WILDWOOD – With a Board of Commissioners meeting scheduled to begin and former Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr.’s truck, branded with his name on the side of it, parked in the first spot in front of City Hall, it was clear before even entering council chambers that the city would be having an unscheduled fireworks show Feb. 9.
For the first time since he left office in January 2020, Troiano returned to City Hall Feb. 9 to advocate against the sale of the city’s water and sewer utility.
“I beg of you, do not even consider selling the sewer and water company. It will be the biggest mistake ever made, in not only this city, but in the state,” Troiano told Mayor Peter Byron and Commissioners Krista Fitzsimmons and Steve Mikulski. Mikulski joined the meeting telephonically from Florida.
An agenda item for a resolution to approve a “financial advisor” and “educational outreach services re: water/sanitary municipal utility” was enough to draw a crowd of city water and sewer employees to the meeting to express their concern over what the city was doing. Troiano was happy to embrace the role of their white knight.
He said that the agenda description was a smokescreen intended on informing no one about what the city is really planning. He said he got a call tipping him off to the fact it was on the agenda.
Byron said the agenda line item describes exactly what the city is doing – getting educated before making any decision.
“People can twist things. This was nothing more than a previous mayor trying to make something out of nothing,” Byron said. “We made a promise two and a half years ago that we were going to look into every department and see where savings could be made, and improvements could be made. We’ve already done it with the police and the fire, internally, and the water company is just part of that promise.”
Byron said the water and sewer department is nearly $50 million in debt.
“We will do whatever’s the best option for the ratepayers, either to sell it or keep it,” he added.
Troiano admitted he didn’t know the specifics but said he didn’t have to in order to understand selling would be a bad idea.
“I understand there’s some debt. I don’t know all the particulars,” Troiano said. “I’m not happy they would want to sell an asset like the water and the sewer company.”
Troiano voted against a similar ordinance in 2000, which was passed despite his “no” vote, and entered the city into an agreement with a company to come in and run the utility.
Though the ordinance, which passed second reading Feb. 9, 2000, was signed by Troiano, meeting minutes prove he voted against it. He said that ordinance turned out to be a disaster.
He said the city was paid $3 million by an Enron subsidiary to run the company, which helped the two other commissioners then, Duane Sloane and Fred Wager, free up money to avoid a large tax increase. Troiano said that was shortsighted thinking.
“There are no pros in selling the water company. None. It’s like owning a gold mine,” Troiano said. “We’re one of your lowest water rates, probably in the state, and it’s going to go from like $2.50 to $7-$8 per 1,000 gallons. That can be very expensive to a lot of people.”
After the meeting, Troiano, who spent 20 years in city government, held court outside on a city sidewalk, while a group of about a dozen city water workers asked questions and suggested he run again in the next election.
Troiano pledged that he would continue to pursue the issue on their behalf.
Byron said in an interview that protecting the workers’ jobs is important to him and the city will find a way to do it, even if it sells the utility.
“If it got to the point, and this is totally hypothetical, where employees were on the chopping block, then we would do whatever we had to do to bring them back into the fold as a city employee because we’re certainly shorthanded in a lot of other departments,” Byron said. “The last thing this commission wants to do is to hurt anybody who has given their blood and their sweat to the city of Wildwood for many, many years.”
Troiano told the water employees, who all declined interviews, some citing fear of retribution, that the issue is too important for three people to decide on and hinted they could ultimately push to have it go to a referendum.
“I’m not going to be one of those guys that’s going to sit there and go to every meeting and b—h and complain about what they’re doing. They were elected. Let them do what they want to do, but when it comes to the water company and the sewer, I’ll fight that until no end. I think it’s just irrational thinking,” Troiano said.
Byron said he didn’t want to get into a back and forth with Troiano in the newspaper, but that he was unphased by the former mayor’s presence.
“I don’t have any reaction with Ernie Troiano. I don’t worry about Ernie Troiano,” Byron later said.
Was Troiano successful in his efforts to get the commissioners to reconsider?
“I think they’ll rethink it, but not from me being there. If anything, they probably would vote against me,” Troiano said. “I pray to God they don’t sell it.”
To contact Shay Roddy, email sroddy@cmcherald.com.
