Upper Township mayor looks back on 24 years serving township

Editor’s note: Sentinel editor David Nahan interviewed Upper Township Mayor Richard Palombo in early December, just before he finished his 24-year career on the Upper Township Committee, including the last 22 years as mayor. Asked a range of questions, he reflected on his long tenure of public service, issues in the township and with neighboring Ocean City, and his professional career.

UPPER TOWNSHIP – When people look back on his tenure in office, Richard Palombo wants them to feel like he served Upper Township well.

“I would hope they would say, ‘he did a good job for us,’” he said. 

“The township grew. Everything I tried to do over the 24 years, 22 as mayor, was to try to keep it in the same type of environment as when I came here. I can’t tell you how many people tell me they love living in Upper Township.”

Palombo hopes people remember him as a public official who was balanced and got things done. 

“I hope they realize I was fair and that I always gave people the opportunity to speak their piece without retaliation. I think the township employees think I was fair with them,” he said.

“I feel like I have accomplished a lot,” he said. That includes what he has done professionally, not just in the township.

“Serving on the (state) board of pharmacy was an incredible professional experience,” he said, as was being president of the National Board of Pharmacy. 

“Coming from Wildwood Catholic and growing up at the seashore I still have sand in my shoes. I developed a great rapport with a lot of folks across the country. I tried to take all those experiences and use them locally. For me it worked.”

From North Wildwood to Ocean City to Upper Township: A life in Cape May County, but work across the entire United States

Palombo was raised in North Wildwood, graduated from Wildwood Catholic High School then attended St. Joseph’s University before going to Temple University Pharmacy School. He is a career pharmacist – from a family of pharmacists – who owned a pharmacy in Ocean City and then began his career in government regulatory affairs, now with Cigna, mostly with Express-Scripts and Accredo Specialty Pharmacy. Although he has retired from his elected position as mayor of Upper Township, his work in regulatory affairs for Cigna continues.

Palombo’s father had a pharmacy in North Wildwood for about 45 years and was mayor of North Wildwood for 12 years, but he jokes he holds the record for longest term as a mayor in the family.

He has two grown sons, Zachary, who lives in Upper Township with his wife Lori, and Matt, who lives in Fort Washington, Pa. with his wife Joanne. Zachary and Matt both attended Upper Township Schools and went to Holy Spirit High School instead of Ocean City High School because they wanted to row on the crew team, a sport OCHS didn’t have at the time. Both sons have post-graduate degrees, one a Ph.D. and the other multiple master’s degrees.

Palombo and his wife, Sandi, moved in 1980 to Ocean City, where he had a pharmacy on 34th Street, which he sold to CVS Pharmacy in 1993-94. After living in Ocean City’s South End, they wanted their kids to have neighbors so they moved to Beesleys Point, where they have lived in the same house for nearly 40 years.

Getting involved in local sports 

led to getting involved in politics

Palombo said different factors convinced him to get involved in politics in Upper Township. One was youth sports. Both his sons were in sports and friends who had daughters felt they were being shortchanged in the programs with fields and dugouts and wanted his help to remedy that.

“They kind of drafted me and I thought I might be able to contribute,” he said. He didn’t expect it to become a second career.

“Twenty four years ago when I first ran (for committee) if you told me I would still be here I would have said you’re out of your mind,” Palombo said. “It just kind of clicked with me. After my first two years (on committee) I became mayor. Upper Township is a form of government where committee members elect the mayor. I never really looked back. 

“I was very fortunate to have support of many people on the committee who came and went” over the years. “I found it very rewarding to try to help the town.”

Palombo wasn’t just working on behalf of the township.

As the same time, he was serving on the New Jersey Board of Pharmacy, including some roles as president, and he became president of the National Board of Pharmacy, elected by his peers.

Technology helped him juggle 

political and professional careers

Palombo handled a political and professional career.

“It was a lot to take on,” he said. “The job role in pharmacy is in regularity affairs. It afforded me the opportunity to work from home a long time before COVID.” He had travel responsibilities that put him on the road three times a month prior to COVID.

