All councilors are directly elected by citizens of the city. Citizens aged 23 and above, who have resided in the city for more than four consecutive months and are not subject to the listed circumstances in Article 26 and 27 of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act are eligible as councilor candidates.
Council seats are allocated based on the electoral districts. The city is divided into 15 electoral districts. Women are guaranteed one seat for every district in which four council seats are allotted. When a district has four or more council seats, for every four seats added, one seat is allotted for a woman. One plains aborigine and three mountain aborigine seats are reserved in the Council. The Council is composed of the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, councilors and administrative staffs.
Speaker
The speaker represents the council and oversees council affairs.
Deputy Speaker
Oversees council affairs when the speaker is unable to perform his/her duty.
Secretary-General
Manages council affairs and supervise council staff in accordance with the Speaker’s leadership.
Deputy Secretary-General
Assists Secretary-General with the management of council affairs.
Sittings
Regular Session: Regular session is held every six months, and each session should not exceed 70 days. However, if there are budgetary bills included and when necessary, an extension of no more than 10 days is applicable upon approval by the assembly, at the request of the Mayor, the Speaker or over one third of the total councilors.
Provisional Sessions: If a reconsideration proposal is forwarded from the city government when the council is not in session, provisional session must be held within seven days. In addition, at the request of the Mayor, the Speaker, or over one third of the total councilors, the Speaker is obliged to convene a provisional session within 10 days. Each provisional session must not exceed 10 days..
Committees
The Council has established various committees to review relevant bills during Council sessions. These committees are described as follows:
- The Civil Affairs Committees, Social Affairs Committee, Finance Committee, Education Committee, Agriculture and Forest Committee, Transportation Committee, Police and Firefighting, Hygiene and Environment Committees and Local Public Works Committee:
These eight committees are responsible for reviewing councilors' bill proposals, the city government’ s bill proposals, citizens' petitions, and relevant government agencies’ bill proposals referred to the committees by the assembly, as well as other cases referred to the committees by the assembly. Each committee has 7 or 9 members. Councilors may voluntarily choose to participate in a committee, at council inauguration or at the preparatory meeting for the first semi-annual session. Or the Speaker will assign them to a committee. One primary convener and one secondary convener should be instituted for each committee, and be elected by anonymous ballots among all committee members.
In addition, in order to examine matters related to the municipal laws, a legislation committee is established, with 9 committee members consisting of one member from each of the above committees plus one person appointed by the Speaker. One primary and one secondary convener shall be elected among the members. The appointment is renewable if a person is re-elected.
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Procedure Committee:
The committee has 9 members, including the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, who are mandatory members and primary and secondary conveners. After Council inauguration, the committee is formed during the preparation meeting prior to the first council session in accordance with the following regulations:
a.Chairperson of each party is a mandatory member.
b.Chairperson of each party appoints one member to the committee.
c.The Speaker appoints one member to the committee.
With the exception of mandatory members, new members for the next term are selected based on the above regulations before the end of the 2nd Semi-annual Council Session.
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Discipline Committee:
The committee has 9 members. In accordance with Regulations for Council Committee Establishment, each committee recommends one member and the Speaker appoints an additional member to the Discipline Committee. The committee members then elect one convener who serves as the chairperson during committee meetings.
In addition, if certain proposal bills need to be reviewed, or if the Council deems it necessary to conduct a special project study or external investigation on a certain case or problem, the assembly may set up a task force. The investigation results shall be reported to the council assembly within six months for approval. The time limit may be extended by six months if necessary.