• Separation of powers between directly elected mayor and city council
• Mayor has executive powers while council has legislative powers
• Mayor is directly elected to office, often full-time and paid

This form tends to be in older, larger cities, or in very small cities, under 25,000 population. It is most popular in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern parts of the US.  Depending on the city charter, the mayor could have weak or strong powers.  Cities with variations in the mayor-council form of government are:

• Los Angeles, CA;
• Houston, TX;
• Topeka, KS; and
• Minneapolis, MN.

Council-manager

Characteristics include:

• City council oversees the general administration, makes policy, sets budget
• Council hires a city manager to carry out day-to-day administrative operations
• Often the mayor is chosen from among the council on a rotating basis

This form is common in cities of population over 10,000, mainly in the Southeast and Pacific coast areas.  Depending on the city charter, the mayor could have weak or strong powers. Some examples are:

• Phoenix, AZ;
• San Diego, CA;
• Salt Lake City, UT; and
• Rockville, MD. 

Commission

Characteristics include:

• Voters elect a individual commissioners to a small governing board
• Each commissioner is responsible for one specific aspect, such as fire, police, public works, health, finance
• One commissioner is designated as chairman or mayor, who presides over meetings
• The commission has both a legislative and executive functions
   

The commission form of city government is the oldest form of government in the US, but exists today in only a few cities, such as:

• Sunrise, FL; and
• Fairview, TN. 

Representative Town Meeting

Characteristics include:

• All citizens can attend and participate in town meeting discussion
• Individuals are chosen by the general electorate to represent them in voting
• Each town meeting must be announced with a warrant that provides the date, time, and location of the meeting and specifies the items to be discussed
• The selectmen are responsible for implementing policy

The town meeting is lauded as the purest form of democracy since it allows all voters a say in how the town is run. However, it is quite rare, mainly found in small municipalities in the New England states, such as:

• Bowdoin, ME; and
• Lexington, MA.

Sources:
DeSantis,Victor S. and Tari Renner. "City Government Structures: an Attempt at Classification"   State and Local Government Review, vol. 34, no. 2, (Spring 2002).

Forms and Structure of Municipal Government in the United States, presentation by William R. Barnes to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities on October 24, 1991, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Frederickson, H. George,  Curtis Wood, and Brett Logan. "How American City Governments Have Changed: The Evolution of the Model City Charter" National Civic Review. vol. 90, no. 1, (2001).

Frederickson, H. George, and Gary Alan Johnson. "The Adapted American City: A Study in Institutional Dynamics."  Urban Affairs Review. vol. 36, no. 6 (July 2001).

National League of Cities. Choices of the Citizenry: Forms of Municipal Government. Washington, DC: National League of Cities, May 1989.

Svara, James H. "The Shifting Boundary Between Elected Officials and City Managers in Large Council-Manager Cities"  Public Administration Review, vol. 59, no. 1 (January-February 1999).

Svara, James H. Two Decades of Continuity and Change in American City Councils. commissioned by the National League of Cities, September, 2003.