Administrative Districts, Departments and Communities
Today Mecklenburg-Vorpommern consists of 12 administrative districts and six self-administrating cities. The smallest units of local government administration are the communities, which, according to the constitution of municipal government, also include the towns. Most of the communities are associated in departments. These departments settle the administrative matters for their member communities. 24 towns and 10 smaller communities in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern do not belong to such a department. Furthermore, there are 811 communities which belong to an administrative district and 79 departments (status quo: 1st June 2006).
The tasks of the communities are performed by the municipal representatives and the mayor. The administrative districts are responsible for cross-municipal tasks or such tasks which surpass the capacity of the departments and the communities belonging to the administrative district. Such tasks are for example the responsibility for secondary schools, vocational schools and hospitals as well as waste disposal and processing. The legislative bodies of an administrative district are the district parliament and its district administrator.
The highest bodies for political decision-making and the adoption of resolutions in the administrative districts, departments and communities are the district parliament, the department committee and the municipal or town council. They are elected democratically and also control administration.
District administrators, the department heads and mayors are the legal representatives of the bodies in question. Department heads and full-time mayors are at the same time the directors of administration. Honorary mayors of communities which belong to a department are their legal representatives and also assume the chairmanship in this representation.