17.5.2 Terms of office and transitions

Members who are elected at a triennial election come into office the day after the public notice of the official declaration of results [1]. Current members’ terms of office expire at the same time [2].
Election day is the second Saturday in October and the public notice of results is usually one week later. Elected members take up office but are unable to fulfil their duties until they have made their declarations [3]. There may be one or two weeks between commencing office and making their declarations.
The governing body and local boards typically pass resolutions setting out how decisions are to be made between the final meetings in September and the inaugural meetings. This period of time is often referred to as the interregnum period. While current members are still in office, decision-making may be delegated to a few members. During the 2016 interregnum period the governing body delegated urgent decision-making power to any two of either the mayor, the deputy mayor and a chairperson of a committee of the whole. Local Boards delegated urgent decision-making power to their chair and deputy chair.
The chief executive will also make decisions during this period under existing delegations.

For information on what happens if a vacancy occurs during a political term see Section 3.3: Resignations and vacancies.