[Adopted 11-4-1942 by Ord. No. 130]
[1]
Editor's Note: The title was changed from
Corporation Counsel to Borough Attorney 8-15-1967 by Ord. No. 475.
[Amended 8-15-1967 by Ord. No. 475]
An attorney at law of the State of New Jersey
duly licensed to practice law in the State of New Jersey shall be
appointed annually or for such term as provided by law to act as Borough
Attorney.
The counsel to the Borough shall perform the
duties imposed by statute upon the legal adviser of Boroughs by whatever
title or description such officers may be designated and he shall
be the legal adviser of the Borough Council and of the Mayor and of
the head of each Borough department in all official matters. He shall
prosecute and defend all legal or equitable actions or proceedings
in any court of the State of New Jersey in which the Borough or any
officer thereof as such is interested when so ordered by the Borough
Council and shall appear therein as attorney and counsel for the Borough.
He shall from time to time when required advise the Borough Council
and their committees and officers respectively upon all Borough matters
which may be submitted to him for his opinion, draw all such ordinances,
resolutions, legislative bills and other official documents as may
be required of him by the Borough Council or any committee thereof
or by the Mayor.
He shall institute an action or proceeding in
the name of the Borough or otherwise whenever instructed so to do
by the Borough Council or by any authorized committee thereof or by
the Mayor, and upon complaint of any responsible person, when in his
judgment the public interest requires that the same be prosecuted,
he may institute action or proceedings for violation of any Borough
ordinance.
By consent of the Mayor or of the Chairman of
the Committee on Laws and Ordinances he may compromise at any time
any action for violation of any Borough ordinance and by consent of
the Borough Council he may compromise any other action, suit, proceeding
or controversy to which the Borough or any officer thereof is a party.
He shall not appeal any action or proceeding in which judgment has
been rendered against the Borough except by the direction of the Borough
Council.
He shall keep records of all actions, suits
and proceedings which he prosecutes or defends as counsel to the Borough
and itemized accounts of all money received or disbursed by him as
such official and shall promptly pay over to the Borough Treasurer
any and all money coming into his hands for the use of the Borough.
He shall also report in detail to the Borough Council whenever so
directed by it all such receipts and disbursements together with the
titles and particulars of each and every action suit or proceeding
then pending and undetermined in which the Borough is interested,
and shall act in regard thereto in such manner as the Borough Council
may direct.
The salary of the Corporation Counsel is hereby
fixed at the sum of $1,000 per annum, payable in equal monthly installments,
and which said salary shall be in full compensation for all usual,
ordinary and routine legal work imposed upon the Corporation Counsel
by statute; but he shall nevertheless, in all cases of litigation
involving the Borough or any of its officers or for any extraordinary
legal services performed by him as Corporation Counsel to the Borough
or any of its officers, receive such additional and reasonable compensation
as may from time to time be authorized by resolution of the Mayor
and Borough Council; he shall be entitled to receive and retain all
taxable costs in any action, suit or proceeding which may be conducted
or defended by him as such counsel and shall be reimbursed by the
Borough for all disbursements made and expenses incurred in the performance
of his duty as may from time to time be authorized by resolution of
the Mayor and Borough Council.
Upon the expiration of his term of office which
is fixed by statute, he shall deliver forthwith to his successor in
office all legal instruments, contracts and other documents then in
his hands as counsel to the Borough and all papers in actions in which
the Borough is interested then pending and undetermined. He shall
likewise at such time account for and pay over unto the Borough Treasurer
all money, if any, then in his hands belonging to the Borough.
Ordinance No. 12, entitled "An Ordinance to
prescribe the duties and fix the compensation of the Corporation Counsel,"
approved September 8, 1913, and Ordinance No. 13, entitled "An Ordinance
to provide for the office of Corporation Counsel," approved September
8, 1913, are hereby repealed.
