Middle Moves to Establish Form-of-Government Committee

COURT HOUSE – Middle Township Committee’s Oct. 1 work session saw significant movement on establishing the review committee that will study the municipality’s form of government. 
Incorporated in 1798, Middle Township has always used the township form of government with a three-member committee as the governing body.
The members are directly elected by the voters at large in partisan elections for three-year staggered terms. This places an election to the governing body on the ballot annually. 
At a yearly reorganization meeting the three-member committee selects the mayor from among its members for a one-year term.
New Jersey has five types of municipalities of which one is the township type. The others are borough, city, town, and village.
Within the constraints of the fundamental type of municipality, multiple forms of government are possible under state law. It is those options open to a township type of government that the newly formed review committee will examine and evaluate.
At the work session, there was agreement that the committee would have 18 members, all of whom volunteered in response to a call for participation solicited by the township.
Michael Butterfield, a member of the Economic Development Council, was asked and accepted to chair the group.
When formally charged, the committee will be given a maximum period of a year to complete its task and report back to the governing body.
The committee is expected to gain an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the current form of government and study the range of options available to a municipal township.
When criticism has been leveled at the current form of government at committee meetings, it has often centered on the issues of geographic representation, number of members on the governing body and the process for electing a mayor.
Geographic representation often surfaces because the governing body often has representation that is predominately from Court House.
The township is the largest in the county in terms of land area and second largest in terms of population.
Broadening the opportunity for more diverse geographic representation on the body has been a goal of some.
The three-member governing body also presents difficulties due to the state sunshine laws. Under that law, public business discussed at meetings of the governing body members must be open to the public. 
On a three-member governing body, any two members meeting together on public business would constitute a quorum. That constraint has forced the governing body members to work through professional staff in ways that some who have been critical of the form of government consider inefficient.
The election of the mayor and deputy mayor is done by the three governing body members at each annual reorganization meeting. 
Given the functional and ceremonial status of the mayor’s role, some critics of the present form have advocated for direct election of the mayor.
While other issues will undoubtedly enter into the new committee’s deliberations, these three concerns have been the ones most often raised in public comment when advocates pushed for a study of the township’s form of government.
Any recommendations made by the newly appointed review committee will not be binding on the governing body. Any recommendation that elicits significant agreement among governing body members would also have to stand the test of a ballot referendum which is required before a change of government can be approved.
It is likely that the review committee will be formally charged and established in the very near future, possibly at the Oct. 15 meeting of the governing body.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.