WEST WILDWOOD – West Wildwood commissioners voted to rescind a $1.75-million bond ordinance to fix sewer and road infrastructure, after taxpayers submitted a petition which would have forced the ordinance to go to referendum.
“I’m disappointed,” Mayor Christopher Fox told the public, at a March 11 meeting. Grant money, if approved, would have reimbursed the borough for a portion of the bond.
The bond has been the topic of much discussion in West Wildwood, since a Jan. 23 meeting that Mayor Christopher Fox did not attend.
Commissioners Amy Korobellis and Scott Golden were not prepared to answer questions on the reasons the borough was appealing for the bond causing the petition against it to begin circulating.
“They’re good people. They do the best they can,” Fox said. “I try to research as much as I can and try to get as many answers. As do they.”
“I’m new. I’m learning. Sorry,” Korobellis said, adding, “I don’t think I could do that job (of mayor).”
Next Meeting
At the following meeting, Fox returned and had the engineer and auditor explain the bond’s necessity.
The Concerned Taxpayers of West Wildwood (CTWWW), a watchdog group that had championed the petition, subsequently released a memo saying they were no longer supporting it, that it had “fulfilled its original mission of obtaining clarity and transparency.”
Replaced Signatures
However, Nancy Doherty, who unsuccessfully ran for commissioner in November, went out and replaced signatures, getting a total of 45; 41 signatures were required to send the ordinance to a referendum.
“I’m disappointed, and yes, that she would go and do this. I am specifically saying there with Nancy. I’m being honest with everybody. You guys, that group actually did a fantastic job in my opinion by saying, ok, we looked at this, we saw what we have is good; we’re stepping away from it. I’m pleased with that. That was a good thing. Nancy obviously didn’t see it that way, so I’m disappointed. It’s her prerogative,” said the mayor.
Doherty said by the time more information was available, causing CTWWW to stop supporting the petition, it was too late.
“I just want to clarify on when I had turned in the petition. I turned the petition in prior to anyone saying they wanted to withdraw or that they didn’t want to do it anymore,” Doherty said.
Timeline Disputed
Fox disputed that timeline, saying although the petition was originally submitted before the memo from CTWWW that they were no longer in favor of it, she went out after and replaced some of the signatures.
“Nancy, as much as I would like to agree with you, I can’t,” Fox said. “When you were sent back out to replace signatures, you did not have to go replace them signatures.”
Fox said they voted to rescind the ordinance instead of putting it on a ballot to save cost and because he thinks there may be a way to rework the ordinance and still get the money necessary to start the project.
“It’s between $20,000-25,000 it costs us to have a special election ballot. It’s a lot of money. It’s more than a penny of taxes, so it’s kind of hard to do something like that,” Fox said, “but I think there are other avenues we might be able to go to make this work so everybody’s happy when we finish. That’s the hope.”
Project’s Necessity
The sewer project had become necessary to repair sinking, leaking infrastructure underground, according to the borough’s engineer Jim Oris, of the firm Remington and Vernick. The project would have taken place on Poplar Avenue, between Arion and G Avenues, and on G Avenue, between Poplar and Glenwood avenues.
Fox said the borough still applied for the U.S. Department of Agriculture grant that would be used for the project, and by next month’s meeting, he is hopeful they may have some solution.
“There are still a couple more options out there that we can put together and submit another one, but as of right now, that’s not been discussed, but yes, there are options. We’re going to wait to see what happens, but hopefully, we can do something that works out well for the borough,” Fox said.
To contact Shay Roddy, email sroddy@cmcherald.com.
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