The State and Local Government of the City of Melbourne Essay

Help our residents with any choices and decisions they need to make without making the decision for them.

In larger cities and metropolitan areas it is important for the leader to be experienced in conducting business on a larger scale than the city alone. Elected mayors are politically motivated, but representative of the voting population and

In the United States of America, there are two forms of government that most cities adhere to, Mayor-Council and Council-Manager. However, there is a third form of government that a smaller few adhere to call the commission. Moreover, approximately 59% of the cities in the United States utilize the Council-Manager form of government; conversely 33% utilize the Mayor-Council form of government, which means the remaining 8% more than likely utilize the commission form of government.

Freedom of municipal law, when pertaining to the state government, has its pros and cons. One pro is the lack of necessary for the state to review every policy that the city makes. Another is that the cities could work on ways to solve their own problems and allow more of the community’s voices to be heard. A corresponding con is the lack of connection between the cities and states that could further lead to a misuse of power. Also, if the cities feel that there is little to no authority acting over them, they could become power hungry and try to push policies that their communities disagree with.

One thing of significance that I learned about at the city council meeting was meeting procedure. When I first arrived a pre-meeting workshop about annexation was occurring. After the regular meeting began we started with the Pledge of Allegiance. Next roll call of the council members was taken. Dallas Center has five council members: Mike Kidd, David Bagby, Kurt Pion,. Following roll call was an action to approve the agenda, which was approved. Next up was public communications and concerns. I was surprised that each person only has two minutes to talk about all the issues they

elected separately from the council, and is often a full-time and paid position with a significant administrative and budgetary authority. This form of government, the elected City Council sets policies for the operation of the City. The City Council enacts Ordinances, the laws of the City, adopts Resolutions authorizing actions on behalf of the City, reviews plan for development, and establishes the policies by which the City is governed. The City Council consists of seven members a Mayor and two Councilmember 's elected citywide and four additional Councilmember 's elected by individual districts. The administrative responsibility of the City rests with the City Manager, who is appointed by the City Council upon recommendation of the Mayor. Each Councilmember is

On Monday, April 13th, 2009, I visited the Culver City city council meeting, and found that they operate using a council-manager form of government. For a city with a population of about 38,000, this type of governmental structure is fairly common, and I was not surprised to see it in action in a community where the median household income is around $56,000 a year. Culver City is also a culturally rich community with a 60 percent Caucasian population, and a quarter of the residents are either of African American or Asian decent. The mayor, D. Scott Malsin, is one of five members on the council, and his term as mayor is on a rotating basis. Having been to a Hermosa Beach city council meeting with a similar council-manager structure, I knew

The City of Glendale is located in Southern California. According to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau report, Glendale has approximately 191,719 inhabitants and a total area of approximately 30.5 square miles (City of Glendale 3). This “Jewel City” has a Council-Manger type of government. The notable members of the city government are the five council members who are elected to a four-year term as well as the city manager and clerk (City of Glendale 3). The current five council members are Zareh Sinanyan, Ara Najarian, Paula Devine, Dave Weaver and Laura Friedman. The elections for the Council Members are held on the first Tuesday of April of every fourth year (City of Glendale 1). Most of the council meetings are presided over by the city mayor. The mayor is selected from among the

This can cause two different effects for the various positions within the government; it allows normal citizens to contribute and possibly be rewarded with a job within the local government (pluralism), or it allows unqualified people to attain jobs based on who they know or how much they gave during the campaign (elitism). The city government is like the county government in the respects that it has a municipal “home-rule” form of government to allow cities whose populations are over 5,000 to develop their own charter. They also have “extraterritorial jurisdiction” and “annexation” forms of government. These last two forms of government allow cities to control development and other aspects of things beyond their city limits.

With regard to a mayor-council form, the system itself is based upon the presence of numerous factors which lead to the creation of a range of types which share one basic foundation. As suggested by the premise of this form of local government, the primary actors which come together to continue the sustenance of this framework include the mayor and the council, both of which must be elected (Center for Governmental Research 1). Consequently, the presence of these two parties within the wider framework entails the extent to which each actor holds a certain degree or extent of authority in managing the affairs of the city, this notion implies that the distribution of power and authority maybe classified as relative or absolute wherein it may favor the elected mayor or the elected council in terms of possession of power on the basis of the chosen variation of the mayor-council form of government.

One way to see public administration in action is by attending a city council meeting, whether it be in an urban or rural area, public administration still has a part in each event. As Kettl (2018; p. 244) referenced in his book, there is not a civil system that would be sustainable without strong leadership. This paper will discuss the author’s description, observation, and reflection during a city council meeting.

There are numerous techniques the mayor can use to create effective teamwork among city employees one of which is an atmosphere of accountability and trust as a common goal. The American Management Association (2014) stated, “When people work together in a climate of trust and responsibility toward a common goal, they put aside turf issues and politics and focus on the tasks to be done. This

The commission plan style of government is a local form of government in which the citizens elect a small body of representatives which serve a dual purpose as a legislative body and managing body of city. Each commissioner is assigned an area of responsibilities with the city (i.e public safety commissioner, public works commissioner, and finance commissioner). Typically, one of the elected commissioners is designated by the board as either chairman or mayor of the city. The city commission style of government is supported by individuals who support centralized and efficient government which supported by members of progressive movement. This style of government allows for swift response without the needs of checks and balances within the local

Nicole: That municipalities, mayors, and council members have the tools that they need to manage their constituents. So when I think about being the Mayor here in Manitou Springs and as unique as we feel we are, for example last night we discussed sexually oriented businesses and we are the only municipality in El Paso County with recreational marijuana, you know a variety of things that we have catered to our own municipality, I would love to be able to turn around on those steps and say that I have helped to create well rounded and broad policy for municipalities and local government at the smaller level to do exactly what they need for their specific unique community.

In a parallel system to National Government is Local Government who is responsible. For the management and operation of our cities, towns and local environments. The country is divided up into city and District councils. Representatives of the community are democratically elected to sit on councils and represent the needs and views of citizens. Each council is supported infrastructure of local Government employees who carry out the duties of the council. These duties cover every aspect of the everyday life including running services such as rubbish removal and sewerage, through to Maintaining Facilities such as parks and reserves to town planning and Resource Management Act Compliance and even traffic wardens. Councils are funded through rates which are a levy charged to individual households and businesses based on the value of their property or industry. Local councils may introduce bylaws which only apply to the citizens or business located within that councils area. These local bylaws give each council the opportunity to create rules for how that city or district can operate.