Section 4: Operation

The mayor alone has the power to police the assembly. He may have any individual who disturbs order expelled from the auditorium or arrested. In the event of a crime or misdemeanour, he draws up a report and the public prosecutor is immediately informed.

The Town Council shall only validly deliberate when the majority of its members in office are present. If, after a first meeting has been duly convened in accordance with the provisions of articles L. 2121-10 to L. 2121-12, this quorum is not reached, the town council is reconvened at least three days apart. It then deliberates validly without a quorum being required.

Municipal council meetings are public. However, at the request of three members or the mayor, the town council may decide, without debate, by an absolute majority of the members present or represented, that it shall meet in camera. Without prejudice to the powers held by the mayor under article L. 2121-16, these meetings may be broadcast by audiovisual means.

Municipal councillors have the right to present oral questions relating to municipal affairs at council meetings. In municipalities with a population of 1,000 or more, the rules of procedure determine the frequency and the rules for presenting and examining these questions. In the absence of rules of procedure, these are set by a resolution of the municipal council. At the request of at least one tenth of the members of…

A councillor unable to attend a meeting may give a colleague of his choice written authority to vote on his behalf. The same municipal councillor may hold only one proxy. A proxy may be revoked at any time. Except in the case of duly recorded illness, it may not be valid for more than three consecutive meetings. Resolutions are passed by an absolute majority of the votes cast. Where votes…

Voting shall take place by public ballot at the request of one quarter of the members present. Voting shall take place by secret ballot: 1° Either when one third of the members present so request; 2° Or when an appointment or presentation is to be made. In the latter cases, if none of the candidates has obtained an absolute majority after two rounds of secret balloting, a third round of…

The town council may, during each meeting, set up committees responsible for studying questions submitted to the council either by the administration or on the initiative of one of its members. The committees are convened by the mayor, who is the chairman ex officio, within eight days of their appointment, or more quickly at the request of the majority of the members who make up the committees. At this first…

In municipalities with a population of 20,000 or more, the municipal council, at the request of one-sixth of its members, deliberates on the creation of an information and assessment mission, tasked with gathering information on a matter of municipal interest or assessing a municipal public service. The same local councillor may not be involved in such a request more than once a year. No task may be created from 1st…

The deliberations are recorded in date order in a register kept under conditions defined by decree in the Conseil d’Etat. They are signed by the mayor and the secretary or secretaries of the meeting.

The provisions of the deliberations of the municipal council taken in matters of economic intervention pursuant to the provisions of Title I of Book V of Part One and the articles L. 2251-1 to L. 2251-5, as well as that of the deliberations approving a public service delegation agreement, is the subject of an insertion in a local publication distributed in the commune.