“Technology afforded me the ability to stay in constant contact. I carry three cell phones: one for the township, one for work and my personal phone. I’m very neurotic in answering emails. I don’t like to let people hang. I took on the responsibility as mayor and tried to be responsive to everybody.”

Not interested in higher office: Service first, not politics

Palombo said he was not interested in seeking a higher office than mayor. He never planned a political career.

“I never even had aspirations in college to be politically active. Once I got elected (in U.T.) it kind of clicked and I felt like I could contribute. Looking back, I spent pretty much a quarter-century in office. My kids where in high school when I started and now my oldest son is 41 and the other is 39 and I have five grandchildren. 

“I have always felt it a privilege to serve Upper and I tried to be as fair as possible. To me it was always service first. I’m not really a political person,” he said. “I ran under the Republican ticket but if you ask people who know me, I don’t worry about that. I just try to take care of people. When I make appointments I don’t ask people what party they’re in. I just want people who are willing to serve as much I as I wanted to serve.”

Township changed, but character remains with eye on future

“Every town changes,” Palombo said. “It was very rural. It’s not as rural as it used to be. I don’t know that it’s changed for the worse.”

The longtime mayor said Upper Township still has rural neighborhoods scattered throughout its 10 towns and that when the Township Committee makes plans, it considers the impact of how those decisions impact the community down the road.

“We’ve tried to make plans to preserve some of the past that was there, but also plan for the future,”he said. “Ever since I got involved we always tried to stay focused on what’s going to happen five years from now and not plan for the present, to realize the decisions that we’re making now, how does that positively or negatively impact five years from now?

“We’ve worked closely with the planning board on the Master Plan to keep it how most people in the township are accustomed to, but realizing for any municipality to survive you have to develop some commercial ratables. 

“Upper is unique in that compared to the barrier islands – even though we have Strathmere – where they have a lot of transient people, a lot of our people live in their homes and have kids in the school system,” he said. Officials have kept a focus on infrastructure and expanded recreational programs “dramatically.” They put in an automated trash system and created town centers, but those are “not quite as successful as we hoped they would be.”

Just before the end of his term he announced the sale of the B.L. England generating plant site to a developer, Beesleys Point Development.

Sale of B.L. England site and stopping Strathmere from seceding among his accomplishments

Palombo said seeing the former generating plant site sold to a developer was a big accomplishment before he left office, just as figuring out how to deal with decreasing Energy Tax Receipts Property Tax Relief Fund revenue.

“I think we’ve overcome a lot of shortfalls. We used to have a significant amount of money that came from the energy receipt tax,” he said. Upper Township received a lion’s share as a community that hosted the coal-fired electricity-generating plant. “That has been depleted to about half of what we were originally supposed to get. We managed to work around it and work on some commercial ratables.”

When Atlantic City Electric planned to shut down B.L. England, Palombo said the township was concerned about the state allocation of the energy receipts tax fund and threatened legal action. That’s when R.C. Capital stepped forward to buy the plant and run it. The committee supported the plant switching over to natural gas to make it a cleaner-burning plant, but that didn’t come to fruition after a controversy over a natural gas pipeline to feed the plant would have gone through part of the Pinelands.

After the plant closed, he said the township worked with R.C. Capital to find a bidder they supported for the right type of development at the site. There were other bidders who wanted to use the site for a more industrial nature, but the township did not want that.

The developer that bought the site plans to create a marina district with a hotel, some seasonal housing, restaurants and a shop.

“It really is a pristine area,” Palombo said. “It is one of the unique areas where you can get a sunrise and a sunset in the same place.”

Palombo said the township “overcame some trauma” when Strathmere wanted to secede from the township and become part of Sea Isle City; the communities share that barrier island. “I felt from the beginning we should stay together. I think ultimately most of the residents were happy that they stayed with Upper.”

Palombo is proud the township expanded recreation programs and is especially proud of Amanda’s Fields. That is a tract of land that was a 50-acre turf farm. “We thought it would be ideal that it would take us 10 years to develop. It turned out it took 15 years with the effects of (Hurricane) Sandy. It really turned out to be one of the premier recreational complexes in south Jersey. Other towns call us and ask to use it.”

