STONE HARBOR – As part of what Borough Council members term a restructuring of the Administration and Finance Department, the borough is moving to define and hire an assistant borough administrator to oversee what Councilman Ken Biddick called “big issues.”

The position, which Biddick said would be a contract position and not an employee, would free new Borough Administrator Joseph Clark for more management of day-to-day operations.

Mayor Tim Carney said that he most often heard that the compensation for the position would be in the range of $120,000. The discussion occurred at the Nov. 3 council meeting.

The borough moved to a full-time chief financial officer in April 2024. The CFO position prior to Cynthia Lindsay’s appointment had been part-time based on a shared service agreement with neighboring Avalon.

Three months after Lindsay’s appointment, Robert Williams was appointed as a full-time deputy CFO. The council brought in Clark as the new borough administrator in July of this year from a similar position in Howell Township.

Prior to Clark’s appointment, the borough added a contract position to run its Human Resources Department, filling the position with attorney Charles Schlager Jr.

For some members of the public who spoke in opposition to the new position of assistant administrator, the recent hirings for top-level positions has already added significant administrator oversight and manpower.

Biddick admits that Stone Harbor is a “small town,” but he argued that there are some big changes that need to be implemented. He spoke of issues like leaving the county library system, eventually leaving the State Health Benefits Program and developing a plan for beach maintenance and repair.

He also admitted that the ordinance that would be introduced soon is not “a simple ordinance.”

Stone Harbor is less than 2 square miles big and has the third-smallest permanent population of the 16 municipalities in the county.

The issue of a reorganization was not on the agenda for the Nov. 3 meeting, but some members of the public used the public comment portion of the meeting to express skepticism about adding another high-level administrator.

One resident, Kevin Fisher, asked for “objectives and priorities” and requested that the council “explain it like you were talking to a golden retriever.”

Carney raised a different concern. Given that two new members will be joining the governing body in early January, he suggested that discussion of reorganization would be better when the council that “would have to live with it” was in place.

His objection was largely dismissed by Councilwoman Bunny Parzych, who said, “We all live with decisions that were made by councils that came before us.”

One factor that may affect the speed with which the current council moves to adopt a reorganization is that there is no guarantee such a plan would succeed with the next council, which will have two new members elected Nov. 4.

If those two individuals did not approved of the reorganization, and if Councilwoman Robin Casper remained a skeptic about it, a 3-3 council vote could result, which would give Carney the authority to break the tie.

In January current council members Jennifer Gensemer and Victor Foschini will step down after both opted not to seek reelection. The new members will be Robert Ross and Frank Vaul. They will be sworn in in less than two months from now, on Jan. 6 at the council’s annual reorganization meeting.

Biddick indicated that the establishment of the new position would be done by ordinance. That requires two readings at separate public meetings of the council. The two meetings must be separated by a minimum of 10 days, although most municipalities give more time for public consumption of the proposed ordinance once it is introduced. There must be a required public hearing on the ordinance prior to any vote to adopt it.

More discussion of the reorganization plan is expected to come with the ordinance’s introduction, which council members said could come at their Nov. 17 meeting.

Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.