Lower Township Reorganizes; Stays in Republican Control

VILLAS – There were no surprises when the Lower Township Council reorganized Jan. 2. It was a Republican celebration all the way.
After the swearing in, the same five Republican lawmakers returned to run the township.
Three seats were up for grabs in November and all three were won by the incumbents.
 Ward 1 Councilman Thomas Conrad was sworn by Freeholder Director Gerald Thornton as his wife Stacey held the Bible. Ward 2 Councilman David Perry had his wife Janet hold the Bible as he was sworn by Cape May County Sheriff Robert Nolan.
Ward 3 Councilman Roland Roy Jr. was sworn by Lower Township Republican Club President and Cape May County Counsel Jeffrey Lindsay as wife Melissa held the Bible.
The three councilmen returned to join fellow Republicans Mayor Erik Simonsen and Deputy Mayor Frank Sippel.
Conrad was first to address the full house of well-wishers.
“I would like to thank all the residents of Ward 1 in Villas and my family,” he said. Conrad held up a large stack of papers and said, “For those who think we (council) don’t do much, this was our homework since Friday.”
Perry echoed Conrad’s remarks thanking voters and family and added local Republicans and the county GOP for assisting in his re-election.
“As you know, I’ll be out in the neighborhoods, working on projects,” Perry said before thanking his fellow council members.
Roy was thankful for the support of family, friends, neighbors and Ward 3 residents.
“Thank you very much for voting for me,” said Roy.
“We work well together; we have great township employees. I look forward to the next couple of years,” Sippel said, addressing his fellow councilmen.
Simonsen reiterated Sippel’s statement, congratulating the newly-sworn councilmen and calling township employees “excellent.”
“It would be hard to find another municipality that offers the services we do with no tax raise. I look forward to 2019,” he said.
The governing body passed 50 housekeeping resolutions.
Township Manager James Ridgway informed council that he expected to present them with a proposed budget at the first meeting in February.
During the public portion of the meeting, a Dennis Township resident raised a topic for council that governing bodies throughout the county and state will need to address in the coming months.
Cannabis dispensary hopeful Emmett Vandergrift told the councilmen that since he spoke to them in June, his application for a license had missed being approved by a few points for lack of public support.
He explained that a new round of licenses was coming up and wanted to know if they had given a dispensary in Lower any further thought and if he could make another presentation. Simonsen said they hadn’t but intended to do so and invited Vandergrift to make another presentation in the future.