DEPARTMENTS AND ADMINISTRATIVE CODE
Except as otherwise provided, the Board, by ordinance, shall create and prescribe the functions of township departments and offices and may from time to time by ordinance alter or abolish any such department or office or its functions.
Commentary: The Charter does not attempt to determine the precise structure of township administration or to require specified departments. It is contemplated that the administrative structure of the township could change if township needs changed. It is for that reason that there are no specific references to particular township officers (such as the Township Engineer), except those who are elected or who are responsible directly to the Board rather than the Manager (e.g., the Manager, Finance Officer, Controller and Solicitor).
Within eighteen (18) months after the effective date of this Charter, the Board shall, by ordinance, adopt an Administrative Code which shall provide for the administrative organization of township government and administrative procedures.
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 5, Administration of Government.
The Township Manager, Finance Officer, Controller and such other township officers as are engaged in the handling and disbursement of funds shall deliver a bond or bonds to the township with a surety or sureties approved by the Board, conditioned upon the faithful performance of their official duties. The bond(s) shall be in such amount(s) as the Board shall from time to time provide in the Administrative Code.[1] All such bonds shall be approved by the Township Solicitor as to form and sufficiency. The Board may from time to time require other township officers, employees or citizens' group members or their employees to deliver such bonds by so providing in the Administrative Code. The township shall pay the cost of all such bonds.
PERSONNEL
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 5, Administration of Government.
A. 
The Board shall, within eighteen (18) months of the effective date of this Charter, adopt by ordinance a Personnel Code. The code adopted by the Board at a minimum shall include:
(1) 
Methods for determining the merit and fitness of candidates for appointment and promotion which shall include competitive examinations open to all qualified candidates or such other methods as the Board deems appropriate to attain the objective of selecting the most competent applicant. The evaluation of candidates for permanent and full-time non-policy-making positions shall be made by the Civil Service Commission, and the Township Manager, pursuant to § C702C, shall appoint and promote to such positions from among the candidates certified as qualified by the Civil Service Commission.
(2) 
Classification of all township positions, by duties, authority and responsibility, including provision for reclassification.
(3) 
Development of a pay plan for all township positions based on the principle of equal pay for equivalently classified positions.
(4) 
The policies and procedures regulating reduction in force and disciplinary action, including suspension and removal of employees.
(5) 
The hours of work, overtime compensation and provisions for sick and vacation leave, holidays and pensions.
(6) 
Procedures for handling grievances, including hearings.
(7) 
General procedures establishing and protecting employees, rights by due process of law, including the right of non-policy-making employees to a hearing and determination by the Civil Service Commission in connection with any determination by it or the Manager pursuant to § C1105A and, in the event of disciplinary action, including suspension and removal.
B. 
The Board may, by ordinance, eliminate the right to a hearing as herein provided in the event and to the extent to which the individual employees of the particular class have been provided the right to an equivalent hearing under a collective bargaining agreement.
Commentary: Sections C1104 and C1105A(1) impose the obligation upon the township to employ on the basis of merit. Although the township is encouraged to utilize competitive examinations, it is not required to do so in situations where other methods of finding the most competent applicant are more appropriate. It may impose additional or licensing standards where relevant. For example, the Township Engineer may be required to be a licensed professional civil engineer. The administration is required in selecting an applicant to choose the person most competent; in doing so, it has reasonable discretion.
 
Section C1105A(7) recognizes that, where employees are covered by union contracts, grievance procedures therein provided could duplicate the civil service appeal provisions. In such situations, if an individual employee's rights are equivalent and the Board determines there is no value in retaining parallel procedures which could permit an initial determination by its own agency, it has the option to eliminate the civil service hearing for such employee.
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 44, Personnel.
Neither the township nor any of its citizens' groups, in the hiring, promotion or discharge of employees, shall discriminate on the basis of race, religion, age, sex or national origin or, as to non-policy-making positions, on the basis of political opinion or affiliation.
Commentary: Section C1106 provides for nondiscrimination in hiring and treatment of employees. It is the Commission's perception that there is very little political hiring by the township, if any, but that many citizens believe the situation to be otherwise. Thus, the GSC feels that the prohibition of discrimination in employment because of political affiliation or opinion will require no significant change in township practices, but will reassure the public.
No employee of the township or any employee of any of its citizens' groups shall serve as an elected or appointed official of a political party, nor shall be solicit funds on behalf of a political party or a candidate for public office, nor shall be on election day be within one hundred (100) yards of a polling place except for the purpose of voting or on official business, nor shall be engage in political activity related to the election of officials of the township or of its school board; provided, however, that the foregoing prohibitions shall not apply to any such employee when he is running for nomination or election to any elective office other than office in a political party. This section shall not apply to any elected township official.
Commentary: The prohibition of political activity is a limited one designed to eliminate such participation only in situations where it could conceivably compromise the proper governmental operations of the township or present the appearance of so doing. It is the GSC's understanding that with few, if any, exceptions the rules here incorporated are followed currently in practice; the purpose of this provision is to require the continuation of this current practice.
 
