There is hereby established within the Township of Chesterfield a Financial Advisory Committee which will serve as an ad hoc advisory Committee to the Township Committee for the purpose of assisting with the development of the annual Chesterfield Township budget, as well as to thereafter continue to monitor the financials of the Township for the remainder of the calendar year.
[Added 3-13-2025 by Ord. No. 2025-03; amended 6-12-2025 by Ord. No. 2025-07]
A.
The Financial Advisory Committee shall consist of members selected from the pool of applicants responding to the annual Township announcement on the Township's website and social media, who shall be annually appointed by the Mayor and Township Committee. Terms shall expire on January 1 of the year following appointment. There shall be two members of the Township Committee who shall serve as liaisons to the Financial Advisory Committee and who shall report to the Township Committee on behalf of the Financial Advisory Committee. Appointments to fill vacancies shall be made in the same manner as original appointments, and all such appointments shall be for the unexpired term only. The members shall serve until their respective successors are appointed and qualified. The members shall receive no compensation for their services.
A.
Meetings. The Financial Advisory Committee shall meet at least six times and said meetings shall be attended with the Township CFO and/or other Township personnel as the Township deems appropriate and necessary.
B.
Powers and duties. The Financial Advisory Committee shall assist the Township in providing input and information as to the proposed annual budget and shall report to the Township Committee, through the Township Committee liaisons, on its activities and discussions and provide the Committee with a summary of same. The Financial Advisory Committee shall also continue to review the Township's financials after the completion of the annual budget and through the remainder of the calendar year reporting to the Township Committee through the Township Committee liaisons. The Financial Advisory Committee shall be strictly advisory and its recommendations, decisions, comments or other observations shall not be binding in any way upon the Township Committee or any other municipal body, Committee or agency.
A.
It is the intent of this chapter that the Financial Advisory Committee shall be solely an advisory Committee, consisting of volunteers appointed by the Township Committee. The Committee shall have no authority to expend any public funds and no funds shall be appropriated in the annual budget for this Committee. Moreover, because the Committee merely serves in an advisory capacity and is not authorized to perform any governmental functions affecting the rights, duties, obligations, privileges, benefits or other legal relations of any person, it is the intent of this chapter that the Committee not be considered a public body within the meaning and intent of the Open Public Meetings Act, N.J.S.A. 10:4-6 et seq. Accordingly, there shall be no obligation for the Committee to provide any advance notice of its meetings, although nothing herein contained shall preclude it from doing so.
B.
Limitation on powers. It is expressly intended that the Financial Advisory Committee is created as an ad hoc group to assist the Township Committee in the preparation of the annual Chesterfield Township budget. Nothing herein contained shall permit or be intended to permit the Financial Advisory Committee to render suggestions, opinions, recommendations or in any other way communicate with any other agency, Committee or body of the Township of Chesterfield except for the Township Committee.