All 42 members of the City Council meet formally at least five times a year. Their main responsibilities are setting the budget and policy framework for decision making.
The executive
The executive comprises the leader of the council and six executive councillors. The executive councillors make decisions relating to the major service areas.
These councillors can make decisions individually, usually at a meeting of a scrutiny committee relevant to their executive area. They also meet once a year to determine the council's budget.
The executive consists of:
- the leader of the council (currently Ian Nimmo-Smith)
- the deputy leader of the council (currently Catherine Smart)
- an executive councillor for arts and recreation (currently Julie Smith)
- an executive councillor for climate change and growth (currently Sian Reid)
- an executive councillor for community development and health (currently Sheila Stuart)
- an executive councillor for customer services and resources (currently Rod Cantrill)
- an executive councillor for environmental and waste services (currently Colin Rosenstiel)
- an executive councillor for housing (currently Catherine Smart)
Council meetings and committees
All council meetings are open to the public, although you may be asked to leave when members discuss sensitive information.
If you want to know what issues councillors are discussing, you can look at the forward plan, which is published monthly by the leader of the council.
You can read more information on meetings in the committee meetings pages.
The council has three different types of committees: regulatory, scrutiny, and area.
Regulatory committees
Regulatory committees make decisions that, by law, are not allowed to be made by executive councillors. These include civic affairs, licensing, planning, and standards.
Scrutiny committees
Scrutiny committees receive reports with background information and guidance on issues.
The committee comments on the content and makes recommendations to the relevant executive councillor, who then considers these views before making their decision.
Area committees
Area committees were set up in September 2003. They cover four geographical areas – north, south, east and west/central.
Their purpose is to move decision making out into the community and to make it easier for people to have a say about decisions that affect them locally.
At the the begining of each meeting there is a 30-minute open forum where local people can put questions to members about matters of concern in their areas.