WakeUP Wake County welcomes a special guest blog by Leo Suarez of Raleigh 4 All about the roles of city council. In the example given, we use Raleigh city council, but many town councils or board of commissioners for Wake County have a different setup but the same basic function.
The Raleigh City Council is a group of eight that help guide the city as it grows and helps the government provide basic services to everyone. Whether you know it or not, we all interact with our local government in some way. Trash pickup. Water service. Roads. Parks. Police procedures. Our Raleigh city government maintains all that.
It’s the government’s job to provide those services. Those services are paid for by taxes.
While that seems simple enough, running a city government that serves over 400,000 people isn’t easy and problems or challenges come up all the time. To decide whether to make new investments, allow new services, build a park, or build a new stadium, those decisions come from our city council, who are elected by everyone in Raleigh.
The city is broken up into five districts, District A through E, each with a single representative. In addition to these five council seats, we also have:
- One Mayor
- Two At-Large representatives
The Mayor and At-Large seats represent the whole city rather than a specific district. The intent of these seats is to give some balance when the council is presented with an issue they must vote on.
When election time comes around, you and I are voting for the following seats:
- Our district representative
- The Mayor
- Two At-Large representatives
The system in Raleigh allows us to vote for half the council with each election. This also happens every two years.
Council members and new candidates running during each election may feel differently on a variety of topics. Therefore voting for a candidate that aligns with your views is important in order to get an accurate representation on council of the Raleigh population.
The Raleigh City Council is the best way to get involved with how our city government is providing a quality experience living or working here in the city. If you want to know more or see who is representing you, please visit the city’s council webpage.
Election Day: October 8th, 2019
En Español
El Consejo Municipal de Raleigh es un grupo de ocho personas que ayudan a guiar la ciudad a medida que crece y ayudan al gobierno a suministrar servicios básicos para todos. El Consejo también se enfoca en los objetivos de la ciudad, en los proyectos importantes y en las mejoras de infraestructura desde el crecimiento de la comunidad hasta el uso de la tierra, las finanzas y la planificación estratégica.
*La ciudad se divide en cinco distritos, del distrito A al E, cada uno con un solo representante. Además de estos cinco miembros del Consejo, también tenemos:
• Un Alcalde
• Dos representantes adicionales que representan a todos los distritos (A al E)
Las posiciones del Alcalde y de los dos representantes adicionales representan a toda la ciudad y no solamente a un distrito específico. La intención de estas posiciones es de proveer equilibrio cuando el Consejo vota sobre algún tema.
*El Consejo Municipal de Raleigh vota sobre temas como estos
- Transporte Público
- Servicios de Reciclaje
- Procedimientos Policiales
- Lo que se puede o no se puede construir en un terreno (zonificación)
- Programas de Conservación de Agua
- Impuestos de propiedad
En las elecciones, a usted y a mí nos toca votar por las siguientes posiciones:
El representante de nuestro distrito
Dos representantes adicionales que representan a todos los distritos (A al E)
El Alcalde
Aprender sobre el Concejo Municipal de Raleigh y votar es la mejor manera de involucrarse y ser parte de las decisiones que toma el gobierno municipal.
El Día Las Elecciones: October 8th, 2019
https://www.raleighnc.gov/government/content/BoardsCommissions/Articles/CityCouncil.html