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Elected Leadership <br />In most communities, the citizens perceive their mayor as their most visible leader, and the elected <br />leaders of council-manager communities are no exception. In this way, mayors are analogous to <br />co~t~o rate board chairpersons. <br /> Mayors in council-manager communities fulfill two critical leadership functions. The first is <br />that o f consensus building: the mayor coalesces the community's disparate constituencies so they <br />can work together successfully. The second role held by the mayor in council-manager communities <br />is to guide the development and implementation of policies that improve community service <br />delivery. <br /> Over the past 86 years, the position of mayor within council-manager communities has been <br />strengthened in a variety of' ways. Under the original understanding of the form, the mayor was <br />selected annually by the council from among its members. Councilors frequently rotated into the <br />mayor's position, over time leaving no clearly identifiable political leader. But ICMA's 1996 form- <br />of-government survey showed that 62 percent of all council-manager communities now elect their <br />mayors directly by a vote clothe citizens, for a two or four year tenn, The people elect their political <br />leader, and the council must accept that selection. <br /> <br />C-M Facts <br />For the past 86 years, the choice of U.S. <br />communities has been council-manager <br />government. Since the early 1900s, the- <br />council-manager form has become the most <br />popular system of local government for <br />communities with popu!ations of 5,000 or <br />more. <br /> By 1918, there were 98 cotmcil- <br />manager localities; in 1930, ICIvlA <br />recognized 418 U.S. cities and seven <br />counties as operating under the council- <br />manager form. And by ~985, the number of <br />council-manager communities had grown <br />to 548 cities and 86 counties in the United <br />States. Currently, 3,302 U.S. cities with <br />populahons greater than 2,500 and 371 <br />U.S. counties operate under this system of <br />local government. <br /> <br /> [n recent years, some communities have chosen to strengthen the mayor's authority, <br />providing the mayor with one or more of these powers: <br /> <br />Veto actions of the council that require an extraordinary majority to overturn the veto. <br />Power (1) to organize the council by assigning councilors to chair or serve on committees <br />and (2) to assign2 matters to these committees. <br />Power to appoint citizens to serve on advisory or quasi-judicial authorities, boards, or <br />commissions. <br /> <br />5 <br /> <br />-47 - <br /> <br /> <br />