THE COMMISSION FORM OF GOVERNMENT
Back in the late 1800's,
many large cities in our country reported corruption within the local government
level. Over time, reform groups organized
and began to experiment with new forms of city government in hopes of ending the
corruption. In 1900, after a natural
disaster left Galveston, Texas to completely rebuild, citizens formed a commission
form of government to insure that corruption would not hinder their efforts.
The Commission form
of government was extremely successful at reviving Galveston.
As word spread of Galveston's experience under the commission form of government,
the city received hundreds of inquiries on how to follow in its footsteps.
In 1911, New Jersey Governor
Woodrow Wilson signed the Walsh Act, permitting municipalities to adopt a non-partisan
form of government. (Non-partisan:
free from party affiliation). The commission
form of government became an optional form for all of New Jersey's municipalities. Nutley adopted the commission form of
government in 1912. At that time, the salarie
for Commissioners was set at $1,600 per year, with the Mayor receiving $2,000.
The paramount philosophy of the law was to promote efficient government
upon the premise that it would be better induced by holding members of the commission
to an individual responsibility rather than party responsibility.
Presently, Nutley is one of 32 municipalities utilizing this form of government.
Under the Walsh Act, the Board
is composed of 3 or 5 members depending on the size of the municipality.
Nutley's population warrants a five member board.
Each Commissioner serves as a department head with each having complete control
over the executive, administrative, judicial and legislative powers over their independent
departments, see NJSA 40:72-4. The Commissioners elect one Commissioner
as Mayor, or - in Nutley's case, historically the Commissioner that receives the
most votes is appointed Mayor. The
Mayor serves as President of the Board, presides over meetings and sets the agenda. Although the statute gives the Mayor
the authority to "supervise all departments", case law has specifically held that
"the powers vested in the department are possessed by the Commissioner designated
by the Commission as Director of that Department and the Mayor may not exercise
all the power and authority of all departments."
Durkin v. Ellenstein, 127 N.J.L. 55, 21 A.2d 346 (1941).
The Mayor specifically does not have the power to veto any measure of the
Board. The salary for Commissioners today is $2,250 per year, with the Mayor
receiving $2,700.
On the local level overall,
there are five types of government:
Borough, Township, City, Town and Village.
The types of government (Nutley is a Township) may then be classified as
utilizing one of twelve forms
of government: Borough, Township, City,
Town, Village, Commission (3 or 5), Council-Manager Act of 1923, OMCL Mayor-Council
Plan, OMCL Council-Manager Plan, OMCL Small Municipality Plan, OMCL Mayor-Council-Administrator
Plan and Special Charters.
(OMCL: Optional Municipal Charter Law)
Below is a chart
that summarizes the breakdown of the
forms of government used in the 566 municipalities in New Jersey:
|
Borough |
220 |
Council-Manager
|
7 |
|
Township
|
144 |
OMCL: Mayor-Council
|
66 |
|
City |
15 |
OMCL: Council-Manager
|
40 |
|
Town |
8 |
OMCL: Small Municipality
|
19 |
|
Village |
1 |
OMCL: Mayor-Council-Administrator
|
2 |
|
Commission |
32 |
Special Charters
|
12 |
For additional information
about the Commission Form of Government please visit the New Jersey League of Municipalities
website at http://njslom.org/types.html.
Sources: New Jersey State League of Municipalities website; New Jersey State Library
website: njstatelib.org/nj_information: Chapter IV
|