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[ <br />LOCAL GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION <br />PAGE 3 <br /> <br />STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION <br /> <br />Most citizens give very little thought to the structure and organization of their local <br />government and most elected officials probably take the structure and organization for <br />granted. Nevertheless, the structural, and organizational aspects of government can <br />significantly affect the efficiency and effectiveness of the government. <br /> <br />"Structure" simply means the form of local government. The structure of local <br />government defines how executive and legislative responsibilities are divided between the <br />government'sI elected and appointed officials. "Organization" means the internal <br />arrangements 0f the government departments, concentrating on the relationship among <br />departments and among departments and the elected and appointed officials. <br /> <br />TYPES OF CITIES <br /> <br />Minnesota has,two basic types of governmental structures: statutory cities and home rule <br />charter cities~ Of the 853 cities in Minnesota, 745 are incorporated as statutory cities. <br />They operate Under chapter 412 of the Minnesota Statutes, commonly known as the city <br />code, and under a number of other statutes that apply to ail cities. Although all statutory <br />cities possess ,the same basic powers, the code permits them to select one of three forms <br />of organization. The three forms of organization for statutory cities are Optional Plan A, <br />Optional Plan B, and the Standard Plan. Approximately 600 cities operate under Plan <br />A, 16 cities operate under Plan B, and 130 cities operate under the standard plan. <br /> <br />In Minnesota,~ 108 cities have adopted home rule charters. State law allows any city to <br />adopt a charter, which in effect is a local constitution approved by the voters. Cities have <br />a wide range oi' discretion in adopting charters. Charters may provide for any form of city <br />government, s~Ubject only to state laws that uniformly apply to all cities in Minnesota. <br /> <br />STATUTORY CITIES VS. CHARTER CITIES <br /> <br />Statutory cities and home rule charter cities differ in terms of organization and powers, not <br />any classification based on population or geographical location. The major difference <br />between home[~rule charter cities and statutory cities in Minnesota is in the type of enabling <br />Iegislation under which they have been incorporated. <br /> <br /> <br />