Boro rules largely
unchanged despite
mayor’s objections
SEA BRIGHT — Try as he might, Mayor Gregory W. Harquail could not persuade the Borough Council to go along with changes he wanted in a proposed administrative code outlining the organization of the borough government.
Harquail tried to get the council to convey more authority to the mayor. He asked that the mayor be made an ex officio member of all committees and that the code direct that the mayor be informed in advance of all meetings. He also asked that the mayor, rather than the governing body, be specified as the power to appoint a municipal clerk pro tempore in the absence of the clerk.
But the council was having none of it. Councilwoman Elizabeth Smith went toe-to-toe with the mayor, knocking down each of his arguments, firmly.
Harquail initially asked that action on the code be carried over to the second council meeting in January. That would be after two new council members are sworn in at the annual organizational meeting, the first meeting of the new year, Jan. 5.
But the council didn’t bite. So he persisted in explaining his reasons again.
Smith finally accepted one of Harquail’s requests — adding property owners to those who could be appointed to community advisory committees, along with residents and business owners. And after an hour of debating, Smith called for the vote. The end result was unanimous approval of the code, 6-0.
— Sherry Conohan