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STAFF REPORTTHE OCEAN STAR

JERSEY SHORE — Although residentsalong the Jersey Shore may not havegiven much thought to summerrentals this year, droves of visitorsfrom near and far have had just thaton their minds as they snap up themost desirable beachfront propertiesto enjoy for a week, a month or thewhole season.Local real estate professionals have

reported overall positive business sofar this year, with some bookingrental properties in the early wintermonths and others anticipating anuptick in traffic as the weatherwarms.

BEACH ‘OFF TO A STRONG START’For Point Pleasant Beach’s Barefoot

Real Estate, which represents roughly100 homes in town, business was “offto a strong start” in the beginning ofthe year, slowed down and has subse-quently picked up again, according toKim Surowicz, the co-owner of thecompany.Ms. Surowicz, who owns the real

estate company along with Mike Cor-bally and Doug Bollinger, said thebusiness is roughly 50-percent bookedas of this week. “What we’re seeing isthat seasonals are down [and] week-lies are up,” she said.Ms. Surowicz also said business is

“about the same as last year.”According to Ms. Surowicz, the is-

sue with fewer rental homes available

because of rebuilding post-HurricaneSandy has mostly resolved itself atthis point, at least with the clientsBarefoot Real Estate represents.

LAVALLETTE UP FROM LAST YEARAccording to Matthew Schlosser, of

Schlosser Real Estate in Lavallette, the

ELECTION 2015Primary election previews inside this edition

BAY HEAD � LAVALLETTE � MANTOLOKING � POINT PLEASANT � POINT PLEASANT BEACH

75 CENTSFRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2015

Summer rentals ‘off to astrong start’ this season

Barrella doesn’t fileto run in primary

Freshfaces filein PointSays it is ‘highly unlikely’ he will file to

run for mayor again as an Independent

SEE RENTALS PAGE 2

MORGAN CAMPBELL THE OCEAN STAR

A WEEKEND OF FUN & FUNDRAISINGSaturday was a busy day for locals. Molly McCourt [above, left] and Melissa Seakan, bothof Point Pleasant, enjoyed the Point Pleasant Beach Chamber of Commerce’s fundraisingevent Beers on the Boards at Martell’s Tiki Bar. Earlier in the day, members of the PointPleasant Fire Department Station 75 Ladies Auxiliary held their annual Easter flower saleto benefit the fire department. On hand to run the sale were Fern Truex [below, from left],Betty Torode, Jane Hollomon, Gail Wells, Jeanine Currier and Renee McCarsky, all resi-dents of Point Pleasant.

PRIMARY ELECTIONS 2015

BAY HEAD MAYOROne open seatWilliam Curtis* [R]

BAY HEAD COUNCILTwo open seatsMary Glass* [R]D’Arcy Rohan Green* [R]

LAVALLETTE COUNCILTwo open seatsJames Borowski* [R]Joanne Filippone* [R]

MANTOLOKING COUNCILTwo open seatsSteve Gillingham* [R]Robert F. McIntyre* [R]

POINT PLEASANT BEACH MAYOROne open seatStephen Reid [R]

POINT PLEASANT BEACH COUNCILTwo open seatsAndy Cortes* [R]Robert Santanello [R]

POINT PLEASANT COUNCILTwo full-term seatsWilliam Borowsky* [R]Toni DePaola* [R]Peter Hagemeyer [D]Ed Wolff [D]One one-year seatJack Butler [D]Michael Thulen [R]

* denotes incumbent

STAFF REPORTTHE OCEAN STAR

TOMS RIVER —Monday was the deadline for candidates tofile to run in the Republican or Democratic primaries thisyear, seeking their party’s support for November’s election.Independents have until June 2, the date of the primaries,

to file to run for office.For the full stories on each primary, see the town pages

inside this edition of The Ocean Star.

Primary elections on June 2

BY PAIGE TAYLORTHE OCEAN STAR

POINT PLEASANT BEACH— MayorVincent Barrella did not file torun in either the Republican orDemocratic primary elections,and this week said it is unlikelyhe will file to run as an Inde-pendent — potentially makingthis his final year behind thedais, here.The mayor was elected as an

Independent in 2011. His four-year term expires at the end of

SEE BARRELLA PAGE 13

“When your senseof right and wrongseems to be verymuch different thanthe people who havebeen elected, it’sprobably time. Iget the impressionthat nobody reallycares in PointPleasant Beach …”

VINCENT BARRELLAMayor, Point Pleasant Beach

FILE PHOTO THE OCEAN STAR

Mayor Vincent Barrella, last elected as an Independent, did not file torun in the Republican primary election. The mayor originally ran as aRepublican. He also said this week it is “highly unlikely” he will file torun in the election as an Independent.

