Each department is administered by an elected body called a departmental council ("conseil départemental" "conseils départementaux" [plur.). From 1800 to April 2015, these were called general councils ("conseil général" "conseils généraux" [plur.). Each council has a president. Their main areas of responsibility include the management of a number of social and welfare allowances, of junior high school ("collège") buildings and technical staff, and local roads and school and rural buses, and a contribution to municipal infrastructures. Local services of the state administration are traditionally organised at departmental level, where the prefect represents the government; however, regions have gained importance since the 2000s, with some department-level services merged into region-level services.