Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:69A-36, the legislative power of the Township shall be exercised by the Township Council, except as may be otherwise provided by general law, subject to the procedures set forth in this plan of government.[1] Legislative powers shall be exercised by ordinance, except for the exercise of those powers that, under this plan of government or general law, do not require action by the Mayor as a condition of approval for the exercise thereof, and may, therefore, be exercised by resolution, including but not limited to:
A. 
The override of a veto by the Mayor.
B. 
The exercise of advice and consent to actions of the Mayor.
C. 
The conduct of a legislative inquiry or investigation.
D. 
The expression of disapproval of the removal by the Mayor of officers or employees.
E. 
The removal of any municipal officer for cause.
F. 
The adoption of rules for the Council.
G. 
The establishment of times and places for Council meetings.
H. 
The establishment of the Council as a committee of the whole and the delegation of any number of its members as an ad hoc committee.
I. 
The declaration of emergencies respecting the passage of ordinances.
J. 
The election, appointment, setting of salaries and removal of officers and employees of Council, subject to any pertinent civil service requirements and any pertinent contractual obligations and within the general limits of the municipal budget.
K. 
The designation of official newspapers.
L. 
The approval of contracts presented by the Mayor.
M. 
The actions specified as resolutions in the Local Budget Law (N.J.S.A. 40A:4-1 et seq.) and the Local Fiscal Affairs Law (N.J.S.A. 40A:5-1 et seq.).
N. 
The expression of Council policies or opinions which require no formal action by the Mayor.
[1]
Editor's Note: The Township adopted the Mayor-Council Plan of Government pursuant to the Optional Municipal Charter Law, N.J.S.A. 40:69A-1 et seq.
The Council has the additional powers and duties to:
A. 
Adopt the annual budget of the Township and salary ordinances establishing salary ranges for all department directors and Township employees and elected officials as required.
B. 
Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:69A-37.1, deal with employees of the Department of Administration and other administrative departments solely through the Mayor or designee. All contact with the employees and all actions and communications concerning the administration of the government and the provision of municipal services shall be through the Mayor or designee, except as otherwise provided by law. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the Council's inquiry into any act or problem of the administration of the Township. Any Council member may, at any time, require a report on any aspect of the government of the Township by making a written request to the Mayor.
C. 
Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:69A-37(b), remove, by at least two-thirds vote of the whole number of the Council, any Township officer other than the Mayor or a member of the Council, for cause, upon notice and an opportunity to be heard, unless otherwise provided by state statutes.
D. 
Require any municipal officer, in its discretion, to prepare and submit sworn statements regarding said officer's official duties and the performance thereof and otherwise to investigate the conduct of any department, office or agency of the Township government. The Council may, by a majority vote of the whole number of its members, require the Mayor or designee to appear before Council, sitting as a committee of the whole, and to bring before the Council those records and reports and officials and employees of the Township as the Council may determine necessary to ensure clarification of the matter under study.
E. 
By a majority vote of the whole number of its members, designate any number of its members as an ad hoc committee to consult with the Mayor or designee to study any matter and report to the Council thereon.
F. 
Appoint a Municipal Clerk, pursuant to Article III of this chapter.
G. 
Adopt rules and regulations for conduct of Council business. At its annual organization meeting, the Council shall approve its rules of procedure and set forth the format of its formal agenda.
H. 
Establish, alter or abolish such committees, commissions or agencies of the Township as permitted by law.
I. 
Separate and apart from the Township's mandated committees, commissions or agencies, create advisory committees to assist it in its legislative function.
The Township Council shall consist of five members, elected at-large by the voters of the Township at the regular municipal election in a partisan election. The terms of the members of the Council shall be four years, except that, of those first elected, two shall serve for four-year terms and three for two-year terms. The length of the terms of the respective members of the first Council shall be determined by lot after the organization of the Council immediately following the election.
A. 
Regular meetings.
