Beach Safety, Bond Projects Dominate Discussion at City Council Meeting

CAPE MAY – Cape May City Council began its May 17 meeting by passing two bond ordinances. These are annual ones that cover planned capital projects. 
The first was for $3 million including $1 million in additional support for the swimming pool project at the elementary school, $750,000 for annual road projects, $200,000 for a new ambulance, and $300,000 for replacement fuel tanks at the Public Works yard.
The remainder is slotted for smaller capital requests from various departments.
The second, a $1.2-million ordinance, was for the Water and Sewer Utility. It will support new capital equipment, mapping of the sewer system soon to be required by the state, and development of a water master plan.
 Beach Safety
The city recently established a Beach Safety Committee to deal with the continuing risks for beach goers stemming from dangerous slopes in the surf zones, the area marked by the low and high tide points. City Manager Bruce MacLeod announced that the committee met for the first time May 11; future meetings will be monthly with the next June 1 at 1 p.m. in the council meeting room.
Members of the committee include Mayor Edward Mahaney, Deputy Mayor Bea Pessagno, Macleod, Solicitor Anthony Monzo, Captain of the Beach Patrol, Supervisor of the beach tag staff, and the Superintendent of Public Works.
He also indicated that beach safety advocates Anita and Dennis DeSatnick participated, but it was unclear from his statement if they were committee members.
The city has mounted an enhanced public education and awareness effort with alterations to its safety brochure given to all beach goers when they buy tags, new signage, school presentations, and continued work on infomercials for the city’s cable TV channel.
The committee discussed, according to MacLeod, issues related to the beach slope and the potential for direct city intervention in the form of “moving sand” to reduce the slope.
Physical intervention on the beach profile is under strict regulation from state Department of Environmental Protection and the Army Corps of Engineers. Permits allowing some city maintenance of the beaches are narrowly constrained.
During public comments, Dennis DeSatnick praised the education efforts but continued to press for action on the injury-prone surf zone area.
During the discussion, Mahaney said that his “strategy” was tied to a scheduled beach replenishment by the Army Corps of Engineers scheduled after this summer. 
Mahaney noted that this upcoming federal project would cover “all our beaches,” and pointed to the fact the effort will be unlike earlier ones which were partial replenishments.
Mahaney said he hoped that he could convince the Army Corps to engage in engineering solutions to the slope problem through alterations of their beach template. 
If successful, the effort would apply an engineering effort to all of the city beaches at once. Mahaney admitted that the priority for DEP and the Army Corps was replenishment and the security of the coast to damage from dangerous storms.
“Recreational beaches are a secondary consideration for them,” he conceded. The slope dangers, probably linked to years of replenishment efforts, are something that the city hopes will gain attention because similar replenishment projects all along the coast are likely to start producing injury zones in other municipalities.
Sheehan Controversy
The on-going controversy concerning the status of Capt. Robert Sheehan, head of the police department, was discussed when Council member Shane Maier spoke about his fears “Our police department is not properly staffed” to meet its public safety obligations.
Given the importance of public safety in any community, especially one week away from multiplying its population, the remarks represented a significant public criticism of the governing body of which Meier is a part.
No response came from any other council member nor from Macleod to whom the police department reports.
The essence of Meier’s concern was the lack of senior officers in the department with only one command-level officer above the rank of sergeant, that being Sheehan.
Meier criticized the governing body for allowing the issues related to its police department to go unresolved for 15 months. For Meier, the solution is to begin “hiring and promoting” in the department and to “reinstate Sheehan as chief.”
His solution may be much easier stated than acted upon given that Sheehan still has a lawsuit against the city; that the police force comes under Civil Service rules with respect to many personnel actions; and given the lack of any sign that members of the governing body are predisposed to a solution that includes Sheehan in the leadership role.
Just this past week, the city concluded an administrative hearing seeking to discipline Sheehan for an alleged firearms qualification violation dating to 2009.
If the city is successful, Sheehan will be suspended. He is the only command-level officer, which would coincide with the start of the summer season and the influx of thousands to the city.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.