The Township Manager shall be appointed and may be removed in
accordance with the Charter. The Manager shall receive compensation
as provided by ordinance, payable as other municipal salaries are
paid, unless and until otherwise provided by ordinance. The Manager
may designate a qualified administrative officer of the municipality
to perform the duties of Manager during any temporary absence or disability.
In the event of the failure of the Manager to make such designation,
the Council may by resolution appoint an administrative officer of
the municipality to perform the duties of the Manager during such
absence or disability until the Manager shall return or the disability
shall cease.
The Manager shall be the chief executive and administrative
officer of the municipality. The Manager shall see that all ordinances,
resolutions and policies of the Council and all state laws subject
to enforcement by municipal action are faithfully enforced and executed.
The Manager shall:
A.
Represent the municipality and assert its proper interests in relation
to the state and other political subdivisions and with respect to
municipal contracts and franchises.
B.
Attend all meetings of the Council with the right to take part in
the discussions, but without the right to vote.
C.
Keep the Council advised of the financial condition of the municipality,
make reports to the Council as requested by it, and at least once
a year make an annual report on the administration of the municipal
government for the benefit of the Council and the public.
D.
Study the governmental and administrative operations and needs of
the municipal government and prepare and recommend to the Council
necessary and desirable plans and programs to meet present and foreseeable
needs.
E.
Investigate at any time the affairs of any officer or department
of the municipality.
F.
Perform such other duties as may be required of the Township Manager
by ordinance or resolution of the Township Council.
The Manager shall:
A.
Direct and supervise the administration of all departments of the
municipal government and be responsible for the maintenance of sound
personnel policies and administrative practices.
B.
Approve all bills and vouchers for payment subject to preaudit and
control as provided herein.
C.
Maintain a continuing review and analysis of budget operations, work
programs, and costs of municipal services.
D.
Establish working, personnel, vacation and sick leave schedules and
appropriate records and reports.
E.
Approve or prescribe the internal organization of each department.
F.
Assign and transfer administrative functions, powers and duties among
and within departments, subject to the Charter and Administrative
Code.
G.
Delegate to department heads such powers as the Manager may deem
necessary for efficient administration.
The Manager shall:
A.
Serve as the personnel officer of the municipality, unless and until
the Council shall, upon the recommendation of the Manager, authorize
the appointment of a personnel officer.
B.
Appoint and remove a Deputy Manager if one is authorized by the Council,
all department heads and all other officers, subordinates and assistants,
other than the Township Clerk, Township Solicitor, Assistant Township
Solicitors, Prosecutor, Public Defender, Planning Board (Class I and
Class III members), Zoning Board of Adjustment and certain advisory
boards, for whose appointment other provision is made by the Charter
or Administrative Code. The Manager may delegate to the head of a
department the power to appoint and remove subordinates in such department,
supervise and control all appointees, and report all appointments
or removals at the next meeting thereafter of the Township Council.
Pursuant to the Charter, any provision of general law conferring the
appointing power or other power upon the Mayor or other executive
head of the municipality shall be construed as meaning the municipal
or Township Manager, and the appointments or the power exercised by
the Township Manager in accordance with such provision shall be classified
and given the same force and effect as if executed by the official
named therein, except that members of the Board of Education and of
the Trustees of the Public Library, whenever required to be appointed
by any such provision by any board or official of the municipality,
shall be appointed by the Mayor.
Except where otherwise expressly required by the Charter or
general law, department heads and subordinate officers and employees
subject to appointment by the Manager shall be appointed for an indefinite
term, subject to suspension or removal by the Manager.
The head of a department, subject to the Charter and Administrative
Code and the approval or direction of the Manager, shall:
A.
Prescribe the internal organization of the work of the department.
B.
Direct and supervise the subordinate officers and employees of the
department and make, alter and enforce individual work assignments.
C.
Approve and disapprove payrolls, bills and claims chargeable to the
departmental appropriations.
D.
Maintain records of work performance and unit costs thereof as may
be approved or required by the Manager.
E.
Provide information and reports on the work of the department as
may from time to time be required by the Manager.
F.
Exercise such other powers of administrative supervision and direction
as the Manager may delegate.
All materials, supplies and equipment, work and labor under
contract required by any department, office or agency of the municipality
shall be purchased by, or under the direction of, the Manager.
A.
Purchasing agent. The Manager may designate an administrative officer
of the municipality to serve as purchasing agent.
B.
