Composition

The mayor is the chair of the city council and head of the administration. According to Section 29 (2) sentence 1 of the Municipal Code, the city council in municipalities with more than 150,000 inhabitants has 60 council members.

Resolutions on all self-governing matters, unless delegated to a committee. Decisions on statutes, budgets, changes to the city limits, elections for honorary citizens, etc. cannot be delegated to a committee.

The members of the City Council have formed the following political groups: Bündnis 90/DIE GRÜNEN, CDU, SPD, DIE LINKE, AfD, FDP, Volt, ÖDP, and Die FRAKTION. The order of the political groups is determined by their size. A political group must consist of at least two members of the City Council.

The various committees are formed by the city council in accordance with Section 44 of the Municipal Code (GemO) for specific areas of responsibility (e.g., finance and investment committee, construction and renovation committee, youth welfare committee, etc.). The committees are composed either solely of council members or of council members and other eligible persons. The size of the committees is determined by the city council.

Preparation of city council resolutions, unless the city council is authorized to make final decisions in individual cases. Committee meetings are generally open to the public. At the beginning of each committee meeting, the chairperson's proposal to divide the agenda into a public and a non-public section is decided upon.