Seattle City Council
Encyclopedia
The Seattle City Council
City council
A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...

is committed to ensuring that Seattle, Washington, is safe, livable and sustainable. Nine Councilmembers are elected to four-year terms in nonpartisan elections and represent the entire city, elected by all Seattle voters.

The City Council approves the city’s budget, develops laws and policies that promote the health and safety of Seattle’s residents, and oversees the city’s police, fire department, parks, and
libraries, as well as the electric, water, solid waste, and drainage utilities.

The public is encouraged to join Councilmembers at all full City Council and committee meetings and to comment on current legislation by signing up before the start of each meeting. Agendas are available on the Council’s website.

View the Council's priorities for 2011 and accomplishments from 2010.

Elections

Election of city council members occur on odd-numbered years, with either four or five councilmembers up for election based on position number. All council members' terms begin January 1. The council positions are officially non-partisan, and the ballot gives no party designations.

Since January 1, 2010, the makeup of the council has been:
  • Jean Godden (Position 1)
  • Richard Conlin
    Richard Conlin
    Richard Conlin is the current president of the Seattle City Council, first elected to council in 1997 and reelected in 2001, 2005 and 2009. He was first elected, unanimously, by the council to be their president on 7 January 2008 and was unanimously reelected on 4 January 2010.- Council duties :As...

     (Position 2), Council President
  • Bruce Harrell
    Bruce Harrell
    Bruce A. Harrell is currently serving as a member of the Seattle City Council. He was first elected in 2007 from a field of five candidates. He is currently Chair of the Energy, Technology, and Civil Rights Committee and is responsible for oversight of Seattle City Light, the city’s public power...

     (Position 3)
  • Sally Bagshaw
    Sally Bagshaw
    Sally Bagshaw is a member of the Seattle City Council, first elected in2009. She defeated her challenger David Bloom in the November election by winning 69.25 percent of the vote...

     (Position 4)
  • Tom Rasmussen
    Tom Rasmussen
    Tom Rasmussen is a member of the Seattle City Council, first elected in 2003. Between September 2004 and December 2007 he was chair of the Housing, Human Services & Health Committee, vice chair of the Urban Development & Planning Committee, and a member of the Transportation Committee. On January...

     (Position 5)
  • Nick Licata (Position 6)
  • Tim Burgess
    Tim Burgess (Seattle)
    Tim Burgess is a member of the Seattle City Council, former journalist, Seattle Police Department detective and international humanitarian worker. Burgess was elected in November, 2007 with 64% of the vote. He assumed office on January 1, 2008 and his term expires December 31, 2011...

     (Position 7)
  • Mike O'Brien
    Mike O'Brien (American politician)
    Mike O'Brien is a member of the Seattle City Council. He was first elected in 2009. He was the leading proponent of the opt out list for the yellow pages. He is the only opponent of the proposed deep bore tunnel under downtown Seattle on the city council. Mike has a degree in economics from Duke...

     (Position 8)
  • Sally J. Clark (Position 9)

History

Seattle was first incorporated as a town by an act of the Territorial Legislature on January 14, 1865. The act was repealed January 18, 1867, after most of the town's leading citizens petitioned for its dissolution. During its first tenure as an incorporated entity, Seattle was governed by a Board of Trustees. Seattle was again incorporated, this time as a City, on December 2, 1869.

The Seattle City Council has taken several forms over the years. During the years of the Washington Territory
Washington Territory
The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 8, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington....

, Seattle was incorporated by the Territorial Legislature as a town from January 14, 1865 until January 18, 1867 when the legislation was repealed based on a citizens' petition. During this time, Seattle was governed by a Board of Trustees. Seattle was re-incorporated as a city on December 2, 1869. Its original unicameral
Unicameralism
In government, unicameralism is the practice of having one legislative or parliamentary chamber. Thus, a unicameral parliament or unicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of one chamber or house...

 legislature, known as the Common Council, was elected at-large. At-large election was replaced in 1884 by a system of 14 wards and four members elected at-large.

Historical timeline:
  • 1869-1883 – Seven at-large Council members elected for one-year terms.
  • 1884 – Nine Council members elected: three from each of the three wards, elected to two-year terms.
  • 1886 – One ward added, Council reduced to eight members: two elected from each ward for two-years terms.
  • 1890 – The Home Rule Charter established eight wards and bicameral legislature. A Board of Delegates composed of nine at-large members was elected for four-year terms. House of Delegates had 16 members – Two from each ward, elected for two-year terms.
  • 1892 – One ward added to make nine. Both houses to have nine members – all elected from wards.
  • 1896 – New Home Rule Charter reestablished unicameral legislature with nine wards. One Council member elected from each ward for two years and four elected at large for four year terms.
  • 1905 – Two wards added to make 11. One Council member from each with four at-large – 15 council members total.
  • 1907 – The Charter was amended twice during the year, the first time adding two more wards, increasing the size of Council to 17. Later, another ward was added (to make 14), increasing Council to 18 members.
  • 1910 – The Charter was amended to abolish wards, reduce Council to nine at-large positions elected to three-year terms. This took effect in 1911 and remained constant until 1946. The 1910 Charter amendments also made the elections non-partisan. Prior to that candidates for Council (and other City offices) ran on party tickets.
  • 1946 – The new Charter created the four-year term.

