Editor’s note: Democrats Brendan Sciarra and Liz Casey are challenging Republic incumbents Will Morey and Jeffrey Pierson in the Nov. 3 election for the Cape May County Board of Chosen Freeholders. Two seats are up for grabs. Sciarra, Casey and Morey are profiled here. Pierson, of Upper Township, did not respond to multiple requests for an interview..
Sciarra: End the nepotism
By JACK FICHTER/Sentinel staff
WILDWOOD – Freeholder candidate Brendan Sciarra, a Democrat, is a third-generation Cape May County resident who is making his first run for public office.
Sciarra attended St. Ann’s School and Wildwood Catholic High School. Although he earned a full scholarship for tennis to Mount St. Mary’s University, his entrepreneurial spirit compelled him to leave after a semester to focus on his business, he said.
His paternal grandfather, David “Poppi” Sciarra, came to Wildwood from Italy and started a concrete business, only to have it washed away during the infamous storm of ’62. He said his grandfather bounced back and those values continue to drive him today.
His maternal grandparents, Trish and Mario Lenza, owned and operated the old Alton Motel and English Grill in Wildwood.
Sciarra now operates three businesses in that city.
“I’ve always been involved in the political hemisphere of Cape May County and I think the county is great and a great place to raise kids,” Sciarra said. “I feel like I can give back to what had been great to me.”
He said county spending needs to be examined.
“I feel it’s important to have a different set of eyes on it,” he said. “I feel like I can bring a fresh breath of air to the freeholder board.”
Sciarra, who describes himself as a detail-oriented person, is calling for more checks and balances in county government.
“I think efficiency is the key factor here,” he said.
Ecotourism needs to be grown in the realm of wineries, breweries and oystering, Sciarra said, adding that transportation also needs improvement.
While much federal and state money seems to stay in northern New Jersey, Sciarra said he would work to see this county gets it fair share of funding. He said he does not want the county to always be last on the list.
“I think that’s why it is important that the freeholder board is diverse because there are different opportunities I can bring to the residents of Cape May County,” Sciarra said.
He said he sees complacency on the board. Sciarra said he did not want to see large projects funded by local taxpayers.
With sea level rise, he said bulkheads on the back bays need to be heightened.
“We need a plan for each town,” Sciarra said. “The county needs to be involved in some of this planning, especially on some of these lower roadways going in and out of towns that need to be raised.”
Nepotism at the county level has been a problem for decades, he said. Sciarra said the most qualified person should be hired.
“I will make it a priority to make sure it’s a fair process and make sure that the person who has the credentials and has the ability to get the job done and understands it is there,” he said.
The ability should exist for anybody to move up the ladder, Sciarra said.
“From the bottom to the top, every employee is valuable and every job has a meaning to the county taxpayers,” he said. “You work for the taxpayers.”
Sciarra said he realizes he and running mate Liz Casey would be outnumbered on the Republican-dominated freeholder board but he is the type of person who could work across party lines.
“I can be realistic of what’s good for the taxpayers,” he said.
Voters should look at what an individual can bring to public office rather than just voting by party affiliation, Sciarra said.
He said he is in favor of a county homeless shelter in the Crest Haven complex.
“I think it’s important the county work through the state agencies to get some type of shelter,” Sciarra said. “I would make that a priority.”
Development of small and high-tech businesses at the Cape May County Airport should continue, he said. Sciarra and Casey have pledged to donate their freeholder salary to local charities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, loss of jobs and businesses closing their doors.
“We thought that in the time of COVID-19 it was important to give back to the county,” he said. “Through my businesses I’ve always given back.”
Sciarra said working for government is something he wants to do and he does not need to be paid for it.
As a restaurant worker, landscaper, now business and community leader, Sciarra said he has spent his entire life bringing people together to solve problems and create positive change. He said his middle-class upbringing and perspective as someone who gets up early, goes to work every day and balances his checkbook every night will ensure all residents of the county are represented.
He and his wife, Robin, have been married for 10 years. They are the parents of three young children — Michael, Kai and Brendan — and live in Wildwood Crest.
