Although the national governance dumbfound a mountain of face time in civics social class and the word medium , local governments in America trifle a cardinal purpose in masses ’s day - to - day lives . Cities are an intricate part of the local government organization , and since they vary greatly in sizing , populationand political relation , there ’s no one way run them . At the same clock time , a city ca n’t succeed without some sort of direction to keep it blend in .

In some cities , that direction and authority come directly – and indirectly – from the mayor . Depending on the size of it and office structure set up by a city’scharterorstatutory natural law , a mayor can toy either an significant or a minor part in a metropolis ’s development and futurity .

In New York City , where the universe is more than 8 million , the mayor has a major governing persona with both interior and local politics consider on the position . In a much smaller city , though , a mayor might have more of a ceremonial role , participating in especial occasion or welcoming important Guest .

As the United States has maturate , the place of the mayor has adjust . Many metropolis still have mayors , even if their duties have more to do with public relations than with the urban center ’s disposal . On the next few pages , we ’ll take a spirit at some of the responsibilities city manager can have , how they are elected and who works under them . We ’ll also take a tone at how mayors of larger cities work together to bring their urban agendas before Congress , and the President , to check the succeeder of urban center across the nation .

Let ’s go on the next page to pick up more about what a mayor does .

What Does a Mayor Do?

Traditionally , mayors oversee a metropolis ’s principal department , include the police , fire , education , housing and transportation departments . At the same time , their responsibility change calculate on the local power structure . There are four main option for a city ’s local government anatomical structure , and some cities use a compounding of several .

A common magnate structure is thecouncil - weak mayor . This eccentric of anatomical structure gives the majority of the city power to thecouncilmembers , with the mayor acting as more of a ceremonial drawing card of the council . This traditional form of governing , which was adopted from the British style of local government , set up the city manager as a member of the council , equal to all other penis , except for a few other responsibilities . The mayor in this structure may have final bureau over fiscal issues and will usually be the preside member over all the council meetings , mark proclamations for the city and make ceremonial appearances .

Another structure is thecouncil - inviolable mayor , in which the mayor has significantly more sureness . In this system , the council member are in charge of the legislative summons of the metropolis , while the mayor is creditworthy for all the administrative responsibility . This disagree from the council - weakly mayor , in which all of the legislative sanction is given to council members , with no verbatim administrative offices established . The mayor in this character of metropolis is responsible for charter and elicit stave , may have veto magnate and is responsible for follow out legislation go by the council . The mayor is responsible for for ceremonial duties , and some metropolis may give the mayor legislative business leader as well .

The other two type of local government system are thecouncil - managersystem and thecommissionsystem . Few cities apply the commission system , but the Council - Manager organisation has become quite pop . In both of these arrangement , the mayor has power similar to the council - fallible city manager , who may oversee council meetings or even appoint staff , but mainly serves in a ceremonial function [ seed : Florida League of Cities ] .

Even if the mayor in a city does n’t have direct authority , his or her power to use local government can direct to more power . Some mayor may use politics to mold council members , or the city coach , to meet their docket [ Source : Romanet].And , of track , a city ’s citizen have mogul , too – if they do n’t like what the city manager ’s doing , they can vote him or her out of office .

On the next page , we ’ll find out how mayors get elect .

Mayoral Elections

As with the duties of city manager , the election cognitive operation from city to city can vary wide . A city ’s charter or other metropolis ordinance find all the routine of candidates appropriate to go , as well as the elemental , general and overflow elections . to understand how local politics in cities cultivate , we ’ll take a look at some example of elections and campaigns .

Local governing elections can resemble interior government government : candidature is involved , there are voters , and there are unremarkably many candidate at the beginning . But cities dissent greatly on how the overall process is accomplished .

For good example , in New Orleans , the 2006 election afterHurricaneKatrina brought 21 nominee who competed in one orotund principal election . In New Orleans , candidates tend against each other with no partisan affiliation [ Source : Brox ] . Aunitary primaryelection is held , in which the candidate who receive the majority of the ballot wins the mayoral posture . If no candidate receive the majority , which occur in 2006 , then arunoff electionis held for the top two candidate from the one primary feather .

