Borough Residents’ Health Highly Rated

STONE HARBOR – Those attending Stone Harbor Borough Council’s meeting Feb. 21 learned they were residents of one of the state’s healthiest towns. 
New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute bestowed the designation on the borough in recognition of its variety of activities as part of the Mayor’s Wellness Campaign.
The victory placed the borough at the top of hundreds of participating municipalities in the state. The borough’s 10-week wellness program focused on education about a healthy lifestyle.
It also provided multiple free health screenings. A wide variety of activities including health walks, special menu items at local restaurants, cooking demonstrations and a comedy night supplemented the program.
Public Safety
Turning to issues of public safety, borough council discussed moving oversight of the beach patrol and taggers from Beach Recreation and Tourism to Public Safety.
Mayor Judith Davies-Dunhour cited the potential for greater efficiencies as well as the benefits to beach patrol and beach tagger personnel who engage in enforcement activities.
General support for the move across the council led to agreement that the next meeting will see the introduction of the needed ordinance amendment to accomplish the shift. 
Stone Harbor Museum
Council discussed a proposal to have the borough provide a contract for services that would allow the Stone Harbor Museum to hire a part-time curator.
The amount involved would be $25,000. The responsibilities of the new position would extend beyond management of museum artifacts and displays to aiding in grant development and fundraising.
Citing numerous activities that seek to move beyond the beach and eco-tourism to a focus on cultural tourism, the discussion focused on the importance of the museum and the need to position it to be better able to financially support its own growth. 
By placing an increased focus on grants and other forms of fundraising, council hopes the relatively small investment would have significant returns for both the museum and the borough.
The museum is a private, non-profit entity, run exclusively by volunteers and co-sponsored by the municipality. The municipal contribution has largely been in areas of maintenance and upkeep of the facility.
Beach Fill
The hydraulic beach fill in Stone Harbor has begun. It is reportedly making good progress. 
The controversy surrounding the proposed borrow area in Hereford Inlet continues with U.S. Fish and Wildlife employing a federal statute to prevent sand from being removed from the inlet using federal funds. In this stand on the Hereford Inlet, Fish and Wildlife is in opposition to the Army Corps of Engineers, another federal entity.
The Corps, along with the state Department of Environmental Protection saw no need to alter plans to use sand from the inlet as part of the federal project.
Avalon, tied to the same beach fill project through the use of a single contractor, has taken the issue to federal court in an attempt to show that the invoking of the statute by Fish and Wildlife should be overturned for future federal replenishments.
For this replenishment effort, sand is being taken from alternative areas where federal funds can be used.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.