Tibbitt won’t seek another term as Atlantic City Council president | #citycouncil


ATLANTIC CITY — Who will be the new president of City Council after Wednesday evening’s council reorganization meeting?

Current President George Tibbitt has been elected president by fellow council members for the past three years but was not expected to continue getting majority support after his relationship with Mayor Marty Small Sr. soured last year.

Tibbitt decided to step aside and let someone else take the responsibility, and the extra work, to spend more time developing his own projects and enjoying family time, he said Tuesday.

“I’m not running, and I fully endorse Bruce Weekes as a younger, vibrant and very educated person to continue on,” Tibbitt said Tuesday. “I’ve had the presidency three years, it’s time to give someone else a turn.”

Weekes did not immediately return a call for comment.

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Weekes, who ran on the same ticket with Small, Tibbitt and Councilwoman Stephanie Marshall in 2021, has often voted with a minority on council that tends to vote against Small administration ideas and preferences.

Governing bodies across South Jersey are set to reorganize this week.

For example, Weekes and Tibbitt both supported a ballot question effort by a group of Small critics and Republicans to change the way elections are conducted in the city to a nonpartisan format. The question failed in the November election.

Small and his supporters had said such a move would weaken the Democratic Party and its city committee, which is controlled by Small followers.

Tibbitt, Weekes and other supporters of the change had said it would give political outsiders more of a chance to get elected and open up the political process to more people.

Longtime council Vice President Kaleem Shabazz declined to predict what will happen Wednesday but said the most important thing is to “show the city of Atlantic City and people who are looking to do business or are actually doing business here that the city will move forward in 2023.”

Shabazz said he is not expecting a contentious meeting and added “I’m happy where I’m at” when asked whether he might become president.

Shabazz has been running biweekly Clean and Safe Atlantic City meetings since June that have jumpstarted successful efforts to get hundreds of streetlights repaired and working again, to arrest repeat quality-of-life offenders such as shoplifters, and to start new legislative efforts with state Sen. Vince Polistina and Assembly members Don Guardian and Claire Swift, all R-Atlantic, on a variety of issues affecting the city.


ATLANTIC CITY — It was a pretty good year for the Atlantic City Police Department.

In addition to determining leadership positions on council and appointing people to boards and other positions, council will vote on adopting a cash management plan. It includes authorization for Director of Revenue and Finance Toro Aboderin to invest in tax-exempt municipal obligations.

Council will also vote on accepting a $1 million state grant for anti-violence programs for out-of-school youth.

Resolutions would also authorize the city to charge 8% interest a year on late property tax payments on the first $1,500 in arrears, and 18% per year on an excess amount owed; authorize the municipal tax collector to conduct an accelerated tax sale, and to cancel any tax refund for less than $10.

Another item would authorize the municipal tax collector to mail notices to property owners in lieu of two publications for notice of tax sale; and yet another allows the tax collector to accept partial payments of property taxes.

The city has reported an almost 98% success rate in collecting property taxes for the past two years.

The meeting will be held at 5 p.m. in Council Chambers in City Hall at 1301 Bacharach Blvd. It will also be livestreamed at acnj.gov. The link to the meeting can be found on the city calendar by clicking on the Jan. 4 meeting.

REPORTER: Michelle Brunetti Post

609-841-2895

mpost@pressofac.com


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