Meet the Candidates of Cape May

CAPE MAY – This week was a busy one for the five candidates for Cape May City Council. With three separate meetings with voters, the candidates had a number of opportunities to present their visions for the city and the reasons why voters should put them on the council.
Three seats on the five-member council are up for grabs in the election taking place Nov. 4. Council member Deanna Fiocca has already left after moving out of the city earlier this fall. Current members Jack Wichterman and William Murray are not seeking reelection. Two members of the council, Terri Swain and Mayor Edward Mahaney still have two years remaining on their terms.
Given that the majority of seats on the council will be up for election this year, the contest is of particular importance since its gives the voters a chance to significantly influence the future direction of policy. The newly elected members will have the opportunity to continue policy directions set by the current council or alter them.
Five individuals are running for the three open council seats. None have previously served on the council but all have impressive records of service in various civic organizations and some in city positions. Taken in alphabetical order, a look at the candidates and their positions articulated during these voter sessions displays the choices before the citizens of the city.
Charles Hendricks
Charles Hendricks describes himself as a semi-retired management consultant with 45 years of experience advising local governments and school systems. Serving as president of Concerned Citizens for Sewell Tract Preservation and as a member of the City Advisory Committee to Study Shared Parking, Hendricks has involved himself in city issues. He presents himself to the voters as the reform candidate and is thus the one most critical of current city actions and policies.
In responses to questions and in his campaign literature, Hendricks put special emphasis on the Sewell Tract, a proposed development area in East Cape May, on Convention Hall and on what he terms is a lack of transparency in city government which “stifles accountability.” The only candidate with his own website dedicated to his candidacy, Hendricks is also a supporter of the better use of technology as means for the city to communicate more effective with citizens.
Hendricks cites his years of management experience frequently as he criticizes the current set of officials for “wasteful budgetary items,” a set of “poorly negotiated cost sharing agreements” including one for police services in West Cape May, the “shocking facts surrounding Convention Hall going without flood insurance during Hurricane Sandy, tax money “wasted in no bid contracts with Temple University,” and tensions caused by bad planning and poor code enforcement in many areas of the city.
Hendricks’ signature issue, however, is the Sewell Tract where he says city officials support state regulators and a developer against the wishes of local residents. As head of a local group formed to oppose the development, Hendricks leaves no doubt about his position if he were elected. He, like all of the other candidates, says he will need to listen to the voters with regard to the upcoming school funding referendum, but he emphasizes the need for the city to use its existing leverage to gain better representation on the school board.
Jerry Inderwies, Jr.
Jerry Inderwies, Jr. has only recently stepped down as Cape May’s fire chief. He served 27 years with Cape May Fire/Rescue, the last decade as chief. His father is a past mayor of the city.
Trust is a major factor in electoral politics according to Inderwies and many of the people of Cape May “know him for himself.” As Inderwies sees it, he has built his reputation over the years and the citizens of the city know who they will get if he is elected.
Accountability and transparency are significant issues for Inderwies. His responses to questions often tracked back to the same theme. City officials need to encourage greater public participation in government and then they need to listen to the citizens. This theme also carries with it a commitment to greater openness and sharing of information with the public.
Inderwies was critical of the number of closed sessions of city council and the lack of comprehensive information available to the average citizen concerning the major issues facing the city. “We have a lot of talent in Cape May,” he says often and he wants to mobilize it and listen to it. He notes that it is difficult to have a truly informed opinion on some issues like the school funding formula due to the large number of closed sessions in which critical information is shared with only a small number of people.
Inderwies would love to get more residents involved in the council meetings especially the annual budget presentations done by the city manager, Bruce McLeod.
As a past head of one of the city’s agencies, it is no surprise that Inderwies comes out strongly for better and more consistent municipal code enforcement. In responding to questions on that subject, Inderwies almost broke with his usual calm style. “I see the violations. Anyone who walks around sees them,” in this case referring to garish signs on commercial properties.
Inderwies does not see the current council as a team and he feels strongly that it is teamwork that is needed. Before the residents of Village Green he promised a government that was “inclusive, user friendly, and accessible to the citizens.”
Shaine Meier
Shaine Meier, the youngest of the candidates, is also the veteran of the most attempts to win a seat on council. This is his third campaign for a seat. At 28 years old, Meier has been a participant in a number of Cape May civic organizations. Serving as President of the Village Green Civic Association and of the Greater Cape May Historical Society, Meier has involved himself in city issues. He has also served as a zoning board member and as a Board member of the Cape May Taxpayers Association.
Meier’s roots in Cape May go back to when he arrived as part of a Coast Guard family. Sitting on the stage in the Cape May Elementary School building, he was quick to note the places in the room where he had stood as a student at various times. He often cites his long association with the city as one of his reasons for wanting to serve on council.