Salary

The Seattle City Council is the second highest paid in the country. As of September 28, 2010, council members Bagshaw, Conlin, Licata and O'Brien earn $117,533.52; council members Godden, Harrell, Burgess, Clark and Rasmussen earn $113,587.20. These figures represent increases from $94,000 in November 2005, and $104,000 for members elected November 8, 2005. In 1995, all council members were paid $71,000.

The current top rate represents a 65.5% pay increase over 1995.

Among the nation's 40 largest cities, only Los Angeles pays its council more — $149,000, according to a survey by The Seattle Times. Seattle ranks 23rd in population, according to the Census Bureau.
.

Council President

The Seattle City Council picks amongst its peers a Council President to serve a 2-year term, beginning January 1 of the year following an election. The council president serves as the official head of the city's legislative department. In addition, he/she is tasked with:
  • Establishing of committees and appointment of committee chairs and members.
  • Presiding over meetings of the full council.
  • Assuming the duties and responsibilities of Mayor if the Mayor is absent or incapacitated.

See also

  • Charlie Chong
    Charlie Chong
    Charlie Chong was a populist Seattle political figure and activist on behalf of the Pike Place Market and against the marginalization of West Seattle. He was born on the island of Maui, Hawaii, in 1926, and died in Seattle's Providence Hospital on April 26, 2007.Chong graduated from Honolulu's St...

    , council member 1995–1997, West Seattle
    West Seattle, Seattle, Washington
    West Seattle comprises two of Seattle, Washington's thirteen districts, Delridge and Southwest and encompasses all of Seattle west of the Duwamish River. It was incorporated as an independent town in 1902 and was annexed by Seattle in 1907. Among the area's attractions are its saltwater beach parks...

     populist
  • Arthur A. Denny
    Arthur A. Denny
    Arthur Armstrong Denny was present at the founding of Seattle, Washington, the acknowledged leader of the pioneer Denny Party, and later the city's wealthiest citizen and a 9-term member of the territorial legislature...

    , council member 1877–1879, leader of the Seattle pioneers known as the Denny Party
    Denny Party
    The Denny Party is a group of white pioneers credited with founding Seattle, Washington because they settled at Alki Point on November 13, 1851.A wagon party headed by Arthur A. Denny left Cherry Grove, Illinois on April 10, 1851...

  • Bailey Gatzert
    Bailey Gatzert
    Bailey Gatzert was the eighth mayor of Seattle, Washington, serving from 1875 to 1876. He was the first Jewish mayor of Seattle, narrowly missing being the first Jewish mayor of a major American city , and has been the only Jewish mayor of Seattle to date.Gatzert was born in 1829 in Darmstadt,...

    , council member 1872–1873 and 1877–1878, in between was elected the city's first (and, as of 2011, only) Jewish mayor
  • Hiram Gill
    Hiram Gill
    Hiram C. Gill was an American lawyer and two-time Seattle mayor, identified with the "open city" politics that advocated toleration of prostitution, alcohol, and gambling.-Rise:...

    , council member 1898–1902, 1904–1910, then mayor. Famous as an "Open Town" advocate, he later allied with "Closed Town" reformers.
  • Bertha Knight Landes
    Bertha Knight Landes
    Bertha Knight Landes was the first female mayor of a major American city. Landes served as mayor of Seattle, Washington from 1926 to 1928. She was born in Ware, Massachusetts to Charles Sanford Knight and Cordelia Cutter. Her father, a veteran of the Union Army, moved the family to Worchester in...

    , council member 1922–1926, then elected the city's first (and, as of 2011, only) female mayor
  • David Levine (Seattle)
    David Levine (Seattle)
    David Levine was a Seattle, Washington politician. He served on the Seattle City Council from 1931 to 1962 including several stints as council president. On retirement, he received the title of Council President Emeritus, unique in the city's history.-Life:Born in Kiev in 1883, Levine came to...

    , council member 1931–1962
  • Wing Luke
    Wing Luke
    Wing Chong Luke was Assistant Attorney General of the U.S. state of Washington in the Civil Rights Division from 1957 to 1962, and a member of the Seattle City Council from March 13, 1962, to his death in 1965. He was the first Asian American to hold elected office in the state.- History :Luke was...

    , council member 1962–1965, first Asian American elected official in Washington State
  • John Miller
    John Miller (politician)
    John Ripin Miller , an American politician, was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1985 to 1993. He represented the of Washington as a Republican.Miller did not run for re-election in 1992...

    , council member 1972–1979, later a Republican congressman
  • Norm Rice
    Norm Rice
    Norman Blann Rice was the 49th mayor of Seattle, Washington, serving two terms from 1989-1997. Rice was Seattle's first, and to date only, African-American mayor.-Early life:...

    , council member 1978–1989, then elected the city's first (and, as of 2011, only) African American mayor
  • Peter Steinbrueck
    Peter Steinbrueck
    Peter Steinbrueck is an American architect and Seattle, Washington politician. He is a licensed architect in the State of Washington, and principal and founder of Steinbrueck Urban Strategies.-Early life and education:...

    , council member 1997–2007, architect
  • Henry Yesler
    Henry Yesler
    Henry L. Yesler was an entrepreneur considered to be Seattle, Washington's first economic father and first millionaire. He arrived in Seattle in 1852 and built a steam-powered sawmill, which provided numerous jobs for those early settlers and Duwamish tribe members...

    , council member 1884–1885, Seattle pioneer, sawmill-owner, and twice mayor

External links

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