After his third stint serving as interim business administrator in West Windsor, Robert Hary now finds himself as the head administrator in the township after nearly 20 years here already.
Hary, who was approved August 31 as the business administrator for the duration of Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh’s term through 2013, comes on board at a time when the Township Council is trying to get a head start on budget deliberations for next year in hopes of reducing the financial impact to taxpayers amid a tough economic climate.
The first public discussion on the matter will begin on Monday, September 21, during a special pre-budget meeting the council has scheduled to examine its options for the upcoming fiscal year, and Hary says he is looking forward to jumping right in.
“It’s the first time that council is going to be discussing an upcoming budget so early, and that’s good because I want to hear their input, and I want to hear the things that are going to be important to them as we formulate the 2010 municipal budget,” he says.
In taking on the budget preparation, which is one of the most important functions of a business administrator, Hary says the administration has already begun work on the 2010 budget. “When we do municipal budgeting, we not only focus on the current budget, but from a capital and operational standpoint, how it will impact the township budgets long-term. That’s the challenge — keeping taxes low, but to ensure what we’re doing is part of a long-term plan.”
The budget season in West Windsor usually is the most highly-debated part of the year politically, but Hary says he is not worried because the members of the council and mayor seem to want to move in a similar direction. “I haven’t heard any council members saying that they want to necessarily reduce services, so I’m looking forward to the fact that both the mayor and council want to look toward other ways of mitigating tax increases, rather than just cutting expenses,” Hary said.
The goal is to increase revenues and cut expenses where possible, he says. “It’s not simple, but it appears as if all department heads, managers, and council are committed toward that goal,” he said.
In addition, Hary’s experience in working on the budget, under previous administrators, combined with over 20 years of experience in West Windsor, should help.
Hary grew up in Perth Amboy. His father was a refrigeration mechanic and also worked with sheet metal, while his mother was a homemaker, but also worked for an air conditioning manufacturing company. Hary and his wife have three children. He has lived in Freehold since 1982.
He has a bachelor’s of science in environmental science from Rutgers University and master’s of art in health sciences administration from New Jersey City University. He also has a master’s degree in business administration from Monmouth University.
He began his career in public health in 1974, starting off as an air pollution inspector and then a public health inspector for Aberdeen. From 1985 to 1989, he served as the executive director of a home health agency in Monmouth County before being hired in West Windsor as the health officer.
In the early 1990s, Hary was promoted as the director of the Department of Human Services, and he has served three times as the interim business administrator — once by former mayor Carole Carson and twice by Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh — after former administrators had either left or retired.
“During the course of those terms as acting business administrator, I never had aspirations to apply for the position,” Hary said. “Now, at this point in my career, I feel I am ready and prepared for the challenge.”
Slowly over the course of his career, Hary says he made a transition from being an environmental scientist to increasingly taking on administrative duties, especially at his previous job in home health care, where he was involved in budget preparation and contract negotiations.
And then in West Windsor, “as a department head in the municipality here, you work very closely with the mayor and business administrator in a number of administrative duties, including purchasing and budgeting and personnel issues,” Hary added. “I have sat at the table for collective bargaining negotiations with unions since back when Mr. [Robert] Bruschi was the administrator here. I was always part of the team because I had always had experience in my prior position.”
His experience in working with the former business administrators combined with “the obvious fact that when you work anywhere for 20 years, you have a broad base of institutional knowledge, and if you put those together, I feel I’ll be very prepared.”
Hary says he worked with his predecessor, Chris Marion, closely, not only as colleagues, but as friends. “He actually did encourage me to seek the position.” But he says he had also had good working relationships with Bruschi, former police chief and interim business administrator Frank Cox, Richard Van Noy, and Barbara Evans, all of whom served as business administrator during Hary’s time in the township. “I watched how each of them conducted their business, and hopefully took the best from each of their experiences.”
