My focus is on the United States. I’m sure the job can be very different depending on the city but I realized recently that I don’t even know a general description of the job which bothered me. I’ve tried checking out my cities website and found nothing, google searches were mostly useless, even conversations with people who were in local politics didn’t clarify anything. It’s unclear why this information isn’t more readily available for most local political offices.
I know that someone has the answers and I’m hoping that my lack of progress is just a result of my bad searches or clunky conversation skills.
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Generally, a mayor is to a city as the president or prime minister is to a country. They are the chief executive of the city, with many of the same responsibilities and powers any other chief executive would have, just within the jurisdiction of their city.
How, exactly, that works out varies. Sometimes, that means they are a separate office from the city council, the way the President and Congress are totally separate. Sometimes, it means that the mayor chairs the city council similar to how a prime minister leads a parliament.
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