STONE HARBOR – Cynthia Lindsay was appointed chief financial officer of the borough in April 2024, as long-serving CFO James Craft retired. On March 18 she added the title of interim borough administrator to her portfolio.

Lindsay was appointed to temporarily fill the position while the Borough Council continues its search for a permanent appointee. The council fired the previous administrator, Manny Parada, on Dec. 17.

She will serve until a permanent appointment is made, but for no longer than a year. In response to questions about the time frame in the appointment resolution, she said she was ready to step down “in a day, in a month, but I will not do it for more than a year.”

The borough’s last two administrators were removed from their posts by the council. Prior to firing Parada in December, the council terminated the previous administrator, Robert Smith, who has since filed litigation against the borough that is working its way through Superior Court. Smith’s predecessor, Jill Goucher, served in the role from 2011 to 2020, when she retired.

There was some confusion as the council set itself to the task of appointing Lindsay. Whoever was responsible for drafting the resolution failed to include the word “interim” in the title, and it had to be added by voting an amendment to the resolution before passing it.

The fact that council does not always make the nature of resolutions clear prior to voting is a frequent topic in the public comment portion of meetings. Several members of the public have used the comment period to urge the council to be more transparent, to provide more details and to be more responsive to questions from residents.

In this case some members of the public were concerned that the borough was repeating an earlier mistake by appointing one individual to two full-time, demanding jobs. It was only in discussion that the interim nature of the appointment became clear.

Once that was known, several individuals who came to the podium for whatever issue took the time to thank Lindsay for being willing to step up and temporarily serve as administrator. Lindsay has been doing the job without the title since Parada left.

According to council member Jennifer Gensemer, chair of the council Committee on Administration and Finance, the council had conducted an “extensive search for a temporary administrator through the use of consulting companies,” but without success. This led to the appointment of Lindsay.

It was during that discussion that the public learned that the position of borough administrator has not yet been posted even though the vacancy has existed for three months. This led Mayor Tim Carney to urge the council to “get the job posted immediately.”

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