City clerk Robert Byrne has served nine mayors in his 25-year career as a Jersey City employee, but he didn’t think he would make it beyond the second one.
In 1985, he was 25 years old and was working under Mayor Anthony Cucci, who defeated his first boss Gerald McCann in the mayoral election that May.
“Mayor Cucci kept approaching me, saying “Young man, you need to come see me in my office,” said Byrne. “I kept fearing I would get fired”.
But it turned out he had nothing to worry about. Byrne had impressed Cucci while Byrne served as an assistant clerk under then city clerk and one-time mayor Thomas F.X. Smith.
Byrne wound up serving in the Mayor Cucci’s office as a liaison to then Police Chief Paul DePasquale.
“Cucci told me that he was impressed with how I was always willing to help him out whenever he came to the clerk’s office,” said Byrne. “I helped him when he filled out his marriage license and married his sweetheart.”
It’s that quality that has provided a compass for the 47-year old Byrne through his 25 years as a public servant that he marked last Monday, with the last 18 as the City Clerk for the second largest city in New Jersey.
That job requires overseeing municipal elections, people applying for marriage licenses, filing the city’s records and nearly everything else that has to do with city government.
But Byrne admits that he didn’t think he would have been in this job for this long.
“I didn’t think I would be around this long,” said Byrne. “What was supposed to be a six month job, turned out to be a little more [than that].”How six months became 25 years
Robert Byrne summed up being his job for so long with one word.
“It’s called tenure, that’s the secret,” said Byrne. “The law is very kind to clerks. I think the clerk’s job is supposed to be some kind of continuum in government…the tenure law prevents someone from becoming a dispensable commodity.”
But in the winter of 1981, Byrne could have gone down the path of practicing law except a certain obstacle – affording law school.
Instead, he opted to take a position as a records retention clerk in City Hall, a job that he got by meeting Smith while Smith was running for governor. He started officially on March 12, 1982.
“It provided me with medical benefits but I was making $12,500 a year, which even then was not a lot of money,” said Byrne.
Byrne recalled spending a lot of time in the basement of City Hall where the city’s records were kept and “straightening it up.”
“I did every menial job from the ground up,” said Byrne. “The clerk’s job is the hub, a real learning experience.”
It was also where he made the acquaintance of Anthony Cucci, who would visit the clerk’s office when he ran for mayor in 1985.
When Cucci won, Byrne said Cucci started asking to come visit him in the office.
“Now I feared getting fired because my brother was politically active and had supported Gerry McCann,” said Byrne. “But I think it was my insecurity and it was me profiling politicians.” Byrne’s brother, Paul, was a longtime powerbroker in Jersey City and Hudson County politics who passed away in May 2005 from a heart attack.
Instead, Byrne would spend three years in the Mayor’s Office under Cucci starting in November 1985; an experience he said helped him “immeasurably” as a public servant.
But his young career would take a turn starting in 1987 that paved the way for where he is now. That’s when his mentor Smith retired with the city clerk’s job being assumed by a longtime city clerk, Helen Kozma.
But then Kozma decided to retire in 1988 after putting in about 30 years. That’s when Kozma looked for the heir apparent to step in – Byrne. However, he was not in a hurry to take over the city clerk’s job.
“Tony Cucci said the clerk’s job is opened and I said ‘I’ll pass’, I was having too much fun working in the Mayor’s office,” said Byrne, who pointed out he was making $35,000 under Cucci by the age of 28.
Cucci instead made the decision for him.
“He said to me, ‘Young man, you are going to be the city clerk.’ said Byrne. “He said ‘You are the person for the job.'”
And on Feb. 2, 1989, Byrne was sworn in as city clerk at the age of 29. The accolades never cease
To say there are kind words for Byrne is an understatement.
Members of the City Council were the first to cast praise upon him in droves.
City Councilman At-Large Peter Brennan when asked about his impression of Byrne jokingly said he is a “big load,” referring to Byrne’s imposing 6-foot, 4-inch frame.
Then Brennan got serious for a moment as he observed how Byrne had changed little in the nearly 30 years since they first met.
“Robert worked as a weekend bartender at a place called Jimmy O’Dea’s, which is now the Mojo Lounge on West Side Avenue,” said Brennan. “Robert was an excellent and congenial bartender. And you can see how he is now, he has never changed.”
City Councilwoman Viola Richardson said Byrne made an immediate impression upon her when she came into office in 2001.
“He is always there to answer your questions, and he doesn’t take a condescending attitude,” said Richardson. “And what won my respect the most – he gave his personal number and said ‘call me if you need help.'”
Steven Fulop, the youngest councilperson on the City Council, said Byrne has helped him make leaps and bounds as a public servant, starting from when Fulop ran for Congress against now-U.S. Senator Robert Menendez in 2004.
“I had very little background in terms of the inner workings of politics, and I was fortunate to have a guide in Robert Byrne, who gave me fair assessment in terms of what I could do and what I couldn’t do,” said Fulop. “He’s one of the people in government who is not political. He just comes in and does his job everyday as the one of the best clerks around.”
Others in city government also were effusive in their accolades for Byrne.
Mayor Jerramiah Healy offered the following statement: “Robert Byrne has been an asset to the city and its residents,” said Mayor Healy. “His professionalism and dedication to providing top notch services throughout his career has been unwavering.”
City Corporation Counsel Bill Matsikoudis called him “a walking, talking history book”.
His deputy clerk, Sean Gallagher, met Byrne in 1995 and by 1997 he was working side-by-side with Byrne.
“He’s pretty much an open book kind of guy, he’ll teach you anything and everything,” said Gallagher. “I would take a bullet for him, that’s how much the man means to me.” Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com