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.

Work Session


Tribute to Mayor Judy Davies-Dunhour 
Council member Jen Gensemer mentioned that the mayor’s term was ending in December and outlined her many years of service to the Borough.

Water

Water
 Borough Administrator Manny Parada reported that as part of the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Lead Monitoring Program, 892 water customers received a letter about “unknown materials” in their water. The substance may be, but is not necessarily, lead. Public Works has been addressing inquiries from customers. Under the Water Accountability Act, new water regulations from the state are being developed that would define levels of service that the Borough must provide. The regulations would require numerous new reporting requirements to DEP and potentially a new water tank.

Update from the Chief Financial Officer


CFO Cynthia Lindsay reported that a $28.5 million bond sale is being considered which includes $9 million in general bonds and $19.5 million in water and sewer bonds. The purpose of the sale is to consolidate debt to obtain more favorable and predictable long-term interest rates on existing debt. An emergency appropriation for $200,000 has been submitted to Council for general legal and zoning professional fees due to multiple Superior Court actions.



Public Works


Work has begun on a demonstration project with the Garden Club and SHPOA to install sustainable plantings on the island between 109th and 110th Streets on Second Ave.
Design of the 96th Street Recreation Area is underway and bids for the project will be out in the next few weeks.
A Federal Emergency Management Agency grant of $200,000 to study back bay flooding is underway. All the survey work has been completed and a final report should be available in late October.
The Point beach entrance road experienced significant erosion and the access to the point is now closed to the public. No plans to rectify the situation were reported.

Bulk trash pick-ups are scheduled for Monday, Sep 16th and Oct 21st.
The change from twice weekly to once weekly trash pick-ups start on Sep 16th .

Utilities
The water main and sewer replacement project is planned to resume this month. Work is set for 111th through 122nd Streets over the off season.
A project for Second Avenue water/sewer replacement and road reconstruction is scheduled to start in the next few weeks and is expected to be completed by the end of December 2024.

Storm Water Utility Update


A decision to table a study on the feasibility of a Storm Water Utility for the Borough was made earlier this year. Due to the new requirements of permitting that regulates discharge of storm water runoff, Council is thinking about moving forward with the study at a cost of $375,000. Administrator Parada estimated that to comply with permitting
requirements, the Borough would need to hire 15 new employees. A vote is set for the Sep 17th Council meeting.

Regular Meeting


Council voted on a resolution to appoint Jared Sweeten as a full-time fire fighter.
 Members voted affirmatively on ordinances to change salary ranges of Borough employees, to extend the employment of part-time fire fighters, and to approve $200,000 for general legal and zoning professional fees.

For legislation discussed during the meeting, please click: https://stoneharbornj.org/wp-
content/uploads/2024/

08/09.03.2024-Regular-Meeting-Agenda-and-Documents.pdf

 For a video of the meeting, please click: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-14qMwLF80s

NOTE: The Cape May County Herald recently had  articles related to topics covered at this Council Meeting. These articles can be found along with others as part of their coverage of Stone Harbor.

As you may know, our friends at the Cape May County Herald are offering SHPOA members only an exclusive discount for Herald subscriptions — 25% OFF with code “SHPOA” — and they are also providing your association advertising space in print and online for us to promote the association and the initiatives important to our members.

To subscribe and use the discount, please click on https://capemaycountyherald.com/subscribe/ and use promo code “SHPOA” at checkout to claim your 25% discount. Only valid for new subscribers.
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/