Charles Tomaro, Middlesex County Commissioner

Record as County Commissioner

Building Better Roads and Public Spaces

As Chair of the Infrastructure Management Committee, Commissioner Tomaro oversees Middlesex County’s parks and golf courses. The county park system now spans more than 3,000 acres across 21 parks and recreation facilities, plus 620 acres across three golf courses. His projects include:

• • • Developing Thomas Mundy Peterson Park in Perth Amboy, a 9.9-acre waterfront park with turf athletic fields that opened in 2021. 
    • Converting a former county public works garage into Fayette Street Pocket Park in Perth Amboy, opened in 2025 and complete with a performance stage.
    • Turning a shuttered county parking garage into Liberty Square Park, a 1.19-acre pocket park in downtown New Brunswick. The park opened in 2025 and includes a playground and dog park. 
    • Transforming a long-vacant property on Whitman Avenue into the 4.3-acre Edison-Metuchen Off-Leash Dog Park, which opened in 2016.
    • Completely redesigning both East and West Courses at Tamarack Golf Course, which reopened in 2022 and 2025.
    • Revitalizing Edison Skate Park in 2015 with $150,000 from the county’s Open Space Trust Fund, years after helping establish it as a member of the Edison Township Council.

A Greener Middlesex County

Commissioner Tomaro has led the development of Middlesex County’s Sustainable Energy Master Plan, helping reduce energy costs while advancing environmental sustainability. He also serves as the county’s liaison to the Middlesex County Utilities Authority (MCUA). His projects include:

• • • Expanding solar energy on county sites, where 39,000 solar panels now save Middlesex County about $2.5 million a year.
    • Overseeing the restoration of the Sayreville Pump Station, New Jersey’s largest wastewater pumping station, which reopened in 2021 after $75 million in repairs following Superstorm Sandy. It serves about 800,000 people in 30 municipalities and pumps nearly 80 million gallons a day.
    • Protecting the rebuilt station with a 1,630-foot flood wall and a 10-megawatt backup power facility.
    • Modernizing the MCUA’s wastewater treatment plant with a $22.8 million upgrade, replacing 1970s-era equipment to make treatment more reliable for more than 940,000 homes and businesses.

Protecting the County’s Natural and Historic Landmarks

A longtime advocate for farmland and open space preservation, Commissioner Tomaro has worked in partnership with the State of New Jersey to help Middlesex County preserve more than 13,000 acres of land, including 56 farms. His work includes:

• • • Helping secure $675,000 in county support for the $3.875 million restoration of the Thomas Edison Memorial Tower in Menlo Park, rededicated in 2015.
    • Supporting the county’s 2020 acquisition of the 13.12-acre Metuchen Meeting House Battlefield in Edison, site of the 1777 Battle of Short Hills. Funded by a $1.62 million National Park Service grant, the largest awarded nationwide that year.
    • Preserving 114 acres of Edison’s Dismal Swamp, one of the area’s most ecologically sensitive natural areas. 
    • Expanding the Peter J. Barnes III Wildlife Preserve with 18.7 acres in Metuchen.

Showing Up for His Community

Commissioner Tomaro has been deeply involved in Plays-In-The-Park, the county’s summer theater series at Roosevelt Park in Edison, for more than a decade. He’s turned the community arts program into a forum to give back to residents in need.

• • • He established free admission to Plays-In-The-Park for county veterans, active-duty service members, and their families.
    • Commissioner Tomaro organizes a food collection at Plays-In-The-Park each summer. The drive benefits REPLENISH, the county’s hunger relief program, which distributed more than 5.1 million pounds of food in 2025. 

About Charlie Tomaro

Charles Tomaro is a lifelong Middlesex County resident and a graduate of J.P. Stevens High School, Middlesex College, and Rutgers University. He spent his private-sector career as a concrete salesman with Clayton Concrete, from which he has retired to serve as a full-time County Commissioner.

Tomaro lives in Edison Township with his wife, Maria.

Edison Township Council

Tomaro’s public service began on the Edison Township Council, where he served from 1996 to 2007, and again from 2010 to 2011. He served multiple terms as Council President and Council Vice President.

Tomaro’s council work centered on protecting the township’s land and creating safe places for residents to enjoy it. He negotiated the purchase of 36 acres of farmland and the acquisition of the 11-acre Oakcrest Swim Club property for public recreation. Tomaro also worked with residents to establish a local skatepark, which he later renovated as a County Commissioner. And he launched Edison’s “Dig This” campaign, which used state grant funding to help homeowners safely remove underground fuel tanks.

Community Service

For more than two decades, Tomaro has volunteered at the Hands of Hope Food Pantry in Edison, and he now serves as its president. He has also been a merit badge counselor with Central Jersey Boy Scouts Troop 17 since 2001, helping more than 100 Scouts reach the rank of Eagle Scout.

Tomaro has served on the Commission of the Thomas Edison Memorial Tower in Menlo Park since 1996. In 2015, he helped rededicate the tower after a $3.875 million restoration. He also serves as a Commissioner of the Peter J. Barnes III Wildlife Preserve, and former Governor Phil Murphy appointed him to the New Jersey Racing Commission.

Commissioner Tomaro distributing food to Middlesex families with Hands of Hope, the food drive where he serves as president.

Honors

Tomaro has received the Governor’s Thomas Jefferson Community Service Award, the Middlesex County Board of Agriculture Award of Recognition, the Edison Elks Man of the Year Award, and the YMCA Peter Barnes Community Champion Award. J.P. Stevens High School inducted him into its Hall of Honor in 2002.

Frequently Asked Questions