The County Executive of Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey, is the chief officer of the county's executive branch and oversees the administration of county government. Approved in a 1977 referendum, the office was inaugurated in 1978 at the same time the Board of Chosen Freeholders, which plays a legislative role, was reconfigured to include a mix of at-large and district seats. The executive offices are located at the Essex County Government Complex in the county seat, Newark. When the first executive was elected in 1978, The New York Times described that the position was "considered by many to be second in power only to that of the Governor."
The executive has power to appoint a County Administrator as well as department heads, subject to the approval of the Board of County Commissioners. Responsibilities include preparation/submission of operating and capital budgets, introduction of legislation, the hiring and dismissal of personnel, and approval or veto of Freeholder ordinances. The Board of County Commissioners have the power to investigate administrative actions of the executive, approve ordinances and resolutions, initiate service contracts with municipalities, and adopt an administrative code.General Information, Essex County, New Jersey. Accessed March 19, 2018. "Citizens approved the change in form of government by a 72,226 to 64,238 vote. As per the approved plan, Essex County was divided into five districts, by population and geography, with each district represented by one Freeholder, and the four remaining Freeholders were to be elected at-large. The following year, the new officials were elected on November 6, 1978, and were sworn into office on the steps of the Essex County Hall of Records one week later, Tuesday, November 13."
The executive is directly elected to a four-year term on a partisan basis. Since the first county executive took office, five individuals have served in the position, alternating between Democrats and Republicans. Incumbent Democrat Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. was first elected county executive in 2002.
As of Election Day 2017 there were 491,941 registered voters in the county, the third-most of any county in the stateStatewide Voter Registration Summary, New Jersey Department of State, published November 7, 2017. Accessed March 18, 2018 which in 2016 had estimated an estimated population of 786,914, the third-largest county in New Jersey by population.State & County QuickFacts – Essex County, New Jersey, United States Census Bureau. Accessed April 9, 2017.
Essex is one of five counties in New Jersey with a county executive, the others being Atlantic, Bergen, Hudson and Mercer.Robert D. Prunetti, County Executive Of Mercer County, Plaintiff, v. Mercer County Board Of Chosen Freeholders, Defendant, FindLaw, November 13, 2001. Accessed March 19, 2018. "In 1972, the Legislature adopted the Optional County Charter Law, providing a county the opportunity to reorganize its form of government into one of four alternative forms: (i) the County Executive Plan; (ii) the County Manager Plan; (iii) the Board President Plan; or (iv) the County Supervisor Plan. See N.J.S.A. 40:41A-1 et seq. Six counties have elected to reorganize their governmental structure pursuant to the Optional Charter Act. They are respectively: Atlantic, Essex, Hudson, Essex, Mercer and Union Counties. Five of these counties...have opted for the County Executive Plan."Rinde, Meir. "Explainer: What's a Freeholder? NJ's Unusual County Government System", NJ Spotlight, October 27, 2015. Accessed March 19, 2018. "Five counties -- Atlantic, Essex, Essex, Hudson, and Mercer -- opted for popularly elected county executives in addition to freeholder boards."
History In 1972, the State of New Jersey passed the Optional County Charter Law, which provides for four different methods under which a county could be governed: by an executive, an administrator, a board president or a county supervisor.Miller, William, Model County Administrative Codes Under the Optional County Charter Law of New Jersey, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, 1974. Accessed March 19, 2018.
A Charter Study Commission was formed in 1974 and was the only one of nine counties to consider changes that rejected the path of modifying the structure of county government.Gansberg, Martin. "Charter Plans Are Varied", The New York Times, November 3, 1974. Accessed March 18, 2018. "Voters in eight of the state's 21 counties will decide Tuesday whether there should be changes in their Freeholder system of government. Charter – study commissions elected last November are supporting the reforms.Only the Essex County commission rejected any change. But those in Atlantic, Bergen, Camden, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, Passaic and Union Counties are recommending modifications in the current Board of Freeholder operations." The six Democrats on the Charter Study Commission supported the status quo while the three Republicans were in favor of the proposed changes; The commission' s report concluded that "It is the recommendation of the Commission that none of the options is suitable for adoption by the County of Essex..."