Township employees remain free to engage in political activities in county, state or national elections where the officials elected will not directly supervise the township employees, but they cannot work at the polls or solicit funds in these or any other elections. They also remain free to contribute to political parties or candidates, although in accordance with state law they cannot be compelled to do so. They also are free to attend meetings or rallies of a political nature, provided that they do not became actually involved in the campaigns of candidates for township office or for the school board.
 
Hopefully the limited prohibitions set forth strike the proper balance between a concern for politically unbiased government and the desire for maximum political participation of all members of the community, including those who may be government employees.
INDEPENDENT AUDIT
The Board shall provide for an annual independent audit of the township's financial statements, to be made by a certified public accountant in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. The Board may provide for more frequent audits, as well as special audits, as it deems necessary. An audit report containing the township's financial statements and the certified public accountant's opinion relating thereto shall be submitted to the Manager and to the members of the Board. A summary of the audit report, in such forms as may be approved for such purposes by the certified public accountant, shall be included in the Board's annual report to the People and shall be published at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in the township within one hundred twenty (120) days after the close of the fiscal year.
Commentary: The Board may appoint an individual CPA or a CPA firm to perform the independent audit. It is contemplated that the summary of the audit report included in the report to the People may be more detailed than the summary which is advertised. Elected auditors have been eliminated since their function will be performed by the certified public accountant.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AND CODE OF ETHICS
Except in the performance of his official duties, no elected or appointed official of the township or employee thereof shall represent or appear on behalf of any other person before any citizens' group or any department or office of the township, nor shall such official or employee, other than a member of the Board, so appear before the Board or any of its committees.
Commentary: No township officer or employee shall appear in any representative capacity before the Township Board, its committees, its departments or its citizens' groups, except in an official capacity or for his own personal business.
 
This provision prohibits a Commissioner from appearing on behalf of his constituents before bodies such as the Zoning Hearing Board, the members of which the Commissioner might have a part in selecting.
Any elected or appointed official or employee of the township and any member or employee of a citizens' group, who has a direct or indirect financial interest in any matter requiring decision by any of the foregoing, whether that interest be as an employee, a principal, a partner, a stockholder (except where such interest is in the nature of minimal stock holding in a public corporation), or otherwise, shall not participate in nor directly or indirectly seek to influence the making of such decision. Whenever the Manager or any member of the Board is aware that he has such an interest, he shall disclose that fact at the Board meeting next following his becoming aware of it. In no event shall the township enter into any contract with any Board member, the Manager or any entity in which either has a direct or indirect financial interest as described above, if such contract is of the nature described in § C1207C(5) or C1207C(6), or, in the case of the Manager only, as described in § C1207C(2).
Commentary: A Commissioner is prohibited from participating in a matter in which he has a financial interest or in seeking to influence a decision thereon to be made by another township official. In addition, he is required to disclose publicly his interest so that the general public can make a judgment as to whether his fellow Board members have been affected by their knowledge of his interest. Finally a Commissioner cannot participate in a professional service or insurance contract with the township. The GSC determined not to prohibit other contracts in which a Commissioner may have financial interest since in most such cases competitive bidding will protect the township's interest and in other cases such a prohibition might deprive the Board of a proper bargain. "Direct or indirect financial interest" is to be broadly defined and would include one retained as a consultant, or who would receive a finder's fee or a commission in connection with a transaction. "Direct or indirect financial interest" does not include such interests as might be common to all or a group of township residents, e.g., a utility rate increase, a zoning change not of the official's property, but in the immediate neighborhood.
No elected or appointed official of the township, or employee thereof, shall directly or indirectly accept any gift, favor, service or other consideration from any person with whom he deals or expects to deal in his official capacity, except where the Board has provided in the Code of Ethics that acceptance of a benefit less than a specified value will not tend to influence a recipient in the discharge of his duties.
No elected or appointed official of the township or employee thereof shall willfully and knowingly disclose to any person for direct or indirect pecuniary gain any confidential information acquired by him in the course of his official duties, nor shall be use any such information for the purpose of direct or indirect individual pecuniary gain.
Willful violation of any of the provisions of §§ C1109 through C1112 shall constitute a summary offense punishable upon conviction by a maximum fine of five hundred dollars ($500.). Conviction thereunder, when final, or a plea of nolo contendere or guilty to such violation shall subject such person to surcharge to the extent of the damage shown to be thereby sustained by the township, and shall result in forfeiture of office.
Commentary: Violation of § C1113 is malfeasance in office as provided in § C308A(5)(b). Conviction is final when all direct appeals have been exhausted or time therefor has expired.
The Board, by ordinance, may adopt a Code of Ethics setting forth such additional standards of conduct as the Board deems appropriate to be required of all elected and appointed officials of the township and employees thereof, and members and employees of all citizens' groups. The Code of Ethics shall specify the sanctions, if any, which may be imposed for violation of each additional standard of conduct set forth therein, which may include the sanctions set forth in § C1113.
Commentary: Although the Board may enact a formal Code of Ethics, the provisions of this Charter establishing ethical standards of conduct are mandatory and become operative on the effective date of this Charter.
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 5, Administration of Government, Art. X, Code of Ethics.