General Information of City Council

In an open Council

Machida City Council

Machida City Council Secretariat

What is the City Council ?
1. City Council and Mayor
Machida City, the regional municipal government authority of the city (hereinafter referred as "the city"), is engaged
into to support the most familiar matters to the Machida City residents (hereinafter referred to as "the residents"), thatis very close to their daily living affairs, for example, the city is engaged in the construction, maintenance andmanagement of public facilities such as roads, parks, schools (including nurseries), municipal housing, and otherfacilities for residents including children and the elderly.
In order to achieve the comfortable regional development of the city, it is very much important that the residents think
about the regional issues by themselves and have themselves directly involved into the actual city administrations.
However, it is impractical for all residents to join together at the same place and to have themselves directly involved
into the actual city administrations. That is the reason why residents choose their own representatives throughelections and appointments. City council members and mayor are the representatives elected and appointed by theresidents.
Appointed as the representatives of the residents, the city council members carefully deliberate on the various issuesof the residents and deal with the important determinations of the council so that the residents' requests and opinions
are reflected on the administrative operations of the city authority.

2. Role of City Council
According to Article 93 of the Constitution of Japan, the city council is established as a "deliberating agency" of theregional municipal governments.
The deliberating agency means an institution granted with the ability to determine the legitimate rules and regulations,which is legally enforceable within the city jurisdictions (hereinafter referred as “the city ordinance”) and basic
administration policy of the regional municipal government authority.
Meanwhile, the mayor is defined as "execution agency”, which is an institution authorized and responsible to carry out
the actual municipal operations approved by the city council in advance.
As a whole, the city council and the mayor collaborate together to reach the appropriate determinations for what isnecessary for the daily living affairs of the residents.

-1-3. City Council Members and the Seating Capacity of the Council
The city council members are elected among and by the residents at every four-years-term.
Every resident is allowed to run for the elections as the candidate of the city council member, provided that (1) the
candidate’s age is 25 years or older, and (2) the voting right of the election is granted to the candidate.
The Local Autonomy Law previously defined the maximum seating capacity of the city council, in accordance with thespecific population segment.
According to this provision, the maximum seating capacity of the Machida city council was defined as 46 seats.
This definition was removed from the law in 2011. Despite the removal, the seating capacity of the Machida city council
was initially 40 seats for years. And the seating capacity afterwards has been “36-seats” since 2002. (Article 91 ofLocal Autonomy Law)

4.

Representative Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Council
The Representative Chairman and the vice chairman of the council are elected among and by the council members.
Despite the fact that four-years-term is granted to council members, the representative chairman and vice chairman
are both provided with two-years-term.
Acting as a chief executive officer of the council Secretariat, the representative chairman is responsible to maintain theorder of the session’s place and to organize its proceedings in an appropriate manner.
In addition, representing the entire council members, the representative chairman is responsible to attend the various
meetings and discussions outside of the city authority.
If the representative chairman is absent due to an unexpected accident, the vice chairman performs the role of therepresentative chairman. (Article 103, 104 of Local Autonomy Law)

5. Regular Session and Extraordinary Session
In accordance with the city ordinance provision, the city council sessions take place at four times a year in March,June, September and December. The foregoing council sessions are defined as regular sessions. Besides it,
extraordinary sessions are held at the council whenever necessary. (The convocation procedure, such as its
frequency and schedule, is defined by the city ordinance and City regulation.)
Every council session is convened by the mayor. And, the mayor must convene an extraordinary session by therequest of the representative chairman. In addition, the mayor must convene the extraordinary Session by the requestof the council members as well who occupies at least a quarter of the total council seats. (Article 101,102 of Local
Autonomy Law).

