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Herald & Lantern 19 October ’83

Sturm: Growth Is the Key

Evans: ‘Look at the Buildings’-

(From Page 1) - money." Sturm's answer for the county’s persistent lack of year-round jobs seems more like an explanation than a solution. He cited ihe state’s reputation for excessive rules and regulations, tough environmental controls, stiff competition from the Sun Belt, and the county's lack of an experienced labor force. He apparently pins his hope for more local industrial growth on A H. (Rick) Childs, the county’s new economic development director, and, in so doing, takes a crack at Donald M. Kelly who, resigned the post in June after being suspended for 90 days for alleged misconduct. Childs, Sturm said, “has the background, willingness and desire to pursue industry much more aggressively than in the past '’ THE PAST? Kelly "didn’t appear to be aggressive enough the last th*-ee years." Sturm said. But the county has "an industrial park at the airport with sewer and water, ready to go. and can offer attractive leases," he said. As for his own efforts to promote industrial grfcvth, Sturm said he "brought a Manne Extension Agent (Stewart Tweed) into the county in 1978, the first such position created in New Jersey," to help the commercial fishing industry. And how's the industry doing? "It's a cyclical industry," said Sturm, and hampered by recent clamming regulations. but “still the third largest port of entry fof. seafood products on the East Coast." What about the county's Private Industry Council (PIC) dealing with that "lack of an experienced labor force" he cited 9 “There’s not enough industry to take people into training programs." said Sturm “The resort industry is our long suit. What are you going to train people for 9 " Thus he sees this month's forced merger of the county’s PIC with Atlantic County’s as a potential plus "if too much politics doesn't get into it.” Atlantic County, especially because of its casinos, has more year-round jobs, he pointed out STURM REJECTS the anticipated charge by his Democratic opponents tfuU a two-year community college would help provide the training for that work force. "The vo-tech school — the county’s choice over a community college in the early 60s long before I was a freeholder — has the capability of setting Up any course that any industry would want," he said. Sturm said a local community college "would be impossible because of existing

‘ problems" and the Municipal Utilities Authority pops up like a grotesque jack-in-the-box. Sturm himself was called before a grand jury investigating MU A procedures. His June testimony is confidential, but he volunteered that the probe of engineering and bonding fees, land purchases, etc. has to do with former, not present, MUA members. "The problem with the MUA in some cases has been the type of thinking of some appointees," said Sturm, “no one presently a member.’’ Sturm said he "was screaming about the MUA in 1975, 1976, 1977..." Possible scandals aside, the MUA has the job of dealing with the county’s twin growing problems of solid waste and sewage. Sturm said "transfer stations are a must, especially for the southern end of the county," to counter anticipated increased costs for trash collection due to higher tipD fees and the longer haul to a proposed fill in the Woodbine-Upper Township area. "The big problem is where? said Sturm. "Many people are offended by having it near them." As for reducing the amount of trash by recycling, although county offices participate in a paper recycling program, Sturm says the public isn’t ready for it. "YOU CAN TALK recycling until you’re blue in the face," he said, "but we re a throwaway society. Until Joe Average Guy will take the time and educate himself to tieing up papers and smashing cans, it's pie-in-the-sky thinking, not viable for another 10-15 years." Sturm's answer is incineration. "No one has convinced me it couldn’t be done, with proper environmental controls." In the face of federal funding cuts, the MUA now wants to reduce its level of sewage treatment from secondary to primary (removing 25 to 30 percent of suspended solids versus 85 to 95 percent) and discharging into the ocean. "It's not what anybody' wonts to do," said Sturm, "but how else can they do it? I can’t fault that business decision. "The degree of treatment is the problem.” he said. “The MUA is treating the sewage. Ocean City is on line. Cape May will be later this year. Lower Township has its own MUA. The barrier islands have their own." NOTABLY LACKING is Middle Township, «?rved only by a plant in Court House already at capacity. "When it /treatment) gets to Middle in ’86 or ’87." he said, "development is going to explode along Route 9." The county is expected next year to build a new Crest Haven nursing home and

‘Development is going-to explode along Route 9...’

