FORMS OF GOVERNMENT IN TWO CITIES OF TEXAS

DALLAS

Introduction

A mayor-council city type of city government in Dallas has a mayor and a numerous members in the city council. The mayor is chosen through voting, and the members of the city council are selected at large but usually are chosen from city wards. The mayor of the city heads the meetings of the city council and is like CEO of the city. He is officially the leader of the law enforcement force and the budgetary official of the city. The city council is the lawmaking agency; the proposal and the selection of the mayor of the city are dependent on the endorsement of the city council.

Discussion

The city of Dallas has a government lead by the council-manager. At the moment, Tom Leppert is the mayor of the city, and Mary Suhm has been appointed as the manager of the city, and there are a total of fourteen members of the council who are performing their duties as legislative body for the fourteen district councils of the city.

In the city of Dallas, the council of the city elects one of the council members as temporary mayor also called pro tem, which has to perform the duty of a mayor in the non-presence of the mayor of the city or incapacity of the mayor to perform his duty, during that period, the pro tem mayor will have all the authority which usually belong to the mayor of the city. The city council selects one of the council members as deputy mayor pro tem to act in a case when both the mayor and the pro tem are absent, and, during that time he can implement the authority of a mayor.

A new policy for the compensation of the members of the city council was put into effect from October 1, 2001. According to that policy, every member of the council, except the mayor of the city, will be given salary for the services; he has performed for the city, and will get a total of $37,500 yearly, this will be in effect for every member until the time he leaves the city council. The city mayor will receive an amount of $60,000 as salary for the services he has provided yearly, for the period he serves as mayor.

According to the constitution of the Dallas city, the responsibilities of the city manager are as follows:

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