Government of Muskogee

The City of Muskogee is governed by a city manager, mayor and a city council under the council-manager form of local government.^[1] The governing document of Muskogee is the City Charter of Muskogee.

Mayor and city council

The city is divided into four wards with each ward being represented by two members of the council. Each member is elected by the city as a whole, but he or she must reside in the ward they represent. Elections are held on the first Tuesday in April in each even numbered year. The next election will be held in April, 2010. All elections are non-partisan and the Mayor and the members of the Council receive no salary or compensation for their services.

The Mayor is the head of the city for all ceremonial purposes and, by Oklahoma state law, the Governor of Oklahoma must recognize the Mayor as the city commander for the purposes of martial law. The Mayor serves as chair of the Council, presides over all meetings, and has a full vote on all matters. The Council elects one of its members to serve as Vice Mayor who becomes the Mayor in the event of a vacancy in the office of Mayor. The Mayor, with the approval of the Council, appoints members to city boards and commissions and, during a state of emergency, assumes emergency powers.

The current Mayor of Muskogee is the Honorable John Tyler Hammons, who, at the time of his election, was a 19-year-old University of Oklahoma freshman. Mayor Hammons was first elected, with 70% of the vote, on May 13, 2008, in an election against former Muskogee Mayor Hershel McBride.^[2] Hammons was elected to a second term on April 6, 2010.

The current members of the City Council of Muskogee are:

• Mayor
  • John Tyler Hammons
• Ward I
  • Bob Coburn
  • David Jones
• Ward II
  • Shawn Raper
  • James Gulley
• Ward III
  • Robert Perkins, Sr., the current Vice Mayor of Muskogee
  • Randy Howard
• Ward IV
  • Kenny Payne
  • Jackie Luckie

City manager and administration

The city manager serves as the chief administrative officer of Muskogee^[3] and is appointed by the city council. The current City Manager is Howard W. Brown Jr. who was appointed January 2014.^[3]

Among the City Manager’s top level executives and departments are:

• Emergency Management Department – headed by Emergency Management Director, responsible for informing the citizens of Muskogee about emergency preparedness and how to minimize the effects of technological and natural disasters upon the people of Muskogee by preparing implementing and exercising preparedness plans, and coordinating actual disaster response/recovery operations
• Engineering Department – headed by City Engineer, responsible for overseeing all construction related to Muskogee’s infrastructure and managing all city mapping
  • Water, Sewage and Sanitation Departments – under authority of City Engineer, responsible for providing water to city and water treatment services
• Finance Department – headed by City Treasurer, responsible for managing Muskogee’s financial resources through monitoring financial activity against the city's budget, initiating and recording all investment activity, preparing financial statements and scheduling for audits
• Fire Department – headed by Fire Chief, responsible for providing quality, timely, and professional emergency services in response to fires and other emergencies
• Cemetery Department – headed by Cemetery Supervisor, responsible for the regulation and management of the city cemetery, Greenhill Cemetery
• Information Technology Department – headed by Information Technology Director, responsible for providing data processing services to city departments, agencies, and offices, including technical support
• Parks and Recreation Department – headed by Parks and Recreation Director, responsible for providing and managing city recreational facilities and programs
• Personnel Department – headed by Personnel Director, responsible for ensuring city-wide employment needs are meet and protecting the city’s merit program
• Planning Department – headed by Planning Director, responsible for developing, revising and administering the zoning and subdivision regulations for new development and new construction within the limits of the city and well as enforcing all city ordinances in reference to derelict structures, dilapidated property, accumulation of weeds, grass and trash, care of premises, off-street parking and zoning violations
• Police Department – headed by Chief of Police, responsible for crime reduction, preservation of the public peace, and responding to other emergencies that threaten the public safety
• Public Works Department – headed by the Public Works Director, responsible for providing customer service to the City in the areas of Streets, Storm Water, Environmental Control, Traffic, Sanitation, Recycling and the city Airport
• Purchasing Department – headed by City Purchasing Agent, responsible for coordinating a uniform procurement system to supply city operations with an uninterrupted flow of materials and services

Other important city officials that are supervised by the City Manager but are appointed by the mayor with the approval of the Council are the City Attorney, who heads the Legal Department which is response for representing the City in court, and the City Clerk, who is responsible for keeping all records of the city as well as the minutes of the all Council meetings.

References

1. ↑ City Council, City of Muskogee (accessed April 30, 2010)
2. ↑ ap.google.com, U. of Okla. freshman, 19, elected mayor of Muskogee
3. 1 2 City Manager, City of Muskogee (accessed April 30, 2010)