The Manager may, with the approval of the Council,
serve as head of one or more departments. The Manager may appoint
the same person to serve as head of two or more departments; and a
department head may also be appointed by the Manager to serve as head
of a division within his/her department without additional compensation.
In the event of a temporary absence or disability
of any administrative officer or employee, or in the event of a vacancy
in any office, the Manager or Acting Manager may designate a qualified
person to serve in such office temporarily in an acting capacity,
and any such appointee shall have all the functions, powers and duties
of an incumbent until such absence or disability terminates or such
vacancy is filled by appointment.
Every officer or employee of the Township who,
by virtue of his/her office or position, is entrusted with the receipt,
custody or expenditure of public monies or funds and any other officer
or employee who may be required so to do by the Council shall, before
entering upon the duties of his/her office or position, execute and
deliver a surety bond in such amount as may be fixed by resolution
of Council or as determined by state statute or regulations, binding
him/her to the Township in its corporate name and conditioned upon
the true and faithful performance of his/her duty. Each officer or
employee required by law to give bond shall execute such a bond with
sufficient surety and deliver his/her bond to the Clerk, except that
the Clerk shall deliver his/her bond to the Director of Administration
and Finance or Manager before he/she enters upon the discharge of
the duties of his/her office or employment.
A.
All the books, maps, papers, accounts, statements,
vouchers and other documents whatsoever acquired or produced in any
department shall be carefully and conveniently filled, kept and preserved,
and be and remain the sole property of the municipality and shall
not at any time be removed from the offices of such department except
when required for use in official business, and shall then be returned
to such office without delay. Each department head shall be responsible
for enforcing the requirements of this section in his/her department.
This section shall be subject to the provisions of Destruction of
Public Records Law (1953), N.J.S.A. 47:3-15 et seq.
B.
All public documents and records shall during regular
business hours be open to public search, inspection and examination,
provided that such search, inspection and examination may be made
under such regulations as the Township Clerk and Council shall establish
by resolution for the safety and preservation thereof, subject to
and within the provisions of the Open Public Records Act at N.J.S.A.
47:1A-1 et seq.;
[Amended 11-25-2008 by Ord. No. O-08-37]
D.
Council minutes (public session). The tapes of the
public portion of Council meetings are available the next day following
the meeting through the Township Clerk's office. Transcribed minutes
are available as soon thereafter as the transcriber can prepare them.
All requests for public session Council minutes shall be made on the
appropriate request for public records form.
E.
Executive session minutes. Any executive session minutes
requested by a member of the public are to be provided to the Township
Attorney's office for review and redaction (if necessary). No executive
session minutes are to be released without the express permission
of the Township Attorney's office and Council approval. The audio
tapes of any executive session minutes are never to be released except
to active Council members who have missed an executive session meeting
and would like to listen to the minutes. A log book shall be kept
as to when the tape was given to a Council member and on the date
it was returned.
F.
Government records not in the form of printed matter.
[Added 11-25-2008 by Ord. No. O-08-37]
(1)
The custodian shall permit access to a government
record and provide a copy thereof in the medium requested if the Township
maintains the government record in that medium. If the Township does
not maintain the government record in the medium requested, the custodian
shall either convert the government record to the medium requested
or provide a copy in some other meaningful medium. If a request is
for a record: a) in a medium not routinely used by the Township, any
departments, boards, office, council, commission or committee; or
b) not routinely developed or maintained by the Township, any departments,
boards, office, council, commission or committee; or c) requires a
substantial amount of manipulation or programming of information technology;
the Township may charge, in addition to the actual cost of duplication,
a special charge that shall be reasonable and shall be based on the
cost for any extensive use of information technology, or for the labor
cost of personnel providing the service, that is actually incurred
by the Township or attributable to the Township for the programming,
clerical, and supervisory assistance required, or both.
(2)
Any government record requested in a media which is
not in printed form shall be charged according to the actual costs
of duplicating same, except that there is no charge for duplicating
an audiotape or compact disc.
(3)
Fees, special service charges and amounts authorized.
Whenever government records cannot be reproduced by regular copying
equipment or fulfillment of the request will require an extraordinary
expenditure of time and effort [which involves a number of factors
including, but not limited to, the volume of records requested, the
period of time over which the records were received by the Township,
whether some or all of the records sought are archived, the amount
of time required for a Township employee to locate, retrieve, and
assemble the documents for inspection or copying, the amount of time,
if any, required to be expended by Township employees to monitor the
inspection or examination, and the amount of time required to return
the documents to their original storage place as are set forth in
Courier Post v. Lenape 360 N.J. Super. 191, 199 (Law. Div. 2002)],
reasonable charges may be imposed as follows:
(a)
The actual cost (materials and supplies but
no labor charges) of duplication, reproduction or assembly for inspection;
and
(b)
A special service charge not to exceed $23.50
per hour or the actual direct cost of labor (if less) shall be imposed
for each hour expended by the Township employee to respond to an extraordinary
request.
(4)
Advance notice of fees; special service charges. Any
requestor of government records who may be subject to the payment
of a fee or special service charge under this ordinance[2] shall receive advance notice of the amount of the fees
and charges before any work is begun. Whenever the costs of producing
a government record covered by this section exceed $5, the Township
Clerk shall require payment in full of such charges before beginning
the work.
[2]
Editor's Note: This ordinance refers to Ord.
No. O-08-37.
(5)
Duplication of other work beyond capability of the Township work force. Whenever the Township work force or Township equipment is insufficient to duplicate or produce government records in a timely manner, the Township Clerk may cause such duplication or production to be performed by third-party vendors, including, but not limited to, copy centers or producers of digital images. The requestor shall pay the actual costs of same charged by such third-party vendors, if the cost to duplicate or produce the government record exceeds the charges set forth in Subsection F(1), (2) and (3) of this section.
