PETERSBURG – Upper Township Business Association hosted a roundtable discussion with Mayor Richard Palombo, who won’t seek reelection after this year. He held the mayoral seat for 22 years, in addition to two previous years as a member of the Upper Township Committee.
As recent highlights of his administration’s work, Palombo noted the $2 million renovation of Beesley’s Point’s bayside. He also cited a major expense the municipality made to invest in hosting its data and its own cloud, rather than another vendor’s, such as Microsoft, which will save large budget outlays in the future, according to Palombo.
“We have one of the highest ratings for security and confidentiality in both Cape May County and Atlantic County, and this will help us in our streaming capabilities, such as for municipal meetings,” he explained.
Another highlight Palombo mentioned was paving the municipality’s streets.
“This is an expensive endeavor, about $1 million per mile, so we fight really hard to get the funding from both county and state authorities,” he said.
For future plans, in answer to a participant’s questions, Palombo said the municipality is committed to attracting more business to the municipality and ensuring young families can afford to live there, find employment, and take advantage of all the benefits it offers, including highly rated schools.
“We’re also very interested in working with developers to bring more commercial enterprises to Upper since they are so important to our tax base and rateables,” he explained. “We have had encouraging feedback, for example, from hotel interests, who have told us the site at Beesley’s Point is highly attractive for tourism.”
In answer to a business query about tax relief for late payment penalties, Palombo said, “We want to work closely with anyone having payment issues, although our freedom to make changes is limited by state statute.”
In concluding his briefing to the business community, Palombo emphasized, “Small businesses, such as the association’s members, are critical to the financial health and community vitality of Upper. We want to work closely with you on town center ideas, making Roosevelt Boulevard, in Marmora, a true gateway to our township and keeping it a great place to live and work.”
To contact Camille Sailer, email casailer@cmcherald.com.
