New clerk wants to highlight Stanhope's old charm

STANHOPE - A rooster crowed from somewhere off Main Street and the road repair equipment rumbled on Kelly Place as Robin Kline entered her office at the municipal building. “This is why I like a small town,” said Stanhope’s new municipal clerk smiling. The noises of a town working to maintain road safety and the sounds of a farm animal are music to her ears. On the job for two months, Kline, a resident of Dover, who sits on several boards in Morris County, was appointed for a three-year term. In her former position with Rockaway Township’s administrative department, she was instrumental in creating a guide listing the services, recreation, and educational facilities offered in and around the municipality -- the same type of project she already has in development for Stanhope. Kline has a particular interest in the revitalization of small-town Main Streets, to renew commerce and get people back into the downtown, a project currently being undertaken in the borough. “We don’t have to reinvent the wheel to bring back that charm to the downtown business district. It’s already in place; we just need to polish it up a little,” she said. Kline has been looking at suggestions that involve restoring the façades of store fronts, installing awnings, new signage, and decorative lighting. “What’s old is new again,” she said. In addition, Kline is in the process of mapping historic places of interest, local businesses, and is working with the office of Smart Growth to produce “a snapshot of what’s in and around the borough.” The office of municipal clerk, which is the oldest municipal office in the State of New Jersey, is required under state law in every municipality. The tradition even goes back to the Bible in Acts, Chapter 19, Verse 35, “When the Town Clerk had appeased the multitude…,” and is one of four positions that is statutory for local government. Although there are specific duties assigned to the clerk that include being the custodian of records, secretary to the governing body and to the municipal corporation, voter registration, and a laundry list of responsibilities as diverse as supervising raffle and bingo licenses to taking passport applications, the job of municipal clerk is a link between residents and their local government. Kline expects to expand upon those duties to be a primary source of information to the town’s residents as well. “The people are the stakeholders, and they need to be actively participating in the future of the community.” Kline is the daughter of German immigrants who are longstanding members of the Stanhope Methodist Church in the Glen. “I’m a local girl,” she said, having grown up in the Landing section of Roxbury Township. “As a first-generation American, my parents impressed the importance of what this country is about: Work hard, and you can achieve anything you want.” Kline is bilingual, and is looking forward to traveling back to Germany to witness the World Cup Soccer to be held there next month. She holds a dual degree - Environmental Biology and Human Ecology - from Ramapo College where she studied under the Governor’s Scholarship Program. She also earned a postgraduate degree as a paralegal from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and a master’s degree in public administration with a concentration on community development from the Rutgers Center for Government Services. Currently, she’s working on obtaining her municipal clerk license. “Education is important. I believe that has to be a priority for families,” she said. As a volunteer basketball coach, she stresses to the youngsters she works with, “the more you learn, the more you earn.” Kline would like the citizens to know that her door is always open and that she’s available to help residents with projects or to answer any questions.