New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 5 - COMMUNITY AFFAIRS › Chapter 23 - UNIFORM CONSTRUCTION CODE › Subchapter 4 - ENFORCING AGENCIES; DUTIES; POWERS; PROCEDURES › Section 5:23-4.4 - Municipal enforcing agencies-organization

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
(a) The municipality
				shall organize its enforcing agency in accordance with the ordinance adopted
				pursuant to N.J.A.C. 5:23-4.3 and to meet the
				following additional requirements:
1. Construction
				official: The construction official shall serve as the chief administrator of the
				enforcing agency. He shall establish the day to day operating routines of the agency
				and shall coordinate the activities of the subcode officials. He shall be qualified
				in accordance with subchapter 5 of this chapter in at least one subcode.
2. Subcode officials: Subcode officials shall
				enforce the provisions of those subcodes for which they are responsible in
				accordance with N.J.A.C. 5:23-3 and qualified in
				accordance with N.J.A.C. 5:23-5 and for which they have
				been appointed by the appointing authority. Each subcode official shall be
				responsible for the administration and enforcement of the appropriate subcode,
				subject to the procedures of the enforcing agency as administered by the
				construction official. However, each subcode official shall have exclusive
				decision-making authority with respect to the technical provisions of the subcode
				for which he has been appointed the official.
3. Interface: Nothing shall prevent one person
				from serving in more than one position for which he is certified and qualified.
				However, more than one person shall not be appointed concurrently to the same
				position.
4. Assistants: The appointing
				authority may establish positions other than those provided in
				N.J.A.C.
				5:23-5 as is deemed necessary. The commissioner
				reserves the right to establish categories of certification for such positions. The
				construction official or appropriate subcode official shall be responsible for the
				supervision of any such personnel.
5.
				Whenever the municipality contracts with private on-site inspection agencies for all
				subcodes, it shall as a minimum appoint a construction official to coordinate
				activities.
6. Acting appointments: A
				municipality shall appoint an acting construction official or subcode official any
				time the absence of such official would impede orderly administration of the Uniform
				Construction Code and other duties mandated by the municipality. Acting appointments
				shall be accomplished by any mechanism acceptable to the municipality; providing,
				however, that a written record shall be kept. Notice to the Department shall be
				provided within seven days any time an appointment is made for more than 30 days.
				Acting appointments may not be made for longer than 60 days, nor may they be
				extended or renewed beyond 60 days unless specific authority to do so is granted in
				writing by the Department.
i. Only an individual
				licensed as a construction official may be appointed as an acting construction
				official and only an individual licensed as a subcode official in a particular
				subcode may be appointed as an acting subcode official for that subcode. The
				technical license level of an acting construction or subcode official shall be
				superior or parallel to the enforcing agency classification of the municipality or
				such municipal classification shall be downgraded to the technical license level of
				the acting official for the period of time in the position. Employees of private
				on-site inspection agencies shall not serve as acting construction officials.
				Employees of private on-site inspection agencies may serve as acting subcode
				officials, provided that notice of any such appointment shall be given to the
				Department by the construction official within seven days of the making of the
				appointment and that such notice shall contain information as to the form and amount
				of the payment being made to the agency for the services of the acting subcode
				officials.
ii. Acting appointments shall
				not constitute the statutory four-year term for construction and subcode officials
				or any portion thereof.
iii. Conflict of
				interest provisions set forth in this subchapter shall apply to acting
				officials.
iv. Nothing in (b) of this
				section shall be interpreted as prohibiting licensed officials from serving in more
				than one municipality in regular or acting appointments.
7. The municipality shall provide the construction
				official, each subcode official and each inspector with personal identification
				which includes at least the name of the municipality, and the name, title and
				photograph of the individual. The identification shall be validated by the
				municipality.
8. A municipality may, in
				its discretion, employ a mechanical inspector to perform plan review and mechanical
				inspections, with oversight by a designated subcode official, for structures of
				Group R-3 or R-5.
9. Provisions
				concerning reappointment of construction and subcode officials in non-civil service
				municipalities are as follows:
i. At least 30 days
				prior to the expiration of the statutory four-year term of office of a construction
				or subcode official, the appointing authority shall give written notice to the
				official indicating whether or not he or she is going to be reappointed.
ii. In the event that the official is neither
				reappointed, nor given written notice that he or she is not being reappointed, prior
				to the date of expiration of the statutory four-year term of office, the official
				shall be deemed to have been appointed to serve in an acting capacity for a period
				of not more than 60 days, in accordance with (a)6 above. The municipality is not
				relieved of the obligation, pursuant to (a)6 above, to notify the Department within
				seven days any time any acting appointment will exceed 30 days.
iii. In the event that the official is neither
				reappointed, nor given written notice that he or she is not being reappointed, prior
				to the expiration of the 60-day period following the date of expiration of the prior
				statutory four year term of office, the Department, in such circumstance, shall not
				extend any such acting appointment and the official shall be deemed to have been
				reappointed, such reappointment being effective retroactively to the date of
				expiration of the prior statutory four-year term.