(1) 
The Township Council shall hold its annual organizational meeting on the first day of January or on any day during the first seven days of January. The Township Council shall meet regularly thereafter on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at 7:00 p.m. on the second Tuesday and at 7:30 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday, except that the Council may, by resolution, add, dispense with or change the dates of regular or special meetings.
(2) 
When the time for any regular meeting of the Council falls on a legal holiday or Election Day as prescribed by law, such meetings shall be held at the same hour on some other day, at the convenience of the Council.
B. 
Board of Health. The Township Council, sitting as the Ewing Township Board of Health, shall meet at 7:00 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of each month.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See also Ch. 14, Boards, Commissions and Committees, Art. III, Board of Health.
C. 
President and Vice President. The Council, at its annual organizational meeting, shall elect a President and Vice President to serve for one-year terms and until the election and qualification of their successors. In the absence of both President and Vice President of the Council, the Council shall elect a temporary presiding officer, who shall have the functions, powers and duties of the President during the President's absence. Upon arrival of the President or the Vice President, as the case may be, the officer presiding shall relinquish the chair immediately upon the conclusion of the particular item of business before Council.
Legislative powers shall be exercised by ordinance except for those powers that may be exercised by resolution or do not require action of the Mayor as a condition of approval. The following procedures shall be followed:
A. 
All ordinances and/or resolutions shall be prepared by the Clerk, by the appropriate department director or by the Township Attorney or reviewed by the Township Attorney upon direction of the Council or Mayor. Each proposed ordinance or resolution requiring or permitting administrative action may be submitted to the Business Administrator and the director concerned, who shall, if required, provide the basis for such ordinance or resolution to the Council.
B. 
An ordinance or resolution may be introduced by any member of the Council. Each ordinance and each resolution shall be limited to a single subject, which shall be expressed in its title.
C. 
All ordinances shall be introduced, read, heard and enacted in the manner provided by general law. Each ordinance passed by the Council shall, within three calendar days, be delivered by the Municipal Clerk to the Mayor for approval or veto, and the Mayor shall, within 10 calendar days after receiving any ordinance, either approve the ordinance by signing it or return it to the Council by delivering it to the Municipal Clerk, together with a statement setting forth the Mayor's objections thereto or to any part thereof. Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:69A-41, no ordinance or any item or part thereof shall take effect without the Mayor's approval, unless the Mayor fails to return an ordinance to the Council within 10 days after it has been presented to the Mayor or unless the Council, upon reconsideration thereof on or after the third day following its return by the Mayor, shall, by a vote of 2/3 of the entire membership of the Council, resolve to override the Mayor's veto.
D. 
No ordinance other than the budget ordinance shall take effect less than 20 days after its final passage by Council and approval by the Mayor, where such approval is required, unless the Council shall adopt a resolution declaring an emergency and at least 2/3 of all the members of the Council vote in favor of such resolution.
E. 
Passage over veto. Whenever an ordinance has been reconsidered by the Council following a veto by the Mayor, the Municipal Clerk shall append to such ordinance a certification of the action of the Council upon such reconsideration in substantially the following form:
I HEREBY CERTIFY that the above ordinance, adopted by the Council on the __________ day of __________, _____, was delivered to the Mayor on the __________ day of __________, _____ and was returned to me on the __________ day of __________, _____, together with the Mayor's statement of the reasons for which the Mayor was constrained to withhold approval of such ordinance, item or part thereof. On reconsideration thereof on the __________ day of __________, _____, (the Council duly resolved by the affirmative vote of 2/3 of its members to enact such ordinance, item or part thereof notwithstanding the Mayor's veto) or (the Mayor's veto was sustained).
Municipal Clerk
F. 
Ordinances not returned by Mayor. Whenever an ordinance shall take effect without the Mayor's signature by reason of the Mayor's failure to return it to the Council by filing it with the Municipal Clerk within 10 days after it has been presented to the Mayor, the Municipal Clerk shall append to such ordinance a certificate in substantially the following form:
I HEREBY CERTIFY that the above ordinance, adopted by the Council on the __________ day of __________, _____, and presented to the Mayor duly certified on the __________ day of __________, _____, and upon the Mayor's failure to sign it or return and file it with the Municipal Clerk within 10 days thereafter, said ordinance took effect in like manner as if the Mayor had signed it.
