Town Council

The Town of Stevensville has a Commission-Executive form of Government, also known as a Council-Executive form. In this form of government, there is an elected council and an elected executive, the Mayor.

The Town Council meets the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month at 6:00 pm in the Council Chambers at Town Hall, 206 Buck Street.

By far the most commonly encountered form of municipal government in Montana is the commission executive form, usually called the "council-mayor" or "aldermanic" form of municipal government. It is characterized by a locally elected city or town council (alternatively referred to as commission in 7-3-201 MCA and a separately elected executive mayor. With separate elections for and partial separation of the legislative and executive branches, the council-mayor model is the form of local government which most nearly approximates the structures of our familiar national and state models of government. In addition to the 112 Montana cities and towns using this form, the charters of the consolidated citycounty governments of Butte-Silver Bow and Anaconda-Deer Lodge also call for a commission-executive form of government.

Most of the cities and towns which use the council-mayor form have never gained voter approval of its adoption by popular initiative or through the Voter Review process. As a consequence, the structures and powers of 90 of these municipalities operating with the statutory version of the council-mayor municipal government are spelled out in state law, as detailed immediately below.

The Commission. The statutorily defined version of the council-mayor form provides for a governing and policy-making body (the council) of not less than three members elected to overlapping, four-year terms of office. Council members are required to be elected on a partisan basis by districts (wards) in which they must reside and which must be apportioned by population. In historic terms, this is essentially an "aldermanic" system in which the governing body or commission is comprised of elected members who might be expected to represent both their neighborhoods and their political parties. However, most Montana communities using this statutory form of government simply ignore the requirement for partisan elections or have adopted a local ordinance calling for nonpartisan elections while retaining all other features of this form as required by law. At present, there are only two municipal governments conducting partisan municipal elections in Montana. Typically, each ward elects two members to the city council, one of whom is elected every two years thereby establishing the four-year, overlapping terms of office required by law.

The Executive. The elected mayor is the chief-executive in the commission-executive form of municipal government. The mayor is elected at large in the community, typically as a nonpartisan candidate irrespective of the statutory requirement that he or she be elected on a partisan basis. The statutory term of office as mayor in this form is four years with no limit placed by law on the number of consecutive terms of office.

The nature and extent of the mayor's executive powers and duties are set forth rather specifically by law 7-3-203,_MCA. In this statutory form, the mayor as chief-executive is obliged and empowered to enforce state law and local ordinances and has the responsibility of carrying out and administering the policies and resolutions adopted by the council. Additionally, and unlike the national and state models of government, the mayor serves as the presiding officer of the city or town council and may take part in council discussions but may cast a vote only to break tie votes of the council. The mayor does, however, enjoy veto power with respect to the ordinances and resolutions adopted by the council. However, an executive veto is subject to a two-thirds override vote by the council.

The procedurally powerful role of the mayor in serving as the presiding officer of the council is a particularly significant characteristic of this statutorily defined version of the council-mayor form of government. The resulting overlap in executive and legislative functions virtually mandates a cooperative relationship between the mayor and at least a majority of the council if the legislative and policy-making process is to function smoothly. This same pattern of shared responsibilities is extended in a reciprocal way to the administration of the day-to-day affairs of the local government. For example, the mayor's appointments to fill department head positions within the government, as well as vacancies on the various city boards, require the consent expressed in a majority vote of the council. Similarly, the preparation of the annual budget for council consideration and final adoption is also a shared council-mayor responsibility. Finally, though the mayor may exercise broad administrative control and supervision of all city departments and boards, he or she may do so only to the degree authorized by local ordinance adopted by the council.

In summary, the commission-executive (council-mayor) form of municipal government is the most frequently encountered and therefore the most familiar form of local government. In Montana, 114 cities and towns, including the two consolidated units of city-county government, employ some version of this traditional council-mayor form. The separately elected mayor and city or town council typically share general government powers. Nonpartisan and districted (ward based) elections incline this form of government toward a fairly high degree of political responsiveness in meeting ward and community expectations. However, the shared nature of the executive powers exercised by the mayor, with substantial council involvement, requires a cooperative relationship between the two branches of municipal government which, when absent, limits its capacity for management efficiency.