Middletown honors longtime board sec'y Township Committee proclaims May 1 as Rosemary Minear Day BY JAMIE ROMM Staff Writer Rosemary Minear (second from right) receives a plaque in honor of her 20 years of service as the Middletown Planning Board Secretary. Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger, Deputy Mayor Pamela Brightbill and township administrator Anthony Mercantante presented the plaque. MIDDLETOWN - In most towns around the United States, May 1 may just be like any other Thursday. In Middletown, it has been proclaimed Rosemary Minear Day. After 20 years of service working as the Planning Board secretary and the Zoning Board secretary for the township,Minear is retiring from her post on the first ofMay. Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger and Deputy Mayor Pamela Brightbill both wanted to speak about Minear at the April 21 Township Committee meeting and came up together to read the proclamation. "Wewere fighting to seewhowould come up here, so we decided to come up here together," Brightbill said. "Inmy short time on the Township Committee, I've also been able to serve on the Planning Board, and I've really gotten to know Rosemary, and she has always been there to helpme [if] I'vemissed a meeting, and help me to make sure I do everything right. It was such a pleasure to get to know her." She then read a proclamation from the Township Committee officially proclaiming May 1, 2008, as RosemaryMinear Day. A look of shock and excitement was on Minear's face as the people in attendance gave her a standing ovation. "Aday inmy name sounds great, doesn't it?" Minear said in an interview the following day. "It's exciting, surprising and flattering, all in one." Minear, who has three children and five grandchildren, joined the planning department in April 1988 as Planning Board secretary, where her responsibilities centered on administration of the development process. After 10 years as the PlanningBoard secretary, she added Zoning Board secretary to her job title. Township Administrator and former Planning Board Director Anthony Mercantantemarveled at howshe handled both duties. "Most municipalities have one secretary for the planning and one for the zoning board,"Mercantante said. "Board secretaries have to have a lot of knowledge and have to give out information very quick. It's an important job to do for each, and Rosemary does a great job performing both." Mercantante had nothing but praise for thewoman he hasworkedwith over the past two decades. "She has a quality that is hard to find in this generation, and that'swork ethic,"Mercantante said. "She does thework of two people." Minear was nothing but appreciative of Mercantante and the Township Committee. "Tony [Mercantante] has been my boss for almost 20 years,"Minear said. "Whatever administration has been around in this town has been great to me." Scharfenberger said that when he first began on the Zoning Board, Minear helped him find his way. "I was on the Zoning Board for a few years and was the new kid on the block, and it can be a little bit intimidating," Scharfenberger said. "Rosemary was always there with a smile to answer all of my questions, and I appreciate it and will miss you." Minear said she did a lot of volunteer work prior to her time as Planning Board secretary, and she intends to continue that - but after some rest and relaxation. "No definite plans as of now," Minear said. "It's going to be a summer of fun. Iwant to do some traveling." Minear said her children would be visiting her during the summer to spend time and enjoy the time off with her. Though she will still spend some time with Zoning Board matters, this time it will be with a neighboring municipality, where earlier this year she was sworn in as an alternate Zoning Boardmember, so shewill be seeing things from a different perspective, she said. "I think I'm going to enjoy being on the Zoning Board in Red Bank," Minear said. "NowI'll be able to say something during the meeting, instead of having to bitemy tongue as the secretary."