West Windsor Business Administrator Robert Hary has announced that he will resign from his position effective July 1. In a interview Hary said he simply “felt it was time to move on to other endeavors” and his decision had nothing to do with the past or current experience working in the township. Hary spoke highly of working in West Windsor, calling the years he has spent here “a blessing.”
With Hary’s departure vacancies in senior positions will be created. Since 1989 Hary has served as township director of health and human services (in charge of the recreation department) and he has also been the township’s resident health officer.
Since being appointed as the township’s business administrator in September, 2009, Hary has fulfilled both roles with what appears to be minimal compensation for the jobs of two department heads. Three years ago Hary started as the business administrator at a salary of $135,000, up from $110,000 in his prior position as head of West Windsor’s health department.
Hary, 59, will leave all of his governmental positions, including his concurrent positions as health officer for Robbinsville and Hightstown. Hary says his future plans include part-time consulting work in the private sector as well as spending more time with his family, including a young granddaughter. Hary also said he would enjoy having more time for golf and other sports.
“When I put it all together, hopefully it will be a busy and enjoyable retirement,” he says.
Hary says almost all of his 38-year career has been spent in the public sector. “Most of my work has been in the public health field as a health officer, first as a registered environmental health specialist when I was younger. It’s just been the last three years that I’ve been into town administration,” Hary said.
Hary began working right after finishing his bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Rutgers in New Brunswick (when the name was the College of Agriculture and Environmental Science). In 1978 Hary earned a master’s degree in health sciences from Jersey City State, which is now the New Jersey City University.
For five years in the early 1980s Hary worked in the private sector as a home healthcare administrator. During that time Hary earned an MBA from Monmouth University.
Having grown up in Perth Amboy, Hary said both his parents were blue collar workers. “My father worked in a machine shop for the federal government, and he also worked as a car mechanic. My mother worked pretty much in factories,” he said.
In 2009, when Hary was named business administrator, Mayor Hsueh told reporters that the administration planned to groom a lower-ranked employee up to the health officer position. That plan appears in-place this year with a current township employee scheduled to take the state’s health officer license exam.
Meanwhile, Mayor Hsueh started the search for a new business administrator. Hary said that over 40 applications had come in for the position after he assisted the mayor by posting job advertisements online, on websites geared towards municipal managers. A committee of four people, all West Windsor community leaders, will assist the mayor in the selection of the new business administrator.
