Sea Isle Goes Paid EMS, Mayor Gives Annual Update

SEA ISLE CITY – Feb. 14 brought Mayor Leonard Desiderio to Council Chambers in City Hall for its regular meeting and his annual State of the City address and 2017 presentation. 
Each year the mayor sets out future priorities and observations about what has transpired the past year. On this occasion, Desiderio stood for the entire meeting because as he ruefully noted, “I am passing a kidney stone, and it’s more comfortable if I stand.”
He also said that as a result of recommendations of consultants, the city would be moving from its long-standing volunteer ambulance corps to paid emergency management services.
“We’ve already put this cost into the budget council will be considering for 2017. We expect many of our newly hired EMS personnel to come from the ranks of our present volunteer corps. At the next council meeting, our EMS consultant will present a briefing which lays out what our options were and related costs.” 
Desiderio noted this year would first go a bit beyond the usual considerations of just Sea Isle City given the “current divide in the U. S. with the beauty of our country being that all freedom of expression is protected.”
Desiderio highlighted that no public services, that all have come to expect when living or visiting the island, would be diminished.
“Our objective is to keep Sea Isle City safe and clean while balancing our laws to give everyone the ability to pursue their private and public ventures,” Desiderio said.
“I want to mention last summer’s law enforcement situation when we had a really unusual drastic surge of juveniles on the boardwalk that we had to manage because of late night rowdiness.
“Sometimes we have to take unpopular measures, but we always want to communicate what we are doing efficiently and also provide ways to work together to change a law as needed,” Desiderio said.
“We have frameworks of review in place that we use daily; sometimes they’re not even noticed. And we always want to make as much room for input from the public. For the upcoming summer season we already have plans in place to continue successful management of the safety of our boardwalk and town,” he continued.
Other highlights of the past year that Desiderio mentioned:
* Passing of FAR (floor to area ratio) rules for new construction.
* Housing density on the island.
* Parking and provisions for biking and biker safety.
Another priority for his administration, explained Desiderio, was the best practices and leadership the city had embarked on related to flooding prevention.
“Twenty-five years ago Sea Isle City was under scrutiny by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) because of the lack of standards we had regarding flood prevention. We were threatened with removal from federal flood insurance. Now we are under scrutiny again but this time as a role model and have the highest discount allowable for flood insurance for our property owners,” the mayor said.
Related to the flooding issue, council approved on first reading, ordinances that address the issue.
The first ordinance concerns flood damage prevention as it supports the first amendment to the city’s Watershed Management Plan adopted in 2016.
The second ordinance is entitled “Standards Applicable to Major Development” and amends the municipality’s storm management standards as they apply to major development, establishing per the ordinance “higher regulatory standards consistent with watershed management of the city and its master plan.”
Desiderio continued on the subject of flood management by noting the city is moving forward with a flood mitigation study for the areas historically hardest hit on the island and is prioritizing projects for road elevation and storm water pump stations.
“The people want to see action, and we are working and focusing on proving results,” he said.
Council approved on first reading an ordinance which concerns wages, salaries, and compensation for city employees. This type of ordinance is usually a routine administrative matter but, per Desiderio, “This year we are including the new costs we are anticipating for our EMS personnel as we move from volunteers to paid 24/7 service.”
During the public comment portion, a resident asked about a resolution which authorizes the mayor to execute permit Jersey Central Power and Light Company (JCPL) to conduct certain city work including the reconstruction of a portion of the sanitary sewer on 39th St. at Central Ave.
“There is a coal and gas plant at that location and sub-service is contaminated. We need to clean and remediate this area, and there is no access without destroying infrastructure,” said George Savastano, business administrator.
“This resolution allows JCPL to get into and under the streets safely, no one will get sick from the contamination and we also will have some of our own work done as they perform the remediation work,” he said.
To contact Camille Sailer, email csailer@cmcherald.com.