History of Phoenix, Arizona - Government

Government

See also: List of mayors of Phoenix, Arizona

As the capital of Arizona, Phoenix houses the state legislature. In 1913, the commission form of government was adopted. The city of Phoenix is served by a city council consisting of a mayor and eight city council members. The mayor is elected in a citywide vote to a four-year term. Phoenix City Council members are elected to four-year terms by voters in each of the eight separate districts that they represent.

The current mayor of Phoenix is Greg Stanton, a Democrat who was elected to a four-year term in 2011. The mayor and city council members have equal voting power to adopt ordinances and set the policies that govern the city.

Phoenix operates under a council-manager form of government, with a strong city manager supervising all city departments and executing policies adopted by the Council.

As of February 9, 2009, Phoenix offers a domestic partnership registry open to opposite- and same-sex couples with no resident requirements for registrants.

The city's website was given a "Sunny Award" by Sunshine Review for its transparency efforts.

Read more about this topic:  History Of Phoenix, Arizona

Famous quotes containing the word government:

    “No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free no one ever will.”
    —Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)

    “Vanity is as advantageous to a government as pride is dangerous. To be convinced of this we need only represent, on the one hand, the numberless benefits which result from vanity, as industry, the arts, fashions, politeness, and taste; and on the other, the infinite evils which spring from the pride of certain nations, a laziness, poverty, a total neglect of everything.”
    —Charles Louis de Secondat Montesquieu (1689–1755)

    “Plato says that the punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is, to live under the government of worse men; and the like regret is suggested to all the auditors, as the penalty of abstaining to speak,—that they shall hear worse orators than themselves.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)