40A:14-70 Fire district designation; procedure; election of commissioners.
40A:14-70. a. In any municipality not having a paid or part-paid fire department and force, the governing body, upon application of at least 5% of the registered voters or 20 legal voters, whichever is the greater, shall consider the designation of a fire district. Upon receipt of the application, the governing body shall fix a time and place for a hearing thereon. The municipal clerk shall advertise the notice of the hearing in a newspaper circulating in the county wherein the municipality is located at least once and not less than 10 days prior to the hearing. After the hearing the governing body shall determine the question of designation of a fire district. If the governing body decides that the designation of a fire district is appropriate, it, by ordinance, shall designate a territorial location or locations for use as a fire district or fire districts and, by resolution, provide for the election of a board of fire commissioners for the district or each district, to consist of five persons, residents therein, and specify the date, time and place for the election of the first board.
b. The district or each district shall be assigned a number and the commissioners thereof and their successors shall be a body corporate, to be known as "the commissioners of fire district No. . . . . . in . . . . . . (name of municipality), county of . . . . . . . . . . (name of county)." The said body corporate shall have the power to acquire, hold, lease, sell or otherwise convey in its corporate name such real and personal property as the purposes of the corporation shall require. All sales and leases of real and personal property shall be in accordance with the provisions of section 13 or 14, as appropriate, of the "Local Lands and Buildings Law," P.L.1971, c.199 (C.40A:12-13 or 40A:12-14). Said body corporate may adopt and use a corporate seal, sue or be sued and shall have such powers, duties and functions as are usual and necessary for said purposes.
c. If the election of the first board of fire commissioners is held at a time other than the time of the general election, the following requirements shall apply:
(1) The clerk of the municipality shall conduct the election and shall preside at the meeting until the board shall have been elected.
(2) At the first meeting of a newly elected board of fire commissioners of a district the board shall choose a chairman and fix the place for the annual election. The members of the board shall divide themselves by lot into three classes: the first to consist of two members whose terms shall expire at 12 o'clock noon on the first Tuesday in March of the year following the year in which the first board is elected; the second, two members whose terms shall expire at 12 o'clock noon on the first Tuesday in March of the second year following that year; and the third, one member whose term shall expire at 12 o'clock noon on the first Tuesday in March of the third year following that year. The terms of fire commissioners in each class, other than members of the first board, shall expire at 12 o'clock noon on the first Tuesday in March of the third year following the year in which they were elected. If the time of the annual election is moved to the time of the general election pursuant to subsection a. of section 23 of P.L.2017, c.206 (C.40A:14-72.2), the terms of the fire commissioners then in office shall be extended until 12 o'clock noon on the first Tuesday in December of the years in which their terms expire.
(3) Any vacancy in the membership shall be filled by the remaining members until the next succeeding annual election held on the third Saturday in February, at which time a resident of the district shall be elected for the unexpired term.
d. If the election of the first board of fire commissioners is held at the time of the general election, the following requirements shall apply:
(1) The election shall be conducted in accordance with the procedures provided for the general election in Title 19 of the Revised Statutes, except as otherwise provided pursuant to N.J.S.40A:14-70 et seq.
(2) The annual election shall be held at the time of the general election on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, and shall be conducted in accordance with the procedures provided for the general election in Title 19 of the Revised Statutes, except as otherwise provided pursuant to N.J.S.40A:14-70 et seq.
(3) The term of a member of a board of fire commissioners shall commence at 12 o'clock noon on the first Tuesday in December.
(4) At the first meeting of a newly elected board of fire commissioners of a district, the board shall choose a chairman. The members of the board shall divide themselves by lot into three classes: the first to consist of two members whose terms shall expire at 12 o'clock noon on the first Tuesday in December of the year following the year in which the first board is elected; the second, two members whose terms shall expire at 12 o'clock noon on the first Tuesday in December of the second year following that year; and the third, one member whose term shall expire at 12 o'clock noon on the first Tuesday in December of the third year following that year. The terms of fire commissioners in each class, other than members of the first board, shall expire at 12 o'clock noon on the first Tuesday in December of the third year following the year in which they were elected.
(5) Any vacancy in the membership shall be filled by the remaining members until the next succeeding annual election held at the time of the general election, at which time a resident of the district shall be elected for the unexpired term.
amended 1979, c.325, s.1; 1979, c.381, s.1; 1980, c.105, s.10; 1985, c.288, s.1; 1991, c.223; 2017, c.206, s.9.