[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Council of the Township of Greenwich 4-18-2022 by Ord. No. 3-2022.[1] Amendments noted where applicable]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance repealed former Ch. 17, Claims Approval; Purchasing, which consisted of Art. I, Claims Approval, adopted 1-18-1965; and Art. II, Purchasing Procedure, adopted 1-3-1972; as amended.
All claims against the Township of Greenwich for payments shall be submitted on a voucher form, to be supplied by the Chief Financial Officer, or else on a state-approved voucher form.
All vouchers shall be signed by the claimant and dated and submitted no later than the third business day of the calendar week immediately preceding the meeting at which they are to be considered.
All vouchers shall be submitted to the Chief Financial Officer at his office during normal business hours.
Prior to review by the Mayor and Council, the Chief Financial Officer's certification as to receipt of goods or services shall have been properly signed and dated.
The Mayor and Council shall review and approve or reject each properly signed and submitted voucher on or prior to the regular township meeting.
Approval of vouchers by the Mayor and Council shall be evidenced by of a majority of the Mayor and Council present at the meeting on a Bill List, and bill list which shall be presented to the Mayor and Council at or before the meeting when the payment is approved. The Bill List shall state the date and number of the voucher, the name of the claimant, the amount of the claim and a brief designation of the kind of goods or type of services on which it is based. Said Bill List shall be made a part of the minutes of the Township meeting. Mayor and Council, in signing the Bill List, may note abstentions or disapproval as to particular vouchers.
All payments shall be made by check on a township account, properly signed as provided by law.
A contract may be awarded or negotiated without public advertising for bids, notwithstanding that the contract price will exceed the bid threshold, when an emergency affecting the public health, safety or welfare requires the immediate delivery of goods or the performance of services, provided the award of the contract is made in the manner established herein.
A. 
Procedure for authorizing emergency contracts. The department head of the department wherein the emergency occurs shall notify the Township Administrator of the need for the performance of the contract, the nature of the emergency, the time of its occurrence and the need for invoking this emergency contract section of the Township Code. The department head providing the notification of emergency shall reduce the request to writing and file it with the Administrator as soon as practicable. The Township Administrator shall advise the Mayor, or, in the Mayor's absence, the President of Council, of the department head's request for an emergency contract. The Mayor, or, in his absence, the President of Council, will direct the Township Administrator whether to proceed with the emergency purchase. The Township Administrator shall then implement the procedures for undertaking the emergency purchase and, upon doing so, shall also notify the council member who is liaison to the department wherein the emergency occurred of the need to undertake the emergency purchase. Notification of the council person is for information purposes only; the council person shall not participate in the procedure for determining whether to authorize an emergency contract.
B. 
Payment to contractor. Upon the furnishing of such goods and/or services in accordance with the terms of the emergency contract awarded by the Township Administrator, the contractor furnishing such goods or services will be entitled to payment therefor upon presentation of a duly executed voucher for the emergency services or purchases rendered.
C. 
Requirement of emergency circumstances. An actual or imminent emergency must exist requiring the immediate delivery of goods or the performance of services in order for the emergency contract to be awarded in accordance with this section.
D. 
Good faith or lack of foreseeability. This emergency purchase procedure may be utilized only in the event the need for goods or services could not have been reasonably foreseen or the need for such goods or services arose notwithstanding a good faith effort on the part of the governing body to plan for the purchase of any goods or services required by it.
E. 
Duration of contract. The emergency contract shall be of such limited duration as to meet only the immediate needs of the emergency. Under no circumstances shall this emergency purchasing procedure be used to enter into a multiyear contract.
F. 
Chain of command in Administrator's absence. In the event the Township Administrator, due to illness, absence, or other incapacity, is unavailable when emergency action may become necessary, then the Superintendent of the Department of Public Works shall be consulted by the department head regarding the emergency purchase. The Superintendent of the Department of Public Works shall then comply with the procedures established in this chapter for emergency purchases and act in place of the Township Administrator.
G. 
Coordination with Chief Financial Officer. The official awarding the emergency contract in accordance with this section shall coordinate his actions with the Chief Financial Officer of the Township so appropriate provision is made for funding the acquisition of emergency services or purchases.
[Added 5-15-2023 by Ord. No. 7-2023]
A. 
Claims may be paid using electronic fund technology (EFT) including Automated Clearing House (ACH), wire transfers and e-checks subject to the following provisions:
(1) 
The role of initiation of payment must be performed by the Mayor, Chief Financial Officer or Township Administrator or his/her designee;
(2) 
The role of authorization of payment must be performed by the Municipal Clerk and/or CFO.
(3) 
In the event that a transfer is initiated by the Chief Financial Officer, it must be authorized by the Mayor, Township Administrator or his/her designee who is not supervised by the CFO.
(4) 
The initiation and authorization roles must be password-restricted.
(5) 
Each individual disbursement to a vendor must be preceded by instructions transmitted to a banking institution.
(6) 
Automatic debits are not permitted.
(7) 
On a regular basis, no less than weekly, the CFO or his/her designee shall review activity reports on all EFT based transactions. For activity reports generated by the CFO, the Municipal Clerk or his/her designee shall review same.
(8) 
Reconciliation of EFT transactions to the accounting reports shall be performed on at least a monthly basis. These reports must be maintained for audit.
(9) 
The monthly bill list submitted to the governing body must indicate the type of technology used in each EFT transaction.
(10) 
The CFO shall create and maintain an audit trail reflecting the transaction history, including documentation of demands for payment and payment initiation, authorization and confirmation. For wire transfers and ACH debit description, the bank posting the name of the vendor based upon the transaction routing number shall be sufficient.
(11) 
ACH and wire transfer services providers must be financial institutions chartered by a state or federal agency. Financial institutions providing ACH and wire transfer shall be covered under GUDPA (N.J.S.A. 17:9-41 et. seq.).
(12) 
ACH payment must follow the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA) or equivalent banking industry standards and rules. EFT though ACH must use electronic data interchange (EDI) technology.
(13) 
An ACH origination agreement must be in place with the financial institution.
(14) 
EFT technology must include cybersecurity framework including: system hosting, data encryption, password policies and staff security; system risk assessment, security updates, limitations on the maintenance of personal identifying information, cybersecurity incident response plan and response team. Financial institutions providing EFT technology must annually provide evidence of satisfactory internal controls to the CFO.
(15) 
With regard to claimant's certification, the certification may be executed by a vendor or claimant by signature stamp, facsimile signature, and/or electronic signature.
(16) 
The requirement claimant's signature shall be waived where a vendor or claimant does not routinely provide such certifications as part of its normal course of business.
(17) 
Payment may be made to vendors in advance of delivery of materials or services for state or federal payment obligations, membership in a nonprofit organization, educational courses, registration for a conference or convention sponsored by a nonprofit organization and web hosting.
B. 
The Chief Financial Officer is responsible for compliance with the above.