WEST WILDWOOD – The borough commissioners have approved a shared-services agreement with North Wildwood for temporary police services.
North Wildwood authorized the agreement on Tuesday, July 1, and West Wildwood followed on July 3. The North Wildwood council also amended its ordinance to increase its police force from 20 to 25 officers, but Mayor Patrick Rosenello said that was unrelated to the agreement. “We have been discussing hiring more police officers for some time,” he said.
The term of the shared-services agreement, also referred to as a “semi-permanent arrangement for police services,” runs from Friday, July 4, to Wednesday, Dec. 31. The payment, as outlined in the North Wildwood copy of the agreement, is $54,167 per month for six months, for a total of $325,002.
The agreement says that the parties involved, which include the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office, acknowledged they did not have the luxury of waiting until a full shared-services agreement could be worked out. Rosenello said the parties would continue to discuss a long-term agreement.
The agreement says it does not assume the merger or dissolution of either police department. It says it does not displace from employment any officer from either department, and no officer will lose seniority, tenure or pension rights. The supervision of all West Wildwood officers will remain under the control of the Prosecutor’s Office; North Wildwood officers would be supervised by their own superiors.
A large crowd turned out in West Wildwood for the July 3 meeting at which the agreement was approved, with some residents expressing concern that North Wildwood would not patrol the borough and would only respond to calls. Residents had previously turned out by the score for a meeting on the issue, many having said they wanted the borough to retain its own police department.
The new agreement included a schedule of police services that would be provided by North Wildwood. The schedule shows coverage every day in two 12-hour sections.
West Wildwood has been taking steps to outsource its police services after losing 24 officers in four and a half years, and after it received a report by the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police. The report presented four options on the West Wildwood Police Department, which currently has just one active officer, reportedly working three 12-hour shifts per week, with another officer out due to an off-duty injury.
The Board of Commissioners voted to take the report’s fourth option, which was to disband the department and enter into a shared-services agreement with a neighboring municipality. Wildwood had been providing 911 dispatch services and EMS for the borough; it recently switched over to county 911 dispatch, taking West Wildwood along.
Debbie Fox, the wife of former borough commissioner and mayor Christopher Fox and a leader of the opposition to dismantling the department, has been highly critical of the Chiefs Association report and the way it was put together, saying it was slanted to support the result the commissioners wanted.
Fox believes the commissioners used the report, which cost the borough $15,000, as an excuse to disband the department rather than correct its problems.
Fox asked at the July 3 meeting whether North Wildwood would be putting an officer in town.
Commissioner Jane DiMattia replied, “I don’t have an answer.”
The commissioners have defended their efforts to hire officers and said it would cost about $1 million to bring the department up to standard, in a town with a budget of under $3 million.
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or call 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