In addition to work on the budget, Hary says that “project management is exciting, and we’re going to make that a priority, including things such as our infrastructure improvements, such as our roads and pedestrian walkways.”
He also says he will be working to continue developing the Duck Pond Park in concert with local sports organizations who have been active in pursuing these goals. And, of course, redevelopment of the Princeton Junction train station is also an issue with which Hary will be involved.
“One of the major reasons that made this job attractive to me, in addition to having the same philosophy as the mayor and council, is that we really have top-notch management and staff here who are experienced and dedicated, and whom I know I can rely upon to delegate things to,” says Hary. “Work will be done properly. If you don’t have a staff you can rely on, it would be very difficult to succeed.”
He also said he is looking forward to working with the many organized community groups within the township — the volunteer first aid squads and fire companies, the West Windsor Arts Council, the Friends of the West Windsor Senior Center, the Friends of West Windsor Open Space, the West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance, and all other organizations. “They really are committed to what they do, and I think that also makes this an attractive job,” says Hary. “They’re all passionate about what they do, and they really improve the quality of life here in West Windsor. They also reduce the municipal tax base by providing a lot of the services at no cost to the residents.”
Hary’s appointment as business administrator was accompanied by some typical West Windsor drama. Following a heated public exchange between the mayor and Councilman Charles Morgan and a late-night closed session, the Township Council voted 4-1 to appoint Hary.
Hary had been serving as the interim business administrator since June, when former business administrator Chris Marion left to take a job as the township manager in Scotch Plains following a contentious budget and election season.
When Marion left, he had been making around $118,000, Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh said. Under the contract approved by the council, which is effective September 1, 2009 to June 30, 2013 (concurrent with the mayor’s term), Hary’s new salary will be $135,000. Hsueh said Hary would remain as the township’s health officer in addition to his new job as business administrator. Hary’s previous salary was $110,000.
During the August 31 meeting, Morgan questioned why the council was voting on the matter when the mayor had not solicited applications from other outside candidates. Morgan compared the process to what had happened when Marion was hired, which included a presentation from the mayor about the process he used to interview each candidate and which qualities led to the mayor’s recommendation.
Morgan emphasized that it was nothing personal against Hary, whom he praised for doing a good job, but rather that “I’m just concerned we have not done our due diligence.”
“If we’re going to do our jobs, and this is no criticism to Mr. Hary, we have to make sure we’ve looked at the best price for those candidates,” Morgan added. “Right now, the market is rather depressed in terms of jobs. A lot of people are looking for work, and there are a lot of people looking for work at pay scales a lot lower than this.”
He said he felt the council did not do its due diligence for this important issue, since it is an appointment to a key position in town, since this was the first time it was brought up — in a public session as a recommendation.
Council President George Borek responded that he felt Hary had “done a tremendous job over the years,” and that the idea was that rather than seek candidates on the outside, officials wanted to give Hary a chance. “Bob has shown beyond a reasonable doubt that he is more than capable.”
Morgan reiterated that his issue was not about Hary’s performance or qualifications, but rather that the mayor and other council members could not say, with absolute confidence, that “no candidate is out there who would have presented themselves equally or more qualified at a lower salary.”
Hsueh responded to Morgan, saying that the appointment of a business administrator is the mayor’s prerogative. “In the more than two months, he has been excellent as a business administrator based on the reactions we received. It has been very satisfactory.”
Further, Hsueh said, “it’s also very important for township professionals to see very clearly that professionals working here, if they meet all the requirements, and they have sufficient qualifications and experience, they move up.”
Hsueh said showing the professionals that there is room to move up is an important part of keeping the best in the township, to prevent them from wanting to seek employment elsewhere. “Particularly, in the last three months, I have to say that the morale at the Town Hall has been hurt because of the political things going on, and I think it’s important for me to provide that kind of stability and also continuity to make sure the township professionals” feel they will be recognized when they perform their duties at satisfactory levels.
