For years, Morristown Mayor Tim Dougherty has hailed Jillian Barrick as the top municipal administrator in the state.
Turns out Barrick’s peers have a similar opinion.
The Morristown administrator will receive the Distinguished Public Service Award by from New Jersey Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) next month.
Describing Barrick as “a dedicated professional who excels in budget management, operational efficiency, and planning and redevelopment,” the ASPA in a statement on Monday said its award encompasses her 20-plus years in the public sector.
“I am humbled and honored to be recognized,” Barrick said on Tuesday.
Barrick, who also is a certified planner, worked for her native East Orange and Perth Amboy before making Morristown history in 2015 as the town’s first woman, and first Black, to serve as town administrator.
She is scheduled to receive the award at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison on May 9, 2024, during national Public Service Recognition Week.
Other honorees include former Gov. Richard Codey, who retired this year after a half-century in the state Senate; former Bergen County Executive William “Pat” Schuber; Pengju Zhang, international program director at the School of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers-Newark; and RaJade M. Berry-James, a senior associate dean at Virginia Commonwealth University who holds a doctorate from Rutgers-Newark.
NJ ASPA President Lisa Mahajan-Cusack will present the awards. William P. Shields Jr., executive director of the national organization also plans to attend.
‘WE TOUCH YOUR LIVES EVERY DAY’
Barrick, 46, studied architecture and city planning at Georgia Tech University, and earned a master’s degree in public administration from Rutgers-Newark in 2014.
Early in her career, as a senior management consultant for Public Financial Management in Philadelphia, she consulted on budgets for Newark, Camden and New Orleans, and helped Philadelphia consolidate its housing services. She also worked in Atlanta.
She has been active in the International City County Managers Association, the New Jersey Municipal Managers Association, and the NJ League of Municipalities’ Legislative Committee, noted the ASPA.
“Jillian Barrick’s unwavering dedication to local government ensures that communities receive high-quality, cost-effective municipal services,” according to the association, which bills itself as the largest professional association for public administration, devoted to advancing excellence in public service.
At a civil trial this month, Dougherty testified that Barrick has “full authority to make decisions on everything in Morristown.”
In that case, the town agreed to pay $5.5 million to a developer who sued claiming the mayor and his administration killed a lucrative project.
Asserting the settlement was meant to avert further costly litigation, the mayor said every town official had acted “appropriately” to preserve the character of South Street.
Barrick passed up an offer to work in Washington during the Obama years, choosing to stick with municipal service, she told a Women’s History Month gathering in 2022.
“It was the right choice for me,” Barrick recounted. “I think the greatest level of government and the most important level of government is local government. We touch your lives every day.”
