Municipal Advisory Council

A municipal advisory council in the United States is an organization composed of elected or appointed members whose purpose is to advise a city or county government about the activities and problems of the area represented.

In California state government, for example, the councils serve unincorporated communities as links to county boards of supervisors under authorization of a 1971 legislative statute.

Such a council is an advisory body of local citizens elected by the community or appointed by the board of supervisors with the purpose of representing the community to the board. Although a municipal advisory council is a governing body, it has no fiscal authority or administrative organization. Because it lacks authority to implement its position directly, it seeks to accomplish its goals through county government.

These councils face two ways: toward the county, offering the views of the community; and toward the community, supplying information about county proposals and a place where individuals can air opinions on community problems and perhaps receive help. The councils hold public meetings, survey community opinion and speak for the community to the board of supervisors. The most common subject of activity is land-use planning. The county often uses the group as a planning advisory council to draft or revise the community's portion of the county general plan.^[1]

List of municipal advisory councils

This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

California

• Foresthill Forum, Placer County, 2005 [1]
• Granite Bay, Placer County, 2005 [2]
• Inyokern, Kern County, 1983 [3]
• Pescadero, San Mateo County, 1992 [4]
• Rosamond, Kern County, 2005 [5]
• Temescal Canyon, Riverside County [6]
• Weimer–Applegate–Colfax, Placer County, 2005 [7]

References

1. ^ About County Government: Municipal Advisory Councils