Meet Three Candidates for Avalon Council

AVALON – For the first time since 2007, an election for a Borough Council seat will feature competition.
Council President Charles Covington and Vice President Richard Dean are seeking another term. The last time they ran unopposed in 2011. This May, James Lutz, local businessman, community volunteer, and planning board member, has entered the race, giving voters three candidates to choose from for two available seats.
James Lutz
Lutz, who bought a summer home in Avalon in 1995 and became a full-time resident in 2005, said he is trying to bring “a fresh set of eyes to the issues before the council.” He touts his 35-year career with United Parcel Service as one that provided him with skills that would benefit the borough if he served on council. His career included management positions with UPS in areas of labor relations, long-range planning, budget planning, accounting, contract negotiations, and internal audit.
Lutz owns a charter boat business and a tax preparation service in Avalon. In addition he has been active in the community with service on the planning and boning board, membership in the Chamber of Commerce, and participation in the Avalon Lions Club where he is vice president. His attempt to win a council seat requires that he unseat one of two individuals who have been on council for consecutive terms since before Lutz bought his seasonal residence.
Richard Dean
Richard Dean has lived his entire life since the age 4 in the borough, was first elected to council in 1987. Dean also boasts service to the borough in the Avalon Volunteer Fire Department where he was chief for over two decades. Following service in the Army, Dean worked as a plumber and eventually founded Richard E. Dean Plumbing and Heating. Throughout his almost 30 years on council, Dean served on numerous committees, taken the borough’s needs for beach replenishment to Washington to secure funding, and championed a conservative approach to budgeting. An achievement of which he is particularly proud was his leadership in crafting the borough ordinance that made mandatory raising the height of bulkheads.
Charles Covington
Covington joined Dean on council in 1991. He currently serves as president, a position Dean has also held in the past. Beginning with a seasonal home in 1983, Covington became a full-time resident of the borough in 1989. Before moving to Avalon, Covington had a business career that saw him rise to the position of vice president with Unisys Corporation.
Over his career on council, Covington has served on almost all of its various committees. He has been particularly influential in areas of finance, master plan development, the borough library, which has won five-star status awarded by the Library Journal, and the development of the business district. He is credited with a leadership role in the crafting of the dune protection ordinance, which gives the borough greater control over development in the high dunes. Covington is active in community service and joins Lutz in the Lions Club.
Meet the Candidates Night
The Seven Mile Beach Democratic Club sponsored a Meet the Council Candidates night March 26 at Avalon Senior Center. A crowd of about 30 heard and quizzed candidates for the May 12 municipal election.
Lutz’s challenge to Covington and Dean is not based on any repudiation of the work of the current council. He is quick to say that he has no fundamental disagreement with the basic direction taken by council. He talked of the value of new perspectives and even suggested that term limits should be considered. Covington saw no need for such limits and argued, “If you elect someone to a public service position and they perform in ways that please you, why should they have to step down?”
The questions gave insight into what is on the minds of voters. One focus was on the seemingly endless need for beach replenishment, especially in the north. Lutz sympathized with those who worry about the sustainability of such efforts at replenishment. “Wildwood gets bigger and we get smaller,” he said. Covington covered the history of efforts to find a solution that have left the borough with its same “low tech” approach. “Fill up a truck with sand and dump it on the beach.” All three candidates agreed with Covington who said, “Without the beaches there is no Avalon.”
Back Bay
Attention to the back bay was also a concern. The candidates again expressed some frustration with the limited options that both offer greater protections and allow for free access for boat owners. Lutz says the bulkhead ordinance only achieves so much because older homes have lower bulkheads. Efforts in the back bay will be longer term, Covington said.
Boutique Hotel
When asked about the proposed boutique hotel on 21st Street, candidates said their response had to be limited due to the fact that the issue might still go before the planning and zoning board. Covington did mention that the challenges any such proposal would have to overcome when seeking variances for height and use would be formidable.
Lutz, a planning board member, could not speak on the issue. He did use it as a jumping off point to raise a key concern about unemployment and a lack of year-around industry in the county. “Working for three months and collecting unemployment for nine is not viable,” Lutz said. He spoke of a need for better county strategies in this area. “As the county goes, Avalon goes,” he said.
Volunteer Fire Department
A similar theme was struck when one resident raised a concern about the volunteer fire department getting older and smaller. All candidates supported the department and praised volunteers’ dedication. All acknowledged that a paid department would be very costly and probably would not provide better service. As demographics show, the island is getting older. Ways need to be found to recruit younger members into the department but no one had a specific proposal on how to do that.
Team Avalon
For Covington and Dean it was clear that they, as a team, were running against Lutz. “Team Avalon,” the theme behind the reelection efforts of both sitting council members and Mayor Martin Pagliughi, was a recurrent aspect of almost every response given my Covington and Dean. They are running on their records and on the overriding importance of teamwork in local government. An AAA bond rating, a 25- percent flood insurance discount rate, a ratable base in excess of $7.6 billion, a fact Dean cited frequently, and what they termed a “vibrant business district” were only some of the aspects of that record they present as evidence of their team approach.
Lutz was not seeking one seat out of three, but rather seeking to inject himself into the Team Avalon structure that has served as the basis for previous election efforts as well.
Lutz touts experience and his value as a “new voice.” Covington and Dean cite their service and what they see as the positive results of that service.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.