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6. Plenary Session
A plenary session is a meeting where every council member is required to attend. The plenary session is legally
established by the attendance of the council members who account for a half of the total council seats at least.
The city council’s authority means the legal ability to exercise its own rights with legal assertions. Then, its authority islegally established and enforceable, based upon the plenary resolution. In other word, without the plenary resolution,
any legal effect will not occur on any council acts in respect with its voting, consent, decision and approval as requiredby laws.
Therefore, this plenary session is a very important meeting to reach the determination of the city council. (Article 96 ofLocal Autonomy Law)

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Council Hall
7. Committee
Proposals, bills (hereinafter altogether referred as “proposals”) and petitions, which are submitted to the council,
constitute various items and contents with wide ranges of fields.
Therefore, for the careful and professional deliberation at the council, it is necessary to identify the proposals andpetitions by the respective classification in accordance with the contents. By this classification, those are assigned tothe specialized groups of the council members for professional examinations.
On top of plenary sessions, respective committees are established in the council, where the committees act as theinternal audit institution to undertake the professional examination on the relevant matters. In other words, the substantial
deliberations on such proposals and petitions takes place at the committee.
The committees are categorized into three kinds, permanent committee, steering committee, and special purpose
committee. The special purpose committee, by the way, is the ad hoc basis committee established whenevernecessary.

-3-(1) Permanent Committee

Four different permanent committees are established in Machida City council. Every council member must belong to
one of the four permanent committees.
Each of the four permanent committees is constituted by nine seats with two-years-term of the service.
Those foregoing permanent committees are defined as “General Affairs Permanent Committee”, “Health and Welfare
Permanent Committee”, “Education and Society Permanent Committee” and “Construction Permanent Committee”.
(Article 109 of Local Autonomy Law, and Article 2 of Committee Regulation by Machida City Ordinance)(2) Steering Committees

The Steering Committee deliberates and examines on the following matters and affairs.
(1): Matters concerning to the council administration.
(2): Matters concerning to the city council affairs relating to the city's rules / regulations and city Ordinance.
(3): Matters concerning to any specific issues caused by the representative chairman’s consultations.
(4): Matters concerning to the issues relating to the public relations of the council.
The steering committee is constituted by ten seats with two-year- term of service. (Article 109 of Local Autonomy Law,
and Article 4 of Committee Regulation by Machida City Ordinance)(3) Special Purpose Committee

If (1) a proposal is significantly important to the daily living affairs of the residents, (2) the contents of the proposal overlap
two different committees or more and (3) the existing committee has the insufficient ability to achieve the intended
purpose, then the Special Purpose Committees are established by the plenary resolution.
In addition, the Special Purpose Committee shall be authorized, being limited to a certain specific proposal entrusted,
provided that the Committee is entrusted by the council in respect of the specific proposal. In other word, without theentrustment, the special purpose committee is not established. After all the procedures completed on the committee,
the special purpose committee is dissolved.

-4-(4) Extraordinary Committee

The Disaster Countermeasure Committee is established in the council as a standby committee, although this particularcommittee is not stipulated by the Local Autonomy Law.

【Disaster Countermeasure Committee】
In the event of a disaster, the Disaster Countermeasures Committee will be automatically transferred to the Special
Purpose Committee which aims to protect the lives and property of the city residents in cooperation with the regional
municipal authority for the quick disaster recovery in urgent fashion.

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Committee Room-5-

How does the City Council proceed?
★ How does the council member talk at the city council?
8. Flow of proposal and bills (hereinafter altogether being referred as “proposals”)(1) Submission of proposals
The proposals are basically categorized into the two kinds. One is caused by the mayor, which is so-called as “mayor’s
proposal.” And the other is caused by the council, which is so-called “council’ proposal”. (Besides, there is one more
proposal, which is so-called “committee proposal.”)When a council proposal is submitted, the proposal must obtain the consent from the council members who occupies atleast one-twelfth of the total council seats. For Machida City case, a council proposal must obtain the consent from at least
three council members. In addition, city council members are granted to submit any kinds of proposals to establish the cityordinances, provided that the proposals are not related to the city authority budget affairs.
When the proposal is submitted, the Council receives explanations from the city authority official in charge. The explanations
include the reason why the proposal is submitted. After this explanation, a question and answer session (hereinafter referred
to as "Q A session") is held at the council to clarify the relevant matters. Upon completion of the QA session, the proposal
is delegated to the committee responsible for further deliberation (hereinafter this delegation is referred to as "Entrustment”).

