[Amended by Charter Res. No. 128-20, effective 11-10-2020]
There shall be a Police Department, a Department of Public Works, a Department of Finance, a Department of Planning, a Department of Economic Development, a Department of Administration and a Town Clerk along with such other departments as may be created by the Board of Commissioners. One individual may serve as head of more than one department if the Board of Commissioners shall so provide.
The Board of Commissioners may appoint a Town Attorney. The Town Attorney shall be a member of the bar of the Maryland Court of Appeals. The Town Attorney shall be the legal advisor of the Town and shall perform such duties in this connection as may be required by the Board of Commissioners with compensation to be determined by the Board of Commissioners. The Board of Commissioners shall have the power to employ such legal consultants as it deems necessary from time to time.
The Board of Commissioners shall have the power to do all things necessary to include its officers and employees, or any of them, within any retirement system or pension system under the terms of which they are admissible, and to pay the employer's share of the cost of any such retirement or pension system out of the general funds of the Town.
The compensation of all officers and employees of the Town shall be set from time to time by resolution or ordinance passed by the Board of Commissioners subject to the restrictions imposed upon establishing the salaries of the Board of Commissioners.
The Town is authorized and empowered, by resolution or ordinance to provide for or participate in hospitalization or other forms of benefit or welfare programs for its officers and employees, and to expend public monies of the Town for such programs.
The Town may provide for appointments and promotions of all employees in the Town's service on the basis of merit and fitness. To carry out this purpose the Board of Commissioners may ratify such rules and regulations governing the operation of a merit system as proposed and recommended by the Town Administrator. Among other things these rules and regulations may provide for competitive examinations, the use of eligible lists, a classification plan, a compensation plan, a probation period, appeals by employees included within the classified service from dismissal or other disciplinary action, and vacation and sick leave regulations.