Councillors are elected by eligible residents and ratepayers within the community and hold office for four years. Ordinary elections of councillors are held in September in every fourth year. The next Council election will be held in September 2012.
The City of Randwick is divided into five wards - north, south, east, west and central - with three councillors being elected to represent each ward. The fifteen councillors form the governing body of the council, similar to the board of a public company. The councillors' role is to direct and control the council's affairs in line with the requirements of the Local Government Act.
Each September the councillors elect a Mayor from amongst themselves. The Mayor is commonly regarded as the leader in the community.
The Role of the Mayor and the Councillors
Councillors give the council its vision and strategic direction and make policy decisions on behalf of the whole community. It is the Councillors' job to make decisions, in general, deciding what work should get done and where. The community expects councillors to have a high standard of accountability, and Randwick City Council has recently made that standard even higher by adopting a set of rules around political donations.
The Mayor
In addition to having special responsibilities as a councillor, the Mayor can represent the council and exercise urgent policy-making functions between meetings. The Mayor usually acts as spokesperson for council, carries out certain civic and ceremonial functions, and presides as chairperson during council meetings. The council may also delegate other functions to the Mayor.
The Councillors
As individuals, Councillors communicate council policy and decisions to the community, represent the interests of residents and ratepayers to the council and provide leadership and guidance to the community.
While councillors provide the strategic direction for their local area through determining council policies and objectives, the day-to-day management of the council's organisation, the employment of staff and the implementation of council's decisions are functions of the General Manager - NOT of councillors.
Council meetings
Councillors have regular meetings to make decisions about how Council resources should be applied, and what should happen in their area.
At Council meetings, issues of public importance or concern are debated and decisions are made. There are detailed rules about how these meetings should be run and about how their records must be kept. Members of the public and the press can attend council meetings.
All council decisions are made on a majority basis and councillors have a right to vote on all issues, except where a pecuniary interest is involved. They have to be present in person to vote at either council or committee meetings (proxy votes are not permitted).