Donald Wittkowski

Underscoring its strong finances and management, the Ocean City school district received a “clean” audit report Wednesday for the 2016-2017 school year. “We have a clean audit this year. No findings or recommendations,” said Michael Garcia, a partner with Ford-Scott & Associates LLC, an Ocean City accounting firm that conducted the financial review for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2017. Garcia summarized the 100-page audit during a presentation to the Board of Education at its meeting Wednesday night. He noted that school district must comply with numerous rules and regulations imposed by the state and federal governments to achieve a clean audit...

Ocean City, a seashore town that prohibits the sale of alcohol as part of its family-friendly reputation, may look to ban the sale of another drug – marijuana. As New Jersey considers the possibility of legalizing the recreational use of marijuana under newly inaugurated Gov. Phil Murphy, Ocean City officials say they don’t want pot sales in the place that touts itself as “America’s Greatest Family Resort.” Mayor Jay Gillian told members of City Council at their meeting Thursday night that he is adamantly opposed to marijuana sales and has directed Ocean City’s solicitor to look into ways to possibly ban the activity...

Mayor Jay Gillian proposed a $100.1 million, five-year capital plan that includes a series of big-ticket items in 2018, including drainage improvements, road construction and more dredging projects to clear out the shallow back bays. In a presentation to City Council on Thursday night, senior members of Gillian’s administration said the capital plan spreads out projects across the entire town and builds on the momentum started in the last few years to address Ocean City’s critical infrastructure needs. “We’ve tackled some major, major projects in the last couple of years,” said Frank Donato, the city’s chief financial officer...

City Council members Karen Bergman and Peter Madden announced Wednesday they are seeking re-election, saying they want to preserve a “good team” that has overseen an unprecedented level of capital investment in Ocean City from the bay to the Boardwalk. Joined by Mayor Jay Gillian and about 35 supporters at City Hall, Bergman and Madden formally kicked off their campaign for their at-large Council seats by taking out petitions for the May 8 municipal election. Gillian, who announced in December that he is also seeking re-election, praised Bergman and Madden for their accomplishments on Council...

Dr. David Roeltgen, a neurologist who has been treating dementia patients for 35 years, told an audience of mostly senior citizens Wednesday in Ocean City that their prospects of appearing on the brain-teasing game show “Jeopardy” seem remote, at best. “You don’t see a lot of senior citizens on Jeopardy,” he said, drawing muffled laughter from the audience. “Jeopardy is a young person’s game.” Roeltgen wasn’t trying to make a joke. His remarks underscored an unfortunate fact of life: As people get older, their mental acuity generally declines...

The Ocean City Housing Authority on Tuesday approved plans for $250,000 worth of improvements that will spruce up its Bay View Manor senior-citizen complex over the next three years. Plans call for cleaning the exterior, painting the units and improving the hallway lighting for the five-story building at Sixth Street and West Avenue. Bay View Manor’s floors, elevator and landscaping will also be upgraded...

The 20 students from the Key Club at Egg Harbor Township High School could have taken it easy for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday. School was closed, so there may have been the temptation for them to sleep late, hang out with friends and maybe forget about doing anything serious for the day. But instead, they braved frigid temperatures and fanned out across Ocean City on Monday morning to pick up litter as part of a “Day of Service” nationwide in honor of the slain civil rights leader...

When he was a baby-faced police officer barely in his 20s, Gary Schaffer posed as a student at Wildwood High School in 1973 during an undercover operation that cracked a drug ring involving an outlaw motorcycle gang. Later, as director of the Cape May County Police Academy, he transformed what had been a woefully outdated training program into one that is now a model for the rest of New Jersey...

With songs, prayers and expressions of hope that the nation is finally on its way to fulfilling his “dream,” Ocean City honored the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Saturday during an emotional ceremony. Speakers at the city’s 28th annual King community celebration quoted from the civil rights leader’s seminal “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963 while calling for peace, racial harmony, justice and economic equality...

Two Eagle Scouts who embody the personal qualities emphasized in the Boy Scouts of America code were honored by City Council on Thursday night for projects that benefited the local community. Council joined with the American Legion to also honor members of the Ocean City police and fire departments for helping two military veterans in separate incidents, including one man who needed life-saving CPR...