Meet the Ventnor City Department Heads

Published on January 01, 2018

Doug Biagi, Police Chief

Chief Douglas Biagi was born and raised in Ventnor City, New Jersey. He attended Ventnor Public Schools and Atlantic City High School, graduating in 1983. At the age of 14, Doug was hired as a tennis court attendant and then as part of the summer beach cleaning crew. In 1986, he joined the ranks of the Ventnor City Fire Department as a Firefighter/EMT.
 
His career in law enforcement started in 1988 with the Ventnor City Police Department. By September of 1991, Biagi was transferred from the Patrol Division to the Detective Bureau as the Juvenile Detective. During that same year, Biagi established and maintained the Department’s D.A.R.E. program in Ventnor’s public and parochial school systems. In January of 1993, Biagi was promoted to Sergeant and remained in the Detective Bureau until 1995 when he was transferred out of the Detective Bureau to supervise the Community Policing Bike Unit. In October of 2000, Biagi was transferred to the Patrol Division and was promoted to Lieutenant in April of 2002.
 
Biagi’s next promotion would occur in January of 2012 when he was promoted to Captain and was assigned as Operations Commander of the Patrol Division. In 2014, Captain Biagi was reassigned as the Administrative Captain and took over as the Departments Accreditation Manager for NJSACOP. During his time as Captain, Biagi was the department’s Acting Chief when Chief Miller was out of state or on vacation. In April of 2017, Douglas Biagi was made Acting Chief of Police, and on May 1,  2017, he was named the permanent Chief of the Ventnor City Police Department.
 
During his career, Biagi's path was primarily focused on Community Policing and bridging the gap between law enforcement and the citizens of Ventnor. Biagi is an anachronism of sorts, utilizing the old style beat cop persona. Biagi knows most residents in Ventnor, from its merchants to its children, and interacts with them regularly because of his strong roots with the community. Biagi has lived his entire life in Ventnor, raised his family in Ventnor and remains active in the community by volunteering with many committees. Biagi is presently on the Ventnor City Board of Education, a position he has held for nearly 10 years. Through the course of his more than 30 years in law enforcement, Chief Biagi has received numerous commendations and awards, including the New Jersey State PBA award for Heroism.
 
Biagi's education includes a dual Bachelor of Arts Degree in Criminal Justice and Psychology from Stockton State College, where he graduated in 1988. He continues to work towards his Master’s Degree in criminal Justice from St. Joseph's University. Chief Biagi is a current member of the PBA Local #97 and has served as President, Recording Secretary as well as on the Executive Board. Biagi is also an avid martial artist obtaining his 2nd degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do from the Ninja Karate Academy.

Toro Aboderin, Chief Finance Officer

Toro Aboderin joined the City of Ventnor City in January 2009. She oversees all aspects of the City’s finances, including managing the budget, serving as custodian of all public funds and ensuring compliance with all statutes, rules and directives pertaining to financial administration. Toro brings to the City nearly 10 years of experience in governmental accounting, with a focus to improve performance and productivity.
 
Prior to the City of Ventnor, Toro served as Principal Accountant in the County of Atlantic Public Works Department. She played a key role in auditing of and reporting on the many Divisions within the Department of Public Works.
 
Toro received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from Stockton University in 1996, a Certificate in Client/Server Technology from Penn State School of Graduate Studies in 2001 and a Certificate in Human Resource Management from Villanova University in 2015. She is a Certified Municipal Finance Officer.
 
In the time that Toro has been with the City of Ventnor, she has worked to clear all 23 audit findings from prior audits.  She has developed policies and procedures to improve performance and productivity in the Finance Office.
 
Outside of work, Toro serves on the Solid Waste Advisory Council.  She serves as the Financial Secretary, Sunday School teacher, Bus Captain and in many other Ministries in her Church. She enjoys spending time with her husband and three children.
 
Toro’s motto for the Finance Office for 2018 is “to build a workplace where people are inspired to work hard, do well and celebrate success.”

Michael P. Cahill, Fire Chief

Born and raised in Ventnor, Chief Cahill comes from a long line of Ventnor firefighters. His older brother, Dan Cahill, who passed away in April 2017, served as Ventnor City’s Fire Chief for 19 years until retiring in 2005. Chief Cahill’s godfather also served as a Ventnor City Firefighter.

Chief Cahill began his career in 1994 when he was hired by the Ventnor City Fire Department. Ten years later, in July 2004, he was promoted to Fire Lieutenant. Chief Cahill continued his progression up through the ranks and in March 2008 was named Acting Captain. His next promotion was to Fire Captain in November of that same year. Almost seven years later, Chief Cahill was named Fire Deputy Chief in September 2015. In October 2017 he was promoted to Fire Chief.
  
Chief Cahill also serves as the lead fire instructor and course designer at the Atlantic County Fire Academy at the Canale Training Center where he has been on staff since 2002.
 
Chief Cahill also served as a member of New Jersey Task Force 1, a FEMA Urban Search and Rescue team for 10 years, retiring upon his promotion to chief. As a member of the task force, he made four emergency deployments as a member of Blue Team/ Rescue Squad 12 in the role of rescue technician and squad leader.
 
Chief Cahill was also deployed as a FEMA specialist to the Gulf coast of Mississippi and Alabama for 35 days following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
 
Chief Cahill and his wife of 25 years, Judy Kobrinsky, have four children -- one girl and three boys.