(2) Committee Deliberations
When the proposal is submitted to a committee, the committee hears the detailed explanation from the city authority officials
in charge. If necessary, the committee conducts a certain field survey on the proposal. After that, the committee reaches
the determinations on the relevant matters.

(3) Voting (Resolution)
After the committee’s procedure is completed, the committee chairman submits The Committee’s Report (which contains
the summary of the deliberations proceedings and the voting results at the committee) to the council.
After the Committee’s Report is submitted to the council, QA session takes place at the plenary, based upon the contentsof the Committee’s Report. After the QA session, the council deliberates on the pros and cons (consent and dissent) of the
proposal. Upon completion of the deliberation, Voting is held at the plenary session. By this plenary voting, Machida City
Council reaches the final determinations of the relevant matters.

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Unless a special resolution is required, the plenary voting is resolved by a majority of the council members who attended
the session.

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Voting Button (for council members at the Council Hall)★ Besides the foregoing procedures on proposals, residents are also allowed to submit a certain request directly to thecity council. This particular procedure is so-called as “Petition”. The petitions include any kinds of affairs relating to thegeneral administration matters of the city.

(4) Petition Review
When a petition is submitted by the residents, the petition is entrusted to the committee in charge, according to the content
of the petition.
Then, the committee hears the feasibility of the petition from the city officials in charge. If necessary, the committee may
conduct the on-site surveys from time to time. Then, the QA session takes place, based upon the survey findings.
When the QA session is completed, deliberation and voting take place. Then, the committee chairman submits theCommittee’s Report to the council. After that, the plenary session procedures take place for petitions, being consistent withthe foregoing procedures with which the ordinary proposals comply.
※ A petition is directly submitted to the plenary procedures, not going through any committee procedures, provided thatthe petition requires a certain council’s opinions or resolutions. In addition, a petitioner is allowed to speak his / her
opinion statement only by the petitioner himself / herself. However, the foregoing procedures shall not be applied, if
the speech is addressed toward the central government authorities or prefectural authorities.

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As mentioned above, the petitioner’s speech is permitted only by the request of the petitioner himself / herself. And, thespeech is addressed toward the committee members (council members) during the session period. Moreover, the speech
includes the petitioner’s thoughts and opinions on why the petition is submitted. After this speech, a QA session takes placeat the committee.
The petitioner’s speech is allowed within 5 minutes time, provided that the petition is filed to the regular session as the firstoccasion. In addition, one petitioner and another co-petitioner (two persons altogether at maximum) are allowed toparticipate the session for the speech.

★ Besides the foregoing procedures all, General Questions take place from time to time.

(5) Question and Answer
On top of the foregoing procedures at the council sessions, general questions are permitted at the plenary sessions. The
general questions include the overall administrative issues of the city and any other questions addressed toward the mayor,
the head of the board of education, and the head of municipal hospital. In case of emergency, "emergency questions" arealso approved at the plenary with the consent by the council.

Access for More Information about the City Council★ Access to the city council information is as follows.
9. About the Publicity Report of the City Council Activities
Information Source of the Machida City Council activities is as follows.
(1) Record of Proceedings
The Machida City Council records all the council proceedings on the meeting notes (hereinafter referred as “The Meeting
Notes”) and maintain the meeting note for retention.
The Meeting Notes are disclosed at “http: wwwgikai-machida.jp”. In addition, the hard copy versions of the Meeting Notes
are also available to read at the Information Department of the city authority, the municipal libraries and the council libraryof Machida City.

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(2) City Council NewsThe city council publishes "City Council News" at four times a year in March, June, September and December. The News
discloses the information about the city council activities. This News also contains the summary information of the regularsessions and extraordinary sessions.

