County government

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Terms to know

 County  County seat  Board of commissioners

Counties

 County - a subdivision set up by the state to carry out certain governmental functions  Why?

 Board of commissioners elected officials who run a county government  County Seat city where the county government is located

Counties and county seats

Examples of county government services Why have county governments instead of the state do these?

City governments

 Municipality  Types of government  Mayor-council form  Council-manager form  Special purpose districts

City government origins

 Savannah (1733) was the first city in Georgia  Municipality a city with its own government  A municipality (city) must get a charter from the state government to have authority to perform jobs

Forms of city governments

 Mayor-council form A city council is responsible for passing laws and the mayor acts as the chief executive  2 kinds of mayor-council forms of government  Weak- the mayor has little power and the council has legislative and executive power  Strong- the mayor has lots of power to carry out laws

Mayor-council form

Review

 What is the difference between a weak and strong mayor-council form of government?

Forms of city governments  Council-manager form city council is elected to pass and carry out laws and they hire a manager to perform day to day duties  Different from a weak mayor council because the manager is NOT elected

Forms of city governments

 Commissioner form citizens elect commissioners who are in charge of different departments of the government. The mayor is elected by these commissioners.

Local government

 Why do we need city and county governments?

 What services do they provide?

Special Purpose Districts

 Special-purpose districts created for a single purpose or group of tasks  Example- school districts have the sole purpose of providing education to students  Other examples- MARTA, Airport districts  It would be too time consuming for the state to make all educational decisions for all schools. So local school boards are elected to do this job.

 Special-purpose districts always exist for public welfare.

Review

 What are the three types of city government?

 Who can create a city government?