ED. NOTE: The following comments by Dave Mayer, of Island Produce, were received after deadline for the Feb. 10 edition of the Herald, and are running online only: “Any concerns about the mechanical safety of the vehicles is unfounded. They’re really well maintained and in compliance with all local and state laws and ordinances. My hope is that we can continue — this will be our 33rd year in operation in the Crest, and we look forward to starting it in the spring.”
WILDWOOD CREST – A resolution to approve licenses required for ice cream and fruit trucks to operate in Wildwood Crest this summer was tabled, at a Jan. 27 Board of Commissioners meeting, to give the governing body time to consider it, after a rare conflict arose, when it came time for a vote.
Deputy Mayor Joyce Gould surprised Mayor Don Cabrera and Commissioner David Thompson by voting against the resolution. She is in favor of ice cream trucks, she said, but fears the vehicles that sell the fruit are unsafe.
“I don’t really want to do the fruit trucks anymore, to be perfectly honest. I want to do the ice cream, so I can’t vote for this,” Gould said, at the meeting, before voting “no” on the resolution.
After the meeting, she said she doesn’t have an issue with the service, where produce is sold out of colorful, old pickup trucks, but worries the vehicles may be mechanically unsafe.
“I want to make sure that they’re safe,” said Gould. “It’s something we really should be reviewing.”
Thompson voted for the resolution, but instead of casting the third and deciding vote, Cabrera asked that the resolution be tabled, so commissioners could have more time to review it with the solicitor.
“I’m not really expecting a controversy. I just think she had a question or two. We just tabled it for clarification. I would expect it to come back at the next meeting, probably as is,” said Thompson.
“I think Don (Cabrera) and Dave (Thompson) were kind of taken by surprise,” Gould said, adding she did not plan to vote no going into the meeting. “I really didn’t even see that when I looked through the agenda beforehand. I saw the ice cream trucks, but I didn’t see the fruit trucks.”
The resolution would’ve approved six licenses – three for ice cream trucks and three for fruit trucks. Island Produce, the Wildwood company that operates the fruit trucks, did not immediately respond to a voicemail left by the Herald for a comment on their vehicles’ inspection status.
The fruit trucks, mostly older model pickups, design the beds to resemble a farm stand and use bright paint jobs to attract customers. Cabrera said he hopes the resolution will pass at the next meeting.
“That’s why I wanted to table it; I wanted to allow her the opportunity to ask the right people and then hopefully, at the next meeting we will have everything resolved,” Cabrera told the Herald, adding he didn’t understand Gould’s objection.
“I have no idea. I don’t know why… I don’t know if something was bothering her. I haven’t spoken to her to know what it was. I hope between now and the next meeting, it’s all worked out,” he said.
Thompson agreed that was the best strategy, with plenty of time until the beginning of the season.
“This time of year, we have plenty of time to do it,” he said. “It’s just a couple of questions she had and wanted to make sure of, which would make sense, so I think it’s the proper thing, to just put it on hold and get her questions resolved.”
An agenda emailed to the Herald in advance of the Feb. 10 commissioners meeting shows the tabled resolution was broken into two separate resolutions, allowing commissioners to vote on each separately.
To contact Shay Roddy, email sroddy@cmcherald.com.
