller said, is to start negotiating.
“Get the best deal possible. You can admit you were wrong and say, ‘OK, going forward, we’re going to comply,’” Miller suggested.
A Self-Inflicted Wound
Miller said the city is misguided in saying they are now facing an emergency. It’s a situation he believes is self-inflicted by not working hand-in-hand with the regulator through the process of constructing the storm protection projects the city put into place.
Had North Wildwood trusted that process, Miller said they would have done things the right way, like building the bulkhead higher, with fewer angles, and in a way that did not disturb one of the city’s best assets – its natural dunes. That is, if the bulkhead was needed at all.
Miller said the city applied for some permits, but when the DEP pointed out deficiencies in their proposals, the city didn’t respond.
“They didn’t look to correct the deficiencies and address the issues the DEP raised. Now, to sit there and say, ‘It’s now an emergency!’ Well, you created it,” Miller argued. “You can’t create an emergency and then say, ‘I’m going to do this because it’s an emergency.’ No! You caused it.”
Miller is particularly frustrated by the destruction of one dune, which used to sit in front of Seaport Pier.
“All the sudden, it just disappeared,” he recalled.
Miller said he looked into why. Despite written denials sent to him by city officials – which he shared with the Herald – that it was done at the city’s direction, he found out that the city did order the dune there to be destroyed.
Tucked away, on page 248 of the 400-page 2018 Beach Fill Contract, prepared for the city by its engineering firm, it states the “intent is to relocate the dune in front of the 22nd Avenue Pier.”
“Why would they do that? Why would the city pay money to take a dune out?” Miller wondered.
Punishment is a Deterrent to Breaking the Law
The nearly $13 million in fines were “definitely designed, I think, to get North Wildwood’s attention,” Miller surmised. “We always hoped (at the DEP) when we get to that point of having to penalize somebody, that they’re then going to see the light and change their ways.”
While negotiation could go a long way to reducing the penalties, he said there still likely will be a price for the city’s handling of the situation.
“My guess is there would have to be some penalty paid just because of the mayor’s unyielding attitude,” said Miller. “If you violate the law, there’s consequences. If there aren’t any consequences, you’re going to have problems with other municipalities just doing whatever they want.”
Take a Walk
Joined one March Friday by a reporter for his brisk daily walk along the oceanfront, Miller pointed out the various problems he saw with the way North Wildwood installed the bulkhead.
He pointed to the dune system that only begins where the bulkhead ends, something he said is not a coincidence. He pointed to the Beach Patrol headquarters, an old concrete building that sits in a cut-out section of the former dune line.
Taking a break from the walk, in front of the Beach Patrol building, while a forklift unloaded sections of steel bulkhead off a tractor trailer, Miller pointed out a man driving a black pickup truck with state government license plates photographing the work from a distance.
“There’s a 99% chance that’s the DEP,” Miller said.
Rather than wasting time and money investigating and litigating, Miller said it’s time to reach a resolution.
“I’m here to help try to resolve this. I gave 34 years of my life to working for the State of New Jersey. I bleed New Jersey, but I also am now a resident of North Wildwood. I want to see North Wildwood come into compliance and do the right things and protect this beautiful island,” he said.
Contact the author, Shay Roddy, at sroddy@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 142.
