MARLBORO – Gerald Bergh has stepped down from the Marlboro Planning Board after more than a decade of service on the municipal panel that reviews and decides the fate of development applications.
Bergh, who was appointed to the board in April 2004, attended his final meeting on Oct. 21.
The term from which Bergh stepped down will end in December 2017. Mayor Jonathan Hornik will name a replacement for Bergh.
Bergh is a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and moved to Sayreville, Middlesex County, in 1966. He served on the Sayreville Planning Board.
He was a civil engineer and worked from 1958 to 2003 with Flattery Contracting Company and Skanska U.S.A. when Skanska purchased Flattery.
His career included building bridges, subways, sewage treatment plants and roads in New York. He was an engineer on projects at the World Trade Center in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Bergh’s career took him to Washington, D.C., in 1979. He moved to Marlboro in the late 1980s.
“I provided 11-and-a-half years of service to the Marlboro Planning Board,” he said. “I tried to use my experience in heavy construction to help the board.”
Hornik, who sits on the panel, told Bergh, “You are the moral conscience of this board. Everybody looks to you when applicants and professionals are speaking … because if they can convince you, they can convince anyone. I appointed you and reappointed you because I slept well knowing you were reading the plans … I do not say this very often, but this board will be worse off with Gerry Bergh retiring.”
Board member Michael Messinger told Bergh, “Every time you take a big interest in these projects, you are enhancing the quality of life in town. People do not realize there is somebody like you.”
“You blew me away at the first meeting I attended,” said Councilwoman Carol Mazzola, who sits on the board. “You motivated me to be a better researcher. You have really raised the bar on this board and I wish you the best.”
Bergh said he plans to volunteer at the Hope Lutheran Church, Freehold Township. He has two children and four grandchildren. His wife passed away in 2006.
Bergh said that at his retirement dinner from Skanska in 2003, he reminded his fellow employees of a credo he follows: “Pay attention to detail. Try to do it right the first time. Use common sense.”