{"id":980,"date":"2018-08-25T21:17:29","date_gmt":"2018-08-26T01:17:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/?page_id=980"},"modified":"2026-07-27T14:25:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T18:25:49","slug":"administration","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/administration\/","title":{"rendered":"Administration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table aligncenter\">\n<table class=\"has-fixed-layout\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>The City of Paterson operates under the <strong>Faulkner Act (Optional Municipal Charter Law), Plan D \u2013 Mayor\u2013Council<\/strong> form of government, which voters adopted in 1974. This system separates executive and legislative powers, with a directly elected mayor serving as chief executive and a nine-member City Council serving as the legislative body.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>Executive Branch<\/h2>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>Mayor<\/h3>\n<p><br \/>The Mayor is the City&#8217;s Chief Executive Officer and is elected to a four-year term. The Mayor&#8217;s responsibilities include:<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Administering all municipal operations<\/li>\n<li>Enforcing city ordinances and state laws<\/li>\n<li>Appointing department directors and the Business Administrator (subject to City Council confirmation where required)<\/li>\n<li>Preparing and submitting the annual municipal budget<\/li>\n<li>Supervising city departments and agencies<\/li>\n<li>Recommending policies and legislation to the City Council<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><br \/>Business Administrator<\/h3>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Business Administrator<\/strong> serves as the City&#8217;s Chief Operating Officer and manages the day-to-day administration of municipal government. <br \/><br \/>Duties include:<br \/><br \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Coordinating all city departments<\/li>\n<li>Implementing mayoral policies<\/li>\n<li>Overseeing municipal operations<\/li>\n<li>Preparing administrative reports<\/li>\n<li>Representing the administration before the City Council<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><br \/><strong>Legislative Branch<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The <strong>Paterson City Council<\/strong> consists of <strong>nine members<\/strong>:<br \/><br \/>Six Ward Council Members <br \/><br \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>First Ward<\/li>\n<li>Second Ward<\/li>\n<li>Third Ward<\/li>\n<li>Fourth Ward<\/li>\n<li>Fifth Ward<\/li>\n<li>Sixth Ward<\/li>\n<li>Three At-Large Council Members<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>The Council:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Adopts ordinances and resolutions<\/li>\n<li>Approves the municipal budget<\/li>\n<li>Confirms mayoral appointments where required<\/li>\n<li>Sets municipal policy<\/li>\n<li>Conducts oversight of city government<\/li>\n<li>Council members are elected to four-year terms.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>Principal Municipal Departments<\/h2>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Under Paterson&#8217;s Administrative Code, municipal government is organized into the following major departments:<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Department of Administration<\/li>\n<li>Personnel<\/li>\n<li>Purchasing<\/li>\n<li>Information Technology<\/li>\n<li>Risk Management<\/li>\n<li>Human Resources<\/li>\n<li>Department of Finance<\/li>\n<li>Tax Collector<\/li>\n<li>Tax Assessor<\/li>\n<li>Treasury<\/li>\n<li>Budget<\/li>\n<li>Accounting<\/li>\n<li>Department of Economic Development<\/li>\n<li>Business Development<\/li>\n<li>Redevelopment<\/li>\n<li>Planning<\/li>\n<li>Economic Incentives<\/li>\n<li>Department of Health and Human Services<\/li>\n<li>Public Health<\/li>\n<li>Vital Statistics<\/li>\n<li>Social Services<\/li>\n<li>Environmental Health<\/li>\n<li>Department of Law<\/li>\n<li>Corporation Counsel<\/li>\n<li>Litigation<\/li>\n<li>Legal Advice to Departments<\/li>\n<li>Contract Review<\/li>\n<li>Department of Public Works<\/li>\n<li>Streets<\/li>\n<li>Sanitation<\/li>\n<li>Recycling<\/li>\n<li>Parks Maintenance<\/li>\n<li>Engineering<\/li>\n<li>Fleet Maintenance<\/li>\n<li>Department of Public Safety<\/li>\n<li>Police<\/li>\n<li>Fire<\/li>\n<li>Emergency Management<\/li>\n<li>Code Enforcement<\/li>\n<li>Department of Community Development<\/li>\n<li>Housing Programs<\/li>\n<li>Community Development Block Grants (CDBG)<\/li>\n<li>Homeless Assistance Programs<\/li>\n<li>Neighborhood Revitalization<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These departments are established by the City&#8217;s Administrative Code.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2><br \/>Other Municipal Offices and Agencies<\/h2>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Paterson&#8217;s government also includes:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Municipal Clerk<\/li>\n<li>Municipal Court<\/li>\n<li>Planning Board<\/li>\n<li>Zoning Board of Adjustment<\/li>\n<li>Historic Preservation Commission<\/li>\n<li>Parking Authority<\/li>\n<li>Paterson Museum<\/li>\n<li>Paterson Free Public Library<\/li>\n<li>Recreation Division<\/li>\n<li>Office of Emergency Management<\/li>\n<li>Board of Health<\/li>\n<li>Various advisory boards and commissions<br \/><br \/><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Historical Note<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><br \/>Prior to 1974, Paterson operated under a system established by the <strong>1907 Municipal Charter<\/strong>, which divided authority among several independent boards, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Board of Aldermen<\/li>\n<li>Board of Finance<\/li>\n<li>Board of Health<\/li>\n<li>Board of Public Works<\/li>\n<li>Board of Fire and Police Commissioners<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Following voter approval in 1974, the city adopted the Faulkner Act Mayor\u2013Council form, centralizing executive authority in the Mayor while strengthening legislative oversight through the City Council.