[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Vineland 6-14-1983 by Ord. No. 83-12 (Ch. 66 of the 1990 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
Pursuant to the provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:55B-1 et seq. (Chapter 154 of Laws of New Jersey 1936), a local industrial commission, to be known as the "Industrial Commission of the City of Vineland," is hereby created to consist of seven members, which said Commission shall be a body corporate having the powers hereinafter enumerated.
[Amended 12-27-1994 by Ord. No. 94-94]
A. 
The members of such Commission shall be appointed by the City Council. Each member shall be, for the last five years preceding his appointment, a citizen of the United States and a qualified voter of the State of New Jersey. One member shall be appointed for one year, one member for two years, one member for three years, two members for four years and two members for five years. At the expiration of each of the above terms, the new member or members shall be appointed for a term of five years. Vacancies in the membership of the Commission, occurring for whatever cause, shall be promptly filled by appointment by the City Council for the unexpired term thereof. Members shall serve for their respective terms and until their successors are appointed and qualify.
B. 
Each member shall be chosen with a special view to his qualifications and fitness for service on the Commission. He shall have had experience in industry or commerce and shall be conversant with the industrial needs and facilities of the City of Vineland and shall be of known devotion to public service.
C. 
There shall be appointed upon said Commission, unless local conditions shall otherwise require, at least one thoroughly competent representative of industry or commerce, a representative of labor, a representative of the clearinghouse or banks of said municipality, a representative of the Chamber of Commerce, a representative of the service clubs of such municipality, a representative of the legal profession and a representative of a recognized real estate dealers' association.
[Amended 11-27-2018 by Ord. No. 2018-71]
D. 
No member, officer or employee of the Commission shall be interested, directly or indirectly, in any contracts for work or materials used by the Commission or in any sales, leases or agreements in connection with lands, buildings or other property owned or controlled by it or in any fees or compensation of any kind paid to any broker, architect, engineer, merchant or other person doing business with the Commission or in any other transaction of or with the Commission, or the benefits or profits thereof.
E. 
Each member and officer of the Commission shall, before assuming office, take and subscribe an oath that he will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of his office.
F. 
The members and officers of the Commission shall serve without compensation, but each shall receive his actual disbursements for his expenses in performing his duties.
A. 
The members of the Commission shall choose annually from among their members a chairman or president and such other officers as they may deem necessary. The Mayor of the City of Vineland shall be ex officio a member thereof.
B. 
A majority of the members shall constitute a quorum of the Commission.
C. 
The members and officers may be required to furnish bonds to the Commission to secure the faithful discharge of their duties, in form, amount and with such surety as may, from time to time, be required by resolution of the governing body of the City of Vineland.
A. 
Insofar as may be practicable, the employees and assistants required by the Commission shall be recruited from the public officers and employees of the City of Vineland. The Municipal Counsel shall be the counsel to the Commission; the Municipal Engineer shall be the engineer of the Commission, and the several departments of the City government shall be available to the Commission for the purposes of the Commission's business. City employees serving the Commission shall do so without compensation other than their regular compensation as employees of the City of Vineland. The Commission shall, from time to time, make known to the Mayor its wants in the nature of services by employees of the City, and the Mayor shall designate which of the City's employees, if any, shall render such services.
B. 
To the extent that the Commission shall deem it necessary to carry on its function and to the extent that it shall consider the services of existing employees of the City insufficient for its purposes, it may employ such additional employees or services and at such compensation as may be approved by resolution of the governing body of the City of Vineland. Its requirements in this direction shall be submitted from time to time in writing to such governing body.
C. 
The civil service laws, rules and regulations of the state applicable to the City of Vineland shall govern the appointment of employees of the Commission. Such laws, rules and regulations shall not be deemed to prevent the use of services of existing employees without extra compensation therefor, nor shall the use of such services operate to enlarge the civil service rights or the status of the municipal employee rendering the same.
D. 
The Commission shall have and maintain a suitable office, where its maps, plans, documents, records and accounts shall be kept, subject to public inspection at such times and under such reasonable regulations as the Commission shall determine. If practicable, existing office facilities of the City served by the Commission shall be used without charge by the City, and the office and similar equipment of the City shall, wherever possible, be used by and be made available for the use of the Commission, without charge.
To effectuate its purposes, the Industrial Commission shall have the following powers:
A. 
To sue and be sued.
B. 
To adopt and use an official seal.
C. 
To adopt suitable bylaws for the management of its affairs.
D. 
To determine the qualifications and duties of its employees and to fix, subject to the foregoing provisions hereof, their compensation.
