{"id":1042,"date":"2017-07-12T00:44:51","date_gmt":"2017-07-12T04:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/?p=1042"},"modified":"2017-07-12T00:45:20","modified_gmt":"2017-07-12T04:45:20","slug":"toms-river-renaming-building-after-clerk-former-mayor-upon-his-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/2017\/07\/toms-river-renaming-building-after-clerk-former-mayor-upon-his-retirement\/","title":{"rendered":"Toms River Renaming Building After Clerk, Former Mayor Upon His Retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Toms

Toms River Township Clerk J. Mark Mutter. (Courtesy: WOBM)<\/p><\/div>\n

Township Clerk J. Mark Mutter is tasked with preparing the agenda for each council meeting, meticulously checking each document that goes before the council\u2019s vote. But for July 11\u2019s meeting, council members managed to keep something secret from him.<\/span><\/p>\n

The secret was a surprise to honor Mutter, who will retire July 31 as the longtime township clerk. A resolution honoring him and naming a building in honor of his 31 years of public service was met with rounds of applause and gushing comments from elected officials.<\/span><\/p>\n

The building, located on Church Road, is the public records building \u2013 a fitting place to bear Mutter\u2019s name as one of the duties of the township clerk is the keeper of records such as public notices, agendas, minutes and more that are now archived there.<\/span><\/p>\n

It will now be called the J. Mark Mutter Records Center. The resolution to rename the building, read into the record by Councilman George Wittmann, caught Mutter by surprise and left him tearful and a bit speechless.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI thought the clerk is supposed to do the agenda,\u201d said Mutter to crowd laughter. \u201cYou did a good job keeping it a secret.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mutter, also the township historian, was instrumental in leading efforts to have a building erected to consolidate the far flung places township records were stored. Now, Wittmann said, records are more accessible, readable and better kept thanks in no small part to Mutter\u2019s leadership.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the driving force behind the records center,\u201d Wittmann said. \u201cTaking dusty boxes stored all over the place and organizing everything to the point now where we know what is in them and can easily find them and are properly utilizing them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The resolution, passed unanimously by the council, said the building should be renamed in Mutter\u2019s honor in thanks of his efforts in \u201cmodernizing, revitalizing and bringing the township into the 21st century with his many ideas.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Officials also commended Mutter for much of the programming held as part of Toms River\u2019s 250th anniversary this year and during previous anniversaries.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mutter\u2019s public service goes beyond that. A former mayor, deputy mayor and committeeman under the Dover Township form of government, Mutter also helped develop many recreational offerings still enjoyed in the town under the clerk\u2019s office, said Wittmann. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve been a tremendous cheerleader for the town,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mutter, township clerk for the last 12 years, had prior to that served from 1993 to 2001 on the then-township committee, including two terms as mayor. Prior to elected office, he also served as the assistant township attorney.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other council members heaped compliments and congratulations on Mutter for his decades of service and said he was a pleasure to work with and was someone who taught them so much.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have no doubt I will be running into you often around town,\u201d Councilman Brian Kubiel said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mutter, 59, frequently was asked to give presentations on township history, and during the years when Toms River held a Founders Day, even dressed in uniform replicating how the history of the township pre-dated the Revolutionary War.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPublic records are a public trust, that’s what the law says,\u201d Mutter said. “And I think we’ve done a pretty good job maintaining our records.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The major project of the records center had its genesis in a seminar he and former Records Manager Greg Horbach attended in 2008, and led to the 2015 opening of the modest facade building on Church Road across from the Department of Public Works, which houses about 4,000 square feet of space for storage boxes of township records. He said they\u2019d now be under the auspices of Records Clerk Stacey Proebstle. She said after the meeting that they\u2019d worked hard to keep the renaming a surprise, and even thought to put the new sign up ahead of the meeting, but that Mutter often takes that route to work and might see it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a well-deserved honor,\u201d said Councilman Jeff Carr, \u201cCongratulations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mutter said he was surprised and not prepared for the honor, and promised some prepared comments he\u2019d say for his last council meeting as clerk, July 25. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen you stutter,\u201d said Council President Al Manforti. \u201cBut honestly, even in my short time I\u2019ve learned so much from you and have no doubt so many others have as well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The township clerk\u2019s duties are varied, also serving as the chief registrar for vital records, and assisting in local elections, in addition to serving as the secretary to the council.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI love our town,\u201d Mutter said, \u201cI walked into this very room, as a 17 year-old boy, with my mom and dad, and the rest is history.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Township Clerk J. Mark Mutter is tasked with preparing the agenda for each council meeting, meticulously checking each document that goes before the council\u2019s vote. But for July 11\u2019s meeting, council members managed to keep something secret from him. The secret was a surprise to honor Mutter, who will retire July 31 as the longtime […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,3],"tags":[387,389,11,388],"class_list":["post-1042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","tag-j-mark-mutter","tag-records-building","tag-toms-river-nj-news","tag-township-clerk"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/IMG_1278.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}