Head of New Jersey Meadowlands Commission to retire [The Record, Hackensack, N.J.]

Sept. 16--Bob Ceberio, head of the state Meadowlands Commission, is retiring -- and this time he means it.

Two years after he said he would step down, Ceberio announced at Wednesday's board meeting that he would, indeed, retire at the end of the year.

Ceberio said he delayed his departure because he wanted to see progress made on the cleanup and closing of several landfills that were part of the failed EnCap project -- the billion-dollar golf village that was supposed to be built on trash heaps. The project's developers received $314 million in loans from the state to clean up the land, but never did.

"I felt like I had a moral obligation to see it through," Ceberio, 56, said in an interview. "Remediation is starting out here. Some of the legal issues are starting to unwind. It's going to have a pretty successful conclusion."

A spokesman for Governor Christie said a replacement would be named by the end of the year.

Ceberio was at the helm of the commission when EnCap unraveled amid a mountain of cost overruns, delays and inadequate capital. Critics like former North Arlington Mayor Russell Pitman have said the commission didn't do enough to ensure that EnCap would come through on its promises. But Ceberio has long maintained that he and other commission officials were left out of key decisions made by former Gov. James McGreevey's administration concerning funding and approvals for the project.

State investigators said the commission did not properly vet EnCap for its expertise or financial resources, but those decisions came before Ceberio was executive director.

Ceberio led the charge to force insurance giant AIG to make good on a $149 million bond that will cover the costs of closing the orphaned landfills in Rutherford and Lyndhurst, which is currently under way. He wants to see solar-powered energy farms and warehousing on the land.

Ceberio joined the agency in 1981 as an accountant and rose through the ranks. In 2002, he was named executive director. The commission has a $13 million budget and 119 employees.

During his eight years at the helm, Ceberio helped transform the commission from a regional planning organization that also managed landfills to one that focused on the restoration and preservation of the Meadowlands.

He has been praised by environmentalists for helping craft the Meadowlands' master plan in 2004 that protected thousands of acres of wetlands from development in the 14-town district.

"I moved into North Arlington 43 years ago and witnessed firsthand the destruction, the chemical plants, the truck terminals, the dumping, and the horrific smells of the Meadowlands," Ceberio told the commission on Wednesday. "I now find myself looking out the window and see the new Meadowlands -- an economic engine that is strong with an environment of clearer water, air and land -- all accomplished within a balanced plan that is not exclusive of one over the other."

Ceberio has occasionally butted heads with his superiors, as in 2004, when a commission report criticized traffic, air quality and parking plans for the then-proposed Xanadu entertainment complex. Ceberio said members of the McGreevey administration pressed the commission to soften the report, but Ceberio refused to budge.

On Wednesday, his current boss, Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Lori Grifa, had nothing but good things to say.

Ceberio's "efforts in shaping the agency's long-term goals have positioned the Meadowlands District on a steady path toward continued economic and environmental prosperity," she said.

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