Job Descriptions of Elected Officials

8/16/2019 Job Descriptions of Elected Officials

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Job Descriptions of Elected Ocials

City Council Member:

Responsibilities

• The responsibilities of a city council member generally involve determiningcity government and administration policies, as well as adopting budgets andlegislation.

Other Names

• A city council member might also be referred to as an "alderman,""councilman/councilwoman," "supervisor" or a number of other names dependingon the jurisdiction.

Daily Tasks• City council members spend much of their day at committee and

subcommittee meetings where city business is discussed. City council members alsospend time meeting with citizens and representatives of groups affected by citygovernment.

Job Prospects

• The number of city council members varies from city to city. or e!ample, theew #or$ City Council has %& council members, while 'hoeni! has eight (notincluding the mayor). *ecause of the amount of power associated with thesepositions, competition for the job of city council member is high.

Compensation

• Compensation for members of a city council varies by size of city and scope ofresponsibility. According to the *ureau of +abor tatistics, -uly 0 averagemedian salary for elected local officials was 122,30.

-ersey City City Council4 The City Council is the legislative branch of citygovernment. 5n -ersey City the City Council consists of 6 ward Councilpersons and 7

At large (elected City8wide) Councilpersons. 9ne of the Councilpersons is elected byhis or her peers to serve as Council 'resident. The council serves a four year term. 5tis a part time position and each Council member is allowed & paid aide. The aideposition is also part time.


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Mayor (Jeremiah Healy)

Requirements

• The re:uirements for mayor differ from city to city. ;owever, there areseveral fairly standard re:uirements that most cities, towns and municipalities haveadopted.Candidates for mayor must be registered to vote in the city or town that the positionis located in. This necessarily re:uires that candidates be t live in Town A and become mayor of Town *.

?enerally, there are no specific education or wor$ e!perience re:uirements for thisposition. ;owever, it is highly recommended that a mayoral candidate be aware ofgeneral government functions as well as the local customs regarding political,socioeconomic and business climates.

Elections and Appointments

• =ost cities and towns elect a mayor. To get elected, potential candidatesshould research the city or town charter to ma$e sure that they meet all city8specificre:uirements for candidacy. This information can be obtained by contacting the city

or town council. =any towns have specific procedures for running for an office.;owever, commonly the procedure entails getting a specified number of signatureson a petition from residents of the town and paying a filing fee to get on the ballot.9nce a candidate meets the ballot re:uirements, he or she should initiate a campaignto bring in votes on electionday. This may entail posting campaign signs aroundtown, greeting residents door8to8door, ma$ing appearances at local events andparticipating in local debates.

General Duties

• =ayors are technically categorized in the e!ecutive branch of government.This means that they do not ma$e local laws and regulations, but they usually havepersuasive power over the creation of local regulations and the ability to vetoprovisions approved by council members.

?eneral duties for most mayors include proposing budgets, hiring and firing cityemployees, creating and maintaining relationships with local businesses, monitoringlocal services and utilities such as snow removal and sewage treatment plants, and


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maintaining par$s and roadways. This is by no means an e!haustive list of mayoralduties, however, the listed duties tend to apply in most locations.

Types

• 5n general there are two different types of mayoral systems used throughout

cities in the


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Election and terms

• Congressmen are elected by the residents of the state they represent.=embers of the ;ouse serve for two years, and members of the enate serve for si!.

5n the event that a congressman cannot complete a term, the process of replacing

that person varies from state to state. ome states hold special elections, whereasothers allow their governors to appoint a replacement.

ach state elects two senators and a varying number of representatives, basedproportionally on the states population. The enate has & members and the ;ouseof Bepresentatives has 27%.

Responsibilities and duties

• The


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voters their success. =ost states place no limits on how many times a state senatormay serve. 9$lahoma, however, only allows senators to serve three four8year terms

while California allows two four8year terms for state senators.

#overnor (Chris Christie)

Time $rame

• A governors official term length depends on the state in which that governorserves.

ew ;ampshire and Eermont are the only two states whose gubernatorial terms areonly two years. 5n the other 20 states, governors serve for four years.

The individual states also have different term limits for their governors. 5n somestates, governors can only serve one or two terms, and in others, they can serve

unlimited terms. =any states have laws on ruling for several consecutive terms.

Job Description

• A governors role is multifaceted and varied. 9fficially, governors are charged with overseeing the e!ecutive branch of their states government.

?overnors, along with their staff and colleagues, create and submit budgets to thelegislature4 sign or veto bills as necessary4 call on the states military in times of crisis4appoint officials to the state government4 and assist in court cases.

Annually, governors give a "tate of the tate" address to inform citizens of thecurrent political and social climate within the state.

!uali"ications• o


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$%!% !enator (Robert Menende&)

e'al Requirements• A


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#epending on the county, the executive and legislative functions may be performed by the %oardor split &n some counties, members of the %oard of Chosen reeholders perform both legislativeand executive functions on a commission basis, with each reeholder assigned responsibility fora department or group of departments &n other counties( )tlantic, %ergen, Essex, *udson and Mercer +, there is a directlyelected county executive whoperforms the executive functions while the %oard of Chosen reeholders retains a legislative andoversight role &n counties without an executive, a county administrator (or county manager + maybe hired to perform daytoday administration of county functions

resident of the $nited !tates (arac Obama)

!uali"ications

• According to the Constitution, all candidates for president must be at least 7%,and be natural born citizens and residents of the


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Bep. Donald 'ay, D8.-., passed away on Tuesday due to complications from colon cancer.

The representatives website says he was the voice of ew -erseys &th District since he was

elected to his first term in &300. 'ayne was the first African8American to serve his state in

Fashington, D.C., as a member of the


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pea$er of the ;ouse -ohn *oehners office also praised the late Bepresentatives wor$4

"5 was saddened to hear of Congressman 'aynes passing, and e!tend the prayers and

condolences of the whole ;ouse to his family and his constituents. 5 had the privilege to

serve with Don on the ducation H the For$force Committee, and admired his commitment

to ensuring our children get the best :uality education.... Don was widely respected by his

colleagues as a dedicated public servant, and will be dearly missed."

'ayne was the father of three, grandfather of four and a great8grandfather to one.

Contact Information

http://www.speaker.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=283446http://www.speaker.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=283446


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City Council:

Council President Peter Brennan—201!"#!$1% &obert 'oa(es

)aide*201!"#!$+$

Councilman at large &olando &, -avarro—201!"#!2+.—Carmen/lores )aide* 201!"#!"!.

Counciloman iola &ichardson—201!"#!1$"—-oreno &ichardson

)aide* 201!"#!10.

3ard 4 )5reenville* Councilman Michael 6ottolano—201!"#!0%.—

&obert &ybins(i )aide* 201!"#!0%.

3ard B Councilman )3est 6ide* David Donnelly—201!"#!0%2—

7hemra8 &amchal )aide* 201!"#!101

3ard C Counciloman 'idia -o9e—201!"#!1!%—Patty 4, -ynch

)aide*

3ard D )he ;eights* Councilman 3illiam 5aughan—201!"#!".!

Bridget 5aughan )aide* 201!"#+.1#

3ard / Couniloman Michele Massey—201!"#!$$.—Iris Per(ins

)aide* 201!"#!$+1

/reeholder


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Documents

Job Descriptions of Elected Officials