STONE HARBOR – Almost a year ago, borough leaders announced that the town was bringing in the state Department of Community Affairs’ Local Assistance Bureau to study and report on the borough’s operations and finances.
The borough’s new chief financial officer, Cynthia Lindsay, reported at the council meeting Aug. 6, 2024, that the state’s LAB consultants were coming in at the borough’s request and at no charge to the taxpayers.
The department organized the LAB to provide high-level technical assistance to local municipalities. According to LAB’s website, its consultants are all former municipal officials with expertise and skill sets in a variety of local operations.
Two weeks later, on Aug. 20, the LAB consultants gave a presentation to the council and the public, and emphasized shared services as a core area of interest. Rick Richardella, leader of the three-member team that was consulting at the borough, is a retired police chief; another member of the team, Vince Granese, served as a fire chief.
The emphasis on shared services was refined even further during the presentation to the council, with a focus on public safety departments, including police, fire and emergency medical response. It was enough of an emphasis to drive then-council member Tim Carney to distance himself from the recommendations. Carney said, “I do not support, nor will I vote for, any recommendations that consider outsourcing our citizens’ public safety needs.”
In the year since that presentation, Carney stepped down as a council member and was elected mayor, succeeding Judith Davies-Dunhour, who opted not to seek reelection.
No schedule was given for LAB to complete its analysis. Nor was anything forthcoming in public from the state consulting team when Stone Harbor had a difficult budget process for 2025, struggling to stay under the state appropriations cap. According to comments last week by Carney, the consultants did make a contribution to that process, but it was never made in public.
Now, almost one year later, a question sometimes raised by residents during the public comment portion of council meetings is: “Where is the report?”
Resident Robert Rich asked that question at the June 3 meeting of the governing body. The council replied, according to minutes of the meeting, that “they were never provided with a report.”
The public was given no further explanation. It remained unclear if the study was continuing, ended without a report, or produced something that is not being shared with the public.
Carney recently explained where the project stands. He said the LAB consultants did produce two things: a PowerPoint presentation on the Police Department, and a set of comments on the borough’s construction office. There was no single comprehensive report.
According to Carney, the engagement has ended and the LAB consultants are no longer working in Stone Harbor. Carney added that the two written products of the engagement concerning police and construction have been supplied to the Stone Harbor Property Owners Association, which had filed a public-records request.
Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
