Unhappy Citizens Mount Wildwood Recall Campaign

WILDWOOD — Some residents that are unhappy with local and economic conditions of this city are placing the blame squarely on the shoulders of Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. and Commissioner Bill Davenport.
The discontent has grown beyond talk and raised voices at public meetings, and a group of residents have formed a committee to recall the two officials of a three-member commission.
The group seeking to recall Troiano and Davenport initially filed notices of intent on Sept. 29, but City Clerk Chris Wood rejected them due to minor problems to the wording of the documents. Those problems included, failure to title each document properly, failure to reference Troiano’s capacity as a commissioner and a statement that each recall election is likely to cost an estimated $10,000.
Anthony Totah, Kathleen McCullough and John Roat signed the document calling for Troiano’s recall. Kathleen Mills, Douglas Jones and Roseanne Tull signed the document called for Davenport’s recall.
Attorney Daniel J. Gallagher, who is representing the group asking for the recall, said that a formal notice, with the necessary changes, would be filed again in the near future.
After Wood receives the corrected formal notices, the next step for the recall committee would be to collect the number of signatures for a recall petition.
According to state law, each final petition must include valid signatures of 25 percent of the city’s registered voters. With 2,458 registered voters in the Nov. 6, 2007 election, that means the petition would need 615 signatures.
If the recall letters are filed after this year’s Nov. 4 election, the recall committee would have to secure 25 percent of the 2,901 voters registered to vote or 726 signatures.
The County Board of Elections and the City Clerk’s office would be responsible for verifying each signature. Once that task is complete, a date can be set for the recall election.
Troiano said that he has acted for the betterment of the town during his tenure in government and described the recall committee as residents that are never content and opposed to everything.
Despite the recall effort, Davenport has said the he was going to continue to run the city the best he could. He added that he believes Commissioner Gary DeMarzo is behind the recall push.
DeMarzo, who said that he believed that the recall was an opportunity for residents to vocalize their frustration, added that the frivolous spending, questionable decision-making and poor communication on the part of his fellow commissioners led to the recall.
Contact Suit at: (609) 886-8600 ext. 25 or lsuit@cmcherald.com