Administrator likes what he sees in Middletown
Robet Czech jumped
at the chance to
come to the township
By elaine van develde

JERRY WOLKOWITZ Middletown’s new administrator Robert M. Czech gets down to business on the job in his town hall office.

MIDDLETOWN — You’ll never catch Middletown Administrator Robert M. Czech with a case of job-related "nothing’s new" blues. Quite the contrary, Czech considers himself lucky to have a career laden with what he considers sweet surprises.

This 45-year-old father of four and the newest addition to Middletown’s staff has seen a lot when it comes to local government, yet he keeps begging for more.

"It energizes me to know that there will never be a juncture in my career when I can claim that I’ve seen everything," he said. "There are always going to be a few surprises in this business. There’s no chance for boredom."

When he learned of the administrator position opening in Middletown, he immediately applied.

"Middletown is a beautiful community with a good reputation and it’s close to home for me," Czech commented. "I wanted to work in a town with a stable work force and healthy finances. Middletown fit the mold perfectly. All I had to do was pass the thorough screening process, which only impressed me further."

Well, after happily enduring the months-long process, Czech was hired. "It was a lot of work. The candidates had to write something similar to a thesis as part of it all. I didn’t mind at all, though. It just proved Middletown’s integrity more to me and only confirmed my interest in the position."

Czech’s official start date was June 26. He’s been administering ever since and plans on staying put. Czech had been teaching as an adjunct professor in the masters of administrative Science Program at Fairleigh Dickinson University and intends to continue doing so. "Teaching is invigorating to me," he said. "It keeps me on my toes, especially when I have an eager class," he said.

Being in Middletown is the way to go for Czech.

According to him, "This is a community in which I can really see the fruits of my labor. I have everything on my side here. I’m starting off with an exemplary staff, no baggage and a great constituency.

"It’s just nice to know that I can go to work every day knowing that I am a force in ensuring that the taxpayers get something back for their money. Local government can give immediate gratification more than any other level of government. I’m proud to be a part of that and to serve such a fine municipality."

Czech’s interest in local government evolved in an eclectic way. A native of Perth Amboy and second-generation American, he had an inherent love of political science.

His grandparents had migrated to the United States from Poland. And he revered the community in which he was raised. He didn’t know how it would be incorporated into his life, but Czech knew that political science somehow belonged there.

At first, he thought he’d fit it in through the written word as a journalist. So, he went to college and ended up with a bachelor of arts in English from the State University of New York College at Buffalo. Upon graduating, Czech knew he wanted to go on to graduate school and get a master’s degree in political science, but funds were low and college was expensive. So, he decided to go into the Navy primarily for the benefit of the tuition reimbursement that serving his country offered.

A Navy recruiter told him that "the best job in the Navy was as a photographer." Czech welcomed the advice since it seemed to correlate with his two-fold interest. He figured he could be a photojournalist of sorts while learning more about his country and its inner workings. To him, it was the best of both career paths rolled into one. But Czech no sooner charted his course than he discovered he had scoliosis and got an honorable discharge from the Navy. Upset but not defeated, he took a pragmatic turn while on his political science path.

Ready and set to go for a master’s in political science, as he had planned all along, Czech went to Fairleigh Dickinson University in Rutherford to register, but after a chat with the chairman of the school’s Public Administration Institute, instead pursued an advanced degree in public administration.

While pursuing his studies at Fairleigh Dickinson, Czech realized the relevant role the law plays in government. Before he could even say lawyer, he was applying for the night school law program at Seton Hall University. That was in 1983.

Studying wasn’t the only thing that took up Czech’s time. Somewhere in between all the studies and career contemplations, he found time to court and marry the woman who became his wife on the Fourth of July of that same year.

By the fall, he was happily married, living in New Brunswick, in law school and gainfully employed as the full-time assistant director of Jersey City’s Division of Management and Budget. "I was the only one there who knew how to work the budget system on the computer," he said.

After his stint in Jersey City and some time in New York City, Czech ran into former law school colleague Larry Weitzner, who was deputy commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs (DCA). Knowing of Czech’s fondness for local government, Weitzner suggested that he come to work for the department’s Division of Local Government Services’ newly developed Distressed Cities program. Czech soon started working for DCA. From there he went on to be an administrator in Montclair and made his home and career there until 1992.

By this time, not only had his career expanded, but his family did as well. Czech now had two children and planned to have more, so he and his wife made the decision to migrate "down the shore" where they could buy a bigger home and be closer to his parents, who had moved from Perth Amboy to Brick.

Czech left his position in Montclair and moved his family to Sea Girt. Just as his wife switched careers and went back to school for nursing, Czech was contacted by the transition team for the city of Passaic in 1993. New mayor Margie Semler felt that Czech was just the man to help her straighten out her city. Dealing with an inherited $8 million budget shortfall, the two did all they could to turn things around. After an exhausting go at it, Czech decided in 1995 to accept an offer to become administrator in Kearny.

There he worked as business administrator and town clerk under Mayor Leo Vartan, whom he thought of as "just a great guy." Kearny’s form of government was a bit different, though. "The town was comprised of less than 40,000 people, yet there were nine members of the governing body," he said. "Under this form of government, there were elections every six months. Everything was overpoliticized because of it. It was difficult to accomplish anything. There was such a small window of time to govern in."

According to Czech, the government did have its advantages, but it just wasn’t for him. "When Vartan was voted out, I decided to go, too. I had especially wanted to work with Vartan and really didn’t want to work for another mayor."

At that point, jaded on local government and anxious for a new perspective, Czech began work with his old friend Donald Scarinci of the Scarinci and Hollenbeck law firm in Secaucus and was hired to practice municipal and labor law.