County Freeholder Maurice Fitzgibbons, who lives in Hoboken, defines his new duties as president of the New Jersey Association of Counties (NJAC) in two categories: “the nitty gritty stuff” and the “fun stuff.”
Fitzgibbons, who has been a member of the association since 1995, was sworn in as president on Jan. 30 by then-state senate president (now acting governor) Donald DiFrancesco.
By nitty gritty, Fitzgibbons means the tough issues each county faces such as trash removal and state aid, the nut-and-bolt quality-of-life issues county governments deal with on a day to day basis.
NJAC (most members call pronounced it N-Jack), Fitzgibbons said, is an organization similar to the League of Municipalities, dedicated to providing counties with a lobbying arm, aimed mostly at legislators in Trenton.
It is an organization representing all 21 counties in the state, and includes freeholders, county executives, county administrators, county clerks, and county surrogates. Started after World War II, NJAC seeks to keep the interests of the counties in front of the state representatives.
“We will go to Washington [D.C.] to lobby if necessary,” Fitzgibbons said.
Fitzgibbons is the first Hudson County Freeholder to serve as president of NJAC since James Fusilli did in the 1970s. But it is the “fun stuff” that has Fitzgibbons rubbing his hands, particularly a projected goal by NJAC to help bring into the public eye the hidden treasures of each county around the state. Oddly enough, Fitzgibbons, with a background in public relations and acting, not to mention politics, may be the right man at the right time to handle the job.
Although Fitzgibbons claims he got into local politics in 1973 when he passed out leaflets for then Hoboken Board of Education candidate James Freeman, it is love of acting and the arts that seems to provide Fitzgibbons with the tools he needs to make NJAC’s latest project a reality.
Getting a larger focus
Fitzgibbons sees his role on the state level as helping Hoboken, Hudson County and the state rejuvenate and expand its arts and tourism potential.
He said one of the duties he will have as NJAC president will be to map out those attractions and help formulate a plan that will encourage people to take advantage of them, not just in Hudson County, but throughout the state.
He said while he has to deal with the more mundane issues such concerns over solid waste disposal, state aid to counties and various public safety concerns, he is also thrilled to promote a program that will unveil the hidden treasures in each of the state’s 21 counties, such as The Strand Theater in Ocean County, the restoration of Lambert Castle in Passaic County, East Old Town in Middlesex County and the Jersey City Museum right here in Hudson County.
This is a similar role Fitzgibbons plays in his public relations firm, Campbell & Fitzgibbons of Jersey City, which covers many of the “gritty city” issues such as urban renewal, yet has also handled arts-related activities. In the early 1990s, he helped kick off activities at Waterloo Village in Stanhope – which has since become a worldwide attraction for jazz, poetry and historic studies.
Although, he said, with a glint in his eyes, Hudson County has its share of attractions.
One dream Fitzgibbons has had for years was the establishing of a Hudson County School of performing arts. He has struggled to get this off the ground, and came close five years ago, when he thought he might get one started at Demarest Middle School in Hoboken.
“It’s going to happen,” he said. “Things are starting to come together.”
Fitzgibbons’ motives for seeking a county school for performing arts comes out of personal experience, he said. When younger, he interned at the Roundabout Theater in Manhattan to become an actor. His acting coach was Julie Bovasso who starred with Cher in the film Moonstruck.
He also was associated with Joe Pap’s Public Theater, long reported as one of the more innovative theaters for young talent in New York City.
This background also made Fitzgibbons appreciate the changes occurring in Hoboken during those years, the influx of artists of various kinds that turned his native city into a cultural center for a time.
In some ways, Fitzgibbons is the right man at the right time, bringing the kind of experience to NJAC that will be needed over the next year.
In 1995, Fitzgibbons was a member of a delegation sent to Washington, D.C. for the White House Task Force on Tourism. This, he said, has given him some insights into the problems faced by the state, and has helped shape in his mind the need for more energetic approach to attracting people to the sites each county has.
Fitzgibbons expects that his new duties will require him to travel to Trenton once or twice a month, adding to the one or two days a week he dedicates to his role as freeholder, and his nearly constant attention to his public relations business.