BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer
Bob Coutts FREEHOLD – A first-time visitor to Freehold Borough might not know how much effort it took to bring the town to the place it is today.
And Bob Coutts has been a part of it all.
The 85-year-old may live in Colts Neck, but much of his time has been spent in the town of Freehold Borough, a town and a community he loves and one he relates to. Coutts has spent over 25 years trying to make the borough a place people want to live in as well as a place others will want to visit.
Coutts was one of the founding members of Freehold Beautiful Inc., which was created in 1981, when the downtown business community saw a need to change the direction in which the town was heading.
After more than 25 years of being an integral part of this organization, Coutts stepped down from his position on the board of directors of Freehold Beautiful in December.
In his resignation letter he stated that the “vision and enthusiasm of our members along with those who have followed, including the Freehold Center Partnership, have enriched the downtown Freehold tremendously.”
He added that the initial goal of members to change people’s attitudes from negative to positive has “no doubt stimulated a progressive renaissance of the future of Freehold Borough.”
Coutts is a lifelong example of how a positive attitude and a devotion to the
simple truth can effect change in amazing ways. His enthusiasm and energy, even now, are in part absorbed by anyone in his presence.
His desire to make things better in any number of situations has led Coutts to become one who is called on, and called on often, to aid in the creation of numerous projects over the years.
Coutts’ résumé reads like something out of a business magazine.
Beginning his career in real estate as a salesman in 1946, Coutts moved to broker in 1955 and now works as a certified real estate residential appraiser.
The 1943 Lehigh University graduate also served as executive director of the Morristown Housing Authority in the early 1950s. He has served in numerous administrative capacities in the span of his career, including vice president/sales and marketing for Whelan Realty Group, Middletown, and executive vice president/manager of Commercial Real Estate Division for Sterling Thompson & Associates in the early 1970s. Coutts opened Coutts Realtors, Freehold Township, as a broker/owner in 1976, which he operated until 2000. In 1987 he became broker and owner of ReMax Freehold Realtors, which he also operated until 2000. In 2000, he sold the business to Rozelyn Smith and became a broker/Realtor associate of the company. He now operates his realty appraising business in the ReMax building on East Main Street. Coutts has been involved in numerous associations over the years, including president of the Monmouth County Board of Realtors, liaison/vice president of the Multiple Listing Committee and liaison/vice president and past chairman of the Commercial Industrial Investment Committee.
The real estate broker who brought ReMax real estate agency into New Jersey to the town of Freehold Borough has always lived by the motto he learned years ago from his father and from his own personal experience: “service above self.” These words, the motto of the Rotary Club, are words he lives by still. It is a principle he has learned to put into practice from his association and dedication to the Rotary Club.
In an interview with Coutts in his East Main Street office, he took a trip back in time to remember how the renaissance of the borough began.
In 1981, the Downtown Business and Professional Association sponsored a community-wide “My Freehold” forum at the American Hotel in order to consider ideas and opportunities to bring about a more beautiful and vibrant Freehold Borough, according to Coutts.
He referred to the meeting in February 1981 that essentially began the move toward a better Freehold. He said that 70 people showed up for that meeting, many more than he expected, all expressing an interest in getting the town back on its feet.
The meeting brought members of Morristown Beautiful to the American Hotel on East Main Street, who spoke of the success they had in promoting a renaissance in their own town.
After that meeting, the interested parties quickly formed a steering committee, which by April 1981 had incorporated the nonprofit, nonpartisan Freehold Beautiful Inc.
Coutts said that the organization began with little funds but with considerable vision and enthusiasm. Its mission was to provide a stimulus for positive action and to act as a catalyst to bring people and organizations together to put Freehold “on the move.”
Enhancing the appearance and quality of the town, working on changing attitudes and building a stronger sense of community were all in that shared vision.
First projects included barrel planters for the downtown area, and redesigning the Carnegie Library, which included brick walkways and plantings sponsored by the Rotary Club, on Main Street. Adding the now-traditional holiday decorations contest and relandscaping Gere Park on Throckmorton Street, designed and completed by Four Seasons Nursery, were also part of the initial plan.
Other improvements included the rehabilitation and landscaping of the South Street Walkway by the Freehold Lions Club and Four Seasons Nursery, and the creation of the town’s first Freehold Beautiful Day in 1982, were also efforts by Freehold Beautiful.
Replacing antiquated light poles, wires and transformers and putting in their place, modern, effective and attractive lighting along Main Street have also been achieved through Freehold Beautiful.
More recent projects initiated by Freehold Beautiful include the creation of hand-carved “Welcome to Historic Freehold” signs coordinated by Carl Steinberg, Adopt-a-Park programs and Spring-Up campaigns. The ongoing Beautification Awards, presented to property owners who have rehabilitated, remodeled or dramatically improved their property in a historically sensitive manner, a project spearheaded by Dennis Suszkowski, have also been a part of Freehold Beautiful.
Borough resident Bunny Hammer, who serves Freehold Beautiful as president, referred to Coutts as the founding father of the organization and said he has always been the catalyst for whatever has taken place in the downtown area.
“I don’t think he will ever be gone from us,” Hammer said. “I think that whenever we need him, he’ll be there for us.”
Former Councilman Kevin Coyne, who serves as the town historian, said Freehold is more beautiful because of Coutts.
“Everywhere you turn, at almost every event, you cannot turn around and not see Bob,” Coyne said of Coutts. “He is a constant presence. He believes in our town and he doesn’t just talk about it, he does it.”
Coutts lives by the vision that you do the best you can to help, and then bring people together to make that happen.
“It’s no longer a ‘me’ thing then, it’s a ‘we’ thing,” Coutts said.
This philosophy has allowed him to do things that he said he would never have been able to do alone. He’s quick to downplay his own part in the success of the borough’s renaissance, deferring the credit instead to others who have also played an active role in the transformation of the borough’s downtown area.
“Energetic sales people and their attitudes make the difference,” Coutts said.
Coutts said he is stepping down from the active participation he has been involved in for years in order to “create new energy” and to “change the chemistry” to benefit the organizations he has so loved being involved in.
He intends to still be a part of all that goes on in the borough. It is, after all, the community he has devoted so much time and energy to because of his love for the town and all that it represents to him.
It represents “roots” to him, a place to call home, even if your address is in another town.
He and his wife, former New York fashion model Lillian Joan Coutts, have five children whose lives they make time to share. Coutts may now have a bit more time to share more things with them.
Bringing people together in order to “make things happen” has always been Coutts’ philosophy. It is after all what he does, and does so well.