At the same July 15 meeting where a police union representative cautioned the Stone Harbor council that lack of a police contract was at the root of recent resignations in the ranks of the police department, the borough added to those ranks by swearing in two new officers.
Ryan Michael McClellan and Jonathan Joseph Ricciardi were administered the oath of office by Mayor Tim Carney and joined the 17-member department.
McClellan, 22, currently a resident of Manahawkin, holds an associate degree in criminal justice from Ocean County College. He graduated from the Cape May County Police Academy as a special law enforcement Class II in June and began working as a Stone Harbor seasonal officer.
Ricciardi, 21, a resident of Wildwood Crest, is currently a student at Rowan College. Ricciardi also works in the borough as a special law enforcement officer II. This is his second term as a season officer in Stone Harbor.
Budget-driven reorganizations have been the source of debate in Stone Harbor. Changes in the police department and proposed changes in the fire and EMS organizations have all provoked a measure of controversy as the borough seeks to restructure its finances, which have led to budgets that are uncomfortably close to the state spending cap for the last two years.
Both officers will attend the Cape May County Police Academy basic course for full-time officers this month.
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