STONE HARBOR – The Borough Council meeting this week marked the end of a lifetime of service to the people of Stone Harbor by Mayor Judith Davies-Dunhour. The mayor, who in February announced she would not seek reelection in 2024, was born and raised in the borough in a family of seven siblings.
“Mayor Judy,” as she was often referred to, began her career as a 21-year-old police dispatcher, eventually moving to patrol officer and the first woman to advance to the rank of sergeant in the borough’s Police Department.
Twenty-five years in law enforcement then led to her successful candidacy for a seat on the governing body, and in 2016 to a winning campaign for the mayor’s post, a “big chair” as she phrased it this week. “Mayor Judy,” as she was known and as several members of the public referred to her at the Dec. 17 council meeting, never “sacrificed who she was” in the process of governance, said J.T. LaKose, a past Office of Emergency Management coordinator for the borough.
Stone Harbor does not surrender the mayor’s chair often, with only three individuals filling that position in the last 32 years.
The public comment period of the Tuesday afternoon meeting saw a steady stream of individuals make their way to the podium in council chambers. Councilwoman Robin Casper composed a poem for the occasion. LaKose said, “You are going out on your terms.” He also remarked on the patience Davies-Dunhour displayed in the last two years, when she was engaged in very visible struggles with several members of the council.
Davies-Dunhour heard thanks from the chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, the town’s chamber of commerce, the local American Legion post and from a member of the Stone Harbor Property Owners Association, who spoke of her “honesty, integrity and commitment to truth.” Friends, associates and thankful citizens all delivered the same message: You did this journey right, many said in different ways.
Although many members of the council praised Davies-Dunhour at the Dec. 3 work session, the last two years saw increasing tension between the mayor and a council set on decisions Davies-Dunhour considered ill-advised. She was even censured by the council in August 2023 over remarks she made concerning the appointment of Manny Parada as the permanent borough administrator.
Ironically this meeting of praise for Davies-Dunhour’s service also saw the council pass two resolutions, removing Parada as both administrator and director of Public Works. No reasons were provided by the council for the actions.
Davies-Dunhour continues her job with the county as manager of the Animal Center and Adoption Center, a permanent part-time position she has filled for 16 years.
She said she was looking forward to turning over the mayor’s responsibilities. She told the Herald in February that the tensions with the council were not the reason she decided to step down from elective office; she added that the job of mayor did not give her time to pay attention to other priorities that need attention at this point in her life.
As Davies-Dunhour adjourned her last council meeting as mayor, she invited all to a local tavern, loudly saying, “I’m buying.” Yet the words that probably more encapsulated the meeting came from brief remarks by Angelo Caracciolo, who told the mayor, “You have nothing else to prove.”
Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
