George A. Codding, Jr., Governing the Commune of Veyrier: Politics in Swiss Local Government, 1967.

Chapter Five
The Communal Executive:
The Mayor and His Deputies

In communes of 3,000 population or less, the mayor's office is the single most important unit of local government. Although the mayor must govern with the aid of the legislative council and his two deputies, it is he who, in the last analysis, is responsible for the making of the important decisions. It is the purpose of this chapter to investigate the nature of the organization and functions of the mayor's office, including a look at the highly important office of secretary to the mayor. Inasmuch as Veyrier is changing from the strong mayor system to a more typically Swiss governmental unit, the executive council, one final section will be devoted' to the nature of the executive council and the changes that will occur in the communal executive government as a result.

Election

There are only a few legal qualifications for election as mayor or deputy mayor. Candidates must be at least 25 years of age and eligible to vote in the commune. Excluded from running for these offices are members of the cantonal Conseil d'Etat and members of the clergy. In addition, in any one commune close relatives may not serve simultaneously in the positions of mayor or deputy mayor.1

Elections for the position of mayor and the two deputy mayors, all for a term of four years, are held four weeks after the elections for the municipal council. The two-ballot majority system is used. On the first ballot the candidate must receive an absolute majority of the votes cast to be elected. If a second ballot is necessary, a plurality of votes is adequate for election. In the case of a tie the older is the victor. In case of a tie between two individuals of the same age, the winner is determined by lot. The names of the candidates for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor are carried on the same ballot, but each candidate must indicate the post for which he is running. Winners have eight days (one month if absent from the commune) after the publishing of the results to indicate whether they accept or not. In case of a refusal a supplementary election is held. A mayor or deputy mayor who ceases to be a qualified elector in the commune where he was elected is considered to have resigned his post. In this case, or any other case in which an executive post becomes vacant between regular elections, a supplementary election is held to fill the remainder of the term, except where a regular election will be held within a period of three months. All mayors and deputy mayors are eligible for re-election.2

In practice the candidates for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor first stand for election to the municipal council. If successful, as they usually are since the candidates for these posts are usually the heads of the party on whose list they run, they then become candidates for election to the post of mayor or deputy mayor. Whoever is successful in his bid for election to the executive then resigns his seat on the municipal council, and the vacant seat is filled by the person with the next higher number of votes on the same party list.

It is the practice in most small communes for the major parties to band together after the municipal council elections and create a single coalition ticket, for the mayor and his deputies or for the three members of the administrative council as the case may be, for presentation to the voter. In the spring 1967 elections, for example, a single executive ticket was presented in twenty-seven out of the forty-four Geneva communes (excluding the city of Geneva). In Veyrier, only about 29 percent of the voters turned out to verify the coalition ticket.

Once elected to an executive post, successful candidates are usually re-elected without difficulty for as long as they desire to hold office. A dozen years of service as mayor or in a combination of mayor and deputy mayor is neither unusual nor surprising in Veyrier. If one adds membership in the municipal council, twenty-five years of service to the commune is not unusual.3 Further, it is not unusual for an individual holding the office of mayor to also be elected to the cantonal legislature. The present mayor of Veyrier, Mr. Genet, is thus honored.

Powers and Functions

The communal executive is given a wide range of powers, executive, administrative, and legislative. The only restriction on the use of these powers, in addition to that set forth in the provisions for supervision by the cantonal authority mentioned in Chapter One, is that he must "consult" with his deputies before exercising them.4

First, in the executive sphere, the mayor must execute all of the decisions of the municipal council and all laws, decrees, and official regulations over which the commune is given jurisdiction. In case of emergency the mayor is permitted "to take all the temporary measures necessary to preserve the interests of the commune," and he must defend the interests of the commune before the courts. The mayor is also empowered to accept gifts and bequests to the commune, with or without directives as to the purpose for which they are to be used, as long as they do not contain any encumbrances or conditions, or consist of personal property worth not more than 1,000 Swiss francs.

Second, the administrative powers are wide and much more detailed. The general attribution of authority provides that the mayor is charged with "the administration of the commune and the preservation of the communal property." In particular he must present the commune's annual'budget to the municipal council at least one week before the date fixed by the council for its discussion, and the commune's annual administrative and financial report also must be presented one week before it is to be discussed. The mayor is authorized to appoint officials and employees of the municipal administration, to supervise their work, and to dismiss them as the need arises.5 He also appoints the communal registrar, subject to the approval of the Conseil d'Etat, and may make nominations to the Conseil d'Etat of names for the post of registrar in chief.6 The communal executive is also charged with posting all laws, decrees, and official regulations, and with furnishing the cantonal executive and its departments with any information that they may request.

