- Name: Tom Mazzaccaro
- Children: 3 children and 5 grandchildren.
- Part of Town: Has lived in Montville for 38 years. Shortly after moving to town, he met Mayor Fred Eckhardt at the old Montville recycling center on River Road. Eckhardt helped Mazzaccaro unload his recycling from the car. Mazzaccaro was surprised that the mayor volunteered at the recycling center. As a fan himself of volunteering, Mazzaccaro quickly became involved. Soon he was asked to join the Planning Board. Mazzaccaro served as chairman from 1975 to 1990.
- The Planning Board: “Those were crucial years for planning and the direction that the town took,” Mazzaccaro said. “In 1973, [Montville] was still mostly farms north of Horseneck Road. Most of the zoning north of Horseneck Road was industrial properties.” One of Mazzaccaro’s earliest functions was to survey the residents and see what people wanted. Those surveys “indicated that people wanted single family residences as the primary look for our town,” he said. “In 1975, the Planning Board, I was chairman at the time, took almost 2,000 acres of industrial property and put it into residential property. In looking back, I think we did the right thing.”
- The Board of Education: In the 90’s Mazzaccaro served on the Board of Education for three years. For two of the three was the board president. “I just needed something to do with my evenings,” Mazzaccaro joked when asked what inspired him to run for the Board of Education. “I always loved the school. I have three children who went through the school system, and they are all fairly successful in their own right. It was just give-back, that’s who I am.” Mazzaccaro is very proud of his tenure on the Board of Education. “I think we did some good things there at that time,” he said. Due to time constraints, he did not seek reelection.
- Career: Director of the Department of Public Works (DPW) for Montville Township, “which includes all roads, facilities, cars, vehicles, and the Water and Sewer Department.” He oversees a staff of thirty and is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. His work for Montville began in 1990 as the executive director of the Montville Township Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA), which later became the Montville Township Water and Sewer Department. By 2005 he assumed responsibility of both the DPW and Water and Sewer staffs. Before that, for 25 years, he worked in private industry for an aerospace company. “I was president of that company for about 12 years,” Mazzaccaro said. “After that, once the children were somewhat grown and out of the house, I wanted to do something more with my life. I was at the stage where you want a change, and I went into real estate with a large company. That was about the time that the real estate market dropped just like it is today.” Coincidentally, when that happened, the MUA, which was a separate entity from township government, was in need of an infrastructure overhaul and a plan for the future. Mayor Richard Stern was involved with the MUA and knew Mazzaccaro from the Planning Board. Stern felt that Mazzaccaro’s expertise in planning and organization for the aerospace company, as well as his knowledge of Montville, made him a good match for overseeing the planning and engineering details needed for the expanding MUA. “I said, ‘I’ll give it a try,’” recalled Mazzaccaro. “I thought it would be a half-day-every-day job. But, I found out quickly that it was a monumental project, which, of course, went very well.” Mazzaccaro resigned from his volunteer position with the Planning Board and became the executive director of the MUA. The MUA was acquired by Montville Township in 2001. Mazzaccaro took on the organization of the DPW in 2005.
- Favorite Thing About Montville: “The people. There are so many people in this town that are community service minded. They want to be involved. Montville’s a great place. The schools are great. The recreational facilities are great.”
- Something He Would Change: “I’d like to see a lot of the areas that we have, that need redevelopment currently, redeveloped. I think that it is very important. Things do age, and sometimes they have to be replaced. I think we should be looking at that very closely and encouraging that kind of redevelopment. And sometimes that may have to happen as a result of financial encouragement, whether it be in the forms of rebates, or whatever, but we need to refurbish some of our areas that are much older.”
- Activities: Is a charter member of the Montville Kiwanis Club, which he helped to found. “Kiwanis has turned out to be a very good community service club for the township,” he said. Mazzaccaro also served as the chairman for the Fourth of July committee from 1982 to 1992, and he continues to serve on the committee. “I find that to be a very important project.”
- Advice: “Volunteer as much as possible. Everybody today says they are busy, I was busy. When I first moved to Montville I was married with three children. Still going to college, finishing up my degree at night. I was in the Navy prior to that, and I still found time to be in Kiwanis. To be on the Planning Board and to do my job, which I did fairly well, I guess.”
- Hobbies: “My hobby is people. I don’t play golf. I don’t bowl. I don’t do any of those things. I just like interaction with people.”
- Philosophy: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
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