Berry retires after 45 years in the borough court

GLEN RIDGE, NJ — After 45 years at the Glen Ridge Municipal Building, Stephen Berry retired as municipal court administrator Dec. 31, 2017.
Berry grew up on Sherman Avenue with Mountainside Hospital in his background and attended Glen Ridge High School, Class of 1970. He began his employment with the borough as court clerk in January 1973 after his father, the borough clerk, suggested the post. Berry had been attending Morris County College for computer science. Switching his major to business, he lost all his college credits and his interest in college.

“I’d rather go to work and be making money,” he said in an interview at the municipal building. “I wasn’t a student, but when I was learning about things I could use, it became more interesting, to put it mildly.”
He applied to the judge for the job and was hired. Recalling his first night in court, he said the case went from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. It was about a bomb threat at the high school. Berry did not expect a clerk’s job to be so engrossing.
“It set the tone for my time in Glen Ridge,” he said.

He attended Rutgers Extension School in 1980 to become a certified municipal clerk and later was certified as a tax collector, too.
“Ninety-nine percent of my job was in court,” he said. “I worked for Mike Rohal and did small, little things. I was always in the clerk’s office. I had the title of assistant clerk when I got certified.”

Michael Rohal is the borough administrator.
Most of Berry’s work has been as the court clerk, although the title changed to court administrator. Berry was also deputy municipal clerk and deputy tax collector.

The court system, he said, has changed dramatically.
“There are more rules and regulations, more hands-on by way of the state,” he said. “The municipal court now answers directly to the division manager of Essex County. All towns in NJ can no longer appoint a court administrator. It has to go through the county.”

What did not change was the work Berry had to do. The court met once a week. The rest of the time he was dealing with paperwork and people. The court clerk is essentially the judge’s secretary and firewall with problems rarely reaching the judge’s chamber.
“You are basically a coordinator of people,” he said. “The majority is simple stuff, but it can get pretty complex.”

As one might suspect of anyone walking the same corridors for almost a half-century, Berry is part historian. He said Glen Ridge has had only four municipal judges since the ‘20s: Lloyd Beatty; Harold Brown, who hired Berry; Joseph Connolly; and Mark Clemente.
“I took over for a woman named Helen Jones,” he said. “I don’t think she was here that long. Before her was Dante Mercurio. I don’t know who was before them.”

Speaking of the judges, he said the three he knew were fair and compassionate men.
“It takes an awful lot to get under Judge Clemente’s skin,” he said. “Joe Connolly will be straight up and very fair, but his fuse will be a little shorter. Mark was a year ahead of me in high school. I’ve known him for 50 years. When he became a judge, I stopped calling him ‘Mark.’ I never called Joe Connolly, ‘Joe.’ I never knew him before he got here.”

Connolly also told him that if anyone used foul language when speaking with him, the judge wanted to see that person in court.
“You take a bullet,” Berry said. “The majority of people with complaints aren’t nice about it. They’re venting. But rarely is there a complaint about a Glen Ridge police officer’s behavior.”

He said the municipal judges were always respectful to borough employees.
“They know you’re here five days a week,” he said. “They didn’t come in to change the world. They would always respect the job and the person doing it on a daily basis. Do they know what you have to do every day? No. They have their own practices.”

Berry said he has had a great career in Glen Ridge and enjoyed being here. He did not think during all the time he served the borough that he received even six phone calls from council members taking an interest in a particular court case.

He retired when he did partly because of a new certification program for court personnel. The program would require him to go back to school at a time when retirement was in sight.

“There’s been a big turnover of court administrators in this county,” he said. “Not speaking for anyone, but I think the certification program the county adopted in 2014 is somewhat strict.”
He recalled Connolly.

“Integrity needs no rules,” Berry said. “That was a favorite expression of Joe Connolly. If you have integrity without being influenced, you’re going to be better off than anyone.”

Berry resides in Morris Plains with Linda, his wife of 35 years. He has three children, all married, two grandchildren with one on the way.
“I don’t necessarily want a full-time job,” he said. “My brother has an inventory company. I would occasionally work for him.”
He did not want a retirement party either, but his friends insisted. One of them was Clemente, high school classmate and judge, who issued a court order for Berry to appear at Fitzgerald’s 1928 Restaurant.

“I’ve had a great ride here,” Berry said. “I’ve had tremendous support from everyone.”

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