Opinion ID: 1963122
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: applicability of r.s. 40:50-1

Text: The initial question involved is whether the emergency provision of R.S. 40:50-1, supra, may be invoked by the proper governmental body in connection with scavenger contracts. There is no doubt in our minds that it may be so invoked. R.S. 40:66-4 as amended by L. 1942, c. 133, sec. 1, supra, provides: The governing body may, if it deem it more advantageous, contract with any person for the cleaning of the streets, or the collection, removal and disposal of ashes, garbage, refuse and waste matter or any portion thereof. Before making any such contract or contracts the governing body shall first adopt specifications for the doing of the work in a sanitary and inoffensive manner, and any such contract or contracts the amount of which exceeds one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) shall be entered into and made only after bids shall have been advertised therefor, and awarded in the manner provided in chapter fifty of this Title (§ 40:50-1 et seq.). The bidder or bidders to whom the contract or contracts shall be awarded shall give satisfactory bond or other security for the faithful performance of the work. The contract shall include and in all respects conform to the specifications adopted for the doing of the work. R.S. 40:50-1, supra, provides: No municipality shall enter into any contract for the doing of any work, or for the furnishing of any materials, supplies or labor, or the hiring of teams or vehicles, where the sum to be expended exceeds the sum of one thousand dollars, unless the governing body shall first publicly advertise for bids therefor, and shall award the contract to the lowest responsible bidder. This section shall not prevent any municipality from having any work done by its own employees, nor shall it apply to repairs, or to the furnishing of materials, supplies or labor, or the hiring of teams or vehicles, when the safety or protection of public property or the public convenience require, or the exigency of the public service will not admit of such advertisement. In such case, however, the board shall, by resolution, passed by the affirmative vote of four-fifths of all the members of the board or body having charge thereof, declare the exigency or emergency to exist, and set forth in the resolution the nature thereof and the approximate amount to be so expended. N.J. Const. 1947, Art. IV, Sec. VII, par. 11 requires a liberal construction of these statutes in favor of municipal corporations formed for local government. This, together with the clear text of R.S. 40:66-4, as amended, supra, and the settled principle of statutory construction, that statutes in pari materia are to be construed together so as to effectuate the general legislative policy, Miller v. Bd. of Chosen Freeholders, Hudson County, 10 N.J. 398, 413 (1952), requires the conclusion that resort to the emergency proviso of R.S. 40:50-1, supra, may be available to a municipal governing body such as the Authority, in a proper case under R.S. 40:66-4, as amended, supra.