In addition, Hsueh said he felt that Hary’s salary fell within a reasonable range compared to the business administrators of nearby towns.
Morgan persistently asked Hsueh whether he engaged in a process to solicit outside candidates. “I did not have to do that, and at this time I feel I should not do that,” the mayor responded.
Morgan then said council should decide whether it feels “that is an appropriate process given the context of a very difficult economic environment, with folks looking for jobs, and not even to check to see if other folks have the qualifications.”
Borek defended Hary’s salary, pointing out that he will remain as the township’s health officer while also serving as the business administrator. “We’re getting someone who is well-versed in the Department of Health.” He also said that he always felt that Marion’s salary was low for a business administrator.
Still, Morgan said, “How can you know what the market salary is for this position when the mayor did not go out and solicit candidates at Mr. Marion’s salary?”
“What are we doing to protect the taxpayers?” Morgan added. “This is part of the problem in this township. We don’t care about the taxpayers out there. Every dollar counts, and we need to be a little bit more careful. This is an example of just a failure. It has nothing to do with Mr. Hary.”
But, “this position has to do with the experiences, capabilities, and understanding to be familiar with what’s going on in this town,” Hsueh responded. “With Bob’s experience of 20-plus years in that position and working in this community,” he is very familiar with what has been going on in the township, Hsueh said.
“Mr. Morgan, you are one of the reasons why the whole township has become so unstable in the past few months, and it’s time for me to bring this morale back on track,” Hsueh added.
Hsueh also said that he looked at the salary range of business administrators in the area and had a conversation with Marion about coming back to council to ask for some increase within the range, with approval of the council, in an effort to keep him from moving on to Scotch Plains. “Actually, the reason Mr. Marion did not want to come back to the council was he didn’t want to create a political dialogue,” Hsueh said.
Hsueh said this is the kind of message the council sends to professionals working in West Windsor. “Over the past few years, we already had some professionals who were very capable of doing this in this town but they decided to go with another town,” he said. “We need to re-examine the way we deal with our professionals in this town. I think it’s very unfortunate.”
At this point, Morgan made a recommendation to accept the mayor’s recommendation to appoint Hary, but with Marion’s salary.
Councilwoman Linda Geevers said that the salary and contract are negotiable items and should not be talked about in an open session. “I don’t want to play ‘Let’s Make a Deal,’ here,’” she said. “I don’t want to get into a lawsuit. He has a right under the Rice notice that we go into executive session.”
According to Township Clerk Sharon Young, the Rice notice, part of the state Open Public Meetings Act, allows Hary to make a decision about whether he wants the matter to be discussed in public or in closed session.
Morgan said he would be happy to make a motion to go into executive session at the end of the meeting to talk about the issue. At the end of the meeting, the council went into executive session for about 20 minutes and came out and took a 4-1 vote to approve Hary’s appointment upon reopening the meeting. Morgan voted against his appointment.
Following the vote, Hsueh said that with Hary’s appointment, “we have someone promoted from the inside. It sends out the message to professionals that someday they will have the opportunity to be at the top of their public service. I don’t want them to feel that every time we need someone, we have to go to the outside. Stability and continuity are very important factors.”
He also said that Hary was the only person who has the knowledge and experience to help carry out a succession plan Hsueh wants to put into place for the future. “That’s why I appointed him as the interim business administrator already. I wanted to see if council members seemed comfortable with him.”
Hsueh said his plan is to try to train more junior members of the staff to be managers in the future. Currently, there is an employee, who Hsueh would not name, who has been training and taking courses to become a health officer in the future. For now, Hary will continue serving as the township’s health officer for “at least a couple years,” Hsueh said.
“Right now, we are going to sit down and look into all of the things we need to do, but the focus is to try to bring along more potential managers in the future,” Hsueh said. “It’s important for the town to have a clear succession plan for the future.”
He also said he wanted to make it clear that “I would never give a professional the direction to do things just for a political reason.”
