VILLAS — Lower Township Council acknowledged the retirement of Deputy Mayor David Perry and Office of Emergency Management (OEM) Coordinator Ed Donohue.
Perry attended his final meeting as a member of council on Dec. 18. He did not seek re-election and Councilman Kevin Coombs is expected to fill the deputy mayor position. A new member to fill the empty council seat is also expected to be appointed at that time.
Mayor Frank Sippel thanked Perry for his more than 10 years of service on council, noting Perry retired earlier from the township as a fire safety official.
“You’ve been a true community member besides a councilperson,” Assemblyman Erik Simonsen (R-1) said. “I know you really care about where you live.”
Perry said after his first council meeting, he was second guessing himself “but things kind of worked out.
“I don’t feel I’m a politician, just an average citizen that didn’t like what was going on in our township and I stood up to make things change,” he said.
He noted during the past 10 years, Lower Township became the first municipality to join the countywide public safety dispatch system, a project completed on Beach Drive now provides sidewalks for pedestrians, new beach access paths were built, parks were upgraded and the Roseann Avenue project was undertaken to eliminate flooding.
Perry thanked the residents of the township for allowing him to serve on council for 10 years.
Council honored Donohue, who retired as chief of police in 2011 and served as OEM coordinator from 2019 until last month.
Sippel thanked him for his dedication to the township.
Donohue said he was interviewed in 1982 by Lower Township Police Chief Robert Denny and Mayor Robert Fothergill, who asked him where he saw himself in 20 years.
“I said I’d like to retire as a sergeant; I didn’t think I’d be standing here 40 years later,” Donohue said.
Council honored a dozen volunteers for their contributions to improve the quality of life in the township, particularly in parks and recreation.
By JACK FICHTER/Cape May Star and Wave
