Former chief of police Michael Barth will assume the role of township manager to replace outgoing manager Tom Czerniecki.
With more than 28 years of service to Evesham, the municipality’s newest township manager is a familiar face.
Evesham Township Council announced this week that Evesham’s former chief of police, Michael Barth, would assume the role of township manager to replace outgoing manager Tom Czerniecki.
Although Barth retired as chief of police in 2013, he’s since served in a role akin to business administer for the department by handling various administrative and budgeting work.
With Czerniecki scheduled to start as senior vice president of operations and administration for Rowan College at Burlington County in mid-February, council decided to look within the township’s administrative structure for his replacement.
Barth’s service to the township dates back nearly three decades to his days a patrol officer with the police department in the late 1980s, from which he eventually worked his way up the ranks until he was appointed chief of police in 2010.
With Barth’s help, before and during his time as chief, Czerniecki said the department underwent major improvements to its infrastructure and basic processes.
Czerniecki said those changes improved the department’s culture and eventually led to the department’s first certification from the Commission on Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies, of which only 1 percent of all agencies in the United States achieve.
“He knows how to run an organization,” Czerniecki said when speaking of Barth at a press conference this week. “He knows how to treat people with respect. He knows how to define goals. He knows how to budget.”
Looking forward to his new role as township manager, Barth said it was an honor and privilege to take on the responsibility.
“I think this is a great place to work. I think this is a wonderful workforce,” Barth said. “The professionals are very professional. Everybody does their job.”
While Barth described himself as a man always looking for opportunities to improve, he praised the organization of the township and its employees, and said he didn’t foresee the need for any notable changes.
“I think if we just stick to what we have been doing, and remember that the core mission here is public service … if we continue to do what we have been doing for a number of years, I don’t see any reason why the organization as a whole can’t succeed,” he said.
Mayor Randy Brown also spoke at this week’s press conference and said he believed Barth was right for the job to promote stability.
Similar to Barth, Brown said he too believed the township could and should continue on its current path under Barth’s leadership.
“What I liked most about Mike, and I’ve known him as long as I’ve been mayor, is his ability to communicate and his love of process,” Brown said.
