Middle’s Muddle: Change or Status Quo?

COURT HOUSE – Nine months after its appointment in October 2018, the Middle Township advisory committee on the form of government submitted its report to Middle Township Committee July 15. 
The report exhibited no support for any specific change. It recommended four options for consideration.  
The 18-member committee submitted an 18-page report, which identified seven factors the group felt its proposals needed to be measured against.
They were: 
* The effectiveness of the current form of government
* The efficiency of the current form of government
* Partisan vs. non-partisan government
* The ability of the people to select a mayor directly
* The annual election cycle
* Wards vs. non-wards
* Sunshine Act
The report notes the seven factors “outline themes or specific areas of discussion,” but the subsequent pages in the report do not reveal much of the substance of those discussions.
There is no presentation in the report of the committee’s deliberation on perceived efficiencies or effectiveness of the current form of government, nor any substantive discussion of the issue of partisan or non-partisan forms of government. 
The committee interviewed eight individuals: the three members of the governing body that appointed the committee, three elected officials from previous administrations, the previous municipal solicitor and the police chief.
The report states the committee engaged in research and discussion with officials from the state and other municipalities using different forms of government. No list was provided.
During the research phase, the report states the committee studied each of the forms of government allowed under state law and discarded those which did not adequately address the seven factors that guided the group’s discussions.
The report notes that the committee “vetted the benefits of change as well as the challenges.”
In its conclusions, the report states “most of this advisory board felt that a change in our current form of government would be best for Middle Township.”
The report then lists three possible options for change, none of which seemed to claim enough allegiance among committee members to surface as a specific recommendation.
Those potential changes, all of which are mutually exclusive under state law, are:
* Movement from three to five governing body members under the current township form.
* Movement to a mayor-council form in which the mayor is the chief executive officer (CEO) of the municipality.
* Movement to the mayor-council administrator form which the mayor is given executive authority while requiring the use of a municipal administrator appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the council.
The mayor-council administrator form is among the least used forms of government in the state.
The form used in the municipality is the incumbent form of government. It’s used in 141 municipalities in the state or 18%.
In Cape May County, it is used in Dennis, Upper, and Middle townships. Both Dennis and Upper townships have five-member governing bodies.
The mayor-council form of government is used in 71 municipalities in the state or 11%. In Cape May County, it is in operation in Avalon, Ocean City, and Sea Isle City.
The mayor-council administrator form is used by three municipalities in the state, less than 1%, and is not in use in Cape May County.
While the report provides the legal descriptions of each of the options for potential change in Middle Township’s form of government, it does not list the committee’s evaluation of each form against the seven factors the report stated as guiding its discussions.
According to the report, a minority of the committee felt the township was running well and that no change was needed. While those who supported that position represented a minority, the sentiment appears to have had more support than any one of the specific options for change.
For those on the committee who advocated for change, the report hints at the substance of their argument, even though agreement on a specific change was not forthcoming. The discussion focus appears to have been on broader representation across a large and diverse township, more direct citizen involvement in the selection of a mayor, granting executive authority to a mayor or a professional administrator and reducing the inefficiencies associated with annual elections, in which the partisan control of the governing body can shift.
In short, the majority of members recommended a change but do not agree on which change option is best, while a strong minority recommended no change.
With that conclusion, the issue of the form of government has been placed back on the governing body where it originated.
The report outlines the process that must be followed to change the form of municipal government. It explains the direct petition process and the option of an elected Charter Study Commission.
Without significant voter support, neither option is a possible outcome, leaving no change in the form of government as a more likely default result.
Mayor Timothy Donohue said any effort to place a Charter Study Commission on the ballot for November would have to be accomplished in the next month to meet ballot deadlines. He added he had no evidence of strong public support for a change.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.