The mayor or his deputies are in charge of the municipal and rural police and the execution of administrative police measures taken by the cantonal executive body or its Department of Justice and Police. Further, the mayor, or a specially designated deputy, with the approval of the Conseil d'Etat and under the control of the cantonal Public Prosecutor, is responsible for the direction of criminal investigation police in the commune. In carrying out their functions, they may call on the services of the forces of public order.

The mayor also has certain quasi-legislative functions, in that he presides over meetings of the municipal council, may undertake a study of any question of interest to the commune and make a report on it to the municipal council, and may initiate legislation.7

Organization and Procedures

The organization of the mayor's office is left almost completely to the decision of the mayor, with the exception that he "must delegate a part of his functions to his deputies." Although the nature of the functions so delegated must be specified, as well as the length of the term of the delegation, it is at the mayor's complete discretion as to how much he wishes to delegate, and he may take back any of the powers at any time.8

In 1963, when he took office, the present mayor, Mr. Genet, divided the functions of Veyrier's executive office in the following manner:

  1. I. Mayor. General Administration.
    1. Finances
    2. Secretariat
    3. Police
    4. Civil Registry
    5. Welfare
    6. Naturalization
    7. Construction Permits
  2. 1st Deputy. Mr. Pougnier.
    1. Roads
    2. Trash Removal
    3. Fountains
    4. Cemetery
    5. Fire Service
  3. 2nd Deputy. Mr. Bordier.
    1. Buildings
    2. Schools
    3. Communal Funds
    4. Communal Celebrations
    5. Library

The division of functions among the three members of the communal executive, according to Mayor Genet, was done first on the basis of interest on the part of the individual, and second, on the basis of achieving some sort of equitable distribution of work. The three major tasks of the communal executive were first distributed: finances to the mayor, roads to the first deputy, and buildings to the second deputy; and then lesser duties were parcelled out among the three. Mr. Bordier, it was noted, was the owner and head of one of the largest property management concerns in the city of Geneva. It was natural, therefore, that he should be in charge of public buildings. Mr. Pougnier was also the logical choice to head roads, inasmuch as he was the only one of the three whose place of business was within the commune and whose business is a big user of communal roads. Regarding construction permits, the 7th listed function, the commune does not, as the mayor pointed out, have the right to issue such permits. It has the right to give only an advanced recommendation before action by the canton.9

The decision-making process is fairly simple. As a general rule each of the three, mayor and two deputies, has full authority to make decisions in his designated field. Most routine matters are taken care of by the individual under his own authority, and the others are informational recipients only. Important matters, or matters in which there is some controversy, are brought to the regular weekly executive meeting, which is not open to the public, for discussion. Whenever possible the mayor prefers to achieve a consensus, but in the rare occasion when a consensus cannot be obtained it is the mayor who makes the final decision.

The mayor and his deputies meet once a week, on Monday night since the beginning of 1965 and on Wednesdays before that. These meetings are held at 8:00 p.m. and normally last about an hour.

In addition to the regularly scheduled Monday meeting, the mayor is in his office to transact official business from eight to nine o'clock on Wednesday evenings. An official announcement states that he will receive the public starting at 8:30 p.m. The announced quitting time is 9:00 p.m., but if it is necessary to remain in his office later he will do so. The present mayor, Mr. Genet, also stops by the office at least once a day in order to read his mail and dictate replies, and stops back in his office at night to sign letters. The mayor attends communal legislative meetings and makes himself available for special interviews. Almost everyone, it seems, wants to tell his problems directly to the mayor, and often it is necessary to grant interviews outside of the scheduled times. In addition, the mayor must attend many cantonal functions, celebrations, and meetings of private societies.

The present mayor has found the telephone to be a tremendous asset to his position. Mr. Genet is a well-known dentist with offices in downtown Geneva, and thus is not always in the vicinity of the Veyrier town hall. He talks to his office several times a day, which he is able to do since he sets his own schedule, and attempts to transact as much of the commune's business as possible in this way. He finds that requests for action on his part can often be expedited more readily by telephone than if it were necessary to have a preliminary personal meeting each time he needs to act.