Meier feels passionate about a set of specific issues, some of which were not mentioned by other candidates. In presenting his vision at the Village Green candidate session, Meier stated that he thinks, “The biggest issue in Cape May is the post office, which is not ADA compliant.” In many ways this has become a signature issue for Meier. If pressure cannot force the post office or some other federal agency to deal with this issue, he favors having the city “fund it, signs, ramps, doors, everything.”
Meier’s campaign literature displays the central issues of his campaign: protecting the city’s National Historic Landmark Status, creating more public spaces, better traffic and parking experiences for residents and visitors, enhanced tourism, greater community involvement, and the constant promotion of public safety.
In response to a number of questions, Meier continuously comes back to his themes of greater attention to community life and involvement. It is in many ways his recipe for both preserving the character of Cape May and enhancing its quality of life.
On the school funding issue, Meier was clearly troubled. He is a graduate of the very regional school system under consideration. All of the candidates spoke to the importance of a good education and protecting the students from any disruption caused by any change in funding. However, much as code enforcement issues were more passionately an issue for Inderwies, Meier spoke in a personal way about the school system. In the end he promised to be guided by the will of the citizens as that becomes more apparent during the upcoming referendum.
Bea Pessagno
Beatrice Gauvry Pessagno is the daughter of former Cape May Mayor Frank Gauvry, a teacher at Wildwood Catholic High School, a mother of three, and an ardent member of the community. Her candidacy, she says, grows out of the special and privileged life she has led in Cape May. Her family has been part of the community for eight decades and her father served as its mayor for two terms. A commitment to service and a dedication to the city inspired her to run.
The motto of Pessagno’s campaign is “turning today’s challenges into tomorrow’s opportunities.” Hearing her expound on it, one gets the sense of a commitment to preserving the character and quality of life of traditional Cape May while embracing the changes necessary to make that preservation possible.
Like many of the other candidates, Pessagno has a theme to which she continuously returns, that of “preserving the opportunities Cape May offers for the next generation of families and entrepreneurs.”
Joining the other candidates in calls for greater transparency in government with a strong commitment to citizen involvement, Pessagno brings a pragmatism perhaps learned in a political family. She speaks of the need to know when to compromise as an essential part of the art of politics. She notes that she has no commitments to any special groups or interests and no attachment to the concerns of only a special part of town as she also puts it.
Pessagno sees Cape May and its distinctive architecture as works of art requiring the same preservation one would give to art. An educator, she reiterates often her commitment to education and her desire to avoid any disruption over the funding issue. Like the others she wants to have the voters have their say in the special election and promises to listen attentively.
Pessagno calls for greater openness regarding the finances of Conventional Hall in part because of her commitment for proper oversight of taxpayer money and property and in part because she sees Convention Hall has an asset with special potential to support the kind of community spirit she wants to preserve.
Both Pessagno and John Van de Vaarst cite the need to find ways to make Cape May accessible to families with mid-level incomes. Pessagno’s concern for a “vital, year round community” is predicated in part on a diverse community which has ways for families without high incomes to live in Cape May. No specific plan was offered to achieve this vision, but it is clearly a concern that will find its way into numerous policy discussions if Pessagno is elected.
John Van de Vaarst
John Van de Vaarst moved to Cape May eight years ago after vacationing here and falling in love with the city. Van de Vaarst is retired from a career with the federal government that spanned over 35 years. He feels that he brings a special understanding of the difficulties involved in city governance due to his background as Deputy Director of Operations with the USDA in Beltsville, Md.
His job, as he describes it, was that of a city manager managing 230 people and a budget of over $23 million. Van de Vaarst wants to bring that experience to Cape May as part of “giving back” to the city.
He has served as a member of the Cape May Planning Board and the Green Team. He spends many afternoons on alternate Tuesdays attending council meetings. His is a firm belief in the incremental improvements that can be achieved from sound management.
Van de Vaarst sees a city that is in good financial shape but one that could benefit from additional attention to cost reductions. He wants to “embrace the past” which is so much a part of Cape May’s unique character but to do so in ways that with “enhance the future.”
His is a campaign built on the benefits that would accrue from finer attention to management. With respect to the school funding issue, he feels there is room for benefit from negotiation, the primary aim of which would be greater representation on the school board. He realistically responded to questions about decreasing level of impact aid from the federal government to help with the costs incurred due to the presence of the Coast Guard base. “A new fighter plane is visible and sexy in the federal budget. Impact aid is a low priority.” Yes, make every effort to regain some of the lost levels of impact aid, but plan for meeting obligations without it.
Another example of this honest pragmatism was his response to questions on transparency and openness. He endorsed the same themes as the others but candidly added, “realistically some things are private.”
When articulating his vision for the city, Van de Vaarst stressed building a community that has room for families with mid-level incomes, commitment to the sometimes-fragile environment of an island community, and sustaining the quality of life that so attracted him to the area.
Van de Vaarst stressed the need to look at the city and its issues as a whole, a set of interconnected and interdependent issues that can benefit from plain solid management.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.