THE BROADWAY NATIONAL BANK OF BAYONNE, A NATIONAL BANKING INSTITUTION, PLAINTIFF-RESPONDENT, v. THE PARKING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF BAYONNE, AND VINCENT BURKE, FRANK CARPENTER, SR., JACOB DROGIN, WALTER P. PAGUREK, ALAN F. PAUL AND JAMES GARITO, ALAN KONIECZKO, SAMUEL LEVIS AND CHESTER ZEBROWSKI, DEFENDANTS-APPELLANTS.
VINCENT BURKE, FRANK CARPENTER, SR., JACOB DROGIN AND WALTER PAGUREK, PLAINTIFFS-RESPONDENTS, v. JAMES GARITO, ALAN KONIECZKO, SAMUEL LEVIS, CHESTER ZEBROWSKI, ALLEGED COMMISSIONERS OF THE PARKING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF BAYONNE; FRANCIS G. FITZPATRICK, ALFRED DWORZANSKI, WILLIAM MARTIN, JOSEPH LEFANTE, DENNIS COLLINS AND JOSEPH MAKOWSKI, MEMBERS OF THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY OF BAYONNE, DEFENDANTS-APPELLANTS.
Supreme Court of New Jersey
Argued February 19, 1963 — Decided May 20, 1963.
40 N.J. 227
227
Mr. James P. Dugan argued the cause for the defendants-appellants, James Garito, Alan F. Paul, Alan Konieczko, Samuel Levis and Chester Zebrowski.
Mr. Roy G. Simmons argued the cause for the plaintiffs-respondents, Vincent Burke, Frank Carpenter, Sr., Jacob Drogin and Walter Pagurek. (Messrs. Camp & Simmons, attorneys).
PROCTOR, J. The sole issue presented on this appeal is whether the terms of office of commissioners of a municipal parking authority, created by a municipality pursuant to the Parking Authority Law,
The facts are not in dispute. On December 17, 1958 the City of Bayonne, which was then governed by a board of commissioners under the Walsh Act,
On July 1, 1962 Mayor-Council Plan C, one of the optional plans of government under the Faulkner Act (
Burke, Carpenter, Pagurek and Drogin claimed that they had valid continuing terms as commissioners of the Parking Authority, notwithstanding the change in the form of government. On the other hand, Garito, Konieczko, Levis and Zebrowski contended that the terms of the previous commissioners ceased and determined by operation of
The actions were consolidated with the consent of the parties, all of whom moved for judgment on the uncontroverted facts.
The trial court held that a parking authority is “a separate public entity operating independently of the municipality in which it is formed,” and that
“* * * that the offices of commissioners of the Parking Authority of the City of Bayonne were not abolished and the terms of the incumbent officers did not cease and determine upon the taking effect of the Faulkner Act on July 1, 1962 at noon. Vincent Burke, Frank Carpenter, Sr., Jacob Drogin, Walter Pagurek and Alan Paul continue to hold office as lawful commissioners of the Parking Authority of the City of Bayonne, and the Broadway National Bank of Bayonne is directed to honor their right and title to control the bank account standing to the credit of the Parking Authority of the City of Bayonne.” Id., at p. 148.
A judgment incorporating the above holding and granting the injunctive relief sought was thereafter entered.
Upon the taking effect of one of the optional plans of government under the Faulkner Act, the transition from the old form of government to the new is accomplished by
“At 12 o‘clock noon on the effective date of an optional plan adopted pursuant to this act, all offices then existing in such municipality shall be abolished and the terms of all elected and appointed officers shall immediately cease and determine; provided, that nothing in this section shall be construed to abolish the office or terminate the term of office of any member of the board of education, trustees of the free public library, commissioners of a local housing authority, municipal magistrates or of any official or employee now protected by any tenure of office law, or of any policeman, fireman, teacher, principal or school superintendent whether or not protected by a tenure of office law. If the municipality is operating under the provisions of Title 11 of the Revised Statutes (Civil Service) at the time of the adoption of an optional plan under this act, nothing herein contained shall affect the tenure of office of any person holding any position or office coming within the provisions of said Title 11 as it applies to said officers and employees. If the municipal clerk has, prior to the effective date of the optional plan, acquired a protected tenure of office pursuant to law, he shall become the first municipal clerk under the optional plan.