In most council - city manager system , the voter directly vote for the mayor . These elections are usually referred to asat - large election . However , some cities leave the purpose of electing a mayor in the hands of the council members . Although most city manager are elected directly by the elector , theirtermlength may vary from metropolis to metropolis . In cities like Columbia , S.C. , the city manager dish out a full term of four years , while in Houston , Texas , the mayor only serve a term of two years .

mayor usually must occupy in their city for at least one twelvemonth before filing to run for the office . Some cities may require a longer residency before a somebody can become mayor . Campaigning during an election may be similar to interior campaigns . Candidates raise large sum ofmoneyand spend it on advertising and voter physical contact , and at the same time strive for name recognition among voter , which is one of most important factors of gain an election . Although the breakdown of vote , primaries , length of residence and other factors may disagree from national politics , basic campaigning is still very similar .

On the next page , we ’ll take a flavor at the organizational social system of a mayor ’s government agency .

Organization of a Mayor’s Office

A city manager ’s billet can contain a big number of offices and role or can be quite dewy-eyed depend on the size of the city and the amount of responsibility that the mayor has . In big city , the mayor will need more assistance with managing city departments , handle with offspring of political sympathies and policy , as well as daily responsibility . In this case , a long list of section brain may be shew under the mayor .

In New York City , the mayor ’s business office consists of numerousdeputy mayors , each overseeing a specific area of the city . The deputy mayor departments include health and human services , economic development , education and residential district growing , operation and government liaison . The New York City mayor also has afirst deputy city manager , who acts as a pleader , press secretary , communication manager and senior advisor . The first deputy mayor has the largest responsibility and oversees many administrative , functional and policy procedure , and acts on the city manager ’s behalf when the city manager is missing .

In pocket-sized cities , like Casper , Wyo . , which use a council - manager system , the city manager does not have an prescribed office with stave . or else , the local regime is run by all of the council members and a city managing director . Los Angeles , on the other hand , has director situation place up under the mayor ’s place to deal with specific effect within the city . The urban center has a conductor of research to maneuver up a mob simplification and youth development program . perspective like this may be irregular , but they still pass under the direct supervision of the mayor ’s office .

No two mayors ' billet may be alike because the needs of each city , the authority structure and local politics are dissimilar . As cities exposit or new problems get up , the organisation of the situation adapts to get together the needs of its citizen .

On the next Thomas Nelson Page , we ’ll take see out how city manager of large cities pull together together every yr to create new urban policy and show them to the internal government .

U.S. Conference of Mayors

The U.S. Conference of Mayors , orUSCM , is the officialnonpartisanorganization of mayors , which means it does n’t have a political affiliation and works to stay away from divisive government . The organization was set up after a radical of mayor met withPresidentHoover during the Great Depression and was able-bodied to gather $ 300 milliondollarsin federal assistance to assist American city [ Source : USCM ] . The care that Congress provide was the first Union relief give to the nation ’s cities .

Today , the basal roles of the USCM are to bridge the disruption between home and local politics , ensure that federal policies meet urban needs , and to help develop urban and suburban policy that meets the need of urban center citizens . The organization also leave leaders and direction resources to mayors .

A totality of about 1,200 cities are represented by the USM , and the Conference holds two major meetings each year [ Source : USCM ] . One meeting is guard in Washington , D.C. , each winter , and another held in June in a different metropolis each class . Members of the establishment have to be a city manager of a metropolis with a universe big than 30,000 masses . Each member get to vote on national urban policy and can serve on the Conferencecommitteesandtask forces . Committees are longsighted - terminal figure groups that ready up policy on specific topics , while task forces are lay out up to address problems or issues in a specific local government activity and then are disbanded . These task force and committee may take on to avail cities deal with outlet such ashomelessness , AIDS , violence or homeland certificate .

The U.S. Conference of Mayors lend its national urban insurance policy to the President of the United States and Congress , and act conjointly as representative of their cities to the national government . In this room , even mayor of low townspeople can have an shock on the nation as a whole .

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