Acropolis at the helm - a mayor in motion Brick's top official takes charge in Town Hall BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer Nobody is calling SteveAcropolis "Attila the Hun" these days. That was just one name some in town called himduring his time as the lone Republican on the Township Council. Back then, Acropolis psyched himself up for stormy council meetings by blasting Led Zeppelin songs in his car on the way in to Town Hall. CHRIS KELLY staff Frank Richetti, Brick, has a quick one-on-one chat with Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis during the Sentimental Journey band's rehearsal at the Herbertsville Fire House last week. Acropolis interviewed band members for one of his "Focus on Brick Township" shows to be broadcast on BTV20. But these days are different. The Republicans hold a 6-1majority on the council. Acropolis' longtime political nemesis, former DemocraticMayor Joseph C. Scarpelli, sits in federal prison in Fort Dix, doing 18 months on corruption charges. It took Stephen C. Acropolis 13 years to get to the mayor's desk in Town Hall. But if he lost it all tomorrow, that would be OK, too, he said. "It's not themost important thing inmy life," Acropolis said in a recent interview. "Some politicians, it kind of takes over their lives. I have a great family and I love my life. I spend a heck of a lot more time with my wife and family." A small plaque with the words "Be still and know that I am God" sits on his bookcase in his office. It was given to him by his sister-in-law shortly after she was diagnosed with cancer last fall. She gave it to him on the day he was sworn in as mayor. The phrase helps him keep things in perspective, Acropolis said. But the mayor himself is rarely still. "I joked about that at one meeting," TownshipAdministrator ScottM. Pezarras said. "The mayor hit the ground running and I'm panting to keep up." Acropolis, 50, wasted no time taking over town hall after he was elected on Nov. 6. He was at the public works department early the next morning. His name was quickly stenciled under the "Office of the Mayor" sign engraved on the double doors leading to his office.He rearranged the furniture. Several days later,Acropolis announced he had appointed "transition teams" that would examine every township department to see where their operations could be improved. Customer service would reign in town hall, he said. "This is all about an attitude change," he said the day he was sworn in. "Some will be able to adjust to that change, some will not." He promised a "new direction" for Brick. "That is what the people voted for, that is what the people will get," Acropolis said. "I will not only be a hands-on mayor, I will also be responsible for all the things that go on here. The buck truly does stop with the mayor." And some like his take-charge manner. Others don't. Councilwoman Kathy Russell, the lone Democrat on the Township Council, declined to comment. She has known Acropolis for almost 20 years, back when he served on the Board ofAdjustment and she ran for a seat on the school board. "I have my opinion, but I don't want to share it," Russell said. "My mother always said if you don't have something nice to say about somebody, you don't say anything at all." Former Mayor Warren Wolf, who has coached the Brick Township High School football team for 50 seasons, says he is "an Acropolis fan." "I think very highly of him," Wolf said. "He gets along with people. He calls everything the way he sees it. He may be abrupt in some situations, but he's very lovable in other situations. I think he's honest and I think he's sincere and I think he loves Brick Township." Acropolis is at his best in informal, nonpolitical situations. He visited the big band musical group Sentimental Journey practice last week to film a segment for "Focus on Brick Township," his show on BTV20 that airs several times a month. "Absolutely, truly amazing," he said, after the senior citizen band blew through Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Serenade" and "Tangerine." "It blows me away," he said. "I can't imagine the stories you must have from over the years. If I have a summer party, I'll put you on my back deck." Boyhood in Brick Stephen C.Acropolis was born in Englewood on Sept. 9, 1957. His family moved to Brick Township a year later. He spent his childhood enjoying a very different, almost rural Brick, playing on the beach and in the woods. His father, George, worked at the post office. His mother, Mary, worked for the township. "It was a great place to grow up," he said. "The beaches, the dirt roads, the woods. Now it's all changed." Hismother,Mary Cotten, recalls her son was a "very inquisitive" boy. "He liked to take things apart to see whatmade themwork," she said. "He loved the outdoors.He loved fishing and camping. He was a pretty good student. He never gave me any trouble. He's the light of my life." But that seemingly idyllic childhood came to an end when Stephen was 12. His parents divorced and hismother was left to raise him, his brother and his sister on her own. "It was a huge trauma," Acropolis said. "It was terrible. My