(3) Council Gallery Seats
To attend the city council session at the Council Gallery Seats (hereinafter referred as “Gallery Space”) as an observer isthe most familiar way to access the council’s activity information.
Anyone whoever receives tickets from the council secretariat (located at the 3rd floor of the city hall) is allowed to observe
the council sessions at the Gallery Space for both the plenary sessions and committee sessions.
There are 89 seats available at the Gallery Space, adjacent to the Council Hall (including 7 seats for reporters and a few for
wheelchair users). And, there are 30 Gallery seats available, annexed to each of four Committee Rooms.
In addition, a Parent and Child Gallery Room is available, adjacent to the Council Hall. Any parents are allowed to enter into
the Room together with their babies. (Article 6 of Council Hearing Regulation and Article 6 of Committee Hearing Regulationby Machida City Ordinance)

Council Gallery Seats

Parent and Child Gallery Room-9-(4) Internet Broadcasting
Currently, it is very important to disclose the council information to public in time. Therefore, both the plenary sessions andcommittee sessions are broadcasted on-live and on-video. The broadcastings both are available to watch by the access tohttp://www.gikai-machida.jp. Video recording of the council sessions is expected to be ready on broadcasting within 24
hours after the meeting completed. In addition, the video data is also stored on the CD-R, and the CD-R is available on rent
as necessary. The videos are also available to watch on smartphones as well.

Broadcasting relayed from Video Recording
Conference name: Plenary sessions
Meeting day: November 30, 2008 1:00 pm
Meeting Schedule:
No.9 Reporting
Proposal No.100★ Proposed Reason - Q & A - Voting
Proposal from No. 86 to No. 99
and proposal from No. 101 to No. 103★ Proposed Reasons
Recorded content:
Opening, Determination of the session, other reporting etc.
◎ November 30th schedule (PDF 114KB)◎ 2016, The 4th regular meeting (PD 1,829 KB)◎ No. 86 proposal (PDF 181 KB)◎ No. 87 proposal (PDF 164 KB)

Display of the Broadcasting Screen-10-(5) Information Disclosure
The following information is available to view at the website of “Machida Open Data Catalog Site” or “Machida City Website”.
(1) List of Proposals and the Proceeding Result at the plenary.
(2) Summary of General Questions (available from the second regular session in 2017 to the latest).
(3) Roster of Machida city council members (the city council members of the 16th term).

(6) Machida City Council’s Twitter
From 1st of March 2017, the City Council has started disclosing the following; (1) proceedings and progress on the council
deliberations, (2) resolution results, (3) publish of the Council News and (4) the relevant meeting notes / minutes.
＠machida_gikai (https://twitter.com/machida_gikai)
QR code on the left accesses the Machida City Council Twitter.
オープンデ

Please feel free to follow the twitter.

ータ(7) Opinions exchanged between high school students and Machida city council members
As the sovereign of the democracy, teenagers, who are over the age of 18 years old, have been recently granted of thevoting right. However, the teenagers’ interest into the city council declines significantly. In order to improve the teenager’s
interest into the sovereign right and the city council, several meetings are now being held between the city council members
and high school students. And the meetings have been planned by the city council in broad perspective so that theknowledges and opinions are exchanged and shared between the council members and students. Incidentally, the meeting
agenda may include the binary representatives’ system (which means the separation of authorities between the council
and the mayor), the local autonomy, the role of city council members and any other daily casual matters of the students.

The first meeting took place on November 11 (sat), 2018. Then, the second meeting was held on November 10 (sat), 2019.
Meeting, Exchange of opinions

The Second Time Meeting, Exchange of

Between high school students

opinions

and Machida city council member

Between high school students
and Machida city council member

The First Publish of Poster

The Second Publish of Poster-11-

Issued date:

January, 2019

First Edition by: Machida City Council Secretariat〒 194 - 8520
Machida-shi Morino 2-2-22

TEL: 042 - 724 - 4049 (direct)-12-