Mr. Bordier estimates that the deputy mayor normally spends from three to six hours a week on communal business. There are the meetings with the mayor on Monday, and from two to three hours a week are needed for interviews and answering letters from the residents of the commune dealing with his special area of competence. Mr. Bordier, in addition, spends about one half-hour each Thursday morning at communal construction sites. The deputies are also in demand for communal and private ceremonies. Mr. Bordier, for instance, is always present for the inauguration of new communal buildings. The weekend prior to the day Mr. Bordier was interviewed he had attended ceremonies of the inauguration of the new organ in the Protestant church which had lasted over one and a half hours.

It would not be out of place at this point to note that the mayor and his deputies are not paid salaries. Their only emolument is an annual representation allowance, purely honorary, of 3,000 Swiss francs for the mayor and 2,000 for each of the deputies.

The Secretary to the Mayor and Other Municipal Employees

The secretary to the mayor in communes the size of Veyrier and smaller is without doubt one of the most important individuals in the communal government. The nature of the office of secretary places the individual who occupies it in a position where he is bound to have a tremendous store of knowledge of the business of the commune and where he can make a number of decisions on his own.

The secretary is appointed by the mayor, who may choose anyone he wishes for this position with the provision that if the appointee is to exercise the duties of registrar, his appointment is subject to the approval of the cantonal executive. If the secretary is to be registrar in chief, the mayor only nominates and the cantonal executive appoints. The secretary serves the same period as the mayor and in principle offers his resignation to the mayor after each election. In practice, however, each mayor usually reappoints the secretary until he retires. The present secretary of Veyrier, Mr. Emile Monjon, has served in this capacity since 1943. Further, in many of the smaller communes the post is only part-time. The case of Mr. Monjon is a good example. When he was first appointed in 1943 he was a local school teacher, and the position of secretary was added to that of teacher. Mr. Monjon retired from teaching in 1960 and, because the needs of the commune had increased, became a full-time secretary.10

The actual functions of the secretary, with the exception of the tasks involved in being registrar, are nominally at the discretion of the mayor, although tradition and need have made the functions of secretary fairly standardized. The most important and time consuming, according to Mr. Monjon, is acting as the commune's finance officer. As a general rule, twice a month he must spend several days paying the commune's numerous bills. Second in importance is answering the commune's correspondence. The secretary must also attend the meetings of the municipal council and the communal executive, take notes, and write up the informal minutes of the meetings. Finally, he acts as the registrar and makes out and records the necessary certificates of births, marriages, deaths, and other essential facts. Veyrier is the site of a cantonal unwed mothers' clinic, making the secretary's job harder because of the necessity of registering additional births and later changes of names and adoptions. There is also a cantonal retirement home that causes additional work in the registration of deaths.

As an example of the amount of work involved in being registrar of a commune the size of Veyrier, in 1964 the secretary "formalized 24 marriages, recorded 30 births (with all the complicated administrative formalities involved in the birth of illegitimate children) and 16 deaths."11 In 1965 there were 25 marriages to formalize, 26 births, and 22 deaths to record. In addition, the secretary had to cope with one acknowledgement of paternity of a child and three adoptions.12 The records of the registrar are inspected at various times by federal authorities.

To aid him in his duties, the secretary to the mayor has the assistance of one half-time typist, available since September, 1964.

The town hall is kept open by the secretary to the mayor from 8 a.m. to 12 noon and 2 to 6 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Thursdays and Saturdays the town hall and the secretary's office are open only in the mornings. The secretary must also be in attendance at the weekly meetings of the mayor and his deputies and the regular meetings of the municipal council. To get his work done, however, Mr. Monjon is often forced to take advantage of the peace and quiet of Thursday and Saturday afternoon.

In addition to the secretary and his half-time typist, the regular employees of the commune include three roadmenders who are responsible for the upkeep of the communal roads and the communal cemetery, three caretaker-janitors, and one cleaning woman who cleans the town hall on one day each week.

The Changeover to the Administrative Council

As stated earlier, in communes with less than 3,000 population, the executive is made up of a mayor and two deputies; and in communes with more than 3,000 population the executive is a three-man administrative council. The commune of Veyrier, according to the cantonal statistical department, passed the 3,000 mark in 1964, so must convert to the new system soon after the 1967 elections.13 Of the two major branches of government, the executive will be affected the most.