Another key accomplishment is trying to pay attention to density in development. He said there is a minimum of an acre for a new building, the township has worked to address affordable housing needs with the Coalition for Affordable Housing, and got a boost by getting ShopRite to come to town and to create a shopping center in Marmora.

“I think we’ve done a lot of progressive things over the past 24 years,” Palombo said.

A disappointment: The elusive Exit 20on the Parkway

“I think my No. 1 disappointment was all the times I went to Trenton with Assemblyman (Jeff) Van Drew, Senator Van Drew, and our legislators from both sides to get an interchange at Exit 20,” Palombo said. “I was not able to do that. Even though it’s not a personal disappointment, it’s a disappointment I wasn’t able to get that accomplished. 

“We made too many trips to Trenton with the New Jersey Department of Transportation, but I’m optimistic with the (federal) infrastructure funding that it becomes available through federal money.”

The state, he added, “always came up with some reason” it wouldn’t work.

He argues from a traffic standpoint, it would be a benefit because as people travel to the barrier islands on Route 50, there is a bottleneck at Roosevelt Boulevard.

He recommends public service and allowing people to express concerns

Palombo said he would recommend public service, including to young people, “but you have to understand it. 

“I’ve always taken it seriously and put a tremendous amount of time into it. If you go into it with the idea you can just show up to a meeting, it’s not going to work,” he said. 

“I’ve always taken it as my responsibility to listen to people and what they have to say. My claim to fame is I’ve never hit the gavel in my 22 years as mayor to tell someone they are too loud or out of control. I try to always allow the latitude for people to express what is bothering them or what they’re happy about.”

Palombo said he also has been open to opposing views.

“When we have ordinances that we open up to the public there have been times I’ve changed my opinion,” he said. “You can’t go into it (thinking) these are my ideas and this is how I want to run things. You go into it with the idea you’re serving the people who elected you. And if you’re not doing that, you’re not going to get things done. You’re not going to be there very long.”

He tried to keep national politics out of local governing, but it creeps in

“I always tried to say that I follow some of the principles of the Republican Party of trying to be thrifty and being a good steward of the taxes, not be overbearing with the tax structure … but I don’t know there is any place for national politics locally,” he said. “I think that you’re at a level where it’s tough enough to get through the budget, it’s tough enough to provide the services and provide the things the residents are looking for.”

“I do believe there are a lot of people living in Upper because they truly like living here. It’s a great neighborhood setting, it’s a great place to raise kids. I raised my own kids there. My oldest son lives in Upper Township and his kids go to Upper Township schools. 

“I try to separate what goes on on the national level because locally it is just to provide services and listen to what the residents have to say. I don’t ask if they’re Republican and I’ll vote for what they want, or are you a Democrat. I just don’t think that way. I try to rise above that. Or I tried to rise above that,” he added, laughing.

One of his regrets is missing family time

“I regret that I missed things with my kids growing up,” Palombo said. “My wife has been incredibly supportive over the years with a lot of the things I do. I don’t know that I really regret it. I think that a lot of people have different hobbies. I like to fish and I like to golf, but I don’t need to golf or fish every day of my life. I think I needed something to keep me focused. 

“I’m a multitasking person. I rose to the occasion and just enjoyed doing it. I always had it in the back of my mind that if this ever became a chore I would decide to step down. Last February I said, ‘I think I’m not going to run.’ I had to make a decision because of primaries and I said, ‘It’s time.’”

The demise of the Beesleys Point Bridge affected the township

Palombo said the closure of the Route 9 Beesleys Point Bridge across the Great Egg Harbor Bay from Atlantic County to Cape May County impacted the township.

“There were folks who took the Route 9 shore road who might not have seen the township if they didn’t take that bridge,” he said. “I think it may have hurt us a little commercially as we were trying to bring in people with access to Atlantic County.” 

He noted that people traveling the Garden State Parkway get off at the Marmora exit to either head to Ocean City or because they have something to do in the township, as opposed to those who would actually see Upper Township as they traveled on Route 9. Most travelers on the parkway just keep heading south without getting a view of the township, except glimpes from the parkway.

