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April 8, 2020

I. Earn CEU Credits from Home With NJLM Webinars
II. Congress and Federal Agencies Continue COVID-19 Response
III. Extending Certain Deadlines for School Districts with May Elections
IV. Government Technology COVID Resource Page

Municipal Clerks: Please forward to your Mayor, Governing Body and Department Heads.

To assist in providing guidance and information we have created a COVID-19 resource page. We will continue to update the page as we get pertinent information and include announcements in our Daily Updates.

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I. Earn CEU Credits from Home with NJLM Webinars

A. Preventing Sexual Harassment in Your Municipal Workplace Webinar

Friday, April 17, 2020
11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
Location: Your Computer

CEUs: CMFO/CCFO-1.5 Eth;CTC-1.5 Eth;CPWM-1.5 Eth;RMC-1.5 Eth;QPA-1.5 Eth;NJCLE-1.5 Eth; RPPO/RPPS-1.0 Eth; Planning/Zoning Board Secretary-1.0 Admin; Zoning Officier-1.0 Admin; Land Use Administrator-1.0 Admin

Event Details for April 17 Preventing Sexual Harassment Webinar

B. Recent OPRA Decisions and “Q & A with the GRC”

Friday, May 15, 2020
9:15 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
Location: Your Computer

CEUs: CMFO/CCFO-4.0 Off MGMT/ANC;CTC-4.0 Gen/Sec;CPWM-4.0 GOVT;RMC-4.0 Rec;QPA-4.0 Off Admin/Gen Duties;CPA-4.0 PD;RPPO/RPPS-4.0 M/S;CRP-4.0 Classroom; Planning Board Secretaries-3.5 Tech, Zoning Officials-3.5 Tech, Land Use Administrators-3.5 Tech;CPC-3.5;NJCLE-4.0

Event Details for May 15 OPRA Program

II. Congress and Federal Agencies Continue COVID-19 Response

Yesterday in the House of Representatives, Colorado Congressman Joe Neguse, a member of the Speaker’s leadership team, introduced legislation that would allocate $250 Billion in emergency funding to communities with populations under 500,000. Those communities, which include every New Jersey municipality, were excluded from direct stabilization aid in the ‘Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act’ (the CARES Act).

New Jersey’s Tom Malinowski assisted in the introduction of the new bill, the ‘Coronavirus Community Relief Act’ (CCRA), and will join Congressman Neguse as a sponsor. Other members of the New Jersey delegation who have already signed-on as co-sponsors are Representatives Josh Gottheimer, Mikie Sherrill, and Albio Sires.

The CCRA funding could be used to address extraordinary local costs, incurred in response to COVID-19. These costs would include deploying timely public service announcements to keep your citizens informed, rapidly activating emergency operations, readying employees for telework to keep services running, and more.
We will provide you with more specifics, once we obtain a copy of the bill. In the meantime, reach out to Senators Menendez and Booker and to your House delegate, expressing your support for the Coronavirus Community Relief Act.

We have two other federal developments to bring to your attention. First, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has declined to pause the ‘shot clock’ – the deadline by which an application for broadband deployment must be denied, before it is ‘deemed’ approved. Second, for the purposes of the enhanced Family and Medical Leave provisions in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has expanded the definition of ‘emergency responders’ to include ‘public works personnel’.

Contact: Jon Moran, Senior Legislative Analyst, jmoran@njlm.org, 609-695-3481 x121.

III. Extending Certain Deadlines for School Districts with May Elections

As a result of changing the April school board elections to May, yesterday Governor Murphy signed Executive Order 116, extending certain statutory deadlines for school districts with elections postponed until May. The executive order extends the statutory time period for the municipal governing body (ies) to review a defeated school budget. The deadline to submit a certified tax levy to the county board of taxation is extended to June 9, 2020.

In addition, the executive order extended the deadline to give non-tenured teaching, staff members a written offer of a contract for employment for next year or notice that such employment will not be offered, from May 15 to June 5.Any non-tenured teaching staff must notify the school board in writing on or before June 22 if they accept the employment offer.

Finally, the order extends the terms of board of education members whose terms are due to expire at the first organization meeting following the April election to the first organization meeting following the May 12 election. The terms of board of education members elected at the May 12 election will run as though they had taken office at the first organization meeting following the April election.

The order took effect on April 7, 2020.

Contact: Lori Buckelew, Senior Legislative Analyst, lbuckelew@njlm.org, 609-695-3481 x112.

IV. Government Technology COVID Resource Page

The New Jersey Digital Government Summit scheduled for May 19 is being rescheduled. However Government Technology magazine, which organizes the annual Summit with the NJ Office of Information Technology, has assembled a helpful COVID response resource page. They have relevant telework policies from cities around the country and useful government technology solutions.

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