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DEPARTMENTS AND ADMINISTRATIVE CODE
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Except as otherwise provided, the Board, by ordinance, shall
create and prescribe the functions of township departments and offices
and may from time to time by ordinance alter or abolish any such department
or office or its functions.
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Commentary: The Charter does not attempt
to determine the precise structure of township administration or to
require specified departments. It is contemplated that the administrative
structure of the township could change if township needs changed.
It is for that reason that there are no specific references to particular
township officers (such as the Township Engineer), except those who
are elected or who are responsible directly to the Board rather than
the Manager (e.g., the Manager, Finance Officer, Controller and Solicitor).
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Within eighteen (18) months after the effective date of this
Charter, the Board shall, by ordinance, adopt an Administrative Code
which shall provide for the administrative organization of township
government and administrative procedures.
The Township Manager, Finance Officer, Controller and such other
township officers as are engaged in the handling and disbursement
of funds shall deliver a bond or bonds to the township with a surety
or sureties approved by the Board, conditioned upon the faithful performance
of their official duties. The bond(s) shall be in such amount(s) as
the Board shall from time to time provide in the Administrative Code.[1] All such bonds shall be approved by the Township Solicitor
as to form and sufficiency. The Board may from time to time require
other township officers, employees or citizens' group members
or their employees to deliver such bonds by so providing in the Administrative
Code. The township shall pay the cost of all such bonds.
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PERSONNEL
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The personnel system of the township shall be based upon the
principles of merit and fitness.
A.
The Board shall, within eighteen (18) months of the effective date
of this Charter, adopt by ordinance a Personnel Code. The code adopted
by the Board at a minimum shall include:
(1)
Methods for determining the merit and fitness of candidates for appointment
and promotion which shall include competitive examinations open to
all qualified candidates or such other methods as the Board deems
appropriate to attain the objective of selecting the most competent
applicant. The evaluation of candidates for permanent and full-time
non-policy-making positions shall be made by the Civil Service Commission,
and the Township Manager, pursuant to § C702C, shall appoint
and promote to such positions from among the candidates certified
as qualified by the Civil Service Commission.
(2)
Classification of all township positions, by duties, authority and
responsibility, including provision for reclassification.
(3)
Development of a pay plan for all township positions based on the
principle of equal pay for equivalently classified positions.
(4)
The policies and procedures regulating reduction in force and disciplinary
action, including suspension and removal of employees.
(5)
The hours of work, overtime compensation and provisions for sick
and vacation leave, holidays and pensions.
(6)
Procedures for handling grievances, including hearings.
(7)
General procedures establishing and protecting employees, rights by due process of law, including the right of non-policy-making employees to a hearing and determination by the Civil Service Commission in connection with any determination by it or the Manager pursuant to § C1105A and, in the event of disciplinary action, including suspension and removal.
B.
The Board may, by ordinance, eliminate the right to a hearing as
herein provided in the event and to the extent to which the individual
employees of the particular class have been provided the right to
an equivalent hearing under a collective bargaining agreement.
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Commentary: Sections C1104 and C1105A(1) impose the obligation upon the township to employ on the basis of merit. Although the township is encouraged to utilize competitive examinations, it is not required to do so in situations where other methods of finding the most competent applicant are more appropriate. It may impose additional or licensing standards where relevant. For example, the Township Engineer may be required to be a licensed professional civil engineer. The administration is required in selecting an applicant to choose the person most competent; in doing so, it has reasonable discretion.
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Section C1105A(7) recognizes that, where employees are covered by union contracts, grievance procedures therein provided could duplicate the civil service appeal provisions. In such situations, if an individual employee's rights are equivalent and the Board determines there is no value in retaining parallel procedures which could permit an initial determination by its own agency, it has the option to eliminate the civil service hearing for such employee.
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Neither the township nor any of its citizens' groups, in
the hiring, promotion or discharge of employees, shall discriminate
on the basis of race, religion, age, sex or national origin or, as
to non-policy-making positions, on the basis of political opinion
or affiliation.
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Commentary: Section C1106 provides for nondiscrimination in hiring and treatment of employees. It is the Commission's perception that there is very little political hiring by the township, if any, but that many citizens believe the situation to be otherwise. Thus, the GSC feels that the prohibition of discrimination in employment because of political affiliation or opinion will require no significant change in township practices, but will reassure the public.
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No employee of the township or any employee of any of its citizens'
groups shall serve as an elected or appointed official of a political
party, nor shall be solicit funds on behalf of a political party or
a candidate for public office, nor shall be on election day be within
one hundred (100) yards of a polling place except for the purpose
of voting or on official business, nor shall be engage in political
activity related to the election of officials of the township or of
its school board; provided, however, that the foregoing prohibitions
shall not apply to any such employee when he is running for nomination
or election to any elective office other than office in a political
party. This section shall not apply to any elected township official.
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Commentary: The prohibition of political
activity is a limited one designed to eliminate such participation
only in situations where it could conceivably compromise the proper
governmental operations of the township or present the appearance
of so doing. It is the GSC's understanding that with few, if
any, exceptions the rules here incorporated are followed currently
in practice; the purpose of this provision is to require the continuation
of this current practice.
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Township employees remain free to engage in political
activities in county, state or national elections where the officials
elected will not directly supervise the township employees, but they
cannot work at the polls or solicit funds in these or any other elections.