He said the Route 9 bridge had to be closed because of safety concerns. The bridge has since been demolished. The change was nice for some Upper Township residents.

“Those of us who live in Beesleys Point like that there’s not as much traffic. It was another roadway that was traveled a lot especially in the earlier years. My wife taught at Belhaven School (in Linwood) so she took it every day.”

B.L. England helped ‘build’ the township

“There was always a good working rapport” with B.L. England, Palombo said. Going back to when the plant was built more than a half-century ago, there are people concerned about having generating plants as neighbors. “Most people are NIMBY – not in my back yard – and that decision was made a long time ago to allow the electricity generating plant to be there to serve Cape May and Atlantic counties for redundancy and other things. It really was a great opportunity for the township at the time. 

“We used to get $11 million (in energy receipts tax funds) and now we get $6.2 million. That helped to build Upper Township into what it is now. At least the precursor to what it is now,” he said. “It exhausted its time and the environmental concerns were trying to be addressed. I don’t know where we would be if the South Jersey Gas pipeline came to fruition, but you move on.”

He said the plant employed more than 100 people and worked closely with the Marmora Fire Company. “I think all in all Upper always had a good rapport with Atlantic City Electric which owned it and then with R.C. Capital.”

Funding should continue without B.L. England

Palombo said the funding for the plant should continue “unless the law changes.” He explained all towns get “what used to be the energy receipts tax,” including Ocean City and Avalon.

“Now it’s what the state allots to the different municipalities. The hosting towns get more. Jersey City had a plant that closed down and they still get a significant amount of money because there’s a need there and they did host for many years. We expect that to continue because there was a lot of risk having a plant in our back yard. We hope that goes forward and we have some development on top of that.” 

Development at B.L. England site will help U.T. and Ocean City

Palombo said Beesleys Point Develpers agreed to turn the B.L. England site into a marina district with a hotel.
“That does a couple things. One, it helps the township for ratables. It helps the barrier islands, like Ocean City, which has room for more hotel accommodations and it’s close enough.

“The unique thing about Upper Township and Ocean City is the causeway” is the shortest from the parkway to the island than to any other barrier island. “You go to LBI (Long Beach Island) and you’re driving 20 miles to get into the island from the parkway.”

With Upper Township as a neighbor on the mainland, creating the marina district with a hotel, shops and restaurants serves the township, neighboring communities including Ocean City and Cape May County, he said.  “It also brings in a different clientele and the opportunity for others to look at Upper Township as a place to live or develop some commercial properties. It kind of puts us on the map a little bit.”

Development in  Upper would benefit Ocean City; sewer link would help

“It would certainly help us in the Marmora area if Ocean City was able to take some of the sewage,” Palombo said about potential limits on development in that part of the township. He said he didn’t know if that would be a limitation for development at the B.L. England site because there is an on-site treatment plant there.

He said they worked with the Municipal Utilities Authority and the capacity exists in Ocean City for handling some sewage from the township. 

He believes working with the resort is mutually beneficial.

“Ultimately some of the things we put in the town centers is an adjunct to Ocean City. One of those thingspotentially is another hotel. When you travel you don’t necessarily stay where you need to be. You may stay in a surrounding area. We feel we are situated and could help one another just as we do with sending our kids over here,” he said.

“What I don’t think Ocean City realizes is that all of their drinking water comes from Upper Township. The (New Jersey American Water) well is in Upper Township in Marmora. All the water that (Ocean City) drinks comes from our town,” he said. 

“All we’re asking for is a little bit of the sewers to offset some stuff that we think will help the Roosevelt Boulevard corridor and ultimately it’s still one of the major entrances to Ocean City. It’s a major gateway into Ocean City and we feel it is something that will be an asset.”

Exit 20 would help Seaville shopping 

During the fall campaign, all the candidates for Township Committee spoke of improving the business centers, especially the Seaville shopping center. Palombo said an Exit 20 on the Garden State Parkway would help. “There’s no question about that. I do think we have issues with the people who own the property. They don’t seem to go out and bring (businesses) in. I don’t understand the whole principle behind it. We talked with representatives. I think there are opportunities for growth there.”

