Council votes to support Ocean Grove FEMA bid
'We need to stick with our neighbors' — Mayor Ed Johnson
The city council garnered enough votes to pass a resolution in support of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association’s bid for FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] funding to fix that town’s boardwalk.
The council had failed to pass the resolution at its previous meeting on March 20. Council members voted 2-1 on the measure, with council members John M. Loffredo and Susan Henderson voting in favor; Councilman James Bruno voting against the resolution; and Councilman Kevin Sanders abstaining. Mayor Ed Johnson had been absent.
Three yes-votes are required to pass a resolution under Asbury Park’s form of government.
At the April 3 meeting, Johnson and all of the council members except Bruno, who was absent, voted in favor of the resolution.
Bruno had voted against the resolution because Ocean Grove locks gates on pedestrian bridges that separate the two towns every night from midnight to 5 a.m.
Loffredo noted that he is not in favor of the Camp Meeting Association’s past refusal to allow a same-sex civil union to be performd on the boardwalk, but voted in favor of the resolution anyway on March 20.
“I wholeheartedly agree that there are some concerns and issues we need to address,” Johnson said of the relationship between the two municipalities before voting at the April 3 meeting. “I spent the entire month of January railing against congress for playing politics for Sandy aid. I think we need to stick with our neighbors and help with our neighbors, if we can help our neighbors, to restore their boardwalk.”
FEMA rejected the CMA’s request for funding because the Ocean Grove boardwalk is considered to be a private nonprofit facility that does not provide a critical service. The Ocean Grove boardwalk differs from many other towns’ boardwalks because it is owned by a private nonprofit organization — the CMA — rather than a municipality or business.
FEMA policy states that a private nonprofit facility can only receive funding if it performs a crticial service, according to FEMA assistant external affairs officer Mary Margaret Walker. FEMA defines critical services as providing power, water, sewer, wastewater treatment, communications, education, and emergency medical, fire protection and emergency services, Walker said in an email.
CMA officials have not returned calls for comment on the matter.
