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Dec. 16 to 20
Stone Harbor
Something is going on in Stone Harbor that looks very strange from the outside.
Just this week the borough’s governing body fired its second administrator in less than two years. Manny Parada, who took over as administrator following the firing of Robert Smith in February 2023, was let go by the council at the end of the final public meeting of the year Dec. 17. Parada, an engineer, also served as director of Public Works and was fired from that position as well.
The public had no advance notice that these actions were being taken. The resolutions removing Parada from each position were not part of the public agenda for the meeting and were instead added at the last minute.
Recently other department heads went suddenly missing as well.
Recreation Director Shannon MacPherson was not at the council meeting in November, where she would normally have made her monthly report. The only remark from council recreation chair Victor Foschini was “Shannon is no longer with us.” She is so no longer “with us” that for two straight months no recreation report has been given to the council or the public. Foschini does not seem inclined to make those reports himself.
Last month another late agenda item that was never part of the public agenda involved a separation agreement between the borough and its long-serving police chief, Tom Schutta. One day Schutta was present, the next he was not. Instead of a public send-off for his years of service, Schutta got a negotiated settlement and litigation release.
This month papers filed with Superior Court altered the lead counsel for the borough in two lawsuits, one involving the town’s former clerk and the other a current employee who worked directly for Parada. Both lawsuits allege, among other things, sexual harassment by Parada.
Parada is currently being defended in these lawsuits by the borough that just fired him. This is already complicated, but could be more so if Parada litigates his firing, which somehow would make him a borough plaintiff and borough defendant simultaneously.
Stay tuned. This continues to be a developing story.
Electricity Pricing
More controversy over electricity bills was bubbling this week as the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities was scheduled to consider a request from Atlantic City Electric for an 8% hike in its distribution rates.
The rate hike proposal was not voted on, and the decision on the ACE request was put off to April. But the struggle over rates and bills is far from over. After the start of the new year there will have to be a reckoning with the supply rates coming from the generators of electricity.
The state’s four legal distribution utilities are controlled by the BPU. They are all investor-owned and are in business to do well for their investors. They manage the distribution of electricity across their defined portion of the grid, but they do not generate the electricity, nor do they control the supply price.
Although it has become commonplace to blame companies like ACE for the rising bills many individuals and families are confronting, a big part of the equation rests with supply, for which the price is often decided through wholesale auctions.
The huge plans for the transformation of the state, and the nation’s, energy profile – one characterized by the move from fossil fuel generation to green energy – is frequently out of balance, resulting in scarcity caused by a lack of generation at a point in time, or a soaring of demand, often caused by rapidly expanding data center usage.
In South Jersey a great deal of attention has been placed on ACE and the BPU, but the problem of pricing is much more complicated than that. Last week the request for the 8% increase by ACE kicked off a great deal of coverage, with Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-2) leading the struggle to have the BPU deny the proposal. The pressure from local officials and the public did result in the delay in the decision on the rate hike.
Yet what is really at issue is the state’s energy master plan, the green energy agenda and the cost that agenda imposes.
Schools and Taxes
For several years now we have heard the cries of school districts that were losing state adjustment aid, causing them to face very difficult choices. A brief respite did appear in the form of federal pandemic dollars to help schools deal with learning loss and the creation of a safer environment that is less likely to facilitate the spread of disease.
The federal dollars are gone, and the state aid is not likely to resume at earlier levels. Instead what is happening is legislation in Trenton that will allow impacted school districts to raise property tax levies beyond the current levels allowed by levy caps.
The legislation allows any district that is receiving less state aid than it did in the 2020-2021 school year to raise property taxes above the state’s 2% cap on levy increases without taking the matter to the voters.
That latter part of the bill is critical. Twice this year Cape May County voters rejected attempts to add to their property taxes for school support. Two different referendums went to the votes in September, and both were overwhelmingly rejected.
Through this legislation, Trenton may have once again pushed expenses back on the local districts and then given those districts a way out through added property tax levies. Cuts in state aid turn into property tax increases, pressure for consolidation is lessened, and the crisis in school funding most likely continues.
Happenings
*“Tara’s Happy Boxes,” cigar boxes filled with toys, socks, stuffed animals and other treats, are spreading joy across the Cape, the region and abroad.
*The INSA dispensary planned for a site at Route 9 and Avalon Boulevard in Middle Township cleared one of its major hurdles to opening when the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission approved the shop’s first annual license at its Dec. 12 meeting.
*There was an opening on the Upper Township Committee dais on Monday, Dec. 16, after Committeeman Mark Pancoast announced he was resigning effective Dec. 9.
*The Lower Township Council signed on a new Police Department officer and chaplain as part of its final meeting before the New Year on Monday, Dec. 16.
*The Stone Harbor Borough Council meeting this week marked the end of a lifetime of service to the people of Stone Harbor by Mayor Judith Davies-Dunhour.
*There was a bit of a love fest going on at the Dec. 17 meeting of the Cape May City Council, as officials and citizens used the last meeting of the year to bid goodbye to Michael Yeager, who this year decided not to seek reelection to the council.
The Cape May City Council again tabled a proposed ordinance dealing with curbside pickup of recycling material.
*Lower Township Deputy Mayor David Perry said his farewells to township officials and the voters in his final Township Council meeting Monday, Dec. 16. Ed Donohue, coordinator of the Office of Emergency Management, will also be leaving, after serving in that post for six years.
*The Stone Harbor Borough Council has fired Manny Parada as the borough administrator and as director of the Public Works Department. The council did not provide the public with reasons for the actions.
*The state Board of Public Utilities has put off until April a decision on a rate increase requested by Atlantic City Electric that would raise a typical homeowner’s bill by about 8%.
*Several members of the public continued the push on the Board of County Commissioners for better governmental transparency at the board’s Dec. 17 meeting.
Spout Off of the Week
I miss the Cape May Seashore Lines holiday Santa Express train. It ran from the Cape May County Park and Zoo all the way into Cape May, with stops in Rio Grande and Cold Spring along the way. Too bad vandals destroyed the rails several years ago, and we no longer have this wonderful holiday tradition in our county. I understand the CM Seashore Lines still has a holiday Santa Express train that operates out of its Tuckahoe Station.
Cape May County
