STONE HARBOR – The tensions between Mayor Judith Davies-Dunhour and members of the Borough Council have been on display at recent council meetings. The May 16 meeting was no exception.
One of the last items on the agenda for the regular council meeting was a resolution to go into closed session to discuss items of attorney-client privilege. The specific items up for discussion were not listed but were made public through comments by Davies-Dunhour and Council President Frank Dallahan.
The closed session was set to cover issues related to the borough’s Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) program, which deals with affordable housing obligations, and with the May 8 filing of a $1.2 million tort claim against the borough by former Borough Administrator Robert Smith who was publicly fired in February.
Sitting in the audience were the borough’s special counsel for COAH matters and an attorney from the firm that provides labor law services to the municipality. Also present at the meeting was the borough’s solicitor.
Council member Robin Casper moved the resolution that would have sent the governing body into closed session and was greeted by silence from the other five members of council. There was no second for her motion, which therefore died. The only sound was Davies-Dunhour looking right and left across the council as she said, “Really?”
It is not usual for a council to leave one of its own members without the courtesy of a second for their motion. On more than one occasion, Utility Committee Chair Bunny Parzych was given a second on motions she did not have the votes to carry.
Council President Frank Dallahan said he did not want to have the closed session without the borough’s labor attorney, William Blaney, who was not available. Blaney’s firm had sent an attorney who sat in the audience, but five members of the council sided with Dallahan.
There were suggestions at the end of the prior week that the closed session was in doubt. In most municipalities in the county, it is customary to provide a general description of the topics for closed session even when they fall under the rubric of attorney-client privilege.
The council meeting agenda, which is made public 48 hours prior to a public meeting of the governing body, provided no such information.
A check with the borough on the general topics to be discussed elicited a reply by Interim Administrator Manny Parada, who said, “With the specific subject matter for tomorrow’s closed session, we are limited by the bounds of attorney/client privilege to the extent known at this time and felt that we could not expound on the matter in the Agenda without violating that privilege.”
Things that are normally handled behind the curtain are now in full view on the council.
The limited discussion that took place could be a prologue to yet another public struggle given that Dallahan said he was not sure he wanted any closed session on the matters since they were of public interest.
Meanwhile, the COAH issues, which were to be one of the discussion items for the closed session, were a topic of public comment when former Mayor Susanne Walters asked the council for an update on where the borough stands with its COAH obligations.
She also inquired about the affordable housing property the borough purchased on Third Avenue.
As for the tort claim by Smith, there was no discussion or even notice to the public that it exists other than Davies-Dunhour’s comments about the closed session and Dallahan’s statement that he wanted Blaney at any meeting because of Blaney’s past work dealing with Smith’s termination.
Unless a special session is called, the council will not meet again for three weeks. A full council discussion of COAH or the tort claim, whether in public or private session, will not happen until June.
Contact the author, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
