For many Americans, serving on local city councils or commissions offers the chance to help their community. However, getting elected is the easy part. The real work begins when any newly elected council member takes office and deals with the realities of his role. New members must learn to work with people of different views and backgrounds to solve problems, while learning function as a council. Time management is crucial as well, since assignments to various boards and commissions are part of the job. Since many council members only receive token salaries or per diems, many of them must juggle their committee workloads with the demands of a full-time job. When all these factors are taken into account, the average person's commitment to the job is impressive indeed.
History
During 19th- and early 20th-century America, the role of city councils were not clearly defined. In most municipalities, the real power rested with autocratic mayors and "bosses" such as Boston's James Michael Curley or Chicago's own "Big Bill" Thompson--to name two notorious examples--who operated on a scale of corruption unimaginable by today's standards. Graft and kickbacks became the norm for getting city businesses or jobs. One of the most glaring examples occurred with the construction of the New York County Courthouse, from which the city's public works commissioner, William Marcy Tweed--or "Boss" Tweed, to the public--profited personally from ties to a company that supplied the marble. By the time of its completion, the courthouse project cost soared to $13 million, making it twice as costly as the Alaska Purchase of 1867 (the equivalent of $178 million in today's dollars).
Time Frame
Emboldened by public outcry against the corruption they saw, reformers successfully prodded cities into approving such key reforms as civil service hiring and competitive bidding. However, alternatives to traditional patronage-based government emerged slowly. Among the earliest was the city commission of five or seven elected members, with each one responsible for a key department. The mayor runs the meetings, but is essentially another commissioner, with no extra powers. This arrangement is known as the Galveston Plan, which the Texan city adopted in 1901 to speed up reconstruction after a flood claimed 6,000 lives. After an initial surge, the commission format gradually declined in popularity after World War I, as more municipalities sensed the need for professional administrators to reduce the role of politics in making decisions. This led to the growth of the council-manager form of government, as Galveston itself did, in 1960.
Effects
The most dramatic reforms were well under way by the Depression era in the 1930s, when the council-manager form of government became prevalent. This arrangement effectively divides executive power between the manager, who serves as a city's day-to-day administrator and spokesperson, while the council acts as a policy-making body. The manager also researches specific issues, which are presented for full council action. Council persons may serve on individual subcommittees that make their own recommendations to the full council, which sets the annual budget and tax rates. Personnel issues, such as hiring and hiring of department heads, also fall into the council's authority.
Strong Versus Weak Mayor
Two other forms of municipal government can affect a council person's duties. In many large cities, the strong mayoral form of government prevails. Under this arrangement, the mayor wields much of the meaningful executive power, including the right to hire and fire department heads and the setting of the annual budget--although the council can veto those decisions, if it wishes. Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago exemplifies one of the nation's best-known strong mayors. The weak mayoral format, as its title implies, works the opposite way--in which the mayor becomes more of a ceremonial leader and spokesperson rather than an independent political figure in his own right. According to a head count posted on the Junto Society's website, the mayor-council form is the most popular arrangement, with 3,776 municipalities using it in 1984, versus 2,523 for council-manager and 177 for city commission.
Considerations
Although civic-minded forces have worked hard to take politics out of City Hall, this has not eliminated the issue. Many municipalities have passed special ethics rules designed to curb nepotism as well as the exchange of gifts for favors, which looms larger in major cities. New council members are expected to learn those rules, which can prohibit them from voting on an issue in which they may hold a financial or personal stake. Learning the ins and outs of the Open Meetings Act is another big part of the job, since only certain kinds of deliberations--such as litigation, negotiations or property purchases--are eligible for a closed session. Even then, the council must take action when it reconvenes publicly. Failure to grasp these issues can lead to the specter of lawsuits and even criminal charges. If nothing else, the need to consider such issues in an increasingly media-saturated age shows that the average council person's lot has become more complex than ever.
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