Beginning July 13, Plainsboro will have a new administrator, one who brings decades of government experience at a variety of levels. Anthony Cancro, finishing a five-year stint as business administrator in Springfield Township, is the Township Committee’s selection to replace longtime administrator Bob Sheehan.
“The mayor and committee want to continue the effort and planning of smart growth,” Cancro says. In addition he will work toward addressing the township’s challenges, including stabilizing taxes and affordable housing obligations.
He currently lives in Pennington with his wife, who works for the state Department of Human Services. They have one son, who is studying business management and economics at Washington College in Maryland.
Cancro grew up in Teaneck. His father owned and operated Cancro’s Restaurant, an Italian eatery in town, for more than 50 years. His mother was a school aide.
As an undergraduate at Ramapo College of New Jersey he studied environmental science, then received a masters in the same field from the City College of New York. He also has a masters in public administration from Rutgers.
“My passion when I was growing up was being outdoors, cherishing nature and how beautiful it is,” Cancro says. “I wanted to preserve nature and outdoor space and environment. I thought that would be something I enjoyed studying and I wanted to make a career out of that.”
Cancro, an avid hiker, says his favorite spots are the mountains around Ramapo and the Adirondacks.
It was Cancro’s father who encouraged him to work in the public sector.
“He thought you should do something honorable and you should do something that should help people,” Cancro says. “And government is both.”
His first job was with the New Jersey Department of Energy, which has since merged with the Board of Public Utilities. He joined in the late 1970s, during the oil crisis, and the state was evaluating the prospect of offshore oil drilling. Cancro worked with a team of engineers, conducting many feasibility studies that ultimately concluded there was a lack of sufficient offshore resources.
After nearly a decade there, in 1986 Cancro moved on to the Department of Community Affairs, where he filled various roles for more than 15 years. This included serving as director of the Division of Housing, which was responsible for affordable housing, as well as deputy commissioner and acting commissioner under governor Donald DiFrancesco.
Mayor Peter Cantu has said affordable housing obligations are one of the challenges facing all state municipalities after the state Supreme Court shifted affordable housing oversight from the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) to the judiciary. Cancro joined the Department of Community Affairs shortly after the passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1985 that set up COAH within the department.
“All municipalities should try to understand the Supreme Court decision,” Cancro says. “I think the state has an obligation to create affordable housing obligations, and I’m sure all the towns are going to do the best to meet their affordable housing obligations.” He declined to comment further on affordable housing.
Cancro served as acting commissioner of the DCA from 2001 to 2002 after commissioner Jane Kenny was appointed by the president to serve as the EPA Region 2 administrator, which includes New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
After one year as acting commissioner, Cancro worked for several years as Kenny’s chief of staff at the EPA. There Cancro worked on policy, programs, and staffing. Environmental priorities included cleaning up the Hudson River, brownfields, and implementing regulations involving air quality and alternative wind power.
In 2006, after previously working at the state and federal level, Cancro was recruited by the recently elected mayor of Edison, Jun Choi, to serve as town administrator.
“The biggest difference is that usually in municipal government the issues are more acute and they need to be resolved quickly. Like pot holes in the street, garbage pick-up, a fire,” Cancro says. “On the federal level they take a lot of research, peer review, scientific review. Those positions could take many months if not years to try. It’s still public policy, but the process is usually longer. The big adjustment was being able to respond quickly and appropriately to the needs of the residents.”
Choi was not re-elected in 2010, and Cancro became the business administrator for Springfield Township. The Springfield budget, at roughly $30 million, is a fifth of what Cancro managed in Edison, but is on the same scale as Plainsboro’s $26 million budget. During his time at Springfield, redeveloping the historic downtown area was a high priority. A redevelopment plan is in place.
“Short Hills Mall and the towns around us, Millburn, Summit, Maplewood — competition is fierce for the public to go shopping,” Cancro says. “The township committee was united in trying to redevelop a portion of downtown.”
As Plainsboro administrator, Cancro will manage a township of similar size. He is impressed by the township’s leadership stability and financial strength.
“I’m looking forward to working with the mayor and the township committee, trying to address the challenges they have in Plainsboro,” he says.
