Stone Harbor May Alter Public Works Structure

STONE HARBOR – Stone Harbor Council voted to introduce three ordinances Sept. 6 that together change the structure of its Public Works Department and add oversight control to its borough administrator. 
In the changes, the Utilities Department, currently separate, will be folded into Public Works as a division. This will place both utilities and public works functions under the control of a single department head. The borough hired a new Director of Public Works this year, Manny Parada, who is an engineer with water and sewer system experience. This structural change formalizes oversight that is already in place. 
Utility Committee Chair Councilwoman Bernadette “Bunny” Parzych objected to the change at a previous meeting. She argued that the borough may not always have a Public Works Director with the range of experience possessed by Parada. She found no support on the council for maintaining utilities as a separate department with Parada as a shared director. 
As part of the changes, the Director of Public Works will now have a reporting line to the borough administrator rather than directly to the mayor and council. This is common in some forms of municipal government like the council-manager form in Cape May, but it is less common in the weak-mayor form used by Stone Harbor. There was no discussion on whether this change in reporting lines might presage a move to have other department heads report to the mayor and governing body through a reporting line to the administrator.
Parzych voted no on the introduction of each of the ordinance changes. The required public hearing and potential vote to adopt will occur at the Oct. 4 meeting of the council.