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Thecity government ofAtlanta, Georgia, United States, headquartered atAtlanta City Hall is primarily vested in theAtlanta City Council andMayor, amayor-council system. In addition, there is theAtlanta Police Department,Atlanta Fire Rescue Department, the directly-electedAtlanta Board of Education (which administersAtlanta Public Schools), several city departments, and the Atlanta municipal courts.
The mayor is theExecutive Officer for the city and serves a four-year term and is limited to two consecutive terms. The mayor makes appointments of heads and staff of departments and commissions with the approval of the council, and is able to veto ordinances passed by the council (with the council being able to override vetoes by a two-thirds vote). In addition, the mayor is able to issue executive orders, prepare the annual budget, execute contracts and assume certain emergency powers during states of emergency.
TheAtlanta City Council, a 15 member unicameral body, serves as the legislative branch of government, which has an elected council representative from each of 12single-member districts, 3at-large post seats and the at-large City Council President who chairs meetings of the council.[1]
The entire slate is elected for four-year terms in off-year elections (2001, 2005, 2009, etc.).
The mayor's office maintains several offices which provide executive oversight over aspects of city government:
The mayor appoints the heads of the following departments and offices, all of whom are listed as members of the mayor's cabinet:[2]
Several boards and commissions are appointed by both the mayor and city council with
TheAtlanta Public Schools are administered by theAtlanta Board of Education, a nine-member body representing six districts and three at-large posts. It is a separate entity from both theFulton County School System andDeKalb County School District.
The city government maintains three judicial agencies:
Atlanta's borders straddle much of easternFulton County and westernDeKalb County. In addition, the mayor of Atlanta is a member of theAtlanta Regional Commission, the intergovernmental planning organization forMetro Atlanta.
As of 2026, Atlanta is largely represented in the United States House of Representatives byGeorgia's 5th congressional district.
In 1954, Atlanta’sward system was changed from a bicameral body of councilmen representing Wards and three citywide (at-large) aldermen to a system of six citywide aldermen with a Vice-Mayor who served as the president of the Board of Aldermen. This eliminated the strength of the wards.
In 1973 a new charter was passed which shifted the city to a district system and took effect at the start of 1974.[3]The chief architect of that charter wasGrace Towns Hamilton with the purpose to more equitably represent the changing racial composure of the city and coincided with the city's first Black mayor,Maynard Jackson, taking office.
In this reformulation, the Vice-Mayor (and Board of Aldermen president) was changed to the President of the City Council (elected citywide) and 12 districts were drawn represented by one Council member each; in addition there were 6 at-large posts giving a 19-member body.In 1996, the current makeup was enacted which reduced the number of Council members to 16 by reducing the number of at-large posts from six to three.[3]