legislation The Department of Education set minimum size student body standards and this county wouldn't generate that many right now We must be in concert «Tith a neighboring county." That's not quite the way the state Department of Higher Education sees it. "I do not think there is legislation." said Rupert Jemmont, director of the Office of Community Colleges. ^ "But pari of the review procedure for the establishment of a community college would be a look at the need " ACKNOWLEDGING THAT the county spent more than J700.000 this year for chargebacks for local students to attend other community colleges, primarily Atlantic. Sturm said that was “a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of our ow n college." Salem County, he said opted for its own college and "has a continuing problem fun ding it because it is not large enough ' Salem County's community college is 12 years old and has 1.000 full-time equivalent students. Ifistead. Sturm said, local students can drive the 38 miles to Atlantic C&mmunity College, or attend courses in a satellite center in Court House "when a proven number want a course " v "Maybe it might make sense some years down the road." said Sturm, adding that a "a committee, the two-year County College Study Group, is watching it closely'” Not too closely, apparently Asked to name its members or chairman. Sturm could recollect only Warren GarreL»on of Coastline Advertising in Erma Garre Ison told the Herald and Lantern he was the group's vice chairman when it "worked on that three years ago. but it hasn't met in a year and a half.” MENTION Cape May County's

enlarge judicial facilities in the courthouse complex, the latter a controversial move. The courts and lawyers say there isn’t enough space in Court House; the Court House business community resists any move of its customers. Sturm said he sees the courthouse complex as totally courts and court-related three-to-five years down the road, “which I find acceptable." Other county offices such as the treasurer, planning, engineer, freeholders, plus social services now in Rio Grande will end up at the present Crest Haven nursing home, he said. As director of the Department of Revenue and Finance, Sturm each year prepares the annual budget message, a project on which he devotes considerable time “to make it more easily understood.” IN THE LAST three years the county budget climbed by 29 percent, from $25.5 million to $32.9 million, and the amount raised by local taxes by 38 percent, from $16.9 million to $23.4 million. "We have a growing county," said Sturm, "and to provide necessary and wanted services, it costs more." But the county “runs a very good ratio of bonded debt," he said, "and has a bond rating of ‘A’ the highest a resort-based county can get." Sturm picked up the responsibility for public works — roads and bridges — this year while giving up the planning board He said he's ready to "take a good look" at ending the tolls on the five Ocean Drive bridges if that would make it possible to receive "substantial federal money " All the bridges are more than 40 years old. he said and "going to need work.” The federal five-cent gasoline tax hike is supposed to go for that kind of work, but not for bndges that collect tolls, he said • Page 21 Please)

(From Page 1) percent of its total operating budget, for utilities. It recommends an "energy management program” that should save 10 to 25 percent of energy coats. Plan is to use a computer system to lower the peak demand on which rates are based, and for “duty cycling" which simply means turning off unneeded equipment. That program is supposed to start with the jail this year and conclude with eight other “primary targets" by 1966. TTiat in-. eludes moat of the county buildings in Court House and at the Crest Haven complex. PREVIOUS ENERGY-SAVING moves include those storm windows, insulation, caulking, weather stripping, window airconditioner covers and thermostat adjustments, according to the memo. It also cites renovations to the boilers and heating systems and replacement of window air-conditioners “where practical." Democratic opponents to Republican Evans’ quest for a third, three-year term, however, may not accept clean windows and mowed lawns as the issues. He is, after all, vice director of the board of freeholders, and there is, for example, a

pared to $11 million for a new facility elsewhere, the goal of some in the judicial system. As for the Crest Haven nursing home that wiU be vacated once a new one is built, his first choice for that space would be offices for which the county now rents space: social services, the election board. Evans offered the identical answer to two somewhat related questions. Asked what the county can do to create jobs, and what it can do for its young people, he said, ‘Td like to know myself. WE RE AT THE BOTTOM of nowhere, ” said Evans. “You either come in across the ferry or up the highway. TTie trucker gets to Cape May and he’s done. There's no load to take back." Like Sturm, Evans pins his hopes on new Industrial and Economic Development Executive Director A.H. /Rick) Childs. "I feel he’ll be instrumental in encouraging some business to come into the area," Evans said. As for those young people, “we should be looking to put ’em to work, but where are we going to get the jobs?" Evans asked. "There are only a couple trades to get Involved in," he said: "construction, and tourism, which doesn’t last 12 months. It’s a big problem. They can only work three,

‘In the next 10years, we’ll triple the growth...’