The administrative council is made up of three men, elected for four-year terms by the electors of the community. After election, the three members of the administrative council divide up the duties of the communal executive among them and elect one of their members to be the chairman. The chairman of the council takes the title of mayor and is eligible for re-election. All decisions, including that of distributing the executive functions, are made by a majority vote. While formerly the secretary to the mayor simply took a set of informal notes of the meetings of the communal executive, under the new system he will be obliged to keep a set of formal minutes. The only additional power that the council has over the mayor-deputy system is that it is competent to take care of communal leases with time limits that do not exceed nine years.

The change from the mayor-deputy system to the administrative council will result in two basic changes in the operation of the executive office. In the first place, there will be a better division of powers than now exists between the mayor and his deputies. All the executive powers will be divided almost equally among the three members of the administrative council as decided by a majority vote. In the past, the work of the commune was light enough that the mayor could shoulder the lion's share of the communal tasks. In the second place, there will be a real separation of powers between the legislative function and the executive function. The mayor will no longer preside over the meetings of the municipal council. Perhaps the most important, however, is that in the future each of the three members of the communal executive will have equal power in making decisions. The new mayor will have certain functions that the others will not have, such as presiding over the meetings of the administrative council and representing the commune at ceremonial occasions. He will have those powers as a result of a decision of his fellow members on the administrative council and not as a mandate from the people.14

The change will have some additional consequences. There will probably be an addition to the number of permanent employees in the town hall. The secretary to the mayor will become the secretary to the three-man administrative council, each member being equal in power to the other and thus having equal call on his time. In addition to the minutes of the meetings of the municipal council, the secretary will have to keep official minutes of the meetings of the administrative council. This increase in the work load of the secretary, in addition to that caused by the steady rise in population of the commune, will probably force the new administrative council to hire an assistant to the secretary and to raise the present position of part-time typist to full-time typist.

The changeover and the anticipated addition of new personnel has already resulted in a decision to enlarge the town hall. At present the town hall, constructed around 1800, is composed of an office for the mayor, an office for the secretary to the mayor, the meeting room of the municipal council, and a rather large entrance hall. The second floor is given over to the living quarters of the secretary, and the basement is not used. As a result of the change, all three members of the executive will have equal right to an office. Passing the 3,000 population mark will also mean the addition of two members to the municipal council, which already has difficulty in fitting into the council room.

To accommodate these changes, the municipal council has decided to build a new municipal council meeting room and two new executive offices on adjacent property. The present town hall will be changed by increasing the size of the office of the secretary and by making the basement available for storage. The present council meeting room will be used in the future for committee meetings. The work is expected to be completed by the end of 1967 or early in 1968.

The expected increase in the number of communal employees has given rise to an interest in the establishment of standard personnel regulations for the commune. Up to this point it has been possible to get by without such regulations because of the small number of employees; each case was treated on an ad hoc basis. A possible model for Veyrier's set of personnel regulations is that which is in use in the sister commune of Vernier.15

All communal employees are hired by the administrative council of Vernier. All candidates must be in good health and have a reputation of good conduct. New employees may not be older than 27 except where a university degree, or its equivalent, may be necessary for him to carry out his functions. Under special circumstances the commune may hire employees up to the age of 40, but in such cases the employees must pay their own insurance premiums for the years between the age of 27 and the year hired. All employees must have Swiss nationality, and preference is given to those who are also citizens of the canton of Geneva. All employees are first engaged for a one-year trial period, unless otherwise decided by the executive, during which their contract can be terminated on one month's notice. Those who work for the commune must carry out their tasks with the utmost diligence and must take special care of all communal property entrusted to them.

The Vernier personnel regulations forbid the divulging of information that has not been made public without the permission of the communal legislative or executive authority and forbids the receiving of kickbacks from those who supply the commune with materials. Communal employees may take temporary jobs with other employers while on the communal payroll, but they may never, as a result, refuse to work overtime for the commune when called upon to do so.

The commune of Vernier has a salary scale of fourteen categories. The lowest, category 14, has a minimum salary of 10,675 Swiss francs and a maximum of 13,050, with an annual raise of 475 francs. The highest, category 1, provides for a minimum of 27,450 Swiss francs and a maximum of 34,350, with an annual raise of 1,400 francs. The normal period for moving from the minimum to the maximum in any category is five years. Provisions are also made for special bonuses; for instance, each employee receives a bonus for each period of ten years that he spends as a communal employee. A 300-franc bonus is given to an employee on the birth of a child, and he receives from that time on until the child becomes an adult a yearly supplement of 120 francs. At retirement, which is normally at the age of 62, an employee receives the equivalent of two months' pay. Provisions are also made for covering the employee with life and accident insurance.

