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Political and legal structure From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The government of the City of Chicago, Illinois, United States is divided into executive and legislative branches. The Mayor of Chicago is the chief executive, elected by general election for a term of four years, with no term limits. The mayor appoints commissioners and other officials who oversee the various departments. In addition to the mayor, Chicago's two other citywide elected officials are the City Clerk and the City Treasurer.
The City Council is the legislative branch and is made up of 50 alderpersons, one elected from each ward in the city.[1] The council takes official action through the passage of ordinances and resolutions and approves the city budget.[2] Government priorities and activities are established in a budget ordinance usually adopted each November.
Generally speaking, the mayor and city departments comprise the executive branch of the city government, and the city council comprises the legislative branch.[3] However, the mayor does have some formal legislative functions such as being the presiding officer of the council and being able to break tie votes, and informally has dominated legislative activity since the late 19th century.[4][5] On the other hand, the council has oversight authority over city departments.[6] The city treasurer and city clerk are the only other directly elected positions in the city government, and are independent from the mayor's office and the council.[5]
The below city departments and agencies operate as part of the executive branch, under the Office of the Mayor:[7]
Other city-level government bodies include:
Chicago is a special charter municipality.[9] The Journal of the Proceedings of the City Council of the City of Chicago is the official publication of the acts of the City Council.[10] The Municipal Code of Chicago is the codification of Chicago's local ordinances of a general and permanent nature.[10][11]
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Chicago is also part of Cook County. The Government of Cook County is primarily composed of the Board of Commissioners, other elected officials such as the Sheriff, State's Attorney, Treasurer, Board of Review, Clerk, Assessor, Recorder, Circuit Court judges and Circuit Court Clerk, as well as numerous other officers and entities. Illinois State police also operate in Chicago.
Other agencies that operate in the city of Chicago include the Chicago Transit Authority and the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, both of which were created by the state government of Illinois.
The United States Postal Service operates post offices in Chicago. The main Chicago Post Office is located at 433 West Harrison Street in the Near West Side community area.[12][13] The post office is the only 24-hour post office in the United States.[14]
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As of 2012[update] most cabinet officers and constitutional officers of the Government of Illinois conduct a majority of their business in Chicago, with offices at the James R. Thompson Center. In 2012, St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Pat Gauen argued that "in the reality of Illinois politics, [Springfield] shares de facto capital status with Chicago."[15] According to Gauen, "Everybody who's anybody in Illinois government has an office in Chicago."[15] University of Illinois researcher and former member of the Illinois legislature Jim Nowlan stated "It's almost like Chicago is becoming the shadow capital of Illinois" and that "Springfield is almost become a hinterland outpost."[16] A former director of the Southern Illinois University Paul Simon Institute for Public Affairs, Mike Lawrence, criticized state officials for spending so little time in Springfield since it estranged them from and devalued Illinois state employees in that city.[16]
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