Lisa Hand, City Clerk and Municipal Registrar

Lisa Hand currently serves as the City Clerk and Municipal Registrar, a role she began in in October 2016 when she joined the City of Ventnor.
 
Lisa began her career in municipal government in September 2004. She began pursuing her Municipal Clerk career in the spring of 2013 and became a Registered Municipal Clerk in April of 2015. Along with being a Registered Municipal Clerk, Lisa is also a Certified Municipal Registrar.  

William Franklin Crowther, CTA, Tax Assessor

William Franklin Crowther, CTA (Bill) is the Tax Assessor for the City of Ventnor, whose mission is to create an atmosphere in public service based on the fundamental concept of transparency in local government, while upholding his statutory duty of distributing the tax burden fair and equitable across his taxing district.
 
After spending well over a decade in the tax assessing field, working throughout the State of New Jersey in various municipal and county government offices, Bill truly knows what it takes to ensure his community is at its best and understands that it is not only through hard work and dedication, but how well you connect with the public you are there to serve.
 
Bill strives to provide excellence in public service in a courteous, timely and professional manner, while educating the public regarding the overall assessment process and property tax relief programs.
 
 
Bill holds a Certified Tax Assessors certification from the State of New Jersey.
 
Besides tax assessing, Bill is also a diehard passionate Philadelphia Eagles fan and hopes to see his team win a Super Bowl before his time on Earth expires.

Margaret Pacanowski, Tax Collector

Margaret began working for the City of Ventnor in July 1999 in the Water and Sewer Department and rose through the ranks to Assistant Tax Collector. She now holds the position of Tax Collector.

Since taking on the official Tax Collector role, Margaret has put much focus on educating her staff in an attempt to make the office a highly efficient "one-stop" customer experience with the understanding that the burden of paying taxes should not be coupled with the inability to understand how the process works.
Margaret encourages the office to offer customer-focused service and support in all programs and assistance available to tax payers. She hopes to continue to be a role model of customer service and takes pride in the hard work, knowledge and dedication it takes to work in the Ventnor Tax Office.

Margaret was born and raised in Ventnor and continues to reside here with her husband and two children. Margaret and her family are active in the community and couldn't imagine living away from their Ventnor beaches!

Dave Smith, Public Works Superintendent

Dave has worked for the City of Ventnor since 1971. He currently serves as Public Works Superintendent, a position he was appointed to in 1982.
 
Dave is certified as a Public Works Manager and also serves as the City’s Municipal Recycling Coordinator.
 
Dave resides in Linwood with his wife, Cindy, and together they have one daughter. In his downtime, Dave enjoys golfing, horse racing and the Ventnor beaches. 

Ernest Gratz, Water and Sewer Superintendent

Ernie Gratz is the Water and Sewer Superintendent for Ventnor City. Ernie brings more than 25 years of water and wastewater experience to his position, having worked in the industry since 1992.

Prior to joining the Ventnor City Water and Sewer Department, Ernie held positions with New Jersey American Water, Aqua Water and United Water. He also held the position of Plant Manager for the Atlantic City Municipal Utility Authority, which provides drinking water to the residents of Atlantic City.
 
A resident of Atlantic County for more than 10 years, Ernie and his family reside in Ventnor and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.

James E. Pacanowski II, Network Administrator

A graduate of Syracuse University where he majored in civil and aerospace engineering, Jim was hired by the City of Ventnor in 2003 as Network Administrator.
 
Jim has worked hard through the years keeping up with fast changing world of IT. As a result, he holds a number of certifications. These include:
 
·         CGCIO – Certified Government Chief Information Officer from Rutgers and PTI
·         MCP – Microsoft Certified Professional
·         MOS – Microsoft Office Certified Master Instructor
·         A+ Certified Network Technician
·         CCNA Certificate for Cisco Networks
·         Microsoft Network Administrator Certificate
·         Security + Certificate
 
Jim also serves as President of the Ventnor City Board of Education and is an active member of the Knights of Columbus
 
Jim and Margaret Pacanowski, the Ventor City Tax Collector, were married in 2000. Together, Jim and Margaret have a son and daughter. The Pacanowski family resides in Ventnor.

Jimmie Agnesino, Construction Official and Building Sub-Code Official

Jimmie Agnesino has been employed by the City of Ventnor for 27 years as the Construction Official and Building Sub-Code Official. He also serves as the Zoning Official and Department Head for the Code Department, which includes rental and sale properties as well as property maintenance. He also is the Land Use Administrator, which approves the use of properties throughout the City. 
 
Jimmie holds a license that allows him to serve as the Construction Official and is also licensed as a multiple dwelling official to conduct inspections that are required by the State within the City of Ventnor. 
 
Jimmie resides in Williamstown, is married and has two adult sons. 

Kathleen Robbins, Municipal Court Administrator

Kathleen began her career 20 years ago in the Municipal Court of Port Republic as a Deputy Court Administrator. In 2002, she began to work toward her certification from the Supreme Court of New Jersey by attending state mandated Principles of Municipal Court Administration (POMCA) classes for 2 years, passed the written and oral test, and completed a project approved by the certification board. She was promoted to Municipal Court Administrator in July 2003 when she was hired by the City of Ventnor as a Deputy Court Administrator.In 2010 she was promoted to Municipal Court Administrator. Kathleen continues to attend educational classes which are mandated by The Supreme Court of New Jersey.