As a courtesy to our SHPOA Members, we’re bringing you a summary of each Stone Harbor Work Session and Council Meeting. Intended as summaries, these intentionally don’t have a lot of details and are not a substitute for the official Borough minutes.

Council Reorganization Meeting

At its annual reorganization meeting, Councilmembers Tim Carney (new member) and Robin Casper (re-elected incumbent) were sworn in.

Councilmember Frank Dallahan and Jen Gensemer were nominated for council president. Gensemer declined the nomination and the council voted to appoint Dallahan. 

Councilmember Bunny Parzych was nominated and appointed to be Council’s representative on the planning board.

Council approved the members of the standing committees, non-board appointments, and the members of the Go Green Committee, Shade Tree Committee, and Bird Sanctuary committees for 2024.

Mayor Judith Davies-Dunhour appointed Zoning Board and Planning Board members; no vote was required. 

Resolutions for Professional Services: 

The council unanimously approved resolutions for contracts for the municipal conflict attorney, bond counsel, labor relations counsel, borough auditor, special counsel on affordable housing, and the employee benefits consultant. 

Council passed 25 resolutions on the consent agenda (resolutions 8-10 are here; resolutions 11-24 are here, and resolutions 25-35 are here). They include, for example, environmental issues, the trash collection schedule, and other appointments and housekeeping items. The resolution on stipends for the volunteer fire company (#19) was approved. Resolutions on setting parking dates for 2024 (#20) and setting fees for licensing, permits, parking (#35) were tabled. A new resolution to extend the scope of the special council was added to the agenda (resolution #36) and approved. Council also unanimously approved the bill list and authorized the CFO to pay the bills when funds are available and vouchers are properly endorsed. 

Comment Period 
No one stepped up for public comment. 

Council/Mayor Comments
New member Tim Carney reiterated his campaign promises on restoring fiscal discipline, manageable growth, and ensuring that the beaches and bays are well funded, safe, and accessible. 

Councilmember Gensemer’s comments mentioned that the Borough is moving in the right direction, that they will continue to focus on reducing costs for taxpayers and to get a more efficient government. Jim Craft CFO will retire in 2024 and the council will cast a wide search for a capable replacement. They are also working on a ten-year capital plan and will retain an Human Resources consultant for the “challenging and ever-changing HR environment.” She commented that Stone Harbor has the lowest operating ratio in the county, but that the 10-year budget model doesn’t work, so they will work on a 1- year plan to address that, including creating a think tank to look at municipal revenue to shift the burden from taxpayers to user base, with Cape May as an example of best practice.

Here are links to the agenda 3 attachments with related documents, and the meeting recording.
To read past Stone Harbor Council Meeting summaries, please click here: https://www.stoneharborpoa.org/category/borough-meeting-summaries/

To watch recordings of past meetings, please click here: https://stoneharbornj.org/agendameetings/watch-mayor-and-council-meetings-online/