split on the freeholder board between its director, Anthony T. Catanoso, and William E. Sturm Jr., also a candidate for reelection. Catanoso has said he cannot support Sturm. Evans, a Catanoso backer and a Sturm running mate, seems to be in the middle. Sturm has run ahead of Evans in the past, by about 1,500 votes in 1977, by about 900 votes in 1980, and by about 100 votes in the GOP primary this year. "Tony_ahd Bill are both a little hardheaded," said Evans. “That puts me in a bad position. I like Bill and I like Tony. I stick with one sometimes, with the other sometimes. I try to do my own thinking. "WHEN I WAS ELECTED," he said, “I had to look to somebody. Tony was the director. We got along, golfed, got involved socially. He’s an honorable person. You have to look to somebody. "Fve know Bill all my life," he added. "He was three years behind me in (Middle Township) high school. He and my father were the best of friends. We work well together. We’ll run together the same as the last time. And we’ll produce together." One thing Evans and Sturm produced this year was the controversial purchase price for the Cape May County Savings & Loan building adjacent to the courthouse. The county appraiser said it was worth $400,000, the S&L appraiser said $500,000. Evans and Sturm met with the S&L officials over lunch at the Lobster House in Cape May and settled on $540,000. “They- wanted $600,000,” said Evans "We met in the middle. Remember, we’re getting furnishings, draperies, etc.” EVANS ALSO HEADS the Mosquito Commission whose purchase this year of two helicopters for about $300,000 was controversial. "It was the right-move," Evans said. And Mosquito Commission superintendent Judy A. Hansen said it made the operation more effective at less cost. Evans also is in charge of Weights and Measures and the one-man Consumer Affairs Department "initiated," he said, "through my efforts." "Anything you buy in the county," he said, “if you feel the man did you in, you have a right to report it to Mark Diederich who will investigate.” Diederich said he has “saved consumers about a half-million dollars” since his position was created in September 1960. Evans also is in charge of the Emergency Management program, formerly civil defense. It has a staff of three. Asked, however, about "issues” not directly involved with his departments. Evans, volunteered "phenomenal growth" and the Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA). "IN THE NEXT 10 YEARS. we’U triple the growth of the last 10 years," he said. The county grew from 59,554 in 1970 to 82,266 in 1980. Tripling that 22,712 increase would boost the population to 150,000, a number the planning department doesn't envision until the year 2010. Whatever the number, it means "we've got to upgrade our courts, enlarge the nursing home, provide a lot of services for our people in the next 10 years," Evans said lliat court expansion, he said, "should take place where it is, in Court House," there, he said, it will cost $5 million corn-

four, five months a year. It’s tough to do anything else with ’em. If I weren’t in construction, I don’t know what I'd do." HE DOES NOT SEE a local community college as an answer. “We don’t have enough students to support it," he said. "If you don’t have the students, you're kidding yourself. We have a satellite (in Court House) which we initiated about four years ago. “We’re close enough to Atlantic, Cumberland and Stockton (state college)," he said. “In the future we may need it, but at the present time, I really can’t see it." The MUA, on the other hand, is "a real issue.” "The freeholders had to start it," he said. "The state stopped seashore building in 1974 and said regionalize and upgrade the sewer systems. "It’s an autonomous body,” Evans said. "’Hie only control we have is appointing them." THE REAPPOINTMENT of MUA chairman John Vinci was one of the issues that united Evans and Catanoso, but the other three freeholders voted "no" and sent Vinci packing. "I knew nothing bad about Vinci,” said Evans. Like Sturm, Evans was called this summer before a grand jury investigating the MUA. “I have no idea what they’re trying to dig up," he said. He was questioned, he said, only about a golfing trip to North Carolina with Catanoso and Vinci. The biggest MUA issue is county sewage — how much to treat it and what to do with it. Here, Evans seems to split with runningmate Sturm who grudgingly accepts primary treatment and ocean outfalls as "a business decision" (meaning all that can be afforded at this time). "I’M AGAINST putting primary treated sewage in the ocean," said Evans. "On the other hand, I'd rather have it in the ocean than in the back bay. I want them to go to secondary before they pump it into the ocean. I think it ought to be secondary before it goes anywhere." And what about the MUA and trash? “Oh God,” said Evans, his hand to his forehead, "another beauty. I like the Woodbine location, but I’m concerned about what it will cost us to get rid of the trash." •* He supports transfer stations because “it’s a long ride from Woodbine to Cape May.” Where to put them? “The most environmentally sound spot," he laughed, as be sidestepped. A public hearing on sites the MUA has recommended will be held on Nov. 10, two days after the election. EVANS. WHO LIVES in Stone Harbor where trash separation and recycling are mandatory, differs from Sturm on that issue. “The landfill is only an interim solution," be said. "I think there should be mandatory resource recovery, for the sake of the cost to the local municipalities." A proposal to do that in Lower Township brought anguished cries in opposition He also says be is "not against incineration," a Sturm suggestion, "if it’s done properly." (Page 21 Please)