Casey: The spending is too high
By JACK FICHTER/Sentinel staff
UPPER TOWNSHIP – Liz Casey, a Democratic candidate for the county Board of Chosen Freeholders, has lived in Cape May County for 25 years.
She attended Drew University and went to law school at the Penn State Dickinson School of Law, clerked for the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and after her clerkship, married and moved to Cape May County, she said.
Her husband is a family doctor. They have lived in Ocean City and Upper Township.
Casey said she is a frequent ocean swimmer and a latecomer to surfing, starting at the age of 51.
She said she is a moderate Democrat, socially liberal but fiscally moderate. This is her second run for the freeholder board, last time challenging E. Marie Hayes and Gerald Thornton.
Casey said she is running again because nothing changed on the board since the last election.
“We have five Republicans on the freeholder board and I think we need somebody who has a different perspective and a critical eye to look at what’s happening,” she said.
The county has a population of about 92,000 residents and spends almost $1,900 per resident annually in the county budget. She said Atlantic County spends about $800 per resident, while Cumberland County spends $1,100 per resident.
“We need to look at where the money is going and it’s hard being on the outside to see where it’s being spent, but we suspect a lot of it is political salaries for families and friends and wasteful projects,” Casey said, referring to she and running mate Brendan Sciarra.
She questioned the county’s COVID Ambassadors program that may have been “more for show.” Casey said she supports a systematic lessening of restrictions on COVID for businesses in southern New Jersey.
While the county’s tax rate is very low it is being subsidized by owners of vacation homers from Pennsylvania, she said.
“What you have to look at is our spending,” she said, noting the county budget totals $173 million.
An item for examination is whether the county should continue to own and operate the Crest Haven Nursing Home. Casey said when Crest Haven opened no other nursing homes were available in the county but now there are a number of private facilities.
“We absolutely have to be responsible to our employees there and we have to find a place for our employees or we need to repurpose that building,” she said. “It would be more effective, I think, if it were maintained by the private sector.”
The building could be used for a homeless shelter or a facility for opioid issues, Casey said.
She said the trend of people fleeing metropolitan areas due to the pandemic has presented an opportunity for the county.
“I think that we can really attract families to Cape May County, which will ripple out in terms of small business,” Casey said.
A larger population would support more small businesses and create more jobs, she said.
Casey said it is unrealistic to expect a large company such as an Amazon distribution center to locate here with the county’s limited roads and infrastructure.
“We need to carve out our own niche and I think small businesses are the way to go,” she said.
An ongoing problem for the county is much state money going to northern New Jersey. Casey said, in part, the county government needs Democrats because New Jersey has a Democratic governor and Legislature.
She said the county needs to constantly seek state funds.
“I think it’s easier to do if you’re on the same team,” Casey said.
The county needs to concentrate on flood resiliency and focus on the National Flood Insurance Program, which rewards low-risk properties with lower premiums. She said incentives need to be provided to elevate homes, working with municipalities.
Roads need to be elevated as bridges are replaced in the county, Casey said.
With Republican domination of the county, Democratic candidates are sometimes seen as a long shot. Casey said the county has about 24,000 registered Republicans and 16,000 Democrats but has 25,000 unaffiliated voters.
She said it is a matter of everyone voting. Casey said it bothers her when only a few people vote because that is not representative of the county.
Of concern to Casey is the deteriorating condition of the county veterans cemetery. She noted this county has the largest percentage of veterans in the state.
The specter of nepotism in the county government arises at each election year.
“There certainly is a job pool and that’s something we need to look at,” she said.
Casey said family members, who may have less-than-stellar employment records, may be moved through county positions, which may be frustrating for other county employees.
“You can only rise so high and then either a political appointment or a family member of somebody gets put in above you,” Casey said. “I think we’ve lost quality county employees to that.”
“We need to take a good, hard look at the way we hire in Cape May County,” she continued.
Casey and Sciarra have a campaign motto of “common-sense solutions.”
“We are reasonable people and we’re not running on some radical platform. We’re common-sense people and we want to solve the problems of Cape May County in a reasonable way,” Casey said.
