ENG-1993 — Page 41

CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION

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The council consists of 40 members 15 elected from geographical constituencies, 15 appointed by the Governor and 10 representative members from the urban district boards. It meets in public once a month to pass by-laws and deal with its finances, formal motions and questions on its activities. The routine business of the Urban Council is conducted by the Standing Committee of the whole council, supported by 14 select committees and 26 working groups or sub-committees. All the council's select committees, as well as the Keep Hong Kong Clean Committee, have opened their meetings to the public.

The council's chief executive is the Director of Urban Services, who controls the operations of the Urban Services Department, with its staff of 16 300. The director is charged with carrying out the council's policies and implementing its decisions.

The council is financially autonomous and during 1992-93, spent about $4,033 million on council-controlled activities and projects. It is financed by a share of the rates, which forms the main part of its income, with the balance coming from various licence fees and other charges.

The council has ward offices spread throughout the urban areas, where council members deal with and answer complaints from the public on a wide variety of matters. Members of the public may also make their complaints and views known to the council through the 'Members Duty Roster System'. Under this system, the council members are placed on a duty roster to meet the public, by appointment, twice a week.

-Regional Council

The Regional Council is the statutory municipal authority for the New Territories, where some 2.6 million people live. It is responsible for all matters concerning environmental hygiene, public health, sanitation, liquor licensing; and the provision of recreation, sports and cultural facilities and services within its jurisdiction.

The Regional Council consists of 36 members. Twelve are elected from geographical constituencies, nine are elected as representatives of the nine New Territories district boards, and 12 are appointed by the Governor. The remaining three are ex officio members, being the chairman and the two vice-chairmen of the Heung Yee Kuk (a statutory advisory body which represents the indigenous population of the New Territories). The chairman and vice-chairman of the council are elected by members among themselves.

The council's policies are implemented by its executive arm, the Regional Services Department, which is headed by the Director of Regional Services and has a staff of about 10 000.

The council is financially autonomous. Its main source of revenue comes from rates collected in the council area, and in 1992-93, this provided about 84 per cent of total revenue. The remainder of its revenue comes from fees and charges, and rental income (mostly rent for market stalls). In 1992–93, total revenue amounted to $2,446 million, while total expenditure came to $2,351 million.

The council meets monthly to deal with policy issues, formal motions and members' questions on its activities. It has four functional select committees, nine geographically- based district committees, and a Liquor Licensing Board. The four select committees deal with finance and administration, capital works, environmental hygiene, and recreation and culture. The district committees deal with and monitor the provision of services, and advise on the management of council facilities in individual districts. The