Provision for officers and for the organization and administration of the municipal government under the optional plan may be made by resolution pending the adoption of ordinances, but any such resolution shall expire not later than 30 days after the effective date of the optional plan.”
On this appeal, the defendants-appellants (the “new” commissioners) contend that the part of section 207 which provides that upon the advent of the new government, “the terms of all elected and appointed officers shall immediately cease
Section 207 provides in part that “all offices then existing in such municipality” shall be abolished upon the taking effect of a Faulkner Act plan of government in a municipality. (Emphasis added) Though a parking authority is an “agency and instrumentality” of the municipality creating it (
However, the question remains whether the terms of officers (commissioners) of a parking authority come to an end upon the taking effect of the new plan of government, notwithstanding that the offices constituting the authority are not within section 207. That section does not stop with the abolishment of “all offices then existing in such municipality,” but provides further that “the terms of all elected and appointed officers shall immediately cease and determine.” The trial court held that the offices of parking authority commissioners could not be abolished, and that the effect of section 207 “cannot be split“; that “the term ‘all officers’ is and can be no broader than the term ‘all offices‘“; and that therefore the section does not encompass the ending of the terms of officers who filled offices which could not be abolished. 76 N.J. Super., at p. 147. We think this construction of section 207 makes superfluous the clause, “and the terms of all elected and appointed officers shall immediately cease and determine.” (Emphasis added) Whenever an office is abolished, the term of the holder of that office necessarily comes to an end, since there cannot be an officeholder without an office to fill. If the only legislative objective were to end the terms of those office-
One of the objectives of the Faulkner Act is to centralize maximum powers in the new government, giving it “the widest possible authority to determine the organization of departments.” Myers v. Cedar Grove Tp., supra, at p. 57. To this end, section 207 provides that “all offices” existing in the municipality shall be abolished, in order that the newly formed government “should not be hampered in its organization by a variety of holdover boards, bodies and departments.” Ibid. Another objective envisioned by section 207 of the Faulkner Act is to provide a “clean slate” of elected and appointed personnel (with specific exceptions) with whom the new government must work in close harmony in order to efficiently perform municipal functions. Id., at p. 56.
The Parking Authority Law contemplates a close relationship between an authority and the municipality which creates it. State v. Parking Authority of the City of Trenton, supra, at p. 337; cf. Kohler v. Cobb, 31 N.J. 369, 374 (1960). Although an authority is a separate and independent entity, it is nevertheless an instrumentality of the municipality for the fulfillment of a local municipal function in the important field of traffic control. Cf. DeVita v. Housing Authority of City of Paterson, 17 N.J. 350, 360 (1955); Camden County v. Pennsauken Sewerage Auth., 15 N.J. 456, 464-465 (1954). The Law authorizes the municipality to cooperate with the authority by donating or lending funds and granting or conveying real or personal property to it; by issuing municipal bonds and paying the proceeds to the authority; by uncondi-
In order that the newly-created government have an opportunity to achieve a harmonious relationship among those who are to be charged with the fulfillment of local municipal functions upon the establishment of the new government, section 207 provides that “the terms of all elected and appointed officers” (without restriction to those whose offices are “existing in such municipality“) immediately cease and determine. (Emphasis added) The commissioners of a parking authority fit the above description since they are appointed by the governing body of the municipality under the Parking Authority Law.
In cases construing the transitional provision of the Walsh Act,
Our conclusion is buttressed by the language of the proviso in section 207, wherein the Legislature deemed it necessary to expressly except both the offices and the terms of office of the members of specific boards, bodies and classes of employees which it desired should remain unaffected by a change in the form of government. For example, section 207 would not abolish the offices of commissioners of a local housing authority for the same reasons set forth earlier in this opinion with respect to parking authorities, since it, too, is a separate and
The plaintiffs contend that section 207 has been impliedly repealed with respect to parking authorities by
“A parking authority shall not be subject to, or constitute a municipality or agency or component of a municipality subject to, the provisions of chapter 50 or any other provisions of Title 40 of the Revised Statutes.”
