Picking Up & Leaving: Avalon Public Works Director Bill Macomber Retiring to Florida
Catherine Langon (mom), Bill Macomber, Ernest Macomber (brother) and Gina Yehuda (sister)
Bill Macomber embraces life’s next chapter.
The time has come not to worry about time. His toughest decision may now entail whether to enjoy a motorcycle ride, a sunset or a family meal.
Retirement has come to the North Cape May resident who directed the Avalon Public Works Department for the last 14 years and worked in the department since 1992.
Macomber’s departure, effective March 1, officially launched the post-work phase.
Next comes a family reunion in Florida, where some family members moved several years ago. The list includes his brother, Ernest, a retired Lower Township police officer, and his mother, Catherine.
Macomber and his wife, Leatrica, seek to find a home in his mother’s Tampa neighborhood. They will buy there and sell the North Cape May property.
“My mom used to live right next door to me, and when she moved away eight or nine years ago, it created a hole in my life,” Macomber says. “We used to walk next door and have dinner together, and went from doing that to seeing her about once a year.
“We will move as close as possible to her. It’s time to do this, we are looking forward to being with each other again.”
Family considerations impacted Macomber’s choice. Leatrica had retired a couple of years ago as a critical care nurse at Cape Regional Center. He had reached an age, 60, when retirement decisions become more prevalent.
Coronavirus-induced work changes like virtual training sessions and remote meetings perhaps sped the timeline during the last year. Many careers have shifted course during the pandemic.
Either way, Macomber woke up one day and realized it was time.
“I hadn’t planned on a particular time for retirement, things just started coming together that way,” he says. “I loved the people I worked with and for in Avalon.
“It felt like a family to me. Marty [Mayor Pagliughi] and the administration always worked well with us. We took great pride in keeping Avalon clean and looking like the great community that it is. I always looked forward to coming in.
“We always got recognized by Council for doing an excellent job.”
Macomber juggled unique responsibilities by directing this department here.
Beyond the normal expectations of solid waste removal, trash pickup, and street salting seen in many municipalities, shore towns command unique added responsibilities. They include dune-grass planting, beach sweeps, beach cleaning, and back-pass projects to maintain sand.
In Avalon, public works staffers clean the beaches and operate the street sweeper constantly.
Macomber said the Borough maintains 100 tons of salt, should a harsh winter emerge. It had been using about half that amount in recent years, enabling the opportunity to replenish in the offseason.
When storms hit Avalon, public works employees plow streets, salt roads, and working with the Middlesex Water Company to prevent flooding. The Avalon Department of Public Works maintains 120 Borough vehicles as well as 114 Cape May County vehicles through a shared-services agreement.
Public works has 23 full-time employees, Macomber says. Winter provided the perfect opportunity for boardwalk repair.
“When I first started to work here, I was told that summers would be busy and we would be looking for things to do in the wintertime,” Macomber says with a laugh. “Well, that part didn’t happen. The offseason gave us an opportunity to get a lot of things done.
“We do the boardwalk inspections every year, and we did quite a bit of repair,” he adds. “Weather and the wear and tear led to us repairing or replacing three or four thousand pieces every year. They are in the bright sun all year and then you have the elements, so there are quite a number of pieces that have been rotted or damaged.”
Back-passing is another unique element impacting shore communities. Winds blow the sand south. Before it departs a town, crews “back-pass” it, returning it to the town’s beach. It takes about a month to do and may encompass 50,000 cubic yards of sand in any year. Ultimately, that saves the look of the beach and money for beach replenishment.
For nearly three decades, Macomber was at the forefront of these and other projects.
Macomber began his Avalon career in 1992 as a mechanic. He moved up to mechanic foreman four years later. In 2006, he assumed the assistant director position, and two years later became the director. Most of his work involved maintaining Avalon’s excellence, but one in particular added to it.
That was the 9-11 project at Veterans Plaza, one of his most satisfying endeavors.
The Department of Public Works, along with volunteer assistance from laborers and vendors who donated supplies and materials, constructed the Memorial Plaza. The new plaza is located on the north side of Avalon’s Veterans Plaza at 21st Street and Dune Drive. It was formally dedicated in 2017.
In September 2011, Avalon had formally received an 1,800-pound section of I-beam from the World Trade Center in New York City.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had released the artifact to the Borough for use in the memorial. The artifact has a bend and compression point near the center caused by either heat from the fire at the center or from compression due to the collapse of the buildings.
The artifact stands 9 feet, 11 inches, and respectfully leans toward Manhattan at an angle of 9 degrees and 11 minutes. The circular wall that surrounds the I-beam is located 9 feet, 11 inches from the artifact itself. The wall is sloped to represent the ebb and flow of life, love, and water.
The Memorial Plaza will stand long after those who worked on it have moved on.
For Macomber, this is a fitting comparison. One of his signature achievements will remain, long after he’s hopped aboard his motorcycle, ridden into the open wind, and found the next phase of his life.
Part of him will always be here.
But the next phase is calling.
