Law and Government
Memphis is governed by a mayor and 13 City Council members, six elected at large from throughout the city and seven elected from geographic districts. In 1995, the council adopted a new district plan which changed council positions to all districts. This plan provides for nine districts, seven with one representative each and two districts with three representatives each. The previous mayor of the city of Memphis was W. W. Herenton. He resigned from his office, effective July 30, 2009. After Herenton's resignation, Myron Lowery served as Mayor Pro Tem for less than three months, one of the shortest terms in Memphis history. Former Shelby County mayor A C Wharton is the current mayor.
In recent years, there have been often rancorous discussions of the potential of a consolidation of unincorporated Shelby County and Memphis into a metropolitan government. Consolidation was a referendum item on the 2010 ballot in Memphis and Shelby County, but failed with 85% of the county voting against it.
Read more about this topic: Memphis, Tennessee
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“An endless imbroglio
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Then first shalt thou know,
That in the wild turmoil,
Horsed on the Proteus,
Thou ridest to power,
And to endurance.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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—Belva Lockwood (1830–1917)
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—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)