RETIREMENT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33
whether the pension checks will keep coming.
And second is to bring back COLA. In a way that makes sense
for all retired members.
“When I met with Bruce, I asked his ideas about how to do
it,” Retired Members Local 600 State Delegate Jim Toma relates.
“He agreed with the concept that it has to be equitable across
the board. He knows the concept is important, and he knows
we have to do it without jeopardizing the financial stability of
the fund.”
Listen up
During that meeting, Toma realized what might make Pol-
kowitz most qualified to be the retiree trustee. He listens be-
cause he, too, is a retired member who needs pension securi-
ty, COLA and all the other benefits retirees worked so hard for
when salary and benefits growth were still in their infancy.
Now, meeting or just talking with Polkowitz might feel like a
whirlwind. He has been elected to so many offices that it seems
like he is always campaigning. But that’s just Bruce – commu-
nicating, kibitzing, schmoozing, shooting the, well, you know.
He’s a guy you want to have a conversation with because he’s
astute, knowledgeable and affable. And he wants to listen.
“I don’t talk the talk; I try to walk it. I always want people to
know who I am, but I don’t want to give them the BS about why
I am the best candidate,” Polkowitz states. “You have to believe
in what you’re doing. If you don’t have passion, you can’t do it.
That’s what I bring to the table.”
Ask around about that table where the 12 trustees will meet
– seven from public safety, five from the employer side – and
many responses will project that Polkowitz will be the one sit-
ting at the head. He has that kind of experience from serving not
only as a State Delegate for Edison Local 75 and president of its
SOA, but also being mayor of Franklin Township in Hunterdon
County from 2012 to 2014 and serving as an elected member of
both the Edison and Franklin Township school boards.
The plethora of leadership positions combined with a mas-
ter’s degree in human resources training and development –
essentially working with people – has given Bruce a perspective
that has evolved from sitting at so many tables.
“I have learned that you can’t be an elected official if you are
worried about making unpopular decisions,” Polkowitz contin-
ues. “They put me in office to be their representative, to make
the best decisions in their best interest. I only want to do one
thing: work for the membership, which is what I have done my
entire life.”
Anybody who has talked with Polkowitz since he became a
candidate for PFRS trustee has heard about his desire to be part
of the team that makes the new pension system a success, that
shows the naysaying politicians and even skeptical members
how it can be done. And make no mistake, his home team is
retired members.
“I’ve known Bruce for years, and his ability to communicate
with the different entities – politicians, people at the state and
especially our members - makes him the most qualified candi-
date,” submits Local 600 President Tom Lombardi. “He knows
how to explain things so even somebody like me, who doesn’t
know that much about investing and finance, knows what’s go-
ing on.”
Well-educated
Polkowitz has worked with municipal budgets in excess of $3
million and school budgets in excess of $150 million, but the
achievement that he believes best defines his leadership abil-
ity came as a lieutenant in Edison Township. He was working
midnights and did not have his college degree. When he learned
34
NEW JERSEY COPS
■ NOVEMBER 2018
Bruce Polkowitz meets with Local 600 member Pete Eckert.
that many of the officers on his shift also did not have their de-
grees, Polkowitz convinced a group of fellow officers to go back
to school.
He set a target that everybody would finish school within five
years. At the end of five years, many of them, including Polkow-
itz, completed not only their undergrad but graduate degrees
as well.
“What I think is part of leadership is making other people’s
lives better,” he reasons. “I’m very proud of having an influence
on continuing education and that they trusted me. The best
part is that we all did it together. We had a lot of laughs and a
lot of fun.”
Apparently, Polkowitz is very conscious of members realizing
that now is the time for a PFRS trustee who is not in it for him-
self. Accordingly, when recalling some of his other fond achieve-
ments, he rambles on about being president of the board of ed-
ucation in Edison Township from 1995 to 2001.
Being able to positively affect the lives of nearly 15,000 stu-
dents and 1,600 employees serving 17 schools fulfilled his lead-
ership cravings. He is particularly proud of helping to evolve a
curriculum that helped so many young adults go to college and
on to successful careers.
But then there was the time he had to take away courtesy bus-
ing for students to get to school. Edison residents actually pick-
eted Polkowitz in protest.
“It was a money issue,” he pleads. “We were able to resolve it
and pay for it by phasing it back in over a five-year period.”
He’s got that way about him
If there is an attribute that Polkowitz believes makes him most
qualified to represent retirees on the PFRS board, it’s that he can
stand the heat no matter how big the kitchen. Edison retired of-
ficer Joe Kenney, who was Bruce’s partner when they first came
on, marvels at how well Polkowitz interfaced with management
when serving as State Delegate and SOA president.
“He always led us to a good contract and he always had a
good rapport with the administration,” Kenney adds. “That’s a
combination that’s hard to do.”
It might have been even harder considering that in all his
years as a union leader, Polkowitz doesn’t recall losing a single
grievance. Attorney Jim Mets of Mets Schiro & McGovern LLP,
who represented Local 75, described Polkowitz as a great union
presence because he was very even-keeled, didn’t lose his tem-
per and was very analytical in his approach.
“Bruce is a consummate dealmaker,” Mets describes. “He re-
searches everything, and he never took a willy-nilly approach to
any case. He was never one to go into a case unprepared, and,