Sponsored by:
Senator LINDA R. GREENSTEIN
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Allows municipality to determine if newly appointed individual serving as municipal fire department chaplain will hold rank and receive salary and benefits.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning municipal fire department chaplains and amending P.L.1971, c.197.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 1 of P.L.1971, c.197 (C.40A:14-24) is amended to read as follows:
1. a. The governing body of any municipality, by ordinance, may provide for the appointment of one or more chaplains to the paid or part-paid fire department and force of the municipality. Any person so appointed to qualify shall be an ordained clergyman in good standing in the religious body from which [he] the person is selected. The chaplains shall become members of the municipal paid or part-paid fire department and force with the rank of battalion chief. Their salaries shall be fixed by the governing body of the municipality and payable in the same manner as in the case of the other paid members of the fire department and force.
b. A municipal fire department and force chaplain employed on the effective date of P.L. c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) shall not be dismissed or reduced in compensation except for inefficiency, incapacity, or conduct unbecoming such a chaplain or other just cause as determined by the municipal governing body.
c. A municipal fire department and force chaplain initially appointed after the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), shall become a member of the municipal paid or part-paid fire department and force with or without the rank and salary as specified in the ordinance. A chaplains rank, salary, and benefits, if any, shall be determined by the governing body of the municipality.
(cf: P.L.1971, c.197, s.1)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
P.L.1971, c.197 provides that any person appointed by a municipal governing body to serve as a chaplain to the paid or part-paid municipal fire department and force will hold the rank of battalion chief and will have their salary determined by the municipal governing body. This bill amends that law to provide that an individual initially appointed as chaplain, after the bills effective date, may hold the position without a requirement of salary or rank, and specifies that the governing body of the municipality may determine if a chaplain will hold rank and receive a salary and benefits. The bill also provides that the services of all municipal fire department and force chaplains appointed and employed on the bills effective date cannot be dismissed or reduced in compensation except for inefficiency, incapacity, or conduct unbecoming such a chaplain or other just cause as determined by the municipal governing body.