Activity in favor of newly elected municipal officials, Canton of Vaud - Switzerland

Under the impulsion of the Head of Institutions and Territory Department with the aim of facilitating the work of the new elected municipal officials for the next five years, the General Directorate of Institutional Affairs and Municipalities with the help of the prefects organized several trainings.

Four days were organized in the autumn in the Grand Council room in Lausanne on the following themes:

• The collaboration between the municipality (executive) and the council (deliberative assembly) and their respective competences.
• The municipality and its functioning.
• The role of prefects: between good offices and surveillance.
• The municipality as an employer.
• The role of the administration.
• Information and data protection laws.
• The criminal powers of the municipality.
• Federal, cantonal and municipal powers.
• The cantonal plan, excluding building zones and public utility housing.
• Communal finances.
• Municipal mergers.
• Intermunicipal collaborations.

Modules developed by various departments of the cantonal administration were then offered in each of the ten districts in the form of seven evenings dealing with the following themes:

• Institutions I and II
• Territory and Heritage I and II
• Security
• Agriculture and sustainability
• Youth, sport and health 

Finally, in the municipalities that requested it, the prefects, accompanied by staff from the General Directorate of Institutional Affairs and Municipalities, met the deliberative bodies in order to remind them of the respective powers of the council and the municipality.

It was recalled on these occasions all the aid that the State could provide as well as the existence, on the Internet site of the State of Vaud, of the aide-mémoire for the municipal authorities, regularly updated.

The prefects appreciated the direct exchanges with the local elected officials, which made it possible to explain the functioning of the institutions while promoting a good understanding of their concerns.

Roland Berdoz

Prefect of Riviera district – Pays-d’Enhaut

Canton of Vaud, Switzerland