The township has tried to avoid too much development in certain places.

Palombo said there have been designated areas along Route 9 for stores, but not for the entire length of Route 9 through the township.

“We have designated areas so Route 9 doesn’t become like a Tilton Road where there is just commercial all the way down. That is what is unique about Upper Township. You go a short distance in either direction and you find yourself back in a rural setting quickly.”

Traveling the country netted ideas for U.T.

Palombo said with his work in the pharmacy industry he’s been to every state. When he saw things that worked in other places, he brought those ideas back with him to see if they could implement them in the township.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, he spent five weeks in New Orleans opening and operating a mobile pharmacy. “When I came back I said we have to buy two satellite phones because we could not communicate with our cell phones for a week. If we ever have a storm, we won’t be able to communicate with Strathmere or other parts of our community.”

He said it was “an incredible experience for me.” He worked closely with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) along with medical teams and nurses in a big parking lot. “It was an educational experience and a ton of what I learned I brought back from the township.”

Outsiders don’t realize the hidden beauty in New Jersey

Palombo said during his travels when he talks about being from New Jersey, people automatically think of the congestion in northern New Jersey and the New Jersey Turnpike. He said they miss the beauty of other parts in the state.

“I get that all the time. I say, ‘You don’t know how nice the beaches are here. I talk to people and all they think about is ‘The Sopranos’ and I always keep a picture on my phone to show them what my beach looks like. I’ve developed relations over the years and they’ve come to visit and they’re all incredibly impressed with how pristine the area is. I think if you went to northwest New Jersey it’s incredible up there. It’s beautiful. So, yeah, we have industry in the Iron Beltway, but most of New Jersey is incredibly nice.”

Continuing growth, infrastructure, and working with Ocean City remain key issues 

As he was finishing his tenure in office, Palombo said the township has key issues officials will have to continue dealing with into the future.

“We need to keep up with growth. Part of keeping up with growth is having the ratables to provide the type of growth people coming in need,” he said. “I do think that whoever is taking over the reins as mayor, a high priority is to continue to work with the developer of B.L. England. It has to be done.”

In addition, he said, “Hopefully they’ll continue the rapport with Ocean City. We have shared services. We pay a substantial amount of money for the 911 dispatch … and I don’t think we’ve had any talk of switching to the county because we’re very comfortable with what we have with Ocean City. In emergency situations the police can move here; there’s a substation built in the township that can be utilized to keep things going over here as well.”

“Working with the administration of Ocean City is important as well,” he added. “Our kids go to high school in Ocean City; we’re so close the communities are kind of interspersed. That needs to continue.”

Infrastructure remains a big job because it is a big township.

“There has to be a way to address the infrastructure. There are 76 miles of roads in Upper Township. You can’t fix everything at one time. Some people say it’s 64 square miles, some say it’s 65 square miles. Whatever it is, it’s a lot of space. It’s literally what 10 towns would be like. There is a lot of open space but a lot of things that need to be addressed,” Palombo said.

“We’ve done road repairs every year based on bonding and paying back bonds. You have to be able to handle the amount. That is why the commercial part of it is important. Quite frankly, if you have a home that’s $400,000 or $500,000 and you’re paying like $8,000 in taxes and have three kids going there (OCHS) at $15,000 or $16,000 a kid, the math doesn’t work. That’s why you have to have the ratables.

“That’s something they really have to concentrate on.”

Extra time he gains will now go to family

As he retires from being mayor but not from his pharmaceutical industry job, he’s going to spend more time with his family doing things. 

“My kids and grandkids love the beach as much as I do. On any given weekend you’ll find me on the beach. People know that from the township. I’m always in Strathmere. People say you just have to walk down the beach to find me. I enjoy that. I may golf or fish a little more. I had a nice adventure before COVID down in Cabo (San Lucas, Mexico) catching a nice striped marlin.”

However, he hasn’t fully thought out his plans.

“I haven’t really gotten to that point yet. I’ve never had trouble keeping myself busy. It’s not like I’m getting any younger. I’m 66. I don’t consider myself old by any means.”