Trio tops four other candidates for Borough Commission seats
WEST CAPE MAY — Running as a slate, George Dick, Susan Hoffman and Ellen McDevitt out-polled their four opponents last week in the Borough Commission election, winning four-year terms.
“We feel really happy for our community,” Dick said, noting he and his running mates “visited pretty much every person in the borough.”
“What we found was a community that still was there, that we all know and love that cares for each other, no matter what political persuasion. It’s quirky and charming but it works,” he said.
Hoffman collected the most votes, 338 (18.9 percent), followed by incumbent deputy mayor Dick with 331 (18.5 percent) and McDevitt with 318 (17.8 percent). Results are unofficial and could change based on absentee, mail and provisional ballots. Certification is slated for Nov. 24.
The four others in the seven-person race collected fewer as a group than the trio (987-773), but it was individual tallies that mattered.
Incumbent Jack Antonicello garnered 242 votes (13.5 percent), followed by Dawn Vitagliano with 190 (10.6 percent), Hamilton Wilde with 188 (10.5 percent) and Joseph Gilmartin with 179 (10 percent).
The election was not without a bit of “noise and a little craziness,” according to the candidates, who believe that brought out a lot of voters.
“We really based our campaign on civility, positivity and accomplishments, and I think the results prove that was what the community was looking for,” Hoffman said. “They didn’t get sidetracked by the negativity.”
“As we went around to people, we found an incredibly diverse and inclusive community that wants to treasure that, that was functioning and hoping to continue to function without the noise and chaos,” McDevitt said.
She added that people were focused on small-town issues such as speeding, traffic safety and infrastructure.
The New Jersey League of Municipalities offers a one-day course in municipal government operations, as well as further education in specific areas. Hoffman and McDevitt will take that course after being sworn in at the beginning of 2026.
Hoffman said she is “honored and humbled that the community has put confidence in me,” noting that she has spent a lot of time performing community service, giving her some background. But she said she plans “to lean heavily on the staff in the borough which is an incredible source of knowledge and will look to them for directions.”
Hoffman already has taken Historic Preservation Commission accreditation and Shade Tree core training, noting she will be “looking to George” at first for tips on running the borough.
McDevitt said that while she does not have local government experience, she is “looking forward to figuring it out, learning where the knowledge is.”
She noted the trio received a large percentage of the vote, saying that shows people care “and I feel a strong responsibility to meet those expectations.”
All three positions were up for grabs in the borough, where Mayor Carol Sabo opted instead to run for the state Assembly with fellow Democrat Carolyn Rush. They lost to incumbents Erik Simonsen of Lower Township and Antwan McClellan of Ocean City by about 8,000 votes apiece.
Dick and Alan Crawford were appointed in early 2023 to replace Dan Kurkowski, who resigned to join the county Superior Court, and Peter Burke, then elected later that year for the remainder of the unexpired term, serving about three years total.
Dick and his wife, Debbie, have four grown children and “love being involved in the community.
He said he learned the “importance of showing up, pitching in and doing your part, whether that was helping a neighbor or being part of a team,” while growing up.
“Those early lessons stuck with me and have guided me through my professional career, my years as a coach and now in my role serving West Cape May,” he said.
Dick studied economics at Haverford College, then went on to earn a master’s degree from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.
He spent his career working in the chemical industry as a global business manager at the Rohm and Haas Co., where he worked with teams around the world, managed budgets and focused on long-term planning and problem-solving.
Outside the borough, Dick serves on the Cape May Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Advisory Committee and the Cape May County Local Road Safety Steering Committee. He also is a fund commissioner and member of the executive committee for the Joint Insurance Fund that serves Atlantic and Cape May counties.
Hoffman and her husband, Wayne, are the parents of identical twin daughters and the grandparents of four granddaughters. She was born in Scranton, Pa., but lived in numerous cities in the state because of her father’s career, finally settling in Allentown.
Hoffman earned a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education from Penn State University and started a career as a high school health and physical education teacher and gymnastics coach, but retired from teaching to stay home until her daughters started school.
When she returned to work, she moved into the field of marketing and public affairs, retiring as head of marketing and public affairs for Lehigh Valley Health Network, a multi-hospital system serving eastern Pennsylvania.
Since retirement, Hoffman said, she has dedicated herself to serving the borough and surrounding community. She served as festival director for the Cape May County Coast Guard Foundation and, for the past eight years, has served as secretary of the West Cape May Shade Tree Commission. More recently, she was elected vice chair of the borough’s Historic Preservation Commission.
McDevitt, a Penn State graduate who worked her first job at KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, later moved to Washington, D.C., where she met her husband, Dave, a Philadelphia native, when they worked in child nutrition programs.
The mother of two daughters earned a master’s degree in adult and community education. The family built a house in West Cape May in 1987.
“My husband’s dream was to own a home here — a dream that we were able to realize but that middle-class families cannot realize today,” she said.
McDevitt opened Ellie’s Bakery in the borough so that families today could have the same experience as her daughters when they walked to Kokes Bakery on the Washington Street Mall to get sticky buns and snowflake rolls.
She is interested in finding ways to maintain the health of the borough’s natural resources — specifically water, she said.
“Homeowners want to have pools and beautiful lawns but we need to find balance between their rights as homeowners and the community’s rights for sufficient and safe drinking water,” McDevitt said.
In the Cape May County Board of Commissioners elections, incumbents Andrew Bulakowski and Bobby Barr easily defeated their lone opponent, Eric Morey. Barr led the field with 26,268 votes, followed by Bulakowski with 24,600 and Morey with 16,911.
County Clerk Rita Rothberg won re-election unopposed, collecting 28,856 votes, or 99.29 percent. There were 205 write-ins.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Cape May Star and Wave
