The Township Committee finds and declares that:
A. Public officials, officers and employees, who are required
as a result of their position, duties or employment to protect the interests
of the township, must be free to do so without fear of financial ruin arising
from claims brought against them for the performance of their public duties
and responsibilities.
B. The township has the moral obligation to stand behind
and support its public officials, officers and employees when they are acting
within the scope of their offices or employment in performing their public
duties and responsibilities.
C. It is the public policy of the State of New Jersey to
encourage municipalities to indemnify their public officials, officers and
employees in the same manner as the state itself indemnities its officers,
agents and employees.
D. N.J.S.A. 59:10-4 specifically empowers the township to
provide such indemnification.
E. The Township of Washington is desirous of providing indemnification
to its public officers, officials and employees, subject to the requirements
of law and the provision of this chapter.
The township shall indemnify any public officer, public official or public employee from any claim brought against him arising from the discharge by said public officer, public official or public employee of his public duties or responsibilities, except to the extent that indemnification is excluded pursuant to §
18-4 herein.
Nothing contained herein shall prevent or preclude the township from
purchasing liability or other insurance to indemnify the township or its public
officers, public officials and public employees, or some of them, from liability
for claims presented. If such insurance is purchased, the provisions of this
chapter shall nonetheless apply to all circumstances not within the scope
of such insurance. The Clerk or Attorney may, in the event that insurance
coverage is or may be available for any such claims, direct that the claim
or a notice thereof be transmitted to the township's insurer, but such transmittal
shall not operate to affect the provisions of this chapter or the requirements
thereof.