STONE HARBOR – Reorganizations are annual meetings at which newly elected officials take their seats and a large number of routine housekeeping actions are taken to set the municipality up for another year.
Stone Harbor Borough Council’s Jan. 3 reorganization was no different, but it did have some undertones that suggest a challenging year lies ahead.
Mayor Judith Davies-Dunhour referred to “tough issues ahead” in 2023.
In remarks at the meeting, Davies-Dunhour said, “Not everyone is happy. It would be nice if they were, but we know they are not.”
She asked for “polite disagreement” and to emphasize that everyone on the governing body was acting in the best interest of the borough as they saw those interests.
Hinting at contention over some of those big issues, Davies-Dunhour urged the public and her colleagues on the governing body “to listen to one another just a bit better in 2023.”
Planning Board Appointment
A part of the meeting concerned the annual appointment of a council member representative to the borough’s Planning Board. It is a position Councilwoman Bernadette “Bunny” Parzych sought when she was a newly elected member of council a year ago.
As the council turned to selecting its representative for 2023, Parzych’s disappointment with being overlooked again bubbled over. When nominations were opened, the clear favorite was Reese Moore, the outgoing council president.
With Moore’s nomination made and seconded, Parzych nominated herself. No second was heard until Parzych motioned to Victor Foschini, who seconded her nomination even though he would ultimately vote for Moore.
Parzych related all the reasons why she saw herself as the most experienced and knowledgeable of the council members and the one best suited for the position.
She criticized Moore’s voting record on land use issues related to Smuggler’s Cove and spoke of her long commitment to the property owners and “investors” of Stone Harbor.
Parzych also implied that some council members worked to keep her from the Planning Board appointment. She said to Davies-Dunhour, Moore, Jennifer Gensemer and Frank Dallahan by name, “It seems important to you for some reason that I stay off the Planning Board.”
When the vote was taken, Moore won the appointment in a 5-to-1 vote.
Parzych returned to the Planning Board issue later in the meeting. She lauded the hard work and dedication of the Planning Board members, but then added that the members of the critical land use board “don’t understand the real business of a Planning Board,” which she defined as knowledge of zoning and its impacts.
She called for greater training for Planning Board appointees and vowed to continue to attend meetings and make her positions known.
Borough Reorganizes
The business of the meeting began with the swearing in of one new and one returning council member, who won their seats in November.
Foschini, new to council, was the leading vote-getter in the election. He surfaced as a surprise after the spring Republican primary elections, which have always been the place where challenges for political office are played out in the borough.
In most years, and 2022 was no exception, the Democrats offer no candidates, meaning those selected at the Republican primary generally run unopposed. That was not true in 2022.
Foschini ran as an independent in the municipal election and beat Charles Krafczek, who was a sitting member of the governing body. Elected to his seat twice since 2016, Krafczek had emerged as the Republican Party candidate following the primaries.
Reelected to her seat on council was Gensemer, who finished second to Foschini in the balloting but ahead of Krafczek. Gensemer has been an advocate for more formal, long-range planning in the borough.
Following the administration of the oaths of office, the council selected Frank Dallahan as its president for 2023, a position that the governing body rotates each year.
Administratively, much of the council business is conducted in six standing committees, each of which reports to the full council once a month.
The only changes during this reorganization saw Gensemer move to chair of the Administration and Finance Committee, a spot vacated when Krafczek lost his reelection bid, and Foschini appointed to chair of Recreation and Tourism, the position Gensemer previously held.
All other committee chair assignments produced no change, with Robin Casper remaining as chair of Natural Resources, Dallahan staying as head of the Public Safety Committee, Moore continuing at Public Works, and Parzych remaining as chair of the Utilities Committee.
The rest of the meeting witnessed the annual awarding of professional services contracts that provide the borough with its outside experts in a variety of areas. The contracts merely ratified for 2023 what was already in place during 2022.
A consent agenda of 24 resolutions then passed on a single vote. These resolutions formalize routine decisions for the year that range from meeting dates to trash collection schedules, to the use of Roberts Rules of Order.
In the closing remarks by the mayor, Davies-Dunhour used the moment to laud the hiring decisions made during 2022, which included a new borough clerk, assistant administrator, director of Public Works and director of recreation.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.
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