In September 1975, a group called "Vote Yes", with support from the county's bipartisan conference of mayors and the non-partisan League of Women Voters submitted to the County Clerk petitions with nearly 62,000 signatures asking that a strong County Executive position be created, together with changes to the structure of the nine-member board of chosen freeholders in which four seats would be elected at-large and five from equal-sized districts; the signatures collected exceeded the minimum threshold of nearly 57,000 signatures necessary to put the measure on the ballot, representing 15% of the 378,000 voters registered in the county. Despite the Democratic Party's longstanding control of the existing freeholder board, it was "good government Democrats" who had gathered the greatest number of signatures.Waggoner, Walter H. "New Charter for Essex Urged", The New York Times, September 14, 1975. Accessed March 18, 2018. "Supporters of changing the form of Essex County's government have confidently opened a campaign urging that their proposal be put to the voters in a referendum on the November ballot.A group calling itself "Citizens for Charter Change in Essex County" has submitted to the County Clerk a petition containing the names of 61,904 residents who want the public to have the chance to state whether or not they favor a change in the rules governing the election of the county's nine-man Board of Chosen Freeholders. They also are calling for the election of a County Executive with strong administrative powers." After the County Clerk verified the signatures submitted by the renamed Citizens for Charter Change in Essex County, it was determined that the group was 8,500 signatures short of the minimum, as only 48,200 of the names on petitions could be verified against voter registration rolls.Waggoner, Walter H. "Court to Weigh Essex Charter Issue", The New York Times, October 4, 1975. Accessed March 18, 2018. "By the legal cut-off date of Sept. 5, the forces seeking a Charter change had filed petitions bearing 61,608 signatures. But on Oct. 1, Nicholas V. Caputo, the County Clerk, notified the group that a check of names against registration records as of Sept. 5 showed that only 48,274 of the names—8,477 short of the required number—were those of registered voters." A three-judge panel gave the charter-change supporters an extension to gather the necessary petitions in enough time to have ballots printed,Waggoner, Walter H. "Charter Petition Gains More Time", The New York Times, October 7, 1975. Accessed March 18, 2018. "The Appellate Division of the State Superior Court ruled unanimously today that Citizens for Charter Change in Essex County could have until Friday to get the 56,761 signatures needed to put the question of county government reform on the ballot next month.... The appellate judges accepted the appeal by the charter change forces on an emergency basis, in view of the approaching Nov. 4 Selection Day and the necessity for printing the ballots as soon as possible." which never came to fruition.
A second initiative was begun by the bi-partisan Citizens for Charter Change in Essex County to get a referendum to modify Essex County government on the ballot, in the face of opposition from the establishment Democrats who had been in control of county government since 1969.Narvaez, Alfonso A. "Bid Made To Change Essex Government", The New York Times, September 28, 1977. Accessed March 19, 2017. "A bipartisan group of residents of Essex County began a drive today to change the form of government in the county. At a breakfast meeting of 100 business leaders and municipal officials at the Claremont Diner here, the group, known as Citizens for Charter Change, proposed that the present nine-member Board of Chosen Freeholders be replaced with a strong county executive and a nine-member Board of Freeholders, five of whom would be elected from districts and four elected at large. The question of a charter change is expected to be on the ballot in November for a referendum and formidable opposition is expected from organizational Democrats who have controlled the membership of the board since 1969." In a June 1977 court ruling, it was determined that there were a sufficient number of signatures collected to get the initiative on the ballot. The chairman of the county Democratic Party vowed to "fight like hell" in opposition to the charter change, which he described as "a form of dictatorship", while the leader of a group opposed to the change, led by a freeholder not running for re-election, was against what he saw as the "establishment of an autonomous governmental czar who could reign unchecked over Essex County for four years."Narvaez, Alfonso. A. "Essex to Vote on Charter Change", The New York Times, October 16, 1977. Accessed March 19, 2018. "Harry Lerner, the Democratic county chairman, says he is prohibited from taking a public position on the question because of his post as county leader; however, he added that, as a private citizen, taxpayer and life-long resident of the county, he would vigorously oppose the change. 'I'm going to fight like hell against it,' Mr. Lerner said in an interview. 'It's unnecessary. It's not for our county. To me, it's a form of dictatorship. I'm opposed to it.'"
The second referendum was held in November 1977 and the proposal to create an executive branch was passed by the voters 72,226 to 64,238. The change also modified the structure of the legislative branch, board of chosen freeholders, eliminating the position of county supervisor and changing the structure of the nine-member, at-large board of chosen freeholders so that four would remain at-large, while five would be elected from equal-sized districts.Waggoner, Walter H. "Reorganization of Bergen[sic] Government Is Under Way", The New York Times, November 10, 1977. Accessed March 20, 2018. "The county reorganization provides not only for the election of a full-time County Executive, who would then appoint a County Administrator, but also a new system of electing the nine Freeholders, who would, in effect, be the county 'legislature.' Five of the Freeholders would be elected from newly created districts within the county, while four would be elected at large.... The role of the new Freeholder body also would be reduced to that primarily of policy making, with little or no control over county services or expenditures." The first executive, Peter Shapiro, was elected in November 1978, and took office together on November 13 of that year, one week after election day, together with the nine newly elected freeholders.
County executives Peter Shapiro: 1978–1985