Memphis City Council
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The Memphis City Council is the legislative branch of government for the city of
Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...
. It is made up of 13 members: 7 single-district members and 6 "super district" members. Council members are elected to four-year terms with a two-term limit. The city is governed by Mayor Paul Young and the thirteen
city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...
members. Memphis uses a strong-mayor form of government in which the city council acts as a check against the power of the executive branch, the mayor. The council is responsible for approving the city budget, making land use decisions, and approving, amending, or rejecting other legislative proposals. The council is also responsible for approving Memphis Gas Light and Water (MLGW) expenditures over $250,000 and salaries over $180,000
March 22, 2022 Minutes, page 14
; likewise, its annual budget and its rate increases. Memphis City Council committees meet on every first and third Tuesday of every month. The first city council took office in 1968, after the modern city charter had been approved by Memphis voters in a 1966 referendum. The 1966 charter set the salary for council members at $6,000, which was later raised to $20,100 in 1995, and later raised again to the current amount of $30,100. The 1966 charter provided for run-off elections when no candidate got a majority of the vote, but a federal judge overruled that section of the charter in 1991. In 1995, the council adopted a new district plan which changed council positions to all districts. This plan provides for nine districts, seven with one representative each and two districts with three representatives each. In 2010, the council approved a new redistricting plan to reflect recent demographic shifts. By law, Memphis municipal elections are
Nonpartisan Nonpartisan or non-partisan may refer to: __NOTOC__ General political concepts * Nonpartisanship, also known as Nonpartisanism, co-operation without reference to political parties * Non-partisan democracy, an election with no official recognition ...
, in that candidates do not represent a specific political party.


Current membership

The current Memphis City Council was elected in the October 2023 Memphis elections and was sworn in on January 2, 2024. {, class="wikitable" , +Memphis City Council, 2024-2027 !District !Member !Took Office , - , 1 , Rhonda Logan , 2020 , - , 2 , Jerri Green , 2024 , - , 3 , Pearl Eva Walker , 2024 , - , 4 , Jana Swearengen-Washington , 2022 , - , 5 , Philip Spinosa , 2024 , - , 6 , Edmund Ford, Sr. , 2020 , - , 7 , Michalyn Easter-Thomas , 2020 , - , 8-1 , JB Smiley, Jr. - Chairman , 2020 , - , 8-2 , Janika White , 2024 , - , 8-3 , Yolanda Cooper-Sutton , 2024 , - , 9-1 , Chase Carlisle , 2020 , - , 9-2 , J. Ford Canale - Vice Chairman , 2018 , - , 9-3 , Jeff Warren , 2020


References

Tennessee city councils *