Municipal Clerk
Dated: _______________
G. 
Filing of reports and resolutions. The Council shall file with the Municipal Clerk all petitions, resolutions or other papers considered by it on each matter. All reports to the Council and all resolutions shall be filed with the Clerk.
A. 
Regular meetings. Council shall hold its regular meetings and work sessions in accordance with a resolution to be adopted at each yearly organizational meeting, but there shall be not less than one Council meeting per month. The resolution may be amended or modified by subsequent resolutions duly adopted.
B. 
Notice.
(1) 
In conformity with the Open Public Meetings Act (N.J.S.A. 10:4-6 et seq.), written notice of all meetings of the Council and every other public body as defined in the Act shall be provided at least 48 hours in advance, giving time, date, location and, to the extent known, the agenda of any regular, special or rescheduled meeting. Such notice shall state whether formal action may or may not be taken and shall be prominently posted on at least one place reserved for such or similar announcements on a bulletin board in the lobby of the Municipal Building and be mailed, telephoned, telegraphed, telefaxed or hand-delivered to at least two newspapers previously designated by the Township Council. Designated newspapers must be published often enough to allow for the forty-eight-hour notice to be given to members of the public. Copies of the notice shall be filed with the Municipal Clerk.
(2) 
Where the Council announces annual notice of its regular meetings, no further notice shall be required concerning such meetings. Such notice shall be in accordance with the schedule of the regular meetings of the Council to be held during the ensuing year, which the Municipal Clerk shall prepare, post and submit within seven days following the annual organization or reorganization meeting of the Council, or, if there be no such organization or reorganization meeting in the year, then not later than January 7 of such year. The Municipal Clerk shall, whenever a special meeting of the Council is called in accordance with the law, issue and cause notices thereof to be served upon the members of the Council and other persons whose presence may be required pursuant to law.
C. 
Emergencies. Upon the affirmative vote of 3/4 of the members present, the Council may hold a meeting, notwithstanding the failure to provide adequate notice, if:
(1) 
Such meeting is required in order to deal with matters of such urgency and importance that a delay for the purpose of providing adequate notice would be likely to result in substantial harm to the public interest.
(2) 
The meeting is limited to discussion of and acting with respect to such matters of urgency and importance.
(3) 
Notice of such meeting is provided as soon as possible following the calling of such meeting by posting written notice and notifying the two newspapers by telephone, telegraph, telefax or personal delivery.
(4) 
Either the Council could not reasonably have foreseen the need for such meeting at a time when adequate notice could have been provided; or although the public body could reasonably have foreseen the need for such meeting at a time when adequate notice could have been provided, it nevertheless failed to do so.
D. 
Minutes. At the commencement of every meeting, the person presiding shall announce publicly and shall cause to be entered into the minutes an accurate statement to the effect that adequate notice for the meeting has been provided or that notice was not provided, in which case the reasons shall be stated. The Council, through the office of the Clerk, shall keep reasonably comprehensible minutes of its meetings, showing time and place, the members present, subjects considered, actions taken and the votes of each member.
E. 
Quorum. A majority of the whole number of members of the Council shall constitute a quorum, but no ordinance shall be adopted by Council without the affirmative vote of a majority of all members of the Council. If a quorum is not present 1/2 hour after the appointed time for any meeting, the presiding officer or the Municipal Clerk may declare the meeting canceled.
F. 
Roll call votes; minutes. The vote upon every motion, resolution or ordinance shall be taken by roll call, and the yeas and nays shall be entered on the minutes. The minutes of each meeting shall be signed by the Municipal Clerk and by the Council member who presided at the meeting.
G. 
Public participation. Public participation in the meetings of the Council shall be in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act and any rules adopted by the Council.