Read the information below and make up а dialogue

III. PRACTICE AND EXPERIENCE

· between a mayor and a councilor. Pay attention to their functions. (Great Britain);

· between the inhabitant of Virginia and Philadelphia’s inhabitant (Pennsylvania) (the USA).

I Councils have historically had no split between executive and legislature. Functions are vested in the council itself, and then exercised usually by committees or subcommittees of the council. In 2000, Parliament passed the Local Government Act 2000 to require councils to move to an executive-based system, either with the council leader and a cabinet acting as an executive authority, or with a directly elected mayor – either with a mayor and cabinet drawn from the councillors – or a mayor and council manager. There are now twelve directly elected mayors, in districts where a referendum was in favour of them. Every local council has its presiding officer, and this post is filled by the vote of the whole council. The presiding officer of a county or district council is called the Chairman, but in a borough or city he is called Mayor. (The title of Lord Mayor is a special mark of distinction given to the mayors of the seventeen most important English cities, and of Cardiff in Wales). The chairman of a town council is styled the Town Mayor. Major functions of local governments include recordkeeping (births, deaths, land transfers, etc.), administration of elections (including voter registration), construction and maintenance of local and rural roads, zoning, building code enforcement, and law enforcement (especially in rural areas).The area which a council covers is divided into one or more electoral divisions – known in district and parish councils as "wards", and in county councils as "electoral divisions". In the election, the candidates to receive the most votes win, in a system known as the multi-member plurality system. There is no element of proportional representation. Councils may be elected wholly, every four years, or "by thirds", where a third of the councillors get elected each year, with one year with no elections. The term of a councillor is usually four years. Councillors cannot do the work of the council themselves, and so are responsible for appointment and oversight of officers, who are delegated to perform most tasks. Councils also have a general power to "promote economic, social and environmental well-being" of their area. However, like all public bodies, they are limited by the doctrine of ultra vires, and may only do things that common law or an Act of Parliament specifically or generally allows for. Local authorities sometimes provide services on a joint basis with other authorities, through bodies known as joint-boards. Joint-boards are not directly elected but are made up of councillors appointed from the authorities which are covered by the service. Typical services run by joint-boards include policing, fire services, public transport and sometimes waste disposal authorities.

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