Miller: Make Convention Hall Choices in Public

CAPE MAY — Christine Miller, who led a successful petition drive to require a voter referendum that delayed construction of the Washington Street mall two years ago, asked if council would choose the interior options for a new Convention Hall in a public meeting.
At a council meeting Tuesday, Sept. 22, Miller said there were no other public meetings scheduled until a final town meeting on Convention Hall on Thursday, Oct. 9 at Cape May Elementary School which present the final, preliminary design before a Tuesday, Nov. 4 voter referendum.
“Since city council business has to be done in public, don’t you have to decide what of the features you are going to do in public?” she asked.
Miller complained the city has only dealt with one architect, Kimmel Bogrette, so it is unknown if dollar figures given for possible features for a new hall are correct.
She said the cost of interior options for a new facility should have been presented at council’s first town hall meeting on Convention Hall.
Miller said it seemed to her the city only could afford to put solar panels on the roof and risers and seats in a new convention hall but nothing else from a $984,000 budget. She said if a geothermal energy system and solar panels were installed, no money would be left for seats and risers and no performance equipment such as stage lights and a sound system.
Miller said it appeared that city council had not made a priority of green/alternative energy elements and performing arts elements because there was not sufficient funds in the budget meaning council would have “to pick one or the other.”
She described the proposed hall as “big box with stores across the front that does look like Bed Bath & Beyond, it looks like an anchor building for what everyone calls an entertainment complex or a new mall.”
“So many questions are left,” said Miller. “Is there going to be roller skating and what is the floor going to be made of?”
“None of these things has the council actually addressed individually so no one knows what work each councilperson is putting in to this and what they are really for,” she continued.
Deputy Mayor Linda Steenrod said each council member wanted to make a new Convention Hall “as green as possible.” She said if council meets together to discuss options for the hall, it must be done in public.
Interim City Manager Bruce MacLeod said architect Martin Kimmel was recognized for his excellent work.
“Our efforts have been to provide as much information and to be a direct and specific as we possibly can about everything,” he said.
MacLeod said council members had the costs of interior options only for a few days.
He said the city did not have “enough money to do all things that would be desired.” The city has a limit of $10.5 million placed on the project before all the potential costs were developed, said MacLeod. He said the city would need to make some difficult decisions that may not be the “preferred” decisions for the project.
MacLeod said there could be difficulty undertaking a geothermal project along the waterfront.
Mayor Edward J. Mahaney and Councilman Niels Favre were absent from the meeting.