Aust-Agder County Municipality
Aust-Agder County Municipality is the county government for Aust-Agder county, Norway. The main responsibilities of the county municipality includes the running of eight upper secondary schools with about 4,500 pupils. It is also in charge of county-wide regional planning, county roads, public transport, dental care, culture, and cultural heritage.
The administrative centre of the county is the town of Arendal. The county council is the legislative body for the county. It has 35 members who are directly elected every four years. The executive powers of the county belong to the County Mayor. Since 2017, this has been Gro Bråten of the Labour Party and the Deputy County Mayor is Jon-Olav Strand of the Christian Democratic Party. Stein Ytterdahl is the County Governor of Agder. The Governor is the representative of the King and Government of Norway in each county, functioning as the connection between the state and the municipalities.