The nature and extent of delegations will vary between councils of different size. The larger the council the greater the time spent by councillors on broad policy and governance issues and in dealing strategically with matters raised by residents. This creates the need for a greater level of delegation of powers to the chief executive officer (CEO) to enable day-to-day executive decision-making.

Councils can delegate directly to the CEO, but they cannot delegate directly to any other local government employee. Once a power is delegated to the CEO, it is then a matter for the CEO to further delegate powers to other council officers. Council may also delegate a power to the CEO and direct that the power not be further delegated by the CEO.

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