kunnanhallitus

kunnan (“of a municipality”) +‎ hallitus (“board, government”)

• IPA^(key): /ˈkunːɑnˌhɑlːitus/, [ˈkunːɑ̝nˌhɑ̝lːit̪us̠]
• Rhymes: -ɑlːitus
• Syllabification^(key): kun‧nan‧hal‧li‧tus
• Hyphenation^(key): kunnan‧halli‧tus

kunnanhallitus

1. municipal board, municipal executive committee

• The Finnish term kunta (“municipality”) is used for both towns and cities, which constitute the main elements of local government in Finland. Municipalities that consider themselves sufficiently urban can call themselves kaupunki (“cities”), but this does not influence their legal status in any way (although there used to be a distinction in the past). Every four years, the inhabitants of a municipality elect a kunnanvaltuusto (“municipal council”) as the legislative branch of the municipal government, which then appoints a kunnanhallitus (“municipal board”) to manage the current affairs of the municipality, i.e. acts as the town government's executive branch. The council also appoints a number of municipal committees, each called lautakunta (“board”). These committees have limited decision-making powers in their area of responsibility, and memberships in these bodies are trustee positions. The corresponding bodies in cities are kaupunginvaltuusto (“city council”) and kaupunginhallitus (“city board”).
• The members of municipal and city councils are called kunnanvaltuutettu (“municipal council(l)or”) and kaupunginvaltuutettu (“city council(l)or”) respectively. The council members are usually grouped into groups called valtuustoryhmä (“political group”), which are normally formed along the national political party lines. If there are any councilmen who are independent of political parties, they tend to form an "independent" valtuustoryhmä. A member of any other municipal body is simply called a jäsen (“member”) of that body.
• The council appoints a mayor to run the day-to-day business of the municipality, serving as its "general manager". The mayor may have the status of public official, in which case the office is called kunnanjohtaja or kaupunginjohtaja or it may be considered a political position, in which case it is called pormestari. One of the most visible manifestations of this difference is that a pormestari chairs the meetings of the city board, whereas a kunnanjohtaja and a kaupunginjohtaja do not.

• “kunnanhallitus”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2 July 2023