mother has always been a part ofmy life. She's been the strong woman who worked two jobs when I was in my teens. It's not easy being divorced and having three children." One day a neighborhood man approached Acropolis and some of his friends and asked the boys if they wanted to play in a recreational ice hockey program. That was the beginning. There wasn't any money for fancy hockey equipment. Acropolis and his friends tapedmagazines to their legs to use as shin guards. They wore mittens instead of gloves. "I loved it," he said. "I wasn't very good at it." Acropolis met hockey coach Robert Auriemma shortly after that.He gravitated toward the large Auriemma family and soon became smitten withAuriemma's daughter, Wendy. Family life Stephen and Wendy Acropolis married young. He was 21; she was 20. They have five children- Cindy, Stephen Jr., Robert, Daniel and Amy - four grandchildren and another on the way. They still hold hands after 30 years ofmarriage, hismother said. "I say, 'Cut it out, you two,' " she joked. "They go out of dates every Friday night." The mayor says he "married up" when he married Wendy. And if it were not for her, "I would be either in jail or dead," Acropolis said. "I was a little bit of a wild child." Acropolis joined the U.S. Air Force in 1976. He served as an Air Force recruiter and was later selected to be an air traffic controller. The family, which now included four children,moved back to Brick when he was discharged in 1983. His political career was born when he was appointed to a termon the Board ofAdjustment in the late 1980s. The Brick business areas were primarily strip malls. "I saw what was going on in town and I wasn't happy,"Acropolis said. "I thought we were overbuilt." Former Mayor Daniel F. Newman was mayor when Republican Councilman Edmund Hibbard came to him and suggested he appoint Acropolis to the Zoning Board. "In those days, Democrats and Republicans worked together," Newman said. "I didn't know him[Acropolis], but I knew his parents very well. Did I approve of it?Yeah. Collectively, we all agreed to it." But Newman clams up when asked aboutAcropolis' personality or his performance as an elected public official. "No comment," he said. Pezarras describes his boss as "enthusiastic, committed, driven and quick to react." "Which is not a bad thing," Pezarras said. "He wants to solve everything, like immediately. I'm very surprised he has the willingness to learn about things, not just react to them. He reacts, but he wants to know why. He's like a 5-year-old kid when he says "Why?" He wants to know everything that everybody else knows who may have been involved a little bit longer. I think that's a good attitude." Best traits, worst traits Acropolis says he has gotten his worst character trait - a tendency toward hotheadedness- under control. "When I was younger, I would be much more combative," he said. "I've learned to channel my passion in a more constructive way. I'm probably too passionate about things I really care about." His best quality, the mayor says, is his loyalty. "I'm a fiercely loyal person," Acropolis said. "The only thing you have in this business is your word. It's got to be a trust factor. It takes a long time to build up trust and just takes an instant to lose it." The mayor is not a lifelong Republican, which may surprise some in town. He had to declare a party in order to run for a Township Council seat. "My first 25 years of voting was as an independent, not as a Republican," he said. "I don't care whether you are a Republican or Democrat, no party does everything correctly. Don't say my mother was this or my father was that. Say which party do I agree with. I considermyself fiscally conservative and a little more socially liberal on some things. I don't think you can fit me into one model." Acropolis was first elected to the Township Council in 1994. He lost a bid for reelection in 1997 but was re-elected in 2000. He is serving Scarpelli's two-year unexpired termand will be up for re-election in 2009 if he decides to seek another term. When he lost to Scarpelli by 184 votes in the bitter 2005 election, Acropolis said he was more saddened than angry. "I felt bad for the town," he said. "I knew at the time the town was going to have to go through a cleansing and it wouldn't be pretty. I wasn't mad. It was more of a feeling of disappointment. I knew what was going on. I had met with the FBI." Acropolismakes $52,000 a year as a fulltime mayor. He is at his desk early most mornings, unlike Scarpelli, who was hard to find in town hall during the last year of his administration. Themayor also juggles his other job as a financial consultant for AIG. He has spent much of the last few months holed up with Pezarras, trying to figure out how to deal with a state-imposed budget cap without laying off any township employees. Acropolis had to stop and compose himself during his inaugural speech onNov. 20. "I can think of no better job than to be mayor of the town you grew up in," he said. And he still feels the same way. "It'smore fun than I thought it would be, but it's also more work than I thought it would be," the mayor said.