WEST CAPE MAY — The Board of Commissioners praised the Department of Public Works for its assistance during this year’s turbulent winter season.
“We, as a commission, would like to honor our Public Works Department tonight,” Mayor George Dick said April 8. “It was quite a couple of storms for us, and they went above and beyond.”
Dick referenced two destructive storms that blanketed the area in snow Jan. 25 and Feb. 22, causing damage to houses and properties.
“As a borough, we’ve removed 115 tons from the West Cape May DPW that was brought into the dumpsters there,” Dick said. “They did go above and beyond.”
The commissioners thanked the DPW for plowing streets, clearing roadways, alerting residents of frozen pipes and removing 30 tons of tree debris.
The proclamation directly thanked Bill Keller and Edward Cole from the Department of Public Works, led by Greg Basile, as well as William Isaac and Thomas Wolicki from the Water and Sewer Department.
In other business, commissioners passed Resolutions 79-26 and 80-26 to instill a temporary budget for the 2026 fiscal year until the finalized budget is approved.
Deputy Mayor Susan Hoffman introduced Resolution 82-26.
The Historic Preservation Committee applied for a grant from the Historic Trust of New Jersey that would fund two projects.
“The first one was to redo our user guidelines into a format that is more friendly and reads more like an educational piece than a procedural book,” Hoffman said. “The second is looking at doing additional surveys of historical resources that sit outside the historic district.”
The HPC’s goal is for the new guideline book to include pictures, history and to detail popular architectural styles in the borough.
Hoffman hopes the updated book will aid homeowners when renovating their houses.
The second project would identify historical properties that fall outside the historical district. She explained that houses that have been around for 100 years deserve to be documented.
The HPC will be working with Steven Smolian, who conducted a similar project for Cape May two years ago.
Hoffman hopes this will be a large education component for the community. There will be public meetings that community members can take part in and learn more about West Cape May’s history.
In other news, the Morrison Avenue project was set to begin the week of April 13. Permits for the West Cape May and Cape May Pedestrian Bridge are being finalized to be submitted to the Department of Environmental Protection.
Borough engineer Anthony Chadwell is awaiting a bond before finishing the final design and soliciting bids for the project.
By JULIA DIGERONIMO/For the Star and Wave
