Three of Cape May County’s municipalities hold their annual reorganization meetings in July instead of January.
The reorganizations incorporate the results of May municipal elections into town governance.
Each of the three saw a new president take over the council.
Avalon
Three members of the Borough Council won reelection in May and were sworn in for new terms by Mayor John McCorristin. McCorristin administered the oath to Mari Coskey, Jamie McDermott and Gregory “Chet” Johnson for four-year terms.
Coskey, who will be starting her second term on the council, works with the Stone Harbor/Avalon school district as a coordinator of special education services. She is also the district’s speech language pathologist. Coskey is the outgoing president of the council.
Johnson came to the council in 2023 when he was appointed to fill a vacancy created when McCorristin stepped down after his election as mayor. He previously served as chair of the borough’s Planning and Zoning Board. According to borough officials, Johnson’s work expertise is in digital marketing, public speaking, budget and finance, and motivational training. This will mark his first full term as an elected member of the council.
McDermott, like Coskey, came to the council in 2021. He holds a law degree from Widener University and served as an assistant district attorney for the City of Philadelphia. His path to the council also traveled through the Planning and Zoning Board, where he, like Johnson, served as chair. McDermott has served as the executive director of the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority.
Following the swearing-in of the three council members, Councilwoman Barbara Juzaitis was elected council president. Avalon rotates the position of council president each year.
Sea Isle City
Following the first contested election for the City Council in more than a decade, the city’s reorganization meeting on July 2 witnessed the swearing-in of challenger Ian Ciseck, who won a seat on the governing body in May by defeating incumbent J.B. Feeley. Ciseck, a local real estate professional, had his oath of office administered by Judge Vincent Morrison of Municipal Court.
Michael Jargowski, a former Sea Isle police captain, was also sworn in for his first term on the council. Jargowski ran for the council jointly with two incumbents and was seeking the seat vacated by Jack Gibson, who did not seek reelection. He served as the city’s emergency management coordinator until he stepped down in 2024.
Mary Tighe was reelected to her fifth consecutive four-year term in May. She also served two years on the governing body prior to its change from the commission form of government to the mayor-council form in 2007. At the reorganization, Tighe was selected as council president for the next year, taking over for Bill Kehner.
Both Jargowski and Tighe were sworn in by Mayor Len Desiderio.
At the meeting the new council acted on three contracts for the coming year, reappointing Paul Baldini as city solicitor, Ford, Scott & Associates for auditing and accounting services, and Phoenix Advisors for financial planning and continuing disclosure services.
Ocean City
The City Council held a three-minute reorganization meeting July 1. The city had no vacant seats on its governing body in 2025 and did not hold municipal elections in May. The reorganization meeting resulted in the switching of seats between First Ward council member Terry Crowley, who moved from vice president to council president, and at-large member Pete Madden, who stepped down as president and will serve as vice president in the coming year. Crowley’s business background includes working with Johnson & Johnson’s oncology division in New Jersey.
In 2024 Ocean City saw nine candidates vie for five seats on the governing body. Crowley escaped the challengers running for reelection uncontested in the First Ward, where he garnered 96% of the vote. Crowley was supported by FOCUS, a citizen group formed in March of that year. The group endorsed candidates supported by Mayor Jay Gillian.
Madden, the real estate broker/owner of Goldcoast Sothebys international real estate, is in his third term on the council. His term expires in 2026. He has served as vice president and president of the council and will now resume the position of vice president. Madden moved to Ocean City in 2004. He has served on the board of directors for the Board of Realtors.
The three towns that reorganized in July are among a shrinking pool of municipalities that still use the May time period for municipal elections. Fewer than 40 of New Jersey’s 564 municipalities hold nonpartisan elections in May instead of at the time of the general election in November.
That number continues to shrink as towns seek less cost and higher turnout for the election cycle. Costs for the May elections rest largely with the municipalities, which do not take advantage of state investments in the general election.
Another factor driving more municipalities away from the off-cycle May elections is the new availability of early in-person voting in November.