E. 
To enter into contracts.
The Industrial Commission shall constitute the corporate instrumentality of the City of Vineland for the following purposes:
A. 
To inquire into, survey and publicize the extent, advantages and utility of the vacant lands of the City of Vineland, whether municipally owned or otherwise.
B. 
To classify such vacant lands according to their adaptability for the settlement thereon of various types of industrial enterprises.
C. 
To study and analyze the various industries of the nation and, to the extent it deems necessary for its purposes, the industries of other nations, with a view to ascertaining the opportunities for the industrial expansion of the City of Vineland. In this connection, the reports, records, statistics, compendiums and similar documents of existing federal, state, county, municipal and other governmental and public agencies, as well as of responsible private institutions, boards, agencies and similar bodies interested in the compilation of the information relating to industry, shall be resorted to, wherever possible, in order to avoid unnecessary original research and gathering of source material.
D. 
To advertise the industrial advantages and opportunities of the City of Vineland and the availability of real estate within the City of Vineland for industrial settlement and to encourage and accomplish such industrial settlement within the City of Vineland.
E. 
To solicit the several industries to purchase or lease the vacant lands and property of or in the City of Vineland.
F. 
To accomplish the sale or lease of the City of Vineland's vacant lands to industries whose settlement thereon is best calculated, in the judgment of the Commission, to advance the interests of the City of Vineland and of its citizens and inhabitants.
G. 
To acquire title to vacant land owned by the City of Vineland for the purpose of resale or lease to industries whose presence within the City of Vineland will benefit, in the judgment of the Commission, its citizens and inhabitants.
A. 
The Industrial Commission shall not have any power of condemnation or eminent domain.
B. 
The Industrial Commission shall not have power to pledge the credit of the City of Vineland or of any other municipality or of the State of New Jersey or to create any debt against or in any manner act as the agent of such municipality or of the State of New Jersey.
C. 
The Industrial Commission shall have power and authority to make an economic survey, analyzing the present and potential possibilities of the City of Vineland with a view to ascertaining its industrial needs, determining its resources for efficient manufacture and exploring its probable sphere in the future development of the state and nation. In carrying out such a survey, the Commission may be evolved to enable it to compete more successfully with competitors in other states and, more particularly, how it might successfully round out and enlarge the products manufactured within the City of Vineland, with a view to diversifying local industry and stabilizing employment conditions. The Commission may make any investigation deemed necessary to enable it effectually to carry out the provisions of this chapter, and for that purpose, the Commission may take and hear proofs and testimony and compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, papers, records and documents, including public records, and its authorized agents may enter upon any lands as, in its judgment, may be necessary for the purpose of making surveys and examinations to accomplish any purposes authorized by this chapter.
D. 
The Industrial Commission shall make an annual report to the City of Vineland, setting forth in detail its operations and transactions for the preceding 12 months.
A. 
Nothing in this chapter provided and no authority given to or exercised by the Industrial Commission created under this chapter shall impair or invalidate in any way any funded indebtedness of the City of Vineland by which it has been created nor impair the provisions of law regulating the payment into sinking funds of revenues derived from municipal property or dedicating the revenues derived from any municipal property to a specific purpose.
B. 
The creation of the Industrial Commission by the City of Vineland shall not be deemed to limit in any manner the City of Vineland's right to deal with its vacant lands or to sell or lease the same, independently of such Commission, as heretofore, but the powers conferred upon the City and Commission by this chapter shall be in addition to any rights or powers now possessed by the City of Vineland with reference to its vacant lands or other properties.
A. 
The governing body of the City may appropriate annually, during the life of its Commission, such sums as may be reasonably necessary to conduct the normal operations of the Commission, but no moneys so appropriated shall be used by the Commission for the construction of any building or to finance such construction.
B. 
The Commission shall annually present to the Chief Financial Officer of the City its budget for operations for the ensuing year, reflecting therein all unexpended balances on hand from previous appropriations received from the City, at the same time and in the same manner and form as is required by the several departments of the City's government, and the budget so submitted shall be acted upon as in the case of the budgets of such several municipal departments and, being so acted upon, shall be made a part of the City's budget.
C. 
The Commission shall keep complete and accurate records of its accounts, and separate accounts shall be kept for its normal functions.
D. 
The Commission shall not exceed its budget, and moneys received from the City shall be expended only for the purposes for which they have been appropriated.
The Industrial Commission shall make a study of the tax structure, with a view to reducing the tax burden on the City of Vineland.