Incumbent GOPersfile; newcomers file inDemocratic primaryBY JESSICA FASANOTHE OCEAN STAR

POINT PLEASANT— Three seatswill be up for grabs on thecouncil, here, in the generalelection, and three Democratsand three Republicans havefiled in their parties’ primaryelections in the hopes of ap-pearing under their column onthe November ballot.The deadline to file for the

primary elections was Monday.Incumbents have until the dateof the primaries, June 2, to fileto run in November’s election.Incumbent council members

William Borowsky and ToniDePaola, as well as CouncilmanMichael Thulen — who was ap-pointed to his seat in February— filed to run in the Republi-can primary. Newcomers JackButler, Peter Hagemeyer and EdWolff are hoping to gain thesupport of the Democratic par-ty in town.

SEE POINT PAGE 6

Real estate agents reportsolid rental activity so far

RYAN MAYER THE OCEAN STAR

Jane White, an agent with Childers Sotheby’s International Realty, is representing thehome above for rent for the summer. Her office is seeing a solid amount of rental activ-ity on the 20 or so properties it represents in Bay Head.

WWW.STARNEWSGROUP.COM FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2015 THE OCEAN STAR PAGE 13POINT PLEASANT BEACH

this year.“I didn’t file for the pri-

mary because it’s my currentintention not to run again,”Mayor Barrella said. “Thatcould change, but it wouldtake something really dra-matic.”“It’s been eight years —

we’ve accomplished a lot andsolved a lot of problems,” themayor added. “We have awell-staffed, fiscally soundtown at this point in time.”The mayor said he will be

turning 63 in May, and “Idon’t necessarily think I wantto do another four years atthis point.”“The last time I ran, I ran

as an Independent and thatoption is still open if I chooseto run again, but at this pointin time I’d say it’s highly un-likely,” he added.Mayor Barrella said he en-

joys being involved in localgovernment, but “there’smore to it than that.”“When your sense of right

and wrong seems to be verymuch different than the peo-ple who have been elected,it’s probably time,” he said. “Iget the impression that no-body really cares in PointPleasant Beach, and it’s diffi-cult to motivate yourself[when such is the case].”

He also said, “My family isnot too enthusiastic aboutme running again, as well.”

REID TO SEEK MAYORAL SEATAccording to Janet Mutter

of the Point Pleasant Beachclerk’s office, the mayor’sseat, as well as two councilseats — those of CouncilPresident Andy Cortes andCouncilman Stephen Reid— are up this year. Themayor’s seat carries a four-year term, while the councilseats each carry three-yearterms.Council members Cortes

and Reid will seek their par-ty’s nod in the June 2 Re-publican primary to run inthe November general elec-tion, as will newcomerRobert Santanello.Councilman Reid is hop-

ing to win his party’s sup-port to run for the mayoralseat, while CouncilmanCortes and Mr. Santanellohope to run under their par-ty’s banner for the two opencouncil seats.All three candidates have

been backed by the Point

P l e a s a n tBeach Re-p u b l i c a nClub.No De-

mocrats filedto run intheir party’sprimary.Independ-

ents have un-til June 2, theday of the

primary, to file to run in No-vember’s election.The current governing

body consists of CouncilmanCortes, Councilman Reid,Councilman Tom Vogel,Councilman Tom Toohey,Councilman William Mayerand Councilman Tom Migut— all Republicans — andMayor Barrella, an Inde-pendent.