They also remain free to contribute to political parties or candidates,
although in accordance with state law they cannot be compelled to
do so. They also are free to attend meetings or rallies of a political
nature, provided that they do not became actually involved in the
campaigns of candidates for township office or for the school board.
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Hopefully the limited prohibitions set forth strike
the proper balance between a concern for politically unbiased government
and the desire for maximum political participation of all members
of the community, including those who may be government employees.
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INDEPENDENT AUDIT
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The Board shall provide for an annual independent audit of the
township's financial statements, to be made by a certified public
accountant in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards.
The Board may provide for more frequent audits, as well as special
audits, as it deems necessary. An audit report containing the township's
financial statements and the certified public accountant's opinion
relating thereto shall be submitted to the Manager and to the members
of the Board. A summary of the audit report, in such forms as may
be approved for such purposes by the certified public accountant,
shall be included in the Board's annual report to the People
and shall be published at least once in a newspaper of general circulation
in the township within one hundred twenty (120) days after the close
of the fiscal year.
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Commentary: The Board may appoint
an individual CPA or a CPA firm to perform the independent audit.
It is contemplated that the summary of the audit report included in
the report to the People may be more detailed than the summary which
is advertised. Elected auditors have been eliminated since their function
will be performed by the certified public accountant.
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CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AND CODE OF ETHICS
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Except in the performance of his official duties, no elected
or appointed official of the township or employee thereof shall represent
or appear on behalf of any other person before any citizens'
group or any department or office of the township, nor shall such
official or employee, other than a member of the Board, so appear
before the Board or any of its committees.
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Commentary: No township officer or
employee shall appear in any representative capacity before the Township
Board, its committees, its departments or its citizens' groups,
except in an official capacity or for his own personal business.
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This provision prohibits a Commissioner from appearing
on behalf of his constituents before bodies such as the Zoning Hearing
Board, the members of which the Commissioner might have a part in
selecting.
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Any elected or appointed official or employee of the township and any member or employee of a citizens' group, who has a direct or indirect financial interest in any matter requiring decision by any of the foregoing, whether that interest be as an employee, a principal, a partner, a stockholder (except where such interest is in the nature of minimal stock holding in a public corporation), or otherwise, shall not participate in nor directly or indirectly seek to influence the making of such decision. Whenever the Manager or any member of the Board is aware that he has such an interest, he shall disclose that fact at the Board meeting next following his becoming aware of it. In no event shall the township enter into any contract with any Board member, the Manager or any entity in which either has a direct or indirect financial interest as described above, if such contract is of the nature described in § C1207C(5) or C1207C(6), or, in the case of the Manager only, as described in § C1207C(2).
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Commentary: A Commissioner is prohibited
from participating in a matter in which he has a financial interest
or in seeking to influence a decision thereon to be made by another
township official. In addition, he is required to disclose publicly
his interest so that the general public can make a judgment as to
whether his fellow Board members have been affected by their knowledge
of his interest. Finally a Commissioner cannot participate in a professional
service or insurance contract with the township. The GSC determined
not to prohibit other contracts in which a Commissioner may have financial
interest since in most such cases competitive bidding will protect
the township's interest and in other cases such a prohibition
might deprive the Board of a proper bargain. "Direct or indirect financial
interest" is to be broadly defined and would include one retained
as a consultant, or who would receive a finder's fee or a commission
in connection with a transaction. "Direct or indirect financial interest"
does not include such interests as might be common to all or a group
of township residents, e.g., a utility rate increase, a zoning change
not of the official's property, but in the immediate neighborhood.
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No elected or appointed official of the township, or employee
thereof, shall directly or indirectly accept any gift, favor, service
or other consideration from any person with whom he deals or expects
to deal in his official capacity, except where the Board has provided
in the Code of Ethics that acceptance of a benefit less than a specified
value will not tend to influence a recipient in the discharge of his
duties.
No elected or appointed official of the township or employee
thereof shall willfully and knowingly disclose to any person for direct
or indirect pecuniary gain any confidential information acquired by
him in the course of his official duties, nor shall be use any such
information for the purpose of direct or indirect individual pecuniary
gain.
Willful violation of any of the provisions of §§ C1109 through C1112 shall constitute a summary offense punishable upon conviction by a maximum fine of five hundred dollars ($500.). Conviction thereunder, when final, or a plea of nolo contendere or guilty to such violation shall subject such person to surcharge to the extent of the damage shown to be thereby sustained by the township, and shall result in forfeiture of office.
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Commentary: Violation of § C1113 is malfeasance in office as provided in § C308A(5)(b). Conviction is final when all direct appeals have been exhausted or time therefor has expired.
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The Board, by ordinance, may adopt a Code of Ethics setting forth such additional standards of conduct as the Board deems appropriate to be required of all elected and appointed officials of the township and employees thereof, and members and employees of all citizens' groups. The Code of Ethics shall specify the sanctions, if any, which may be imposed for violation of each additional standard of conduct set forth therein, which may include the sanctions set forth in § C1113.
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Commentary: Although the Board may
enact a formal Code of Ethics, the provisions of this Charter establishing
ethical standards of conduct are mandatory and become operative on
the effective date of this Charter.
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