BRADLEY BEACH — In New Jersey, when dissatisfied with operations in local government, voters have the ability to alter their municipality’s form of government through the Optional Municipal Charter Law (OMCL), which through an approved referendum, establishes a charter commission to study alternative forms. If the commission sees fit, the commission may then recommend a change to that municipality’s current form of government.
On Monday night, Daniel Torrisi, a technical advisor at the Department of Community Affairs, stopped by borough hall to present the members of the Bradley Beach Charter Commission with the options they can explore when examining alternative forms of government.
After evident internal division and a slew of lawsuits within the town in recent years, 1,202 of the 2,020 Bradley Beach voters elected to create the commission that would examine the borough’s small municipality form of government.
The OMCL, also known as the Faulkner Act, was established in 1950 to allow municipalities to explore different forms of government from the traditional types: village, borough, town, township and city.
Bradley Beach currently operates as a “small municipality,” one of four Faulkner Act forms of government. Bradley Beach is one of 17 New Jersey municipalities that operates in this form which features a “strong mayor” form of government, in which the mayor is the chief executive and the council operates as the legislative function.
After 59% of voting Bradley Beach residents selected “yes” to a referendum on the November 2024 election ballot, a five-member charter commission was established to explore the borough’s current form of government and study alternative forms available to the borough, with the concluding possibility of altering the borough’s current form of government.
Formed in 1893 in a traditional borough form of government, Bradley Beach operated in this way until 1915, when it altered its form of government to a “Walsh Act Commission.” After 77 years operating under an elected group of commissioners, Bradley Beach again altered its form of government in 1992 through the OMCL to the “small municipality” form of government under which it currently operates, according to Torrisi from the DCA.
“You don’t get to this point because things are running smoothly,” Mark D. Taylor, attorney for the commission, said on Monday night.
Resident commissioners include Chairman Refet Kaplan, Thomas J. Coan, Tracie Davidson, Linda Duffy and Donald Greenberg, all of whom heard a detailed presentation into the four options of government up for debate through the OMCL. Torrisi presented a general outline of the four forms of governments under the Faulkner Act, all of which have individual subsections and plans.
In Bradley Beach, as a small municipality, mayoral terms are four years, while council members serve three-year concurrent terms. While small municipality is the only form that does not require an administrator, Bradley Beach has the position written into its ordinances, which Torrisi said, “is recommended by the DCA to manage day-to-day operations.”
There are several different types of small municipality forms of government that surround the number of members serving on the dais. Currently, Bradley Beach operates under Small Municipality Plan 5, with a five elected-member governing body.
In a small municipality form of government, the mayor appoints the assessor, collector, chief financial officer, clerk, attorney, council committees and other positions authorized in the municipality ordinances with advice and consent from the council, Torrisi said. Through its legislative authority, the council adopts ordinances, passes resolutions and approves the budget, consents to appointments of the mayor, while only acting as a body without individual authority.
Torrisi’s presentation highlighted some of the weaknesses of the small municipality form, which highlighted the concentrated power the mayor has as the chief executive, presider over council meetings and appointment power for all positions created by council.
Since its establishment following the referendum in last November’s election the commission has been tasked with investigating alternative forms of government in comparison to the borough’s current form. At the end of the process, if the commission recommends a change in form of government, which they must do within nine months from the election, a second referendum would be placed on the 2025 general election ballot, asking voters this yes-or-no question: “Would you like to adopt the recommended form of government?”
The commission has a deadline to submit a recommendation on whether or not to alter Bradley Beach’s current government in September, however, according to Commission Chair Kaplan, the group plans to submit its recommendation ahead of the deadline.
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