More Stroudsburg Borough Drama: A Council Seat Opens
Stroudsburg Borough Council is down a member, and nobody involved is saying why. On July 21, council voted unanimously, in his absence, to accept the resignation of Councilman Joseph Shay. Shay declined to tell the Pocono Record why he stepped down. Council President Matt Abell did not respond to the paper's attempts to reach him by phone or text as of late afternoon July 23.
Shay's seat has a history of its own. He was first appointed to the Council in a 4-1 vote in December 2023, filling the vacancy left by former member Tobias Sabatine. He ran for both a four-year and a two-year term on council in 2025 and lost both races, then was reappointed to the two-year term at council's January 5 reorganization meeting. Shay was an active voice on the Council. At the January 5 meeting, he and J. Zac Christman were the two “no” votes on accepting then-Mayor Michael Moreno’s resignation. Shay was also one of three “no” votes on hiring Moreno as Downtown Manager. And at the Council's June 16 meeting, Shay cast the lone dissenting vote against appointing Peters Consultants as the borough's new zoning officer and against appointing an alternate building codes official, over concerns about the borough hiring its own engineering firm to also police its own work.
The borough is not waiting long to fill the seat. Residents interested in serving through December 2027 have until Friday, July 31, to email a letter of interest to Borough Manager Larry Kopp outlining their background and why they want the job, or drop it off in person at the Borough Building on Sarah Street. To qualify, an applicant must have lived in the borough continuously for the past year and be a registered Stroudsburg voter. We will follow the appointment process as it develops.
