The Government Bodies section enables you to manage the legislative groups that make up your organization (e.g., councils, departments, boards, commissions).
Government Bodies and Types
In Legistar, you classify each government body by group for consistency in report formats, agenda headers and order, actions that can be taken on different types of files, and other details. In Legistar, each group is known as a body type. When you access the Government Bodies section, this section displays all the body types that exist in Legistar.
Some body types have several bodies within their grouping. For example, you may group several committees into a Committee body type or several departments into a Department body type. However, there is usually only one Primary Legislative body—for example, the City Council, and there is only one Top Elected Officer—for example, the Mayor.
It’s important to understand the difference between body and body types because sometimes a system administrator may decide to name a body and body type with similar terms, which can be confusing. For example, if there are actions that should be limited to the clerk, the system administrator may create a body type called Clerk with only one Body, the Office of the Clerk. Another example is a Committee body type that includes bodies such as the Finance Committee, Planning and Zoning Committee, and Public Works and Services Committee.
The body type classification works with other Administration sections to determine functions within Legistar. Each body type classification shares the following characteristics:
- Agenda Template (Agenda Definitions)
- Actions users can take in the minutes (Work Flow Actions)
- Vote and Attendance formatting of names (Vote and Attendance Settings)
- Other various controls over Legislative Files
The following table lists examples of body types and bodies:
| Body Type Examples | Body Examples |
|
Primary Legislative Body
|
Note: The Primary Legislative Body is typically the final acting body on legislation
|
|
Committee
|
- Finance Committee
- Planning and Zoning Committee
- Public Works and Services Committee
|
|
Department
|
- City Manager’s Office
- Clerk’s Office
- Community Development Department
- Finance Department
- Legal Department
- Public Works Department
|
|
Board or Commission
|
- Board of Directors
- Board of Supervisors
- Arts Commission
- Parks and Recreation Commission
|
Working with Body Types and Bodies
The left menu displays all of the active body types as subheadings under Bodies. If you add a new body type or delete a body type, right-click anywhere in the left menu and click Refresh to display the most current list of active body types. After you add body types, add the specific bodies for each type. For example, if there are five committees, use the Bodies Main tab to add each one.
The table above includes Committee as an example of a body type, and lists 3 bodies that are examples of committees (e.g., Finance Committee). To view the names of committees and other specific data, select Committee from under Bodies in the left navigation menu. The Bodies Main tab displays the list of existing committees belonging to the Committee body type. Click New to add a new committee using the Bodies Main tab.
Note: Your Legistar Project Manager and the City Project Team completes the initial Administration setup during your system installation. After setup, your Project Manager/System Administrator maintains the Administration tables.
