MIDDLETOWN – As the largest municipality in Monmouth County and 16th largest in New Jersey, it’s no surprise Middletown Township has so much to offer its residents and visitors.
From beaches to parks, busy shopping centers, a wealth of restaurants and so much more, everyone can find something they like about the historic township. It encompasses seven neighborhoods – Belford, Fairview, Leonardo, Lincroft, Navesink, North Middletown and Port Monmouth – and is run by one township committee with resident Tony Perry serving as its mayor.
The Two River Times spoke with Perry to get his take on the township and what it means to be mayor. His responses have been lightly edited for space and clarity.
The Two River Times: How did you become involved in local politics?
Mayor Tony Perry: Really my story began when I was about 10 years old. I started getting involved in local politics and I got my first internship at 14 working in a congressional office and that’s how I kind of fell in love with working in politics and being part of the solution – not being the answer – but being part of the solution to people’s problems and people’s issues.
From there, my love for public service only grew. I’d go on and intern at Chris Christie’s office for a year and then work there for the next four years; then, working for Sen. Kyrillos for the next four years and then right at the end of my time working for Joe Kyrillos, I ended up getting appointed to become a member of the township committee.
I fell in love with the ability to impact people’s lives – maybe not in a way that was newsworthy or made it to the front page of the newspaper… but it’s really the one-on-one conversations, the personal things that make this job and make my time as the local elected official so worthwhile.
My early start in politics really hasn’t changed my mentality or viewpoint because from my first internship, from my first days of politics, it’s really been the same.
TRT: What is an accomplishment during your time as mayor you are proud of?
Perry: There’s one overarching accomplishment and that is ensuring that you’re a good shepherd of the tax dollar and ensuring that every tax dollar that you’re spending is being spent to better your town.
That leads to open space. Last year, we found ourselves in the midst of a pandemic and today there’s a run on property here in Middletown because we’re consistently rated one of the best places to live; we’re consistently rated one of the safest towns not just in New Jersey but in America; and open space – there’s been a run on it because builders saw the opportunity that they could have had. And working to create a more solid and stable Open Space Trust Fund that was going to make the investment in our parks and in our recreational facilities, that was going to preserve our historic farmlands and areas throughout Middletown, an open space fund that was going to ensure that the beautiful landscapes that we have in every corner of this town was going to have an ability to be preserved by not just this township committee, but township committees of the future. That’s definitely one of the biggest accomplishments.
And then obviously there’s one that has recently come up and that is our veterans housing. Taking a dilapidated, neglected piece of property, redeveloping it, cleaning it up and helping one of Middletown’s downtown areas. You can’t turn a battleship on a dime; it takes time, it takes a lot of effort and it takes willpower. But by not only helping the men and women who have honorably served our nation, by affording them the opportunity to live in Middletown and provide them with a place to live… is something that really means a lot to me. It started off as an idea and it’s just crazy to say that was something that I (thought of when) I was walking with the deputy mayor and I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to be able to turn it into this?’ And now here I sit, owning the property from the municipality’s standpoint, owning it and getting ready to break ground on the construction of it – it’s really a pinch-yourself moment.
TRT: What are the pandemic-recovery challenges Middletown faces in the coming months?
Perry: Some of those are still yet to be seen because you have no real understanding of where the governor might go in terms of further restrictions that he may impose. But right now, it’s very similar to after Sandy… and that is tax stability. Something that most people aren’t going to think about is that when businesses close up, municipalities still have to operate and provide the services that they’ve been providing.
Right after Sandy, the state government was paying people to remain in their home in the promise that they were remaining in their home for three years. And the only reason that we did that was to ensure a stable tax base. I have businesses in town, I have people who live in this town who work for businesses in this town, that I need to ensure that not only can a business survive… but also continue to employ our residents. And that’s a big issue that I think we need to still figure out.
We were very fortunate that Middletown was about to get over $400,000 in CARES Act funding to provide stability, or at least help provide stability, for businesses all across and I’m very proud of that accomplishment. This municipality, for as slow as people make government out to be, we got that money and faster than we could, got it out the door because it was doing us no good sitting in our bank account. We needed that money out there. So I still think that’s a big problem that all municipalities – not just Middletown, but all municipalities – are going to face over the course of the next eight, 12 months – is ensuring that our businesses and our residents are secured financially.
TRT: Describe your perfect (pre/post-COVID-19) Saturday in Middletown.
Perry: If there’s one thing I learned in this job, there’s no such thing as a scheduled day. So I try and do things that are scheduled. And obviously, the first thing I normally do on a Saturday morning is I grab myself a cup of coffee.
My perfect Saturday in Middletown is one where I’m able to just enjoy my family in the great town that I live in – visiting our parks, visiting our incredible facilities that we have in Middletown.
I was just over at Croydon Hall’s new playground that we installed not that long ago. My daughter is only 1 and… seeing her face light up when she saw all that was going on at that playground was perfect to me. Being able to provide that to the 68,000 people that call Middletown home, if I could just give them a little piece of that, that’s my job. That’s how I know I’ve done well as a mayor – is seeing the faces of kids enjoying each other’s company, seeing families enjoying themselves on a Saturday morn- ing, going and visiting one of our beaches… one of our incredible parks.
It’s all about the community for me and it’s all about the different aspects that we all enjoy.
TRT: You’ve been the mayor for a number of yours. Tell our readers something about you they don’t know.
Perry: I’m a pretty big sports fanatic. I’m not sure many people know that about me, but I think my neighbors do from some of the screaming that I did during the Olympics. But between baseball and football, there’s not much more that I can say. I’m a very passionate man; my wife loves to remind me that when I say ‘We won’ – she says ‘No you did not, the team won, you were not a part of that.’ ”
So between that, my love of craft beers, breweries, and I love to cook. That’s one of my escapes from politics – doing the barbecuing, cooking, pizzas, all that good stuff.
This article originally appeared in the Sept. 9-15, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.
