A Guide to Cleveland City Government

The City of Cleveland works in partnership with residents, businesses, and schools to:

  • Provide a healthy, welcoming atmosphere where citizens choose to live, raise families, and take pride in their community
  • Promote planned growth and economic vitality
  • Create a positive work environment
  • Meet service demands through growth and commitment to excellence

The city operates under the laws of the State of Texas as an "optional municipal code city," governed by the Cleveland Municipal Code. Code cities have broad authority within their geographic domain. Cleveland is governed by a legislative body consisting of a City Manager, Mayor, and five council members known as a council-manager government. A City Manager is appointed by the City Council to be the chief administrative and executive officer of the city. Voters elect the mayor and five council members at large, meaning there is no geographic representation to any position among the city’s policy makers.

Mayor

The Mayor is responsible for:

  • Providing leadership and presiding over the functions of the City Council
  • Voting on matters under consideration by the City Council in the event of a tie vote among the City Council
  • Appointing persons to the Cleveland Housing Authority as necessary

City Council

The City Council consists of five members who are at large members and are responsible for:

  • Adopting the budget of the city
  • Passing ordinances and resolutions as a direction of the city’s policy direction
  • Holding at least one regular meeting in each month, usually on Tuesday

City Manager

The City Manager is responsible for:

  • Providing administrative leadership and attending to the day to day operations of the City of Cleveland
  • Preparing the budget annually and submitting it to the City Council and is responsible for its administration after adoption
  • Performing duties as is prescribed by the City of Cleveland Home Rule Charter (PDF) or may be required by the City Council

Day-to-day operations of the city are carried out by more than 100 employees under the direction of the city manager. As a general purpose, full-service government, the city provides a host of services to residents and local businesses:

Partnerships

Finally, the City of Cleveland believes in partnerships. The city has teamed up with with the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce and the Cleveland Civic Center to collectively market the Cleveland community. The goal of this partnership is to draw families and companies to locate in Cleveland and diversify Cleveland’s economic and employment base.