{"id":24109,"date":"2024-12-29T20:59:50","date_gmt":"2024-12-30T01:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.teanecktoday.com\/blog\/?p=24109"},"modified":"2024-12-29T20:59:50","modified_gmt":"2024-12-30T01:59:50","slug":"jan-2-2025-a-new-council-with-the-same-members","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teanecktoday.com\/blog\/teaneck\/jan-2-2025-a-new-council-with-the-same-members\/","title":{"rendered":"Jan 2, 2025: A new council with the same members"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Thursday, January 2nd, 2025 at 7:00 pm, the Teaneck Council will hold the semi-annual reorganization meeting at the Rodda Center.
\n(Agenda available here: Reorganization Agenda<\/a>)
\nWe will be swearing in Mark Schwartz, Karen Orgen & Mike Pagan.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition, the Council will elect the Mayor & Deputy Mayors, among others.<\/p>\n

For those who may not be familiar with the way the Teaneck Council operates, I’d like to offer some additional information:<\/p>\n

How does our system work?<\/strong>
\nTeaneck utilizes the Council-Manager<\/a> form of Government under the Faulkner Act.\u00a0 What that means in practice is that residents choose their council members “at-large” (i.e. you vote for everyone, as opposed to a ward system like neighboring Englewood) and the Council as a body, once elected and seated, chooses a mayor from among the council-members (as opposed to municipalities where the Mayor runs separately).<\/p>\n

What do residents vote for? How are positions chosen?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Teaneck residents vote for council members every two years.\u00a0 This year 3 of the 7 council positions were up for election and in two years, the remaining 4 will be up for election.\u00a0 We keep alternating between the 4 and 3 every other year.<\/p>\n

What is the difference between a Mayor and a Manager?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Under the Council-Manager form of government, the mayor presides at all meetings but gets the same vote as all other council members.\u00a0 He or she gets to appoint certain members of boards as vacancies arise and can execute documents as permitted by the code.\u00a0 The manager acts as the CEO of the Township and handles the day-to-day administrative functions.\u00a0 You can find the rules under Title 40:96A-81<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How does the Mayor get chosen and how long is their term?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Under our system, there is a “reorganization” meeting every two years that takes place in the first week of January, following the November council elections (this year it will take place on January 2nd).\u00a0 At that meeting, new members are sworn in and the newly constituted council votes among themselves as to which of them will be mayor, deputy mayor I and deputy mayor II.\u00a0 They will also select several other positions.\u00a0 The rules for how this works can be found in Sec 2-13 & 14 of our code.<\/p>\n

\n

“The term of the Mayor, Deputy Mayor I and Deputy Mayor II shall be for two years and shall expire upon the election of a successor at the next organizational meeting of the Council.\u00a0”
\n(Sec. 2-15<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\n
“The Council shall, on January 1 next following the general election, at 12:00 noon, or at some other hour on any day during the first week in January as fixed by resolution of the Council, assemble at a location designated by the Council to organize itself and elect one of its number as Mayor, another as Deputy Mayor I, another as Deputy Mayor II, and make such other appointments, perform such other functions and carry on such other business as is appropriate. Until the election of the Mayor occurs, the Clerk shall preside over the organizational meeting, but the Mayor shall preside once elected.”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

(Sec. 2-12<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What are the rules for how the council chooses the mayor? Does the title of Mayor go to the highest vote-getter?<\/strong><\/div>\n
As per the code<\/a>, at the reorganization meeting, the newly composed 7-member council votes to choose the mayor.\u00a0 The code and underlying law do not dictate that the highest vote-getter be appointed mayor.\u00a0 Since only a portion of the council runs in any particular election, the number of votes received only applies to a subset of the council.\u00a0 Historically, that may have happened, but it’s never been an official requirement or policy.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

Addressing the commonly held misconception that the individual elected with the “highest number of votes” should become mayor.<\/span><\/p>\n

While it does have brief and passing references, there is very little support for this concept in law or history.<\/p>\n

1930 to 1988<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

From 1930 when our Town adopted the Council-Manager form of government to 1988 (when we switched to the current\u00a0Faulkner Act<\/a>), we elected 5 members of council, every 4 years [Ed note: the number of council members switched to seven in 1962<\/a>, when our population grew to greater than 40,000 – requiring an additional two seats], to serve for four-year terms.<\/p>\n

This is how the law worked back then:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u00a0All members were elected in a single election.<\/li>\n
  2. The council would try electing a Mayor from among themselves.<\/li>\n
  3. If they couldn\u2019t choose a mayor, the highest vote recipient would be chosen as mayor.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n