NORTH WILDWOOD — Dozens of local government officials were on hand as Dennis Crippen, deputy mayor Dennis Township, was installed as the 2009 president of the Cape May County League of Municipalities.
Crippen was sworn in Tuesday, Feb. 24 by State Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-1st) at the league’s annual installation dinner at Westy’s Irish Pub, E. Walnut and Olde New Jersey Avenues.
Crippen, a vice president last year, is taking over for 2008 President Joseph Tipping, of Avalon.
Sworn in by Assemblyman Matthew Milam (D-1st) were other League officers: First Vice President William Davenport, Wildwood; Second Vice President David Ellenberg, Avalon; Secretary Bonnie Carlson, Wildwood Crest; and Treasurer Carl Schupp, Cape May Point.
According to Crippen, the state League of Municipalities, which includes representatives from all 566 New Jersey municipalities, lobbies for legislation that would positively affect local governments and their citizens.
“The county league focuses more specifically on issues that affect the municipalities in this county,” Crippen told the Herald. “We endorse legislation and push forward projects that would be beneficial to Cape May County.”
As an example, Crippen said the league was instrumental in opposing Gov. Jon Corzine’s efforts to get rural municipalities to pay for State Police services. He said the league has also been discussing the state’s new policy on alternative energy such as windmills and solar panels and working on ways to make those energy forms for local governments.
He said the league’s monthly dinners give local government officials an opportunity to discuss recent developments, share ideas and plan for the future. Dinner attendees also hear from guest speakers who give presentations on various issues important to local governments.
The featured speakers Feb. 24 were Cape May County Clerk Rita Marie Fulginiti and Records Manager Lizabeth Shay, who talked about the county’s records management initiatives funded by the state Public Archives and Records Infrastructure Support (PARIS) grant program.
According to Fulginiti, the 16 municipalities joined with the county in a shared services agreement, which made for strong PARIS grant applications and enabled the county to receive $4.4 million in funding over the past four years.
Using this funding, the county has been able to provide records management assistance to municipalities, conserve historical municipal records and construct a Records Recovery Center that maintains data backups from over 30 county servers, to protect against loss of records in the event of a hurricane or other disaster.
For their disaster preparedness projects, Fulginiti and Shay were recognized with a PARIS Grants Award of Excellence in 2007.
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com
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