The 1923 Municipal Manager Law was the last type of reformed municipal government the State of New Jersey introduced in the progressive era. The law introduced to New Jersey the council-manager form of government first developed in Sumter, South Carolina.
The council is nonpartisan and elected at-large for four-year terms. The terms may be either concurrent or staggered, and there is an option for run-off elections. Presently, only Lodi Borough uses run-offs and staggered terms, with half of the council being elected for four-year terms every two years.
The mayor, elected by the council from its own numbers, has no executive responsibility beyond appointing representatives of commissions and boards, and presiding over council meetings. The mayor is elected for a four-year term in municipalities with concurrent terms or serves for a two-year term in Lodi Borough which has staggered terms.
The members of the council are subject to recall elections.
| Municipality | County | Terms | Council Seats |
| Asbury Park City | Monmouth | Concurrent | 5 |
| Clifton City | Passaic | Concurrent | 7 |
| Garfield City | Bergen | Concurrent | 5 |
| Hackensack City | Bergen | Concurrent | 5 |
| Lodi Borough | Bergen | Staggered | 7 |
| Medford Lakes Borough | Burlington | Concurrent | 3 |
| Teterboro Borough | Bergen | Concurrent | 5 |
Famous quotes containing the words municipal, manager and/or law:
“No sane local official who has hung up an empty stocking over the municipal fireplace, is going to shoot Santa Claus just before a hard Christmas.”
—Alfred E. Smith (1873–1944)
“I knew a gentleman who was so good a manager of his time that he would not even lose that small portion of it which the calls of nature obliged him to pass in the necessary-house, but gradually went through all the Latin poets in those moments. He bought, for example, a common edition of Horace, of which he tore off gradually a couple of pages, read them first, and then sent them down as a sacrifice to Cloacina: this was so much time fairly gained.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“Mr. Brownlow: The law supposes that your wife acts under your direction.
Bumble: If that’s what the law supposes, sir, then the law’s an ass. And if that’s the eye of the law, sir, then the law’s a bachelor.”
—Vernon Harris (c. 1910)