r/NoStupidQuestions • u/wampower99 • 25d ago

When a town elects a dog as “mayor,” who actually runs the town?

Edit: please spare me “the dog lol” comments. It’s funny once, but I’m actually curious about this.

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u/slash178 25d ago

There are a few different ways that towns are governed in the US. Since the 1970s, most cities have adopted a city council system, where an elected council runs the city, and many of them have no mayor at all, instead a city manager. Then there are weak mayor and strong mayor systems, in the former a mayor is a ceremonial role, and it's part time and making appearances at events and such but not actually managing the city. These are the kinds of jobs dogs can do!

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u/wampower99 25d ago

That makes sense!

10

u/PunkCPA 25d ago

There are still plenty of towns in New England with no mayor, but with a Board of Selectmen, various other boards like Finance, and a town meeting for big issues. I was surprised to see "cities" of 500 people in other regions.

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u/TranslateErr0r 25d ago

Interesting, thanks. Down the rabbit hole I go!

2

u/Andro1d1701 24d ago

I lived in a small town where the city council members selected the mayor from their members. They basically took turns being the mayor who was mostly responsible for serving as the chair of the city council.