The city council is the main law-making body for your local government. They can enact ordinances that are as big as banning DIY guns and as small as adding new stoplights. They are also responsible for setting tax levies, ordering elections, approving contracts and authorizing the mayor’s budget proposals. They may also establish and authorize utilities, set fees, provide advice and consent to appointments the mayor makes to city boards, commissions, and departments, prescribe duties of city offices and agencies not specifically defined in the Charter, and set city policy.
The City Council has a lot on its plate, including implementing the Downtown Plaza plan; identifying funding for the full construction of the Neil Street corridor improvements, and developing programs to activate the space for business activity and community engagement; and making progress on the city’s backlog of infrastructure repairs. The City Council is also focused on enacting more than 200 bills in its truncated two-year session. Its leaders have been busy addressing the city’s pressing issues, holding a number of oversight hearings on the Adams administration, and working to pass policing reforms and homelessness solutions.
Before you vote for a city council member, be sure to research the candidates and their platforms. Tune into their debates and town halls, read your local newspapers, and check out the website for the candidate that represents you. Depending on where you live, your city might have an at-large system of voting, or it might be divided into districts or wards, and one council member represents each area.