CAPE MAY — Three incumbents are running unopposed for three seats on Cape May City Council on Nov. 3.
City Council is a nonpartisan board and candidates are elected to serve a four-year term.
Deputy Mayor Maureen McDade, Councilwoman Lorraine Baldwin and Councilman Shaine Meier’s terms all expire at the end of this year.
Maureen McDade
McDade, 66, was elected to council in 2022 and sworn in January 2023. She has served as the deputy mayor since 2024.
“I started coming to Cape May when my parents purchased a home in Village Green, which my husband and I now own,” McDade said.
She said that they lived in Glenside, Pa., for 30 years before moving to Cape May full time in 2019. It was the only place they considered retiring.
She immediately became involved in the community, serving on the Zoning Board, taxpayers association and Municipal Taxation & Revenue Advisory Committee (MTRAC) before being elected to council. She also currently serves as president of the Village Green Civic Association.
McDade has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and marketing and started her career in health care during college. She started in a management role and moved into a senior executive role focused primarily on operations and front-end administrative workflows and functions.
“In that administrative role, I had exposure to everything from operations, HR and project management, which I did a lot of with ITs and changes in workflows to enhance the patient experience,” she said, adding she also worked in risk management, construction projects and a large focus on budgeting and financial analysis.
Much of her health care work has overlapped with her role as a council member.
“There’s a synergy and an alignment between a health care industry and municipal government,” she said.
While reviewing expenses, McDade has recommended taking a closer look at ways to save taxpayers money. She also encouraged looking into health care options outside the state health benefits program, whose costs continue to see double-digit increases.
“We looked at a couple of different options, but we wanted to make sure that the benefit package we were providing to the employees was equal to what they were getting,” she said, adding that after the success of savings in the first year, they were able to add two additional benefits not previously offered.
When asked why she wants to serve, McDade said it goes back to her early role in health care, which shaped her sense of service and advocacy.
“I try and make my decisions based on what is for the greater good, not necessarily for one aspect of the community, whether it be a resident or a commercial business,” McDade said. “Not all of the decisions we make are sometimes popular amongst everyone, so therein lies a challenge.”
Serving as a decision-maker on City Council requires careful consideration. McDade said she is pragmatic and results-driven.
“Many of us love Cape May; it’s a wonderful community,” she said. “I just knew I wanted to be involved in the community and serve in some capacity. Advocacy has always been a part of who I am.”
She added that she has taken great pride in being part of City Council for the past four years and is fully vested in the work.
“I’ve been involved in a lot of great projects as the council liaison, [including] the facilitation for opening the Community Center, lifeguard patrol headquarters and most recently we just completed Harborview Park,” she said. “I felt those are the kind of things that endear people to Cape May.”
McDade currently is the council liaison for the Planning Board, MTRAC and the Office of Emergency Management.
Looking ahead, McDade said the top issues Cape May faces include finishing the police headquarters, which is scheduled for completion next spring. Other projects starting in the next six to seven months include work on the sea wall and the new desalination plant.
“Both are critical infrastructure projects for the city,” she said. “They need an eye on them to make sure they remain on time and on budget.”
Lorraine Baldwin
Baldwin, 59, was appointed to the council to fill Mayor Zack Mullock’s at-large vacancy when he was elected mayor. The following year, she ran unopposed for a one-year term and took office in 2022. She served two years as deputy mayor.
“Cape May has been a huge part of my life from the very beginning,” Baldwin said. “My parents, Clark and Mimi, purchased the corner of Beach and Jackson the year I was born.”
Baldwin lives with her husband, Pete, and has two children, Andrew and Ashley. Her connection to Cape May runs deep, after years of working at her family-owned businesses.
“My childhood was filled with the Cape May experiences that so many generations remember,” Baldwin said. “Those experiences gave me a deep connection to Cape May and an appreciation for the people, community, businesses, traditions and neighborhoods that make our community special.”
Baldwin earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Rowan University and an specialist degree in educational leadership from Seton Hall University.
She said her experience in architecture and project management has proved valuable during her time on council, particularly when working on commercial projects, planning issues and complex development matters.
Baldwin believes her career in education has strengthened her ability to listen, evaluate difficult situations, find solutions and work collaboratively to accomplish goals.
Her previous service experience includes more than 20 years on the Dennis Township Planning Board, as an elected member of the Dennis Township Board of Education and 10 years on the Board of Directors of the South Seaville Methodist Camp Meeting.
“Today I continue to serve my community through several Cape May organizations, including the Historic Preservation Commission, the Washington Street Mall Business District and the Beach Safety Committee,” she said.
Baldwin said her desire to serve is rooted in decades of involvement in the community. Her involvement with various groups has given her experience in many areas of local government and community life.
“I have always believed in giving back, helping people and finding ways to make our community stronger,” she said. “Public service is something I am passionate about, [and] I want to continue putting that experience to work for the residents of Cape May.”
On issues currently facing the Cape May community, Baldwin said community resiliency remains important.
“Recent storms have highlighted the vulnerability of areas of the city, particularly the Poverty Beach section,” she said, adding that extending the sea wall and other storm-protection measures is important for protecting the community and properties, mitigating flood potential and improving flood ratings.
Baldwin noted that building resiliency is more than just responding to the next storm.
“It is about preparing Cape May for the future and protecting the people who live and work here,” she said.
Other important issues Baldwin said the community faces include Cape May’s existing desalination plant, which serves not only Cape May but West Cape May, Cape May Point and the Coast Guard base.
“As water needs increase, the current plant needs to be expanded [and] having been involved in this project from its inception, seeing the expansion through to completion is very important to me,” Baldwin said. “Ensuring a reliable, sustainable water supply is essential to the future of our community.”
A project Baldwin said has mattered to her since she was first appointed to City Council is Wise Anderson Park, formerly known as Lafayette Street Park.
“The project has required us to adapt and pivot because of several challenges, particularly environmental concerns,” Baldwin said. “While the project has taken longer and followed a different path than originally anticipated, we continue working toward finalizing a plan that will provide a meaningful community asset while responsibly addressing the environmental issues involved.”
Balwin added that she believes good local government requires persistence, flexibility and a willingness to find solutions when circumstances change.
Shaine Meier
Meier was elected to council in 2014 and was sworn in in January 2015. He served two terms as deputy mayor starting in January 2017. He was re-elected to council in November 2018 and began his second four-year term in January 2019.
Meier ignored attempts to reach him but the following information was gleaned from the city website:
Meier is a lifelong Cape May resident who attended Cape May City Elementary School and graduated from Lower Cape Regional High School. He earned an associate degree from Atlantic Cape Community College and attended Stockton University, where he studied political science.
Meier’s civic interests and public service are a shared family tradition. His mother, Helen Meier, is on the staff at Cape May County Health Department and serves as a member the Board of Directors of the Cape May Housing Authority.
He gained valuable community experience with the Village Green Civic Association and served as its president in 2014.
He was the meat manager at the West Side Market for 15 years and is now a butcher for ShopRite Markets.
Meier earned well-deserved accolades for his support of barrier-free facilities for seniors, notably at the city’s post office. His early leadership with the city’s Lafayette Street Park Advisory Committee led to a smooth transition in broadening its citizen participation and focusing the park’s conceptual design.
By RACHEL SHUBIN/Special to the Star and Wave
