Ventnor extends cell phone antenna leases; hires new police officer

By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY

VENTNOR The Board of Commissioners Oct. 12 extended two of its cellular antenna leases with fees to increase every five years and approved the promotion of a special officer to full-time status.

Commissioner of Public Safety Tim Kriebel said Joseph A. Dao was very energized in his position as a special officer over the summer months. Dao will now serve as a full-time police officer filling a vacancy created by the retirement of a detective.

The board approved two new multi-year leases for Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless to operate cell phone service atop the city's water tower. The Verizon lease has been in effect since August 2000. The new lease allows the company to operate until September 2040, with eight, five-year renewal terms. Each five-year term will increase the fee paid to the city by 15%.

The city also cleared up a longstanding dispute with Cingular Wireless, which took over its lease from AT&T, and recovered $75,000 in back revenue from 15 years ago.

Commissioner of Finance Maria Mento said the revenue shortage pre-dated the current administration and was missed as a revenue source for more than a decade.

It was a lot of research to figure out what happened, she said. It's important to keep a log of receivables going forward.

In other business,

• the board agreed to replace a police vehicle that was damaged in an accident. An agreement with Enterprise Fleet Management allows the city to maximize efficiency and leasing of its municipal fleet of police, fire and emergency management vehicles. The city last year approved the $550,000 contract with Enterprise for a period of five years, and this year will replace a Ford Interceptor utility vehicle that was damaged.


• accepted a $15,000 stormwater assistance grant.


• rejected bids received Aug. 25 for a traffic signalization project. The board previously awarded a contract to South State to do the job, but federal funding has yet to be received from the NJ Department of Transportation at this time. The city will rebid the project when federal financing is in place.

City Administrator Thomas Ciccarone also noted that Comptroller Amy Stover has received certification as a Certified Municipal Finance Officer. Stover was appointed comptroller last year after Chief Financial Officer Al Stanley resigned to work in Brigantine. He was later appointed on a part-time basis to act as CFO while Stover completed training and certification to become eligible to serve in the role of chief financial officer.

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