STEPHEN REIDCouncilman Reid, 51, was

appointed to the boroughcouncil in 2012, subsequentlyelected and has been servingon the dais for the past threeyears.He grew up in Point Pleas-

ant Beach and currently re-sides on New Jersey Avenuewith his wife, Jacqui, anddaughter, Eve, 16.Mr. Reid received his

bachelor’s degree fromTarkio College, in Missouri.He is a partner in the

Princeton-based firm Capi-tal Public Affairs, Inc., whereclients hire him to “reachcommon ground with oppo-

nents without having to re-sort to legal action,” accord-ing to Mr. Reid.He has also represented

nonprofits in their fundrais-ing efforts, such as TheFoodBank of Monmouth andOcean Counties.Councilman Reid has

served as a wrestling coachfor the G. Harold Antrim El-ementary School and a foot-ball coach for Point PleasantBeach High School.“Over the last three years,

I’ve worked with my fellowcouncil members and resi-dents to keep improving ouralready great schools, get[Hurricane] Sandy victimsback into their homes, plussupport the communitybusinesses and our service-based departments that keepthis town thriving and safe,”Councilman Reid said. “I’mseeking election this year toensure a bright future forour town, while continuingthe traditions that havemade this town one whichso many cherish.”

ANDY CORTESMr. Cortes, 57, will be

running for his secondthree-year term on council.He has resided in Point

Pleasant Beach for 30 years.He currently lives on Wash-ington Avenue with his fi-ance, Colleen Coogan, andhas three grown daughters:Dorothy, Loren and Tiffany.Ms. Coogan has a daughter,Kelsey, and a son, Frank.

Mr. Cortes is semi-retiredafter working for 35 yearswith Comcast Cable inBrick as a central area con-struction supervisor, wherehe was responsible for over-seeing all constructionwork in Ocean, Monmouth,Middlesex and Mercercounties and managed anannual budget of $2 million.He has served on the bor-

ough’s recreation commit-tee since 2004 and has beena member of the PointPleasant Beach High SchoolBoosters Club since 2002.Mr. Cortes was the presi-

dent of the Point PleasantSoccer Club for 17 years, in-termittently between 1981and 2006. He also servedwith the Point PleasantBeach Little League from2001 to 2004 and has been aProject Graduation chaper-one since 2004.Mr. Cortes said this year’s

election is an importantone.“I’m confident that new

leadership will help movethis town in the right direc-tion,” he said. “Now is thetime to elect people whoknow this town and willfight to preserve it, whileembracing the changes thatwill occur post-Sandy.”

ROBERT SANTANELLOMr. Santanello, 53, resides

on Central Avenue with hiswife, Joan, and has threechildren — Sean, 26, Dylan,23, and Erin, 14 — all of

whom attended localschools.He has served as president

of the Point Pleasant BeachLittle League, administratorof the Recreation BasketballProgram and as a Cub Scoutleader.As a resident directly af-

fected by Hurricane Sandy,and living in one of thetown’s most problematicflood zones, Mr. Santanellocurrently serves on theFlood Plain ManagementCommittee.Mr. Santanello said run-

ning for council is a “wholenew thing” for him, but thereason he is running hitshome.“The reason I’m running is

because we lost everythingin Hurricane Sandy,” he said.Mr. Santanello rebuilt his

home in the borough andraised his sons and daughterhere.“When my home was de-

stroyed by Sandy, I wit-nessed firsthand what it re-ally meant to be part of acommunity,” Mr. Santanellosaid. “My family has re-ceived a ton of support fromthis community, and it’s nowmy time to give back andserve.”

Paige Taylor covers Point PleasantBeach for The Ocean Star. She can bereached at [email protected] 732-899-7606 Ext 14.

BARRELLAFROM PAGE 1

Councilman seeks mayoral seat; Incumbent, newcomer file for council

THE OCEAN STAR

The Point Pleasant Bor-ough First Aid Squad saidPoint Pleasant Beach resi-dents may have received adonation request from PointBoro First Aid’s annual funddrive in recent days.The Point Pleasant squad

said this was an “unfortunatemistake” made by its mailingcompany. Any donations thatwere sent in by Point Pleas-ant Beach residents will bereturned promptly.The Point Pleasant Bor-

ough First Aid Squad apolo-gized for any inconvenienceor confusion.

