Burnside Council has a Mayor who is the elected head of the Council and is elected by all residents. There are also 12 Councillors, two for each of the six wards in the Council area (a ward is a smaller segment of the Council area). This Council makes decisions on matters which affect the Burnside community.
The Council consists of Elected Members and administration staff. The staff carry out the decisions of the Elected Members.
The Chief Executive Officer is the senior member of the staff and is responsible for seeing that the policies of the Council are implemented.