The Township Manager shall be appointed and
may be removed as provided by law.[1] 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 the designation, the Council
may by resolution appoint an administrative officer of the municipality
to perform the duties of the Manager during the absence or disability
until the Manager shall return or the disability shall cease.
[1]
N.J.S.A. 40:69A-1 et seq.
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 Municipal 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 be authorized
by the Council, all department heads and all other officers, subordinates
and assistants, other than the Township Clerk, Township Attorney,
Assistant Township Attorneys, Prosecutor, Public Defender, Planning
Board, Zoning Board of Adjustment, Agricultural Advisory Board and
other advisory boards, for whose appointment other provision is made
by the Charter, Administrative Code, ordinance or resolution of the
Council. The Manager may delegate to the head of a department the
power to appoint and remove subordinates in such departments, 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. As provided by law, the power to appoint the Township professionals
and the Clerk, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer, Tax Collector,
Assessor, Planning Board, Zoning Board of Adjustment, Agricultural
Advisory Board and other positions where the appointive power is not
specifically vested in the Manager, and to enter into professional
service agreements is reserved to the Township Council and are not
within the authority of the Manager.
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 the time and in the form as fixed by the Manager. 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 for it. All purchase
contracts shall conform with requirements of law. 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 required by law 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 awarded in accordance with 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, award the
contract in the manner prescribed by law. The Mayor, or the Deputy
Mayor in the absence or inability of the Mayor, shall execute and
sign contracts authorized by law, 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 his or her 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 him at public hearings, which shall be held on
dates and at times approved by the Township Council, on the various
requests.
B.
Budget document. Upon the basis of the items specified
by the Council for inclusion in the budget, departmental requests,
the budget hearings, an analysis of the needs and resources of the
municipality, and such policy guides as shall be prescribed by resolution
of the Council, the Manager shall prepare a recommended budget in
the form required by law. 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
those 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 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 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
that 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.