Mail mix-upsends Boromailer toBeach

THE OCEAN STAR

Miss Point High will beheld on Saturday, April 18 at 7p.m. in the high school gym.Admission is $6 for stu-

dents/seniors and $8 foradults.Congratulations to this

year’s Miss Point High 2015candidates: Tess Abadraboescorted by Joe Wegrzyniak;Julianna Bravo escorted byKent Napolielo; Shelby Cata-la escorted by Antonio Gar-cia; Victoria Clement escort-ed by Chris Erbe; Joya Diazescorted by TJ Allgeier; andSamantha Trabattoni escort-ed by Cory Gross.The candidates are all sen-

iors voted for by their class-mates. They will all be per-forming as will severalstudent acts that includesinging, dancing and skits. There will also be a senior

slide show to commemoratethe class of 2015.The chairpersons of the

show are juniors McKenzieKnevy and Evangeline Reid.

Miss PointHigh setfor school

Event kicks off at7 p.m. in high school

gym on April 18

ANDYCORTES

ROBERTSANTANELLO

STEPHENREID

ELECTION 2015

BY PAIGE TAYLORTHE OCEAN STAR

LAVALLETTE — At the lastcouncil meeting on March23, the governing body ad-dressed public assistance ac-counts as they apply to thelifeguard headquarters andnew municipal building,which were both destroyedduring Hurricane Sandy.Borough administrator

Christopher Parlow said herecently met with the Feder-al Emergency ManagementAgency [FEMA] regardingthe agency’s public assis-tance accounts that couldapply to the borough.“We did get notice, unoffi-

cial notice, that they did ap-prove our project as an im-proved project for thereconstruction of our life-guard headquarters, towhich they are going to funda 90-percent share at cost,”Mr. Parlow said. “The life-guard headquarters will befunded through public assis-tance.”“Thank you, Chris,” Mayor

Walter LaCicero said.However, the mayor con-

tinued, “The bad side of that[is] they did not approve thegrant application for bor-ough hall.”According to the mayor,

FEMA “did not find substan-tial damage” at borough hall.“You’ve read the newspa-

per, there’s a lot of home-owners complaining” of sim-ilar matters across the state,he said.“We’re under the same cri-

teria regarding substantialdamage determination asany other applicant,” Mr.Parlow said.He said FEMA deter-

mined, based on the reportthat he received from theagency, that it was projectedLavallette saw less than$115,000 worth of damage,between the police depart-ment and municipal build-ing.The crowd and council

members at the meetinglaughed at the number.He said the municipal

building and police head-

quarters, which are substan-tially larger buildings thatboth accrued damage, onlyreceived the said $115,000.“Everyone have a good

chuckle,” the mayor said.“There is an appeal process.We will be taking up the ap-peal.”The mayor said the bor-

ough’s engineers estimatedover $700,000 combined indamage for the municipalbuilding and police depart-ment.“In order for us to meet

that substantial damage de-termination, we would haveto provide engineering esti-mates … in order to meet the50-percent threshold,” Mr.Parlow said.Following the meeting,

Mr. Parlow explained thatthe 50-percent threshold isbased upon the assessed im-provement value of thebuildings that were dam-aged. For the municipalbuilding and police depart-ment, the improvement val-ue is around $702,800, hesaid.To meet the 50-percent

threshold, that signifies abuilding’s damage, the bor-ough must provide FEMAwith half of the total as-sessed value of damage,which is around $350,000,according to Mr. Parlow.“FEMA has, at this point,

reviewed our application forthe improvement projectand they have reduced thoseamounts to amounts lessthan the required 50 percent[that the borough assessed]— and that’s what we’re go-ing to appeal,” he said.The mayor said he hopes

Congressman TomMacArthur [R-3] and assem-blymen Gregory McGuckin[R-10] and David Wolfe [R-10] get on board to help theBorough of Lavallette winthe appeal. “FEMA’s been known to

make mistakes before andwe’re going to prove to themthis time they’ve made amistake,” Mayor LaCicerosaid.He continued by stating

that there are quite a fewtowns, such as Oceanportand Keansburg, that got ap-proved for the “same thingwe’re trying to do here, butit’s my understanding they

all went through this rejec-tion process.”“I’m not completely con-

vinced we’re not going to getthat kind of money here,” hesaid. “We’ve got some elect-ed officials that are pushingfor us.”The next council meeting

is on Monday, April 6, at 7p.m.

Paige Taylor covers Lavallette for TheOcean Star. She can be reached [email protected] or 732-899-7606 Ext 14.