The normal work week for an employee of the commune of Vernier is 44 hours and the normal work day can be no longer than ten hours. Employees receive an additional 25 percent of their pay for working on Saturday afternoons and 50 percent for working on Sundays and official holidays.. Fifty percent extra is paid for work outside the regular working hours up to 10:00 p.m. and after 5:00 a.m. in the summer and 6:00 a.m. in the winter. One hundred percent extra is paid for work between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. in the summer and 6:00 a.m. in the winter. The Vernier regulations provide for a bonus of from 10 to 75 percent of the salary for special heavy or dangerous work. Each male employee receives his regular pay during periods of normal military service.

The vacation formula is fairly simple. During the first year of employment, the communal employee receives one and a half days of paid vacation for each complete month of work. In the second year of employment, the number of days of paid vacation is eighteen, and from the third year on it is twenty-four. The regulations stipulate that these paid vacations be used only for rest and relaxation. Anyone caught working for others during his vacation period is subject to loss of salary or other sanction. Employees also receive three days of vacation in the case of marriage or the death of a spouse, child, or parent. Two days of paid vacation are offered for the birth of a child, or the death of a brother, sister, or anyone allied to the first degree.

Employees can be disciplined for (1) breach of the personnel regulations; (2) failure to carry out duties; (3) arriving late for work and leaving work before the normal quitting time; (4) malingering; (5) frequenting licensed public houses during working hours, except for authorized rest periods; (6) insults and quarrels; and (7) in general any important breach of discipline, harmony, or morals. Four types of disciplinary action can result: a written or verbal reprimand; suspension from duty without pay for a period of one to three days; postponement of a normal raise in salary; and dismissal. Dismissals may not take place except when ordered by the administrative council and after the person involved has been heard in his own defense.

Any manual worker whose contract with the commune is terminated must receive the equivalent of one month's pay. An employee of professional rank receives two months' pay.


Notes

1 The following categories of relatives are included in this prohibition: spouses, offspring, brothers, sisters, brothers and sisters, and first cousins. See Loi sur les votations et elections du 23 juin 1961, Art. 202.

2 Ibid., Arts. 197, 198 and 199, and the Geneva Constitution, Arts. 50 and 152.

3 See Appendix A for a list of the names of all mayors and deputy mayors in Veyrier from 1814 to the present.

4 See the Loi sur 1'administration des communes du 3 juillet 1954, Art. 36. The following attributions are taken from the same article unless otherwise designated.

5 In the case of dismissal, employees have the right to appeal to the municipal council or any other body designated by the cantonal Conseil d'Etat.

6 The commune of Veyrier is so small that it can get along with only one registrar.

7 Loi sur 1'administration des communes du 3 juillet 1954, Art. 10 (1) and 36.

8 Ibid., Art. 34.

9 It should also be noted that the commune does not have a zoning power. If the commune wishes to see a part of its territory preserved for certain uses, it must make an application to that effect to the cantonal authorities. Recently, for example, the commune was successful in persuading the canton to zone the center of Veyrier Village in such a manner that its character will be preserved. If the initiative for a change in zoning should come from the cantonal authorities, however, they are obliged to consult with the communal authorities before taking action.

10 "Because of their education qualifications, and part-time availability, teachers are often chosen to carry out the duty of secretary in the smaller communes. The salary scale for the job of secretary to the mayor in Veyrier runs from a minimum of 20,125 francs a year to a maximum of 34,450.

11 Compte rendu financier pour l'exercice 1964 et administratif pour la periode 1964-1965, p. 8.

12 Compte rendu financier pour l'exercice 1965 et administratif pour la periode 1965-1966, p. 8. Marriages are performed free of charge on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 5 and 6 p.m. There is a fee of 20 Swiss francs for marriages performed at other times.

13 One other commune, Plan-les-Ouates, also moved from the mayor-deputy system to the administrative council in 1967. As a result of these two changes, eleven communes in addition to the city of Geneva had administrative councils.

14 For the legal provisions dealing with the administrative council see Loi sur l'administration des communes du 3 juillet 1954, Arts. 32, 33 and 37.

15 See Geneva, Commune de Vernier, Reglement de personnel, 19 avril 1966 (mimeo.). In 1965 the commune of Vernier had a population of 12,355.