As the administrative arm of the Municipality this section renders an administrative support service to Council and its political structures. The political structures comprise the Executive Mayor and Mayoral Committee, Portfolio Committees, as well as ad-hoc committees. The administrative support service entails the preparation of Council agendas and minutes, as well as facilitating communication between Council and the various departments to facilitate the implementation of political decisions.
As a result of the March 2006 local government election, new portfolio committees have been established as Section 80 committees rendering assistance to the Executive Mayor, as and when required. These committees are:
- Finance Committee,
- Housing and Infrastructure Committee,
- Planning Committee,
- Corporate, Strategic and HR Committee,
- Sport, Recreation, Youth, Culture & Community Safety Committee, and
- Social and Rural Development Committee.
Correspondence
This section receives official correspondence from the public, which is distributed to the various departments for attention. During this financial year, a total of 6 625 letters have been registered.
This section plays a prominent communicative role between the Municipality and the public at large regarding applications, complaints and other issues that are raised by the public by way of correspondence.
Records
The Records Division is entrusted with the core responsibility of managing the Municipality’s official records by means of archiving the records, disposing certain of those records and the transfer of records to the Provincial Archives. In general, this division manages access to records and also serves as a centre for the receipt, distribution and dispatch of correspondence to and from the public, as well as to Councillors.
Legal Support
The Administrative Section facilitates legal support services to Council and its structures, in conjunction with Council’s external legal advisors. During this financial year only one claim against Council progressed to High Court, but the court rule in favour of the Municipality. This section also administers Council’s by-laws and, in conjunction with the various user departments, is responsible for the drawing-up/amendment and promulgation thereof.
Focus Projects
The Administrative Services Section continually strives to improve administrative systems and internal procedures in order to fast track the implementation of political decisions and disposal of correspondence. During the past year specific attention was given to:
- the drawing up of a system of delegation for consideration by council;
- the drawing up of a document to clarify the roles and responsibilities of political office bearers;
- the implementation of a public help desk at the Paarl office; and
- further progress was made with the drawing up of a new set of bylaws for Drakenstein in order to replace the bylaws of the former towns in the Drakenstein area.