Sea Isle City Changes Form of Government

SEA ISLE CITY — A crowd of over 100 gathered on the Promenade July 1 to witness a piece of local history.
A referendum vote last year changed the form of government here from a three-person commission with an appointed mayor to a five-person council and a directly elected mayor.
Sunday marked the official change.
Mayor Leonard Desiderio and council members Mike McHale, John Divney, Mary Tighe, William Kehner and Frank Edwardi took their oaths of office during a sunny ceremony filled with the usual pomp and circumstance.
State Senator Nicholas Asselta (R-1st), county Freeholder Director Daniel Beyel, Boy Scout Troop 76, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 1963 and members of the Sea Isle Police Department were all part of the event.
The air was filled with song on the boardwalk as VFW officer Russell Briggs led those gathered in the National Anthem and God Bless America and McHale’s daughter Judy DiBabbo sang Josh Groban’s “You Raise Me Up.”
The six new officials on the dais survived a contentious campaign that included three mayoral candidates and 20 council candidates.
Desiderio, who’s been in office since 1993, beat out Don Laricks and George “Pat” Haffert for the mayor’s seat. He will serve a four-year term.
Because council elections are to be staggered, two members were picked at random for longer terms. Edwardi and Kehner will serve for four years while McHale, Divney and Tighe will serve two-year terms.
Beyel administered the oath of office to his fellow freeholder Desiderio and in his remarks the Mayor said he looked forward to working with the new council. He also thanked the departing commissioners James Iannone and Angela Dalrymple who, he said, devoted so much of themselves to the city for so many years.
After taking their oaths, council members thanked their families and the voters who got them there.
“Thanks to all my new bosses out there,” Divney said to the crowd of constituents.
He told them they could thank his wife for his being there.
“She told me to run for office or stop complaining, so here I am,” Divney said.
“We said we would hit the ground running,” McHale said of the council’s promise to work hard for Sea Isle’s residents, “but I’d say we hit it sprinting.”
He said that council had set a goal to have the new municipal code ready by September or October, but finished it before even taking office.
McHale, chosen by the others as council president, also noted that council had met on several occasions with residents allowing them a voice in the new “open” government.
Edwardi was the first to be named vice president, an office that will be rotated periodically among the members.
The new governing body passed three resolutions to finish its business for the day. It appointed zoning board members, reappointed Paul Baldini as solicitor and established its meeting dates for the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month.
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com