3 Sworn, Baldwin Selected Deputy Mayor in Cape May

CAPE MAY – Cape May City Council held its annual reorganization meeting Jan. 3, which included a mayoral address on the state of the city. 
Cape May voters had already passed a form of judgement on the direction the city is taking when they reelected each council member who stood for another term and failed to elect a former mayor and deputy mayor who sought to regain seats on the governing body. 
Reorganization
The formal part of the meeting was routine and dispatched quickly.
Three members of the governing body took the oath of office, including Lorraine Baldwin and Shaine Meier, both of whom were reelected for another term. 
Maureen McDade was then sworn in as a newcomer to the council. McDade gained a seat that was vacated by Stacy Sheehan, who opted not to stand for reelection. Michael Yeager, also reelected to his seat in November, had previously been sworn. Yeager had earlier been appointed to the council following the resignation of Christopher Bezaire. The council unanimously selected Baldwin as deputy mayor, a position that had been held by Sheehan.
Council liaison positions were settled, with the only change from 2022 being McDade replacing Sheehan as liaison to the Municipal Taxation and Revenue Advisory Committee. McDade had been a member of that committee before her election to council.
The consent agenda contained the long list of housekeeping resolutions that are normal in any annual reorganization. Of note, City Manager Michael Voll was reappointed for 2023. In a separate resolution, the city also renewed its contract with Christopher Gillen-Schwartz as city solicitor. 
State of the City
Mayor Zack Mullock, the only member of the governing body who did not have to stand for reelection, gave his state of the city address, using the opportunity to highlight the many projects, completed or ongoing, that marked 2022.
Under a heading of ‘Protecting Cape May,’ Mullock spoke first of the progress made on a new fire station and the city’s preparation for a new police facility once the expected approval for a land swap agreement is authorized by the state. 
It was this issue of new facilities for public safety departments that played a role in catapulting Mullock into the mayor’s seat in 2020.
Mullock spoke on the new Atlantic City Electric substation on Elmira Street, the move to central dispatch, the purchase of new public safety vehicles that are hybrid or fully electric, and of preservation efforts underway at the Allen African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and Franklin Street School.
Mullock continued with what he called “the timeless quality we have as a town” by pointing to the effort to construct six new arches along the Promenade to replicate historic arches from the turn of the 20th century.
Preserving the environment had its turn in the address with emphasis on the Sewell Tract preservation, solar panels that provide electricity to city hall, and the city’s selection as a silver certified sustainable New Jersey location, the only one, Mullock said, given that status while being under 5,000 residents.
A discussion of resiliency followed, with attention given to a planned replacement of the water discharge pump on Elmira Street and the prospect of an engineering study that will look at flooding at the far end of Washington Street near the entrance to the city.
Perhaps the most important challenge facing the city in the near term is the need to upgrade its water desalination plant. Mullock pointed to grants already received for the initial study and the engineering for a new facility. 
Noting that this will be a very expensive project, Mullock listed the many organizations and government entities from which the city will be seeking funding. 
He spoke of the $60 million federal project to expand the Coast Guard facility and underscored that without a parallel expansion of the city water plant, the city would not have the water capacity to support a large Coast Guard base. This, he hoped, would open new potential areas of federal funding for the plant.
Covering the municipal and county roads programs, public restroom improvements, new developments and parking spaces at the Welcome Center, and even new foot shower installations planned for all beach entrance points, Mullock provided a sense of a city on the move while always conscious of its history.
The address did not lose sight of improvements at Kiwanis Park, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project rebuilding part of the city seawall, and expectations that the city may fund significant improvements in affordable housing through a partnership effort with the Housing Authority.
On affordable housing, Mullock took issue with continued reporting regarding the use of affordable housing trust fund money for employee bonuses in 2020. He called it an “error” from the past that occurred under a previous administration. 
Mullock said not “every mistake from the past can be corrected.” If he meant that there is some level of funds that the city expects it will not recover, this is a qualification the city has not made quite so openly in the past. Mullock did not elaborate.
While Mullock listed many sources from which the city will seek grant funding for its many and varied projects, the mayor also placed emphasis on the city’s strong financial position. 
He pointed to almost $10 million in current fund surplus, healthy balances in the three self-financing utilities, and a refinancing of long-term debt that allowed the city to lock in low interest rates ahead of a general rise in rates.
Mullock ended his address by characterizing Cape May as an example of a community that can and does work for common aims, juxtaposing it to the level of division that has infected much of the nation’s politics. Cape May shows, according to its mayor, that avoiding political polarization is possible and rewarding.   
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.