The Three Types of Government

By: Alex Payne, Kayla Dahlman, Kevin Tillery, and Kelsey Keith

The Mayor Council Strong Mayor

• Carry out policies• Veto council legislation• Prepares budget• Make appointments• Manages daily operations of the city• City council decides on policies of the city but

has no administrative power

Mayor Council Weak Mayor

• Mayor presides over council meetings• Recommends ordinances• Mayor appoints department heads with council

approval• Mayor serves as ceremonial head of

government and at public functions• City council decides policies and makes laws• City council committee reviews how

departments carry out programs

Council Manager

• Mayor may preside over council meetings, but has little or no executive power

• Mayor serves as ceremonial head of government at public functions

• City council decides policies and makes laws• City manager is appointed by the city council to

administer the government.• City manager draws up the agenda for council

meetings, prepares the budget, and appoints and dismisses department heads.

Woodstock

• Woodstock currently is under a Council Manager form of government.

Woodstock as a Weak Mayor

• Our group thinks that Woodstock would benefit most from the Mayor Council “Weak Mayor” form of government.

• We think this because there would be an almost equal balance of power between the mayor and the council.

• We also think that since our current mayor has a second job, he would benefit from balancing much of the work between the council and himself.

Why We Didn’t Pick the Other Two

• We chose not to pick the Strong Mayor form of government because it gives too much power to the mayor.

• We chose not to have a Council Manager form of government because it appoints two extra positions in the government that we do not think are necessary.

• These positions are the city manager and city clerk.