The municipality, through cooperation with villages, settlements and urban neighborhoods, ensures provision of the most efficient public services, object of cooperation agreements between the municipality, villages, settlements and urban neighborhoods may be all issues that are competence of the municipality, including: urban and rural planning, water supply, sewerage, drainage, public healthcare, local environmental protection, tourism, open spaces and cemeteries; cultural and sports activities.
The object of the agreement may not be the responsibilities of the municipal assembly set out in Article 40.2 of the Law on Local Self-Government, which can not be transferred to other bodies.
The cooperation agreement should contain at least the following elements: The object of the agreement, the duration; description of obligations of the parties; dynamics of the realization of the works and financial costs.
Agreements that link municipalities with villages, settlements and urban neighborhoods should be approved by the municipal assembly as the highest decision-making body in the municipality.
The municipality shall define with statutes and local regulation the organizational and functional structure of villages, settlements and urban neighborhoods, as well as the manner, time, number and other issues related to the selection of representatives of villages, settlements or urban neighborhoods.
Works from these cooperation agreements can be funded in any of the following ways: by inhabitants of the village, settlement or urban neighborhood, by the municipality, by donors and by joint financing.
In general, the number of local communities and neighborhood and village councils is regulated through internal regulations of the municipalities. A local council may include more than one village, settlement or urban neighborhood.
Selection of local councils, one should have in minde that again this issue is regulated by the regulation, but usually regulations require the municipal assembly to appoint a commission that would coordinate field work and it consists of 5 members: two members from the municipal assembly, one member from the executive of the municipality, one member from the civil society and one member as a representative of the village, settlement or urban neighborhood. The commission should announce 15 days in advance inform through public announcements, local media and municipal official website of the date of holding the citizens' gathering for the election of local councils.
Local councils may have between 5 and 7 members. But the exact number is determined by inhabitants of the village, neighborhood or settlement that are present at the electoral gathering. Meetings are run by someone selected by the citizens themselves; while as running candidates may be residents who run as citizens rather than on behalf of any political party. The chairman is elected by the newly elected members who have won the most votes. The mandate of the council is usually 3 years.
Their importance for good governance, local communities, neighborhood or village councils are the best form of organizing certain communities in order to influence policies of the municipality. Part of these organizations should be citizens who are preoccupied with how the municipality influences its decisions, and moreover selected citizens should be permanent residents of that community.
Through agreements that they reach with the municipality, local councils can conduct certain activities instead of the municipality such as: maintenance of cemeteries and green public spaces, development of tourism, organization of cultural and sports activities, assistance to increase efficiency in providing municipal public services within the locality concerned, providing elementary data to each family of the respective locality, following their economic, social status and providing of recommendations, proposals in support of these cases;