Policy and Finance Committee

The Policy and Finance Committee reviews almost all issues that are foreseen to be considered in the Municipal Assembly. Article 52 of the LLSG clarifies which is the area of responsibility of this committee. Therefore, before any important decision is taken, the matter first undergoes the filter of this Committee. This committee should provide:

• Gender representation of 30%;
• If there is no Chairperson of the Municipal Assembly who is also the Chairperson of this Committee, then meetings are chaired by the most senior member of this committee;
• As members can be from 5 to 11 members depending on the total number of members in the municipal assembly, the number of members reflects the representation of political entities in the assembly

Communities Committee

The composition and duties of the Communities Committee are specified in Article 53 of the LLSG. It is important that the establishment of this committee requires the fulfillment of these conditions:

• Every community living in the municipality shall have at least one representative in the Communities Committee;
• Representatives of the non-majority committee in the municipality comprise the majority of the members of this committee;
• Most of the members of this committee shall also be members of the municipal assembly;

The selection of members of the Communities Committee is made upon nomination of candidates offered by non-majority communities, while the approval is done by the Municipal Assembly. The election of the Chairperson of the Communities Committee shall be made by majority vote of its members.

Other Committees
Depending on the needs and the will, the Assembly also establishes other committees relevant to the scope of the municipal assembly. Some of these committees may be committees on education, urbanism, health or public services. However, it should be into account on who can be part of these committees, as well as the number of committee members is not defined by legal framework, therefore in some municipalities members can be only members of the municipal assembly, and in other municipalities as members can be also other citizens of the municipality.

Ad-hoc Committees

It may happen that municipalities face a certain issue that needs to be solved within a certain period of time. Therefore, the assembly may establish ad-hoc committees or temporary committees for the purpose of full and effective exercise of its competencies. Thus, the assembly would establishe ad-hoc committees in whatever field it is necessary with a timeframe usually to only address that very issue. Such examples may be commissions for awarding of scholarships, or for dealing with an emergency situation, or for naming streets, etc.

Consultative Committees

The Municipal Assembly also establishes Consultative Committees in order to empower participation of the public in decision-making; this is more widely discussed in the section on civic participation mechanisms.