FEMA to fund lifeguardheadquarters, not boro hall

Borough to enlisthelp of elected officials,undergo appeal process

WWW.STARNEWSGROUP.COM FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2015 THE OCEAN STAR PAGE 11LAVALLETTE

COURTESY OF DONNA FAXTON

A LARGE-SCALE SCIENCE PROJECTLavallette Elementary School eighth-graders participated in the annual parachute egg drop forMrs. Jill Lorenz's science class. This is an annual science project with the help of the LavalletteFire Department.

Council discusses line striping on Route 35BY PAIGE TAYLORTHE OCEAN STAR

LAVALLETTE — Route 35 re-construction has been at theforefront of topics over thelast few years here; however,parking plans on the majorroadway in the borough wererecently discussed.At the council’s regular

meeting on March 23, thegoverning body of Lavallettediscussed a new line stripingproject on Route 35 that willprovide for a change in theparking situation.“The state has provided us

with a new pattern, new grid,for parking spaces along thenew Route 35,” Mayor WalterLaCicero said, adding thatthere will be a net increase inspaces.Borough administrator

Christopher Parlow said, “Iwas summoned to a meetingwith the Department ofTransportation [DOT] andthe RDA group, which is theconsulting firm that has de-signed the Route 35 recon-struction project, [becausethey] wanted to meet anddiscuss the parking plan forRoute 35 North.”At the meeting with park-

ing officials, Mr. Parlow firstwanted to know how manyparking spaces currently ex-isted versus how many therewill be given the proposedplan. “They gave me a very good

analysis on a street-by-streetbasis of the existing parking

stalls, the proposed parkingstalls and the total for the en-tire Route 35 North corridoras it applies to Lavallette,” hesaid.Currently there are 447

standard parking stalls onRoute 35 North in Lavallette,along with nine Americanswith Disabilities Act [ADA]-compliant stalls, for a total of456 parking spaces.The standard parking

spaces will decrease by six,totalling 441. However, ADAcompliant stalls will almosttriple in amount, totaling 29spots. “In ADA stalls there will be

29 after the project is done,and once again, there are cur-rently nine that exist,” Mr.Parlow said. “Which I thinkis a good thing.”He continued, “Between

every set of streets, everyblock, they are going to putone handicap spot. Thathandicap spot is going to belocated in the same locationon every block and that is thesouthwest corner of everyintersection.”Mr. Parlow said the reason

for this placement is so “thatway, based on the handicapstall requirements, they willnot have to utilize more thanone spot because in that loca-tion the door of the access-way will open up into a noparking area in that location.”He continued, “It’ll proba-

bly be beneficial use in thatlocation too if there’s nobodyparking there, the sight trian-

gle opens up as well, which isthe most difficult spot toenter into the intersection.”“You have the plan,” Mr.

Parlow said to the council.“They are looking for a con-sent to that plan.”Council president Anita

Zalom said, “It’s a niceincrease in parking spaces.”Mark Speaker, resident and

vice president of theLavallette BusinessAssociation, asked the coun-cil if the ADA marked spotswill be 24 hours, as he wasconcerned of people abusingthe spots.The mayor replied that the

spots will be permanentlymarked and that there is a netincrease of 14 spots total.Overall, the total number

of parking spaces willincrease from 456 to 470.On the west side of Route

35 North, the total number ofcurrent spaces, 237, willremain the same, with adjust-ments made at the followinglocations:On New Jersey Avenue and

New York Avenue, there areeight existing stalls, with theproposal to decrease thenumber to seven. OnBrooklyn and Washingtonavenues, where there are 12

spaces, 11 are proposed toexist.On Magee and Vance

where there are 12 spaces, 13are proposed. On Presidentand Guyer avenues, the num-ber will increase from eightto nine.On Kerr and White

avenues, the parking willincrease from four to five. OnOrtley and Westmontavenues, parking willdecrease from seven to fivespaces.On Westmont and

Haddonfield avenues, park-ing will increase from five tosix spaces.According to the proposed

plan, the east side of Route 35North will see a gain of park-ing spaces from 219 to 233 invarious locations.The council voted unani-

mously to approve the pro-posed plan. CouncilwomanJoanne Filippone did not votebecause she was absent fromthe meeting.The next council meeting

is slated for Monday, April 6,at 7 p.m.

Paige Taylor covers Lavallette for TheOcean Star. She can be reached [email protected] or 732-899-7606 Ext 14.