STONE HARBOR – At a special meeting Dec. 30, the Borough Council passed two related resolutions to hire external specialists for the investigation and resolution of an information technology security incident in the borough.

Council member Jennifer Gensemer, chair of the governing body’s standing committee on administration and finance, said she had no comment on the details of the incident, but she called it “nothing major.”

Mayor Judith Davies-Dunhour, who did not attend the meeting and whose term as mayor ended on Dec. 31, said she was not informed of any of the details of a cyber incident.

The security incident was recent and was brought to the attention of the Atlantic County Municipal Joint Insurance Fund, a self-insurance group of 42 municipalities, including all 16 towns in Cape May County. The Insurance Fund, according to the resolution, then recommended that the borough hire the firm of Shook, Hardy & Bacon for “attorney services” related to the incident.

A ceiling on the initial award was set at $5,000, with the certification of funds coming from the water and sewer fund rather than the general fund. The source of funds suggests that the water and sewer utility might have been the target of the security incident.

Shook, Hardy & Bacon is a national firm specializing in litigation and has its closest offices to Cape May County in Philadelphia.

The second resolution adopted at the meeting states that the Insurance Fund recommended that the borough award a contract to Pondurance LLC, based in Indiana, for cyber security protection. Again the funds for the award are coming from the water and sewer fund. A limit on this award was set at $4,750.

The statement of work says that the firm’s effort will be in three phases, moving from evidence collection to forensic analysis and finally to reporting.

No further details about the incident were released.