By Lauren Suit : of the Shore News Today

 

ILDWOOD — The city is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and to mark the event, city administrator Chris Wood dusted off the first meeting minutes of the city of Wildwood.

Wood gave out copies of the Jan. 1, 1912 meeting at a recent meeting and plans to continue going through the minutes from the past.

Wood is marking the city’s 100th anniversary by reading excerpts from the old minutes during the first regular City Commission meeting of each month in 2012.

Wood said the minutes were from the first meeting after the boroughs of Holly Beach and Wildwood decided to come together to form one city. Wood said the minutes showed that the men representing the boroughs had difficulty getting along from the start.

“It’s interesting, but not that much has changed when it comes to government,” he said.

The first meeting if of the Common Council of the City of Wildwood was called to order at noon Jan. 1, 1912.

The present members were Mayor J. Thompson Baker and Council members Winchester Bonham, Rufus B. Collins, Charles L. Nickerson and Mark B. Reeves. The clerk got through the roll call and then the problems started.

The men couldn’t agree on naming a council president and argued well into the evening.

The meeting continued until 8 p.m., after they agreed on a temporary solution. Ten days later, Bonham was finally named to the position on Jan. 10, 1912.

The next meeting, the council couldn’t agree on a city treasurer or a city engineer.

Under the state’s Public Archives Records Infrastructure Support program led by Cape May County Clerk Rita Fulginiti, Wildwood and 15 other county towns were able to have some of their older documents, such as minutes and ordinances, restored in 2010 for posterity.

 

Lauren Suit can be e-mailed at lauren.suit@catamaranmedia.com or you can comment on this story online at shorenewstoday.com.