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The City of Paterson operates under the Faulkner Act (Optional Municipal Charter Law), Plan D \u2013 Mayor\u2013Council form of government, which voters adopted in 1974. This system separates executive and legislative powers, with a directly elected mayor serving as chief &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/administration\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"kt_blocks_editor_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-980","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Administration - Paterson History<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/administration\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Administration - Paterson History\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The City of Paterson operates under the Faulkner Act (Optional Municipal Charter Law), Plan D \u2013 Mayor\u2013Council form of government, which voters adopted in 1974. This system separates executive and legislative powers, with a directly elected mayor serving as chief &hellip; Continued\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/administration\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Paterson History\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/1490771894474005\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-27T18:25:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/patersonhistory.com\\\/index.php\\\/administration\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/patersonhistory.com\\\/index.php\\\/administration\\\/\",\"name\":\"Administration - Paterson History\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patersonhistory.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-08-26T01:17:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-27T18:25:49+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/patersonhistory.com\\\/index.php\\\/administration\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/patersonhistory.com\\\/index.php\\\/administration\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/patersonhistory.com\\\/index.php\\\/administration\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patersonhistory.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Administration\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patersonhistory.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patersonhistory.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Paterson History\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patersonhistory.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patersonhistory.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patersonhistory.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Paterson History\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patersonhistory.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patersonhistory.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patersonhistory.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Paterson-History-banner-3-bright-5-1024x512.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patersonhistory.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Paterson-History-banner-3-bright-5-1024x512.png\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Paterson History\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patersonhistory.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/groups\\\/1490771894474005\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Administration - Paterson History","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/administration\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Administration - Paterson History","og_description":"The City of Paterson operates under the Faulkner Act (Optional Municipal Charter Law), Plan D \u2013 Mayor\u2013Council form of government, which voters adopted in 1974. This system separates executive and legislative powers, with a directly elected mayor serving as chief &hellip; Continued","og_url":"http:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/administration\/","og_site_name":"Paterson History","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/1490771894474005","article_modified_time":"2026-07-27T18:25:49+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/administration\/","url":"http:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/administration\/","name":"Administration - Paterson History","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-08-26T01:17:29+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-27T18:25:49+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/administration\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/administration\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/administration\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Administration"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/","name":"Paterson History","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/#organization","name":"Paterson History","url":"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Paterson-History-banner-3-bright-5-1024x512.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Paterson-History-banner-3-bright-5-1024x512.png","width":1024,"height":512,"caption":"Paterson History"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/1490771894474005"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=980"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"http:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3290,"href":"http:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/980\/revisions\/3290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}