On January 5, 1971, the United States Congress enacted Public Law 91-648, known as the Intergovernmental Personnel Act. This legislation was designed to reinforce the federal system by strengthening the personnel resources of state and local governments, to improve intergovernmental cooperation in the administration of grant-in-aid programs, to provide grants for improvement of state and local personnel administration, to authorize federal assistance in training state and local employees, to provide grants to state and local governments for training of their employees, to authorize interstate compacts for personnel and training activities, to facilitate the temporary assignment of personnel between the federal government and state and local governments, and for other purposes. When the purposes of these federal grants were made known by the U.S. Civil Service Commission, New Jersey wanted to take advantage of the benefits available under IPA to improve personnel programs in the state. The big question was, what was the best way to spend the kind of money New Jersey could expect to receive so that it would be of the greatest benefit to all levels of government while at the same time achieving, to the maximum extent possible, the objectives of the Act? In 1971, Commissioner James A. Alloway, president of the New Jersey Civil Service Commission, was designated by former Governor William T. Cahill as the primary authority for carrying out all of the provisions of the Intergovernmental Personnel Act in New Jersey. Commissioner Alloway named a New Jersey IPA Committee made up of top executives from state, county, and municipal governments to evaluate applications for grants under the Intergovernmental Personnel Act and to establish appropriate priorities in determining which programs would provide the greatest benefit to governments in the State of New Jersey. One of the projects approved by the committee was the development of A Model Personnel System for New Jersey County and Municipal Governments. A staff of highly trained specialists was assembled and charged with the responsibility of developing a personnel system that would have broad applicability to all New Jersey counties and municipal governments embodying merit system principles and being consistent with the intent of he Intergovernmental Personnel Act as well as all appropriate statutes, rules, and regulations inherent in the State of New Jersey laws. The model was to be designed to meet the needs of both Civil Service and non-Civil Service jurisdictions and all autonomous bodies within the State of New Jersey. Three New Jersey jurisdictions were selected to participate in the development of the model by serving as a vehicle for studying personnel administration at the local level. Numerous factors had to be considered, such as willingness to participate, commuting distance, size, and many other conditions. The final selection resulted in the choice of one county, one large city covered by Civil Service law, and one township not covered by Civil Service. It was determined that this combination would provide the vehicle to develop a model suitable for adoption by jurisdictions of any size regardless of their participation in the New Jersey Civil Service system. Before starting on the development of the model, the team divided personnel administration into its nine major component parts, namely: · General administration · Employment · Management-employee relations · Records