STONE HARBOR – Five members of the six-person Stone Harbor Council voted, July 3, to make Interim Administrator Manny Parada permanent in that position. Parada had been an interim appointee since the council fired its previous Administrator Robert Smith.
At the July 3 meeting, Mayor Judith Davies-Dunhour expressed some reservations about Parada as permanent administrator. Her remarks resulted in the same five council members censuring her at an Aug. 1 meeting of the governing body.
At the council’s Aug. 15 meeting, John Schmidt, who said he was a resident of Middle Township, used the public comment period to raise potential legal issues with the council’s July 3 action. Schmidt’s basic argument was that since the mayor did not nominate Parada, the council had no power to appoint him as permanent administrator.
Schmidt did not indicate that he was speaking as anything other than as a private citizen. He is known in many municipal meetings across the state as the president of the New Jersey Foundation for Open Government. He is also known as an individual who has filed multiple Open Public Meetings Act lawsuits against municipalities.
Why Schmidt chose to speak on the Stone Harbor appointment of Parada was unclear.
“I think anyone who has an interest in government in New Jersey and South Jersey is probably watching Stone Harbor right now,” Schmidt said.
The borough’s labor counsel, William Blaney, who was in attendance at the meeting, came to the podium following Schmidt’s remarks.
“What triggered this,” Blaney said, meaning the council-initiated action to appoint Parada, was the passage of time. He said the timeframe for a nomination from the mayor passed and allowed council to make its own nomination.
Contact the author, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