Morey: Expand at the airport
By JACK FICHTER/Sentinel staff
WILDWOOD – Republican Will Morey is a lifelong resident of Cape May County and was first elected to the county Board of Chosen Freeholders in 2011.
He is president and CEO of Morey’s Piers in Wildwood.
In April, the freeholder board created a Business Recovery Task Force, co-chaired by Freeholder Vice Director Len Desiderio and Morey. More than a dozen members of the business community volunteered their time and talents and all 16 of Cape May County’s mayors and health care-sector representatives were made a part of what became the Cape May County-Wide Recovery Initiative.
A goal was to get businesses operating in the core summer season, Morey said. Some businesses did well this past summer, some did not so well.
“I’ve heard numbers in the two-thirds range. I’ve heard worse. I’ve heard better,” Morey said.
He predicted a more normal summer for 2021. While it was a struggle to get the public to wear protective masks early in the pandemic, compliance improved later in the season, Morey said.
The Cape May County Airport has become the home of the county’s technology and innovation efforts, he said. The Tech Center buildings are 65 percent occupied, which will increase to about 80 percent in the next two to three months, he said.
“We are starting our discussions with the USEDA (United States Economic Development Administration) who was a partner in the project to build a second building,” Morey said.
He said the second building would be slightly smaller with construction to begin in fall 2021.
While the county may have tried to attract large companies to the airport in the past, he said the “sweet spot” for the county is young, emerging companies.
“The airport was in extremely poor condition, not the runways or the airport itself, but the business park area with dilapidated and vacant buildings,” Morey said. “We’re a month away from having every building that was not put to a useful purpose removed from the site.”
In the second quarter of 2021, construction is expected to begin on a $4 million general aviation terminal with the county making only a nominal investment in partnership with the Delaware River and Bay Authority, he said.
He said the county’s Open Space Program includes support of historic preservation and is partnering with communities for park improvements.
The county has long been at the short end of receiving state funds, he said.
“We’re focused on creating projects and betterments that the state can participate in,” he said.
The tourism industry here has become dependent on overseas workers in the summer working with J-1 Visas. Morey said his businesses saw only about 20 percent of the normal number of J-1 workers this past summer.
He said the employment program is very important to this area and a lot of work is taking place to see restrictions on the program are eased, he said.
“It is not displacing year-round or seasonal workers, the opposite is true,” Morey said.
One of Morey’s facilities was not opened this year due to a shortage of workers.
During the next 15 years, the county will renovate or replace 23 county-owned and -operated bridges as well as five bridges owned and operated by the Cape May County Bridge Commission. The total projected cost for bridge replacement and improvement from 2020-35 for both county and commission bridges ranges from $603 million to $890 million.
According to Morey, the county could receive as much as 70 percent in grant financing. He said it was well within the county’s grasp to fund as much as 50 percent of the plan if necessary.
Morey said he would try to nurture and move along the bridge projects.
Democratic freeholder candidates Brendan Sciarra and Liz Casey have charged the county government is fraught with nepotism in hiring and promoting employees. Morey said he is a firm believer in advertising for positions, interviewing and choosing the most qualified person.
“During my time there, I have not seen what I think is anything that is abusive in any way,” he said. “I think that government has evolved away from what was probably a sport years ago.”
He said the county has conflict-of-interest provisions in place.
“In this small a community, we should be careful not to disadvantage people as well,” Morey said.
He said a number of people who work for the county have a father or brother also working there due to the small size of the county.
Sciarra and Casey have also pointed out disharmony among members of the Board of Freeholders, in the case of four of the five freeholders voting to censure E. Marie Hayes on an alleged conflict of interest and retaliation against former County Clerk of the Board and Administrator Elizabeth Bozzelli.
Morey said that was a difficult time but the board has come a great distance since that time.
“One of the areas that I think I have a strength is cultivating shared vision and additionally I think that what’s really important in government is to be able to develop a collaborative relationship and to get really smart, capable people who even like to fight with each other sometimes to work toward a goal,” he said.
Morey said he has been in a position to “stimulate, instigate” people to work together for the betterment of the community.