Borough Council Legal Entity

For counties, the district council cannot appoint a separate lawyer from the elected prosecutor without court approval (RCW 36.32.200). We explore this topic in more detail in our publication Know the Territory. Members of the Board of Directors may request the inclusion of agenda items before or during the meeting. The method for this purpose is defined in the local rules of procedure and may include, for example, two or three members of the board who jointly request that an item be included in a provisional agenda, or an individual member who requests that an item be placed on the agenda. Its board is a corporation, a separate legal entity from that of its members. His decisions are the responsibility of the whole body. The Council has been given powers by Parliament, including the important power to raise funds through taxation (the imperative) and a number of powers to spend public money (more on this later). Local authorities must not only act in accordance with the law, they can only lodge a complaint for the purposes provided for by Parliament when adopting the relevant statutes. If a local authority does not act in accordance with its legal powers or does not act for the specified purposes, it is likely to act „outside its powers”.

This is the concept of „ultra vires”. Any ultra-vires measure taken by a local authority runs the risk of being challenged in court and, if such a challenge is successful, will be declared illegal. See Practical Note: Important Considerations in Municipal Decision-Making. In addition, county commissioners also share power with other elected county representatives such as the assessor, auditor, prosecutor, sheriff, county clerk, and treasurer. (For more information, visit our page on elected and appointed county representatives.) In comparison, there are only a handful of cities in Washington that elect someone else as mayor or council member. The city council has the power to enter into contracts on behalf of the city and may delegate this authority to the mayor, city manager or other department head (RCW 35.23.440 (32), RCW 35A.11.010 and RCW 35.27.370). Generally, this delegation is done in the city code or local policy and identifies the specific limits of the contract where the mayor, city manager or department head can execute the contracts. All treaties that exceed these limits still need to be approved by the Council. Local authorities are organizations established by law as individual legal entities. Local authorities may act only in such a way as to be legally entitled to act either in accordance with the law by which they were established or in accordance with other legislation which extends their powers. Members of municipal, municipal and district councils and district commissioners are legislators.

Together, council members or commissioners form a legislative body empowered by the constitution and state law to enact local laws. In the rare cases where the city attorney has a conflict and cannot advise both the executive and the city council, a contract with an outside lawyer is appropriate. The only case where the city council has the power to select and hire (as well as fire) the city attorney is when the city attorney is hired and the position of the city attorney has not been converted into an office by order or by-law. See Koler v. Black Diamond. Regardless of how they are selected, the city attorney advises all city officials, including council members, and the city council should rely on the city`s attorney for legal advice on city matters. For more information, see our blog post Roles of the Mayor/Manager and City or Council 101: Acquiring Legal Services. Can City Council members receive a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) in their compensation? Their council is an elected body at the first level of local government. Other levels, known as councils or lead authorities, have many legal obligations to provide services such as education, housing, town and country planning, transport, environmental health and social services. Local councils have the legal authority to act, but they have very few duties and greater freedom to decide what actions they want to take. The role of the district commissioner or district council member in personnel matters differs depending on the form of government in the district.

County commissioners in the form of non-charter government, commission have a dual legislative and executive role. Therefore, they often play a crucial role in hiring and supervising their own leaders. Some basic elements of local authorities are neglected by new members (council members) and new civil servants, including lawyers. The relationship between the executive and the legislature varies according to the form of local government: for cities, either for the municipal council or for the director of the council, and for counties, or for the standard commission, or for the charter of internal self-government. The MRSC pages on city and municipal forms of government and county forms of government explain the differences between the different forms of government. In cities, the council creates departments, authorizes positions, adopts job descriptions and sets remuneration. However, the day-to-day management of staff, including the management of staff work and the recruitment and dismissal of employees, is the responsibility of the executive, whether the elected mayor or the designated city manager (see RCW 35A.12.090-.100, RCW 35A.13.080 and RCW 35A.13.120). Mayors` vetoes are limited to ordinances and are not allowed for other council actions. The city council can override a veto by the mayor with a majority plus one. If the city council overturns the veto and the mayor still refuses to sign the ordinance, the ordinance is valid even without the mayor`s signature.

For more information on mayoral elections and vetoes, please visit our Council Vote page. In the form of government of the mayor`s council, the mayor is the most senior administrative official responsible for all administrative functions. Some city council cities have also hired a professional city administrator or chief administrative officer to serve under the direction of the mayor and take responsibility for many administrative tasks. In the Board Manager form, the appointed manager is the Head of Administration. The city council is not involved in these types of day-to-day staff matters, although local ordinances may require confirmation of certain appointments in the form of government of the Mayor`s Council (RCW 35A.12.090). The power of the mayor or city manager to hire and dismiss may be delegated to department heads (RCW 35.18.090 and RCW 35A.13.100). Mayors of cities (but not cities) can veto ordinances issued by the council; Mayors of cities and municipal governments do not have the power to veto ordinances. Some chartered counties explicitly grant county executives a veto over county charter ordinances, with the possibility for the council to override this veto. For example, Snohomish County Charter 2,110 allows the executive to overturn the executive`s veto by a majority of the council plus one.

Cities can either hire an „in-house” municipal lawyer or enter into a legal services contract. While the city council creates the position and sets the remuneration of an in-house city attorney, the executive (the mayor or city manager) chooses the person to fill the role (sometimes subject to council approval). Similarly, if the position of City Attorney has been appointed office by order or provision of the Charter and that position is filled by the order for legal services, the Mayor or City Manager will select someone to fill that position, subject to possible confirmation by Council. Both the legislature and the executive branch have emergency management powers under state law. While both have the authority to declare an emergency, it is often the mayor, city manager or county council who first declares the emergency because they can act more quickly than council as an agency. (The council or commission should hold a special meeting under RCW 42.30.080 to declare a state of emergency.) Although not required by state law, some local codes require the legislature to ratify the executive`s emergency declaration. See, for example, Longview Municipal Code, c. 10.60. The separation of powers between the legislature and the chief executive is very similar in the forms of government mayor-council, county executive, and council director. When is the right time to take an oath to new board members? Each board committee also has a team of lawyers and analysts. This team supports the committee by organizing public hearings and providing the legal and policy research needed to make decisions that benefit New York City. Similar to the city attorney, the elected district attorney represents the county as a unit and advises all branches of county government, pursues actions on behalf of the county, and defends the county from lawsuits.

The tasks of the prosecutor are defined in RCW 36.27.020. Mayors, district councils, municipal managers and employees do not make political decisions. However, they have a strong influence on the political decision-making process and the resulting decisions. For example, they propose budgets, oversee staff-led studies and analyses related to proposed policies, and make policy recommendations to boards. The role played by county council members in counties with a charter of internal self-government in matters of personnel is determined in the county charter. The general role of county council members for chartered counties is often limited to legislative functions, although charters sometimes require the council to approve the appointment and dismissal of department heads by the executive.