Purchase controls. Purchases shall be authorized only upon requisition
of a department head, which shall be made to the Manager at such time
and in such form as the Manager may prescribe or approve. All purchases
made and contracts awarded for any supplies, materials or equipment
or contractual services shall be pursuant to a written requisition
from the head of the department against which the appropriation will
be charged and the certification of the Treasurer that a sufficient
balance of appropriation is available to pay therefor. All such purchase
contracts shall conform with applicable requirements of state statutes
for competitive bidding. Except as the Manager may specifically authorize
in case of emergency, no purchase shall be made and no bill, claim
or voucher shall be approved unless the procedures prescribed by or
pursuant to the Administrative Code have been followed. The Manager
may, in cases where competitive bidding is not required, submit a
proposed purchase to competitive bidding, open the bids obtained,
and award contracts.
C.
Award of contracts; execution. Where contracts are by law required
to be let to competitive public bidding, the Council may, upon recommendation
of the Manager with respect to all contracts other than contracts
the specifications for which have been prepared by the Township Engineer,
and upon recommendation of the Township Engineer with respect to such
contracts, let the contract in the manner prescribed by law. The Mayor,
or in the event of the inability of the Mayor to act, such Council
member as the Council shall designate to act as Mayor, shall execute
and sign contracts let and authorized, pursuant to the Charter and
ordinances, and their respective signatures shall be attested by the
Clerk.
D.
Standards and tests. The purchasing agent shall establish and approve
uniform standards for requisitions and purchases; shall control the
delivery of all supplies, materials and equipment and other items
purchased; and shall make or cause to be made proper test checks and
inspections thereof. The purchasing agent shall ascertain whether
the supplies, materials, equipment and other items purchased comply
with the specifications and shall cause laboratory or other tests
to be made whenever, in the purchasing agent's opinion, it is necessary
to determine whether the materials or supplies furnished are of the
quality and standard required and shall accept or reject the deliveries
in accordance with the results of the inspection.
E.
Storerooms. The purchasing agent shall control any general storerooms
or stock rooms which the Council may authorize and may make transfers
of supplies, material and equipment between departments, officers
and agencies; sell surplus, obsolete, unused or waste supplies, material
and equipment; and make any other sales authorized by the Council.
A.
Budget preparation. The municipal budget shall be prepared by the
Township Manager. During the month of November in each year, the Township
Manager shall require all department heads to submit requests for
appropriations for the ensuing budget year and to appear before the
Township Manager at public hearings, which shall be held during the
month, on the various requests.
B.
Budget document. Upon the basis of the departmental requests, the
budget hearings, the Township Manager's analysis of the needs and
resources of the municipality, and such policy guides as may be prescribed
by resolution of the Council, the Manager shall prepare the recommended
budget in the form required by general law for municipal budgets.
On or before January 15 in each year, the Manager shall present to
the Council the budget document consisting of:
C.
Budget message. The budget message shall consist of such explanatory
comments, exhibits, and schedules concerning the budget as the Manager
may deem desirable, together with:
(1)
An outline of the proposed financial policies for the ensuing budget
year, including explanations of the important features of the budget
and of any major changes in policy.
(2)
An analysis of revenue and costs and of work performance contemplated
by the budget so far as appropriate units of measurement may have
been developed and installed.
(3)
A statement of pending capital projects and proposed new capital
projects, relating the amounts required for capital purposes to the
down payments and other expenditures financed from current appropriations
and to the amount of bonds to be issued during the budget year.
(4)
A capital program of proposed capital projects for the budget year
and the next five years, which may be prepared by the Municipal Planning
Board, together with comments thereon and an estimate of cost.
D.
Budget operation. The Manager shall control the expenditure program
of each department through the application of work programs and periodic
allotments of budgeted appropriations. No department shall incur any
expenditure in excess of the amount so allotted. Whenever it shall
appear to the Manager that the amount appropriated for any department,
or for any purpose within a department, is in excess of the amount
required to be expended to provide the quantity and quality of services
authorized by the budget, the Manager may, by administrative order
with the approval of the Council, reduce the amount available for
expenditure by any department during the remainder of any year. If
at any time during the budget year the Manager shall ascertain that
the Township government is faced with the probability of incurring
a cash deficit for the current year, the Manager shall reconsider
the work programs and allotments of the several departments. Upon
such reconsideration, the Manager may, by administrative order, with
the approval of the Council, revise budget allotments so as to forestall,
so far as possible, the making of commitments and expenditures in
excess of the revenues to be realized during the fiscal year.