[3][4] Standing committees are composed of councillors, and have responsibility over key functional areas of the municipality, such as transportation or the environment, and can propose, review, debate prior to forwarding reports to council with recommendations.

[4] Advisory committees include councillors and citizens, and provide specific advice.

The second are external boards that have been established by other levels of government (Airport, Seaport, etc), are organizations that HRM is a voluntary member of (UNSM, etc) or via contract with HRM but are not subject to direct control by the municipality (Halifax Partnership, etc).

Community councils represent a geographic area covering anywhere from five to six municipal districts where councillors consider local matters, make recommendations to Halifax Regional Council, and provide opportunities for public input.

Staffing roles and hiring are the responsibility of the Manager Council Support under the office of the CAO.

By-elections for council seats have been held in 1998, 1999, 2003, 2006, 2007, and 2019 after some regional councillors were elected to the provincial legislature.