The Association of Washington Cities (AWC) provides many resources to align municipal and community elected officials with their roles and responsibilities, including the Elected Officials Roadmap and an annual multi-part webinar series known as elected Officials Essentials (EOE). Registration for the EOE 2022 series will open soon on the AWC Events and Education website. In the meantime, recordings of the EOE 2021 workshop are available. The powers of the city government are divided into three different branches: legislative, executive and judicial, as shown in the table below, as well as state and federal equivalents. With respect to communication between council and city officials and employees, the Mayor cannot prevent council members from obtaining information through an investigative process, although the Mayor may regulate such a process. However, if the requests of a member of the City to an employee of the City are intended to harass, become incriminating or unreasonably relieve that employee of his duties, it may be necessary for the mayor to request that these requests be forwarded by the mayor`s office or another department head for as long as possible without unduly burdening the council`s access to information. Finances and budgets are other sources of conflict. For example, the mayor is not allowed to make full use of the budget approved by council. Council may approve a specific position at a certain salary, but the mayor may decide not to fill the position or to do so at half and a half salary. The mayor can cite financial challenges, such as: Lower-than-expected revenues and conclude that the city cannot afford someone to hold this position full-time. The Council, on the other hand, cannot accept that the conditions justify such a measure, nor can it conclude that another cost-saving measure is appropriate and should be introduced.
A city attorney is a position in the city and local government in the United States. The city`s lawyer is the lawyer who represents the municipality. [1] Can City Council members receive a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in their compensation? In some areas, the position of municipal lawyer is a part-time position based on a mandate contract, and municipal lawyers engage in external private legal practice. [9] In some cities, the city attorney is elected, while in other cities, the city attorney is appointed. For example, in California, most major cities (including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego) have elected municipal attorneys, while most small towns appoint their municipal attorneys. [10] In some cities, the position of municipal lawyer is very powerful. For example, the chosen position of San Francisco City Attorney is important because of the wide range of tasks associated with the office. Unlike all other California counties, San Francisco is a consolidated borough, which means that the San Francisco City Attorney assumes legal responsibilities in areas that would fall under the responsibility of the county councilor in other counties (for example, county health and social services), as well as the functions of all California city attorneys (police and fire departments). The San Francisco City Attorney is also exceptionally powerful due to the wide range of real estate and activities operated by the city and county government (including land ownership in San Mateo County); For example, the city has San Francisco International Airport, Crystal Springs Reservoir, Sharp Park Golf Course, San Francisco Employee Retirement System, and the Port of San Francisco. [11] The Mayor is the General Manager and Executive Director of the city, responsible for implementing the guidelines established by council and enforcing local laws. The mayor (or manager of a municipal administration) is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the city, including the supervision of all officials and employees appointed in the performance of their official duties.
The Mayor is responsible for the recruitment and dismissal of all appointed civil servants and agents, subject, where applicable, to civil service laws. Councils have the power to require confirmation of the appointment of certain public servants (with the exception of municipal councillors), but do not require confirmation of dismissals by the mayor. The city attorney`s client is the city, and the city attorney is usually accountable to both the mayor and the city council. If the mayor and the city council disagree, or if the members of the city council do not agree with each other, this can lead to complexities,[6] such as the application and waiver of solicitor-client privilege. [7] [8] According to the “doctrine of separation of powers”, each of the three branches exercises certain defined powers, free from undue interference by the others, but the three branches interact with each other within the framework of a system of checks and balances. The powers of these branches in the administration of the city are largely defined by the laws of the State (Ch. 35A.12 RCW for the cities of the mayor-council; Carel 35.18 RCW for the manager of the Council of Uncoded Cities; and Ch. 35A.13 RCW for Cities of the Council Director`s Code). If council believes that a public servant or employee is performing poorly and should be disciplined or fired, it can inform the mayor, but does not have the power to do otherwise. Although it controls the salaries paid to city officials and employees, the council is not allowed to reduce a salary so that the person holding this position resigns. One rule to follow is that council (and the mayor) must not do indirectly what it cannot do directly. For effective local government, it is imperative that municipal officials, especially mayors, council members and municipal managers, understand the roles of their respective offices and their interrelationships with each other.
Conflicts in municipal governments can be the result of confusion about these roles and the resulting transgression. While these boundaries may not be clear in some cases, there is a basic structure of the city and municipal administration from which these roles flow. These sample phrases are automatically selected from various online information sources to reflect the current use of the word “City Hall.” The opinions expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us your feedback.