Getting to Know Your Florida Cities
Chapter 1: What is a city in Florida?
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This program brought to you by the Florida League of Cities is intended to familiarize those new to and interested in municipal government. The League is the official organization of municipal governments in Florida, designed and established to meet and serve the needs of Florida’s municipal officials.
Note: DVD visuals are indicated in olive green. The remaining text indicates DVD audio.
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History
In the early nineteenth century, Pensacola and St. Augustine, under Spanish rule emerged as two of Florida’s first cities. In the late 1800s communities and tribes although near each other existed without a city government. However, as time progressed and populations grew communities recognized the need to self-govern. As a result of this expansion, communities created into towns and cities and people came together choosing to govern themselves through a democratically established government. Today, there are more than 400 cities, towns and villages in Florida.
Timeline
Visual: Why are cities formed?
City governments are established to provide citizens with a variety of services and a close level of government. In Florida, cities are independent of the county and state, in most instances of self-governing power.
Visual: What is a city charter?
In order to create a city, a community must create a charter. A city charter is the document that governs and controls cities, towns or villages; referred to as municipalities. Every charter in Florida is unique, reflecting the characteristics of each municipality.
Items usually found in a city charter include: incorporation, boundaries, and powers; structure and form of government; administrative organization and function; city election procedures; financial powers and general government provisions. A special act of the Legislature formalizes the vote within the community to incorporate.
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Visual: Forms of city government
There are four basic forms of city governments in Florida, and in each one, several people are directly responsible for overseeing the everyday operations of the local government. These officials include the mayor, the city council or city commission, city attorney, city clerk and city manager – each official serves a different role.
Visual: Text: Council-Weak Mayor
In the first form, council-weak mayor, key officials include the mayor and his or her council, also referred to as the commission.
Visual: Diagram of this form of city government.
The office of the mayor is usually rotated among the elected council members on an annual basis. Other than acting as ceremonial head of government at public functions, the mayor’s authority in this form is not different from that of the other council members.
In the council-weak mayor form of government, the council holds collective power over administration, decides policies and creates laws.
Visual: Display cities with council-weak mayor.
Examples of this type of city are Bradenton and Port St. Joe.
Visual: Text: Council-Strong Mayor
Another form of city government is the council-strong mayor. In this particular form, the mayor may have veto power over council legislation and has executive power to carry out policies, manage daily operations, make appointments, and prepare budgets.
Visual: Diagram of this form of city government.
Although they have no administrative power under this form of government, council members help formulate and decide city policy.
Visual: Display cities with council-strong mayor.
Jacksonville and Tampa are examples of cities with the council-strong mayor form.
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Visual: Text: Commission
In this rarely used form, each member of the elected body also oversees the administration of one or more city departments. For example, one commissioner may be responsible for the city’s finances, and another for the city’s parks and recreation services.
Visual: Diagram of this form of city government.
The elected body acts collectively for legislative purposes, and individually for day-to-day administration. This form was popular in the early 1900s, but is utilized less today because government has become more complex.
Visual: Display cities with commission.
The city of South Pasadena uses the commission form of city government.
Visual: Text: Council-Manager
The last form of city government, council-manager is the most prevalent among cities in Florida.
Visual: Diagram with this form of city government.
In council-manager forms of government, the mayor presides over council meetings, makes appointments to boards, but has little, if any role in day-to-day municipal administration. The mayor’s position is sometimes filled by election or by council appointment.
Council members decide policy and create laws, but unlike the other three forms of municipal government, the council-manager form has a city manager. The city manager is appointed by a majority of the council for an indefinite term and can be removed only by a majority of the council. City managers are responsible for municipal administration, as well as supervising and coordinating departments, appointing and removing directors, and making regular reports to the council.
Visual: Display cities with council-manager.
Some of the cities with this form of city government include Tallahassee and Gainesville.
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Visual: Did you know?
The City of Bowling Green was known as Utica until the late 1880s. When a number of farmers from Bowling Green, Kentucky, purchased large holdings in the district, they renamed the town after their former home. Bowling Green is the center of the agricultural belt and Florida's mining industry.
The City of Hollywood was christened Hollywood-by-the-Sea by its founder and first mayor, Joseph W. Young of California. Mr. Young had visions of it becoming a movie-making colony, similar to the one in California.
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