Frank Macioce Prides Himself on Tatlock Field Project

It was a pretty typical Sunday evening when Frank Macioce and his family were heading to dinner in downtown Summit the night when the idea to run for Common Council emerged.

Macioce, who had been serving on the zoning board for several years already, ran into his colleague and then-chairman of the zoning board Andy Lark, who was on his way out of the same restaurant.

Lark mentioned to Macioce that the city's Republican party had held a screening for people to run for council and there was still a seat no one was interested in running for.

"He said 'Well if you're interested here's who to call,'" Macioce recalled.

The two men talked on the phone later that evening and Macioce met with then-party chair Eric Munoz the very next night. 

Munoz's advice to Macioce for what to tell constituents the issues he was running on: "Good schools and low taxes–everything that's impossible,'" Macioce recalls.

"It seemed a little fortuitous at the time," he said. "I took the at-large seat, it was the only thing that was left. I didn't even know what the at-large seat was."

But as he leaves the council after three terms as the at-large councilman, it's a position in which he feels he has accomplished much for the betterment of Summit.

"I don't have many regrets," he said. "I think that anyone who comes to this job with the notion that they're going to make major changes in an established community like Summit has got the wrong mindset and they're bound to be frustrated because this is not a community that you should turn upside down. It's a great place and it got to be that way over time. Change should take place deliberatively."

In fact, shortly after Macioce decided he was going to run for council he bumped into a friend of his who asked him what he stood for.

"I didn't have an answer," he said, "but it caused me to reflect. And what I really felt I stood for, although this isn't something you can stand for, but what I felt about the job was I wanted to make good decisions working, obviously, with other council members because none of us can act unilaterally, for the betterment of Summit and that may not sound like a lofty goal but I believe that's the right mindset."

However, as he began to campaign and talk with residents, he began to develop a certain idea of what the major issues in the city were. One of them, and the one he says he's most proud to have been a part of today, was a heated debate over the athletic fields in town.

"It was clear that that was a priority," he said. "What we did with regards to fields was phenomenal. Upper Tatlock was just the best example. People don't want change."

But today, he says, even those who were opposed to the project are pleased with the way it turned out.

"No matter how you look at it, it was a success in every sense of the word. When you accomplish something like that, that's about as major a thing as has happened over the last six years," he said. "You don't want to turn the town upside down."

But the greatest satisfaction one gets from serving on council, Macioce says, is from helping others.

"And that sounds corny but just because you're sitting in a certain seat and you have certain information and you know who does what, if somebody calls and says 'I have this problem, can you help me? Can you advise me what I should do?' and you say 'Sure, I'll call Public Works for you. Paul Cascais can help you. I'm sure he'd be glad to.' and it's nothing and you're able to help ... sometimes with just a phone call you can help people in a way that if you weren't in this position you wouldn't be able to."

Another sense of satisfaction Macioce says he has gotten from serving is from helping to recruit others into public service.

"The dynamic is different so it's an amazing experience," he said. "I hope if I have one legacy what I'd like it to be is a continung one of an ability to draw others into public service. And I really view this as public service. We do have partisan elections by law but it really is more volunteer work."

Macioce and his wife have lived in Summit since 1989, but in just the six years he's been on council, he says there have been profound changes within Summit.

The first is the demographic. Macioce says more and more people from New York are moving out to New Jersey. 

"There's still families where three generations live in Summit but there are a lot of new people, too," he said. "That changes the town in very subtle ways. The composition of the population is just a fact. I think to the extent that it's grown more diverse it's probably better."

But the most profound change, he says, has occured in the central retail business district. In 2003, when he first started serving on council, there weren't any empty storefronts.

"We've got a problem right now and it needs to be addressed," he said. "It's partly the economy but I think it's more than that. There are changes taking place that require us as a community to focus on how to preserve this very special asset that we have. The nature of the business in town has changed, it's moved more towards service business. My personal feeling is that you can still have great success in a Summit downton retail business selling goods but you're more likely to succeed if there's an element of service. In the mall you're buying a commodity. In town you know the people running the stores, they know you. They deliver personal services and they do it well."

This coupled with the serious budget woes facing the city are problems Macioce won't have to worry about any longer. These are decisions the new council being sworn in on Jan. 5 will have to make. 

Macioce's advice for three incoming members is to take the time to learn in the beginning because while some issues are straightforward, others are more complex. His advice for the sitting members he's leaving behind: "Keep up the good work."

"Every single member of council–the current council, the outgoing and the new–want to do what's best for Summit. I believe that without reservation," he says. "Each person has a different way of approaching that and trying to achieve that goal. Sometimes we agree and sometimes we don't agree. But every single one has his or her heart in the right place."