What Does the City Council Do?

The municipal council is the highest governing body of the municipality. The council sets the general policy guidelines and oversees their implementation. The mayor and aldermen prepare the general policy guidelines and implement the policies. The mayor and aldermen also have their own responsibilities.

The municipal council sets policy and makes the most important decisions in the municipality. In addition, the council enacts ordinances. The council establishes the objectives that must be achieved. It then monitors whetherthe mayor and aldermen, who form the executive branch, are actually achieving these objectives. The Moerdijk City Council consists of 25 members. Council members and political parties receive (administrative) support from the city clerk in carrying out their duties.

The city council sets the general direction. This gives council members ample opportunity to fulfill their role as representatives of the people. To that end, they have a number of tools at their disposal, such as the right to ask questions, the right to interpellation, the ability to submit legislative proposals or amendments, and the ability to commission independent expert assessments.

The city council appoints the aldermen and may also remove them from office. Aldermen are not members of the council. The mayor serves as the council’s chair. If the mayor is absent, a council member assumes the chair.

In the video below, you can see exactly what a council member's job entails. 

Integrity is a key issue in public administration. And for good reason. It is essential for public trust that city council members are credible and perform their duties effectively. Good governance, therefore, is governance with integrity. Integrity—or acting with integrity—means that everyone performs their duties properly and diligently, in accordance with their responsibilities and the applicable rules. The Moerdijk Municipal Council sets out the details of this in the municipality’s code of conduct. The core values here are: trust, respect, accountability, and openness and honesty. The code of conduct was adopted in December 2023 and applies to both council members and citizen members.

View the Moerdijk Municipality Code of Conduct