Beyel, Sheets Attend Their Last Freeholder Meeting

COURT HOUSE — Parting was sweet sorrow for Freeholder Director Daniel Beyel and Freeholder Ralph Sheets Jr. at their final meeting on the county’s top governing board Tue., Dec. 27.
On Jan. 5, taking their places will be Will Morey and Kristine Gabor,
North Wildwood Mayor Bill Henfey and Cape May Mayor Dr. Edward Mahaney presented resolutions passed by their respective city governing bodies. Henfey thanked both for their service, and added that Sheets and he were detectives in the 1970s. Mahaney noted that both were free with their “great advice.” He cited “all the public works projects” that the county had aided the city in doing: streets, promenade, traffic signals and for Beyel for his “tremendous work over the last 10 years working on the Brodesser-Robinson parcel.”
He said that tract will become a 79-acre pristine wetlands that residents and visitors alike will enjoy in the future. “Your help pieced the funding together. The people of Cape May and the county will be forever grateful for all you did for us,” Mahaney said.
Additionally, he cited the new convention hall that will be an economic boost for the city. He also pointed to Sheets’ work with the Cape May County Mosquito Control Department that had become a model agency in the nation.
William Quinn, chairman of the county Open Space Board presented Beyel with a plaque. He pointed to Beyel’s “leadership and dedication.” Since Jan. 4, 1996, the board had preserved 841 acres of open space and 1,948 acres of farmland set aside from development under his tenure.
“Your support and our efforts helped save our children’s heritage,” Quinn told Beyel.
Former Freeholder Ralph Bakley Sr., thanked both freeholders for their help when he was a newcomer to the board.”I can’t tell you how much I and the citizens of Cape May County will miss both of you,” Bakley said.Jokingly, he said Beyel was “pretty tight with a buck,” but added “That’s the way is should be,” pointing to the fact that the county has the lowest tax rate in the state.
Sheets said he as Bakley were in the Air Force at the same time and that, amazingly, their serial numbers were only six digits apart.
Chief of Detectives Eugene Taylor of the County Prosecutor’s Office extended Prosecutor Robert Taylor’s thanks to the both freeholders. He cited the support the board had given to the office. To Sheets, Taylor extended his gratitude “from chief to chief.”
He alluded to Sheets as Wildwood police chief prior to his becoming Wildwood mayor then freeholder.
Sheriff Gary Schaffer told Sheets he recalled the support both men had given when he was director of the county’s Public Safety Training Academy. Schaffer recalled when he and Sheets were working an undercover operation in in 1973,
He also recalled a time when Sheets had wrestled a gun-toting suspect to the ground, and the gun went off between Sheets legs. No harm came to Sheets from that episode. At the thought of it, Sheets laughed.
County Parks Director Mike Laffey told Beyel that, as a young man who grew up locally, he recalled when the county park and zoo were in their early stages of growth. He never envisioned that, someday, he would become a man in charge of that vast park, which contained the central one in Swainton and others in Del Haven and Marmora.
County Engineer Dale Foster, pointed to 21 years of working with both Beyel and Sheets. Among the projects of which he was most proud were the Ocean City – Longport Bridge, which won many awards, and for the Public Safety Training Center, which is used by an increasing number of persons in the public safety sector, police, fire and rescue workers.
Also, he noted the Atlantic Cape Community College Court House campus and the park and zoo, which have been upgraded to serve the public better than before.
One of the latest projects was the Sea Isle City Branch of the County Library System, as well as the Avalon Canal Bridge widening project.
Some day, Foster said, when the Garden State Parkway overpasses eliminate the traffic signals in Middle Township, when that project is done, “Our fingerprints will be all over that project,” Foster said. The project had “a lot of input and guidance from freeholders,” he added.
Chief Financial Officer Edmund Grant, a former Wildwood mayor, said he and Sheets had known each other for many years, and their families had known each other for many years.
He lauded Beyel for his financial acumen that has helped the county earn an AAA bond rating, and the state’s lowest county tax rate. When Beyel assumed office, the tax rate was “43 or 44 cents, not it’s 18 cents,” said Grant. That low rate, he said, “equates to conserving and maintaining jobs.”
“Regardless of our political differences, I want you to know..because of your work and efforts I can assure you this is a better place for us to live in and for the citizens,” said Freeholder Gerald Thornton, the presumed next director of the board.
“Although we may have disagreed, I have the greatest respect for you and your accomplishments,” Thornton said.
Both Beyel and Sheets said thank you and farewell, and were grateful for the confidence accorded to them numerous times by the voters of the county. Beyel and Sheets were honored with board resolutions