"At the 2026 Annual Meeting, the Municipal Association of SC unveiled two new resources to help municipalities operate. The updated Forms and Powers of Municipal Government handbook can help municipal officials better understand executive or administrative powers, while the model parliamentary procedure rules can help councils run their meetings more smoothly."
Updated Forms and Powers of Municipal Government handbook
South Carolina law requires all municipalities to structure themselves using one of these forms as defined in state law: the council form, the mayor-council form or the council-manager form. The legislative functions of city and town councils work the same across all three forms, but executive and administrative functions differ significantly.
This handbook describes the powers given by state law to mayors, councils and managers or administrators under the different forms. It also discusses who performs administrative duties under the three structures, who supervises departments and appoints and removes employees, who is responsible for preparing a municipality’s budget, who can call special meetings, as well as how municipalities may change the form of government through a referendum.
Not every question about delineation of responsibility has a clear answer in state law. The new version of the handbook describes some of these areas where the council can help reduce potential conflict through communication and thoughtfully established rules. This can include how the city establishes agendas for council meetings, purchasing powers and regular access to information.
Rules of parliamentary procedure
Robert’s Rules of Order, created by the South Carolina-born Gen. Henry Martyn Robert, is a famous manual of parliamentary procedure, first published in 1876 and built on the rules of the United States Congress. Despite its widespread use, some municipalities have found that it is not ideally suited to municipal meetings. The Municipal Association drafted a much shorter 10-page set of rules that city and town councils can adopt by ordinance.
The rules cover areas including agenda preparation, presiding officers, quorums, meeting conduct, voting procedures, as well as the processes for making and considering different types of motions.