Halifax Regional Council
| Halifax Regional Council | |
|---|---|
 |
|
 |
|
| Type | |
| Type | |
|
Term limits
|
None |
| History | |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Preceded by | Council of City of Halifax Council of City of Dartmouth Council of Town of Bedford Halifax County Council |
|
New session started
|
2016 |
| Leadership | |
|
Mike Savage
Since October 15, 2016 |
|
|
Deputy Mayor
|
Steve Craig
Since November 8, 2016 |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 16 plus Mayor |
| Committees | Standing Committees |
|
Length of term
|
4 years |
| Authority | Halifax Regional Municipality Charter, 2008 |
| Salary | Mayor $176,034 Deputy Mayor $90,918 Councillors $82,643 |
| Elections | |
|
Last election
|
October 15, 2016 |
|
Next election
|
October |
| Motto | |
| E. Mari Merces | |
| Meeting place | |
 |
|
| Council Chambers Halifax City Hall Halifax, NS |
|
| Website | |
| Halifax Regional Council | |
Halifax Regional Council is the governing body of Halifax, formally known as the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM). Halifax is governed by a mayor-council system, where councillors are elected from sixteen geographic districts though a first past the post system and the Mayor is elected via a municipality wide first past the post vote. Halifax Regional Council was formed in 1996 and consisted of twenty-three councillors and one mayor. It was reduced in size to sixteen councillors and the mayor in 2012. The council meets at Halifax City Hall.
The powers and authority of Halifax are laid out in the Halifax Regional Municipality Charter (2008). Halifax Regional Council has established Standing Committees, Community Councils and Advisory Committees to aid in policy development and decision making.
Standing Committees are composed of Councillors, and have responsibility over key functional areas of the municipality, such as transportation or the environment, and can propose, review, debate prior to forwarding reports to Council with recommendations. Community Councils are composed of Councillors and have preview over development, land use, park and community issues in their geographic area, as well as appointments to Standing Committees. Advisory committees include Councillors and citizens, and provide specific advice.
Generally each Councillor sits on two Standing Committees, one or more external boards, and one or more advisory committees. The Mayor is a member of all committees and is entitled to one vote. Residents can only make presentations to committees and community councils, not Regional Council, either through formal presentations prior to or public participation at the end of each meeting.
There are six standing committees of Regional Council. Each committee has six members. The Executive Committee is composed of the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and Chair or designated representative appointed by each of the other five standing committees. The remaining five standing committees are appointed through a process that sees each Community Council appoint a representative to ensure geographic balance, and the remaining three members appointed by Council based on expressions of interest.
There are eighteen advisory committees of Council, 12 appointed by Regional Counci and reporting to it through the Standing Committees, and 6 appointed by and reporting to Community Councils.
There are two broad types of boards and commission to which HRM appoints Councillors and citizens. First, there are four boards of the regional municipality described by provincial statute that function as arms length boards delivering municipal services, or managing municipal assets. The second are external boards that have been established by other levels of government (Airport, Seaport, etc), are organizations that HRM is a voluntary member of (UNSM, etc) or via contract with HRM but are not subject to direct control by the municipality (Halifax Partnership, etc).
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Wikipedia