The Municipal Council is the legislative branch of government for Newark, New Jersey.
Newark was governed by a mayor and common council from 1836 to 1917 and then by a five-member commission until 1954.
Effective as of July 1, 1954, the voters of the city of Newark, by a referendum held on November 3, 1953 and under the Optional Municipal Charter Law (commonly known as the Faulkner Act), adopted the Faulkner Act (Mayor-Council) Plan C as the form of local government.
There are nine council members elected on a nonpartisan basis at the regular municipal election or at the general election for terms of four years: one council member from each of five wards and four council members on an at-large basis. The mayor is also elected for a term of four years.
Municipal elections in Newark are nonpartisan. and are held on the 2nd Tuesday in May. A council candidate seeking a post in a ward must receive more than 50 percent of the vote. If a candidate does not receive a majority, a run-off election is held with the two candidates with the greatest number of votes.
Council members choose their own President and until 2014, when the position was eliminated, Vice President.
As of 2012, the Municipal Council were the highest paid city council members in the state, earning approximately $85,000 pa, with the president earning roughly $94,000.
Elections for Municipal Council were last held on May 13, 2014 with members sworn in on July 1, 2014.
The current members,of the council are serving terms which end June 30, 2018.
Mildred C. Crump (President/Council Member-at-Large)
Augusto Amador (Council Member, East Ward)
John Sharpe James (Council Member, South Ward)
Carlos M. Gonzalez (Council Member-at-Large)
Anibal Ramos, Jr. (Council Member, North Ward)
Joe McCallum (Council Member, West Ward)
Gayle Chaneyfield-Jenkins (Council Member, Central Ward)
Eddie Osborne (Council Member-at-Large)
Luis A. Quintana (Council Member-at-Large)
The mayor may cast a tie-breaking vote on the municipal council when there is an equal number of yes and no votes. The Mayor can also call for meetings of the council outside those regularly scheduled.
The Newark mayoral election took place May 13, 2014 and was won by Ras J. Baraka. Luis A. Quintana had stepped down as Council President to be sworn in as mayor on November 4, 2013 assuming the term of Cory Booker, which ended June 30, 2014.
John A. Brady, 1954–1958
Michael A. Bontempo, 1958–1962
Ralph A. Villani 1962–1970
Louis Turco, 1970–1973
Frank G. Megaro, 1973–1974
Earl Harris, 1974–1982
Ralph T. Grant, Jr. 1982–1986
Henry Martinez 1986-1990
Ralph T. Grant, Jr. 1990-1991
Doanld Tucker, 1991–1992
Donald Bradley, 1992–1993
Gary Harris, 1993–1994
Donald Bradley, 1994–2006
Mildred C. Crump 2006–2010, 2013–
Donald M. Payne, Jr. 2010–2012
Luis A. Quintana 2013
Luis A. Quintana, 2006–2010
Anibal Ramos, Jr., 2010–2013
Augusto Amador 2013–2014
Position Eliminated by Council in Late Part of 2014 and the Early Part of 2015, The Position was recreated in May 2015.
Augusto Amador 2015–
Michael A. Bontempo, 1954–1966, 1970–1974
John A. Brady, 1954–1966
James T. Callaghan, 1954–1962, 1966–1968
Jack Waldor, 1954–1958
Raymond V. Santoro, 1958–1962
Anna Santoro, 1962
Anthony Giuliano, 1962–1968
Ralph A. Villani, 1962–1973
Leon Ewing, 1968
Anthony J. Giuliano, 1968–1978
Anthony Imperiale, 1968–1970
Calvin D. West, 1966–70
Sharpe James, 1982–1986
Earl Harris, 1970–1982, 1986–1988
Marie L. Villani, 1973–1993
Ralph T. Grant, Jr. 1978–1994
Gary Harris, 1988–1995
Mildred C. Crump, 1994–1998, 2006–
Donald K. Tucker, 1974–2005
Luis A. Quintana, 1994–2013, 2014–
Gayle Chaneyfield-Jenkins, 1995–2006
Bessie Walker, 1998–2006
Ras J. Baraka, 2005–2006
Carlos M. Gonzalez 2006-2010, 2010-
Donald M. Payne, Jr., 2006–2012
John Sharpe James, 2013–2014
Eddie Osborne, 2014–
Mario V. Farco, 1954–1958
Joseph V. Melillo, 1958–1970
Frank G. Megaro, 1970–1974
Anthony Carrino, 1974–2002
Hector M. Corchado, 2002–2006
Anibal Ramos, Jr., 2006–
Phillip Gordon, 1954–1968
Louis Turco, 1968–1974
Finney J. Alati 1974
Henry Martinez, 1974–1998
Augusto Amador, 1998–
M. Joseph Gallagher, 1954–1958
Frank Addonizio, 1958–1970
Michael P. Bottone, 1970–1982
Ronald L. Rice, 1982–1998
Mamie Bridgeforth, 1998–2006
Ronald C. Rice, 2006-2014
Joe McCallum, 2014-
Samuel Cooper, 1954–1957
Sophie Cooper, 1957–1962
Lee Bernstein, 1962–1969
Horace P. Sharper, 1969–1970
Sharpe James, 1970–1982
Donald M. Payne, Sr., 1982–1989
Donald Bradley 1989-2006
Oscar S. James, II, 2006–2010
Ras J. Baraka, 2010–2014
John Sharpe James, 2014–
Irvine Turner, 1954–1970
Dennis Westbrooks, 1970–1974
Jesse Allen, 1974–1978
Benjamin F. Johnson, III, 1978–1982
George Branch, 1982–1998
Cory A. Booker, 1998–2002
Charles A. Bell 2002–2006, 2008–2010
Dana Rone, 2006–2008
Darrin S. Sharif, 2010-2014
Gayle Chaneyfield-Jenkins, 2014-