“All general or special laws, or parts thereof, inconsistent herewith are hereby declared to be inapplicable to the exercise of the powers, duties and obligations authorized under the provisions of this act.”
As to
As to
The judgments of the trial court are reversed and the matters are remanded to it for the entry of judgments consistent with the above holding.
WEINTRAUB, C. J., and HANEMAN, J. (dissenting). The majority opinion holds that although the offices of commissioners of a municipal parking authority were not abolished by the adoption of a plan of government under the Optional Municipal Charter Law (Faulkner Act),
The critical provision of the Faulkner Act is
“At 12 o‘clock noon on the effective date of an optional plan adopted pursuant to this act, all offices then existing in such municipality shall be abolished and the terms of all elected and appointed officers shall immediately cease and determine; provided, that nothing in this section shall be construed to abolish the office or terminate the term of office of any member of the board of education, trustees of the free public library, commissioners of a local housing authority, municipal magistrates or of any official or employee now protected by any tenure of office law, or of any policeman, fireman, teacher, principal or school superintendent whether or not protected by a tenure of office law. If the municipality is operating under the provisions of Title 11 of the Revised Statutes (Civil Service) at the time of the adoption of an optional plan under this act, nothing herein contained shall affect the tenure of office of any person holding
any position or office coming within the provisions of said Title 11 as it applies to said officers and employees. If the municipal clerk has, prior to the effective date of the optional plan, acquired a protected tenure of office pursuant to law, he shall become the first municipal clerk under the optional plan.” (Emphasis added)
We find nothing there to suggest that a term of office shall end notwithstanding the office itself survives. In the first italicized portion we find the phrase “all offices then existing in such municipality shall be abolished and the terms of all elected and appointed officers shall immediately cease and determine.” We do not know why, after providing for the abolition of an office, the Legislature went to the trouble of adding that the term of the incumbent shall cease. We would think that if an office is abolished, the term of the holder necessarily ends. Perhaps for fear that a dislodged incumbent might claim the new office if it were the same as or very similar to the office the statute abolished, the draftsman spelled out the consequence of the abolition of the office, i. e., the termination of the holder‘s incumbency. Whatever the reason, there is no evidence of an intent to end the term as to an office that is not destroyed.
In the proviso which follows the portion to which we just referred, we have the language that “nothing in this section shall be construed to abolish the office or terminate the term” of offices which are then enumerated. The use of “or” rather than “and” does not indicate an intent that as to some offices the term of the incumbent shall end while the office continues unscathed. We must remember that this is only a proviso and that in the enacting part from which the proviso carves out certain exclusions there is nothing which affirmatively states a purpose to end a term rather than both office and term, and nothing which intimates a test whereby it may be discovered in what instances the term shall go and the office remain. Nor does the proviso provide such a result with respect to any office to which it applies.
Since neither the enacting portion nor the proviso would thus separate term from office, it strikes us as strange to infer
The argument seems to be that the Faulkner Act contemplates a “clean sweep” which can be furthered only by the result reached by the majority. The trouble is that the Faulkner Act does not elsewhere reveal a guiding concept as to what is swept away. The act of course envisions change. But change of what? We believe the change intended relates to the structure of government and that while faces may be changed in the process, the change of faces is only incidental. Indeed the Preliminary Statement (1948) of the Commission on Municipal Government which proposed the statute is replete with statements of a purpose to improve the structure of local government. The appropriate medium for a change of faces as such would be a recall election coupled with the abolition of tenure laws. It would be quite devious and expensive as well to seek a change in government, not to achieve a better mechanism, but to effect a change of faces prior to the next scheduled election. We cannot attribute any such purpose to the Faulkner Act.1
We would therefore affirm the judgment.
For reversal and remandment—Justices JACOBS, FRANCIS, PROCTOR, HALL and SCHETTINO—5.
For affirmance—Chief Justice WEINTRAUB, and Justice HANEMAN—2.
