Municipal council

⭐ In the context of local government, a municipal council is considered…

Ad spacer

⭐ Core Definition: Municipal council

Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. A municipal council or local council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough council, rural council, village council, board of aldermen, or board of selectmen.

Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such as a nation or state. Local governments generally act within the powers and functions assigned to them by law or directives of a higher level of government. In federal states, local government generally comprises a third or fourth level of government, whereas in unitary states, local government usually occupies the second or third level of government.

↓ Menu

>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<
In this Dossier

Municipal council in the context of Barrio-pueblo

The barrios of Puerto Rico are the third-level administrative divisions defined with geographic boundaries serving as the primary legal subdivisions of the 78 municipalities in the archipelago and island of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the U.S. Amounting to 902 wards or boroughs equivalent to minor civil divisions in the U.S., like cities, townships, and parishes, barrios are under the governmental authority of the popularly elected strong mayor and unicameral legislature governing the municipality within which they are located. Barrios are subdivided into numerous subbarrios, districts, communities, and/or sectors.

Except for San Juan, Ponce, Florida, and Vieques, all municipalities have a barrio equivalent to a downtown area in the U.S. called pueblo, officially known as barrio-pueblo (literally "neighborhood-town"), which typically is the site of the historic Spanish colonial settlement, administrative center, and urban core of the municipality. Of the 902 barrios proper, 828 are barrios and 74 barrios-pueblos.

↑ Return to Menu

Municipal council in the context of Municipalities of Puerto Rico

The municipalities of Puerto Rico (Spanish: municipios de Puerto Rico) are second-level administrative divisions defined with geographic boundaries and governmental authority in the archipelago and island of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the U.S. Amounting to 78 incorporated towns and cities equivalent to U.S. counties, two of which are outside the main island, namely the smaller islands of Vieques and Culebra, the municipalities are governed by a popularly elected strong mayor and unicameral legislature. They are subdivided into 902 barrios, third-level divisions controlled by the municipal government. As a jurisdiction under U.S. sovereignty, Puerto Rico does not have first-level administrative units akin to states or provinces.

The municipalities of Puerto Rico operate under the Municipal Code of Puerto Rico (Law. No. 107 of 2020), which superseded the Autonomous Municipalities Act of Puerto Rico (Law No. 81 of 1991), as established by the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the governmental body responsible for their organization under Section 1, Article VI of the Constitution of Puerto Rico. Electorally, the municipalities are grouped into eight senatorial districts and forty representative districts, representing roughly equal populations in the Legislative Assembly.

↑ Return to Menu

Municipal council in the context of Government of Puerto Rico

The government of Puerto Rico encompasses the local administrative structure of the archipelago and island of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the U.S. organized under the Constitution of Puerto Rico since its establishment as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in 1952. The government is a republican democracy divided into three branches: the law-implementing executive, the law-making legislative, and the law-interpreting judicial. The Governor is the chief executive, the Legislative Assembly is the legislature, and the Supreme Court is the highest court of the territory, which is divided into 78 municipalities, each one headed by a strong mayor and a unicameral legislature. Like U.S. states and other U.S. territories, Puerto Rico is subject to the sovereign jurisdiction of the U.S. federal government.

With the American annexation of Puerto Rico during the Spanish–American War, the U.S. established a military government to administer the unincorporated territory from 1898 to 1900, when it was replaced by a civil insular government organized under the organic acts of the Foraker Act from 1900 to 1917 and the Jones–Shafroth Act from 1917 to 1952. The Constitution of Puerto Rico established the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and its government under the continued status of unincorporated territory in 1952. With the ratification of the constitution, the full authority and responsibility for the local administration of Puerto Rico was vested in the residents of Puerto Rico, resulting in complete self-governance within the archipelago and island.

↑ Return to Menu

Municipal council in the context of Departments of Colombia

Colombia is a unitary republic made up of thirty-two administrative divisions referred to as departments (Spanish: departamentos, sing. departamento) and one Capital District (Distrito Capital). Departments are country subdivisions and are granted a certain degree of autonomy. Each department has a governor (gobernador) and an Assembly (Asamblea Departamental), elected by popular vote for a four-year period. The governor cannot be re-elected in consecutive periods.

Departments are formed by a grouping of municipalities (municipios, sing. municipio). Municipal government is headed by mayor (alcalde) and administered by a municipal council (concejo municipal), both of which are elected by popular vote for four-year periods.

↑ Return to Menu

Municipal council in the context of Council–manager government

The council–manager government is a form of local government commonly used for municipalities and counties in the United States and Ireland, in New Zealand regional councils, and in Canadian municipalities. In the council-manager government, an elected city council hires a manager to serve as chief executive; this manager can be replaced by a simple majority at any time.

↑ Return to Menu

Municipal council in the context of Local government in Australia

Local government is the third level of government in Australia, administered with limited autonomy under the states and territories, and in turn beneath the federal government. Local government is not mentioned in the Constitution of Australia, and two referendums in 1974 and 1988 to alter the Constitution relating to local government were unsuccessful. Every state and territory government recognises local government in its own respective constitution. Unlike the two-tier local government system in Canada or the United States, there is (largely) only one tier of local government in each Australian state/territory, with no distinction between counties and cities.

Local government in Australia is generally run by an elected council, and the area it administers is referred to by the Australian Bureau of Statistics as a local government area or LGA, each of which encompasses multiple suburbs and/or localities (roughly equivalent to neighbourhoods), often of different postcodes. LGAs are variously styled using terms such as "city", "town", "district", "municipality", "borough", "region" or "shire". These usually have geographic or historical significance, and there is rarely any legal distinction between them. For instance, cities and municipalities tend to apply to councils in urban and metropolitan areas, whereas districts and shires are found primarily in rural and regional areas. A local government area is also commonly known as a "city council", "local council", or simply a "council". Council members are generally known as councillors, and the head of a council is called the mayor, chairman or shire president. Some of Australia’s largest cities, such as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, use the historical title of lord mayor. Councillors are usually elected from single-member districts known as divisions or wards, whilst the mayor or president is directly elected by all the voters within that council area. However, the mayor is often entitled to style themselves as a councillor, and is considered an ex officio member of the council. As of August 2016, there were 547 local councils in Australia.

↑ Return to Menu

Municipal council in the context of Fazilka

Fazilka, also known as Bangla, is a city and a municipal council in Fazilka district of Punjab, India. In 2011, it was made the headquarter of the newly created Fazilka district. The Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline (TAPI) project originating in Turkmenistan will have its last station in Fazilka.

↑ Return to Menu

Municipal council in the context of Largest cities in Indonesia

This is a list of all the 95 cities (with regency-level status) in Indonesia, ranked by population. It excludes urban-characterized settlements such as regency seats, which does not have city status. Indonesia has 93 cities classified as kota (city), one provincial-level capital city (Nusantara), and one provincial-level special city (the Special Capital Region of Jakarta). Population figures are taken from the 2020 census and the more recent official estimates as at mid 2024, all by Statistics Indonesia (BPS).

Jakarta is the largest city and the only megacity in Indonesia, with a population of 10.70 million. As a primate city, Jakarta is nearly four times larger than the second largest city Surabaya. Jakarta, along with Capital City of Nusantara, are unique compared to other cities in Indonesia, since they are technically provinces with a city management. Jakarta is subdivided into five administrative cities and an administrative regency, which are not self-governed (without municipal council nor government budget). Each of Jakarta's five satellite cities also have passed the one million mark in population, with the largest one being Bekasi, while the others are Depok, Tangerang, South Tangerang and Bogor.

↑ Return to Menu