Borough of Chester, NJ Mayor

The Mayor shall preside over all meetings of the Council but shall not vote except to give the deciding vote in the case of a tie. Except as otherwise provided by statute, the Mayor shall nominate and, with the advice and consent of the Council, appoint all officers in the Borough. No appointments requiring Council approval and confirmation shall be made except by a majority vote of the Council members present at the meeting, provided that at least three affirmative votes shall be required for such purpose, the Mayor to have no vote thereon except in case of a tie. Vacancies in appointive offices shall be filled by appointment in the same manner for the unexpired term only. The Mayor shall make such nomination to fill a vacancy within 30 days after the appointive office becomes vacant. If the Mayor fails to nominate within 30 days or the Council fails to confirm any nomination made by the Mayor, then, after the expiration of 30 days, the Council shall appoint the officer.

The Mayor shall see that the laws of the state and the ordinances of the Borough are faithfully executed, and shall recommend to the Council such measures as he may deem necessary or expedient for the welfare of the Borough. He shall maintain peace and good order and have the power to suppress all riots and tumultuous assemblies in the Borough.

The Mayor shall supervise the conduct and acts of all officers in the Borough and shall execute all contracts made on behalf of the Council.

(1)

The Mayor shall take the chair promptly at the start of each meeting, and immediately call the members to order, and on the appearance of a quorum, take up the business of the meeting in the order hereinafter provided.

(2)

In addition to all powers expressly provided by applicable state statutes, the Mayor shall have general direction of and preserve order and decorum in the Council chamber and lobby, meeting rooms and officers thereof, together with such rooms, corridors in the Borough Hall and elsewhere as may be used by the Council, its committees, commissions, officers, members and employees in the conduct of official business.

(3)

He shall have full authority to protect the safety of the members, officers and employees of the Council in the performance of their duties as well as that of the general public in the connection therewith, and to preserve and protect property and records under the jurisdiction of the Council. In case of disturbance or disorderly conduct, he may cause the same to be cleared or the offending person(s) to be arrested and removed.

(4)

He shall preserve order and decorum, and confine Council members to the question under discussion. When two or more members wish to speak at the same time, he shall name the one entitled to the floor.

(5)

He shall state all questions before the Council and shall distinctly put questions not involving roll call vote in substantially the following form: "all those in favor signify by saying `yes'," and after the affirmative is expressed, "all those opposed signify by saying `no'." If the Mayor is unable to determine the result of the voice vote, or a division be called pursuant to the rule of the Council, a roll call vote shall be taken. On all motions requiring a roll call vote, the Administrator/Clerk will take the roll when directed by the Mayor and upon tallying the vote will inform the Mayor of the tally. The Mayor will then read the tally in the following form: "on the motion there is (number of yes votes) in the affirmative and (number of no votes) in the negative. I declare the motion (passed or defeated) and take the usual course of passed/defeated motions or questions."

(6)

He shall decide questions of order without debate, subject to an appeal to the Council, when demanded by any members, on which appeal, no member shall speak more than once, unless by leave of the Council and decided by majority vote.

(7)

He may, during the inability of a committee member to serve, appoint another member of the Council to serve during such period.

(8)

He shall assist and direct the Borough Administrator/Clerk in the preparation of the agenda for all meetings of the governing body.

(9)

At the commencement of every meeting, the Mayor shall announce publicly and cause to have entered in the minutes an accurate statement that adequate notice of the meeting has been provided and specifying the time, place and to the extent known, the agenda and the manner in which the notice was provided. If the meeting is one called in response to a crisis, the announcement shall state that adequate notice was not provided, the nature of the urgency, the harm to the public in delaying the meeting, the limitation on the matters discussed at the meeting, the time, place, and manner notice was provided, and the exact reason why a need for the meeting could not be foreseen or why the adequate notice could not be provided.