of the power of the City Council is localized in the elected council as a whole,which they then hire a professionally trained manager to oversee and ensure the deliveryof public services. The City Council members try to concentrate on policy issues that areresponsive to those throughout the community. The City Council also focuses on thecommunities goals, projects throughout the city, and some long term factors such ascommunity growth, land development and many other factors that could be affected bypast policies or ordinances. The City Council members affect policy in the city byhelping to make decisions on what would be good for the city as a whole, and trying toprotect everyone’s rights and wishes at the same time.The Mayor in Council-Manager communities plays a key role . The mayor isresponsible for sharing views of the city’s citizens, forming policies and interpretingthem to the public, he or she is also a ceremonial leader. The mayor shows up at councilmeetings to assist the council in setting goals, advocating policy decisions, and to betterserve his or her community. The typical mayor is a college graduate, 40 to 50 years old,has political experience, and is usually a business or legal professional. Most mayors aremale but more recently in larger cities there have been female mayors, and the number ofwoman mayors continues to grow.My name is Mary Peterson and I’m a City Council Member for District 4. I havelived in Brevard County for 35 years and I’m 70 years old, while living in BrevardCounty I have only moved twice, I now live in a large retirement community within inthe city. I used to be a former accountant for Harris, but I’m sure you would presumethat at the age of 70 that I’am now retired. At the age of 21 I had my first child of three,now all my children have kids who are being raised in this same area. After retiring atthe age of 65 I decided to become active in my commu...
