What is the equivalent of a mayor, but for a county?
Do counties have elections for whoever is in charge as well? I've only ever lived in cities with a mayor before. I have no idea what they do in other areas and was hoping someone could tell me. Are there term limits? Any light shed on this topic would be of great use!
Answers ( 3 )
I live in Cochise County, Arizona- waaaaay south-south east in Arizona. We have a Board of Supervisors, each of whom is elected, and an Administrator, who is hired by the Supervisors. The Administrator is a liason between the Supervisors and all other county entities- such as Sheriff and Courts.
A few weeks ago, when Arizona was popping hot for SARS-CoVID-19, a few of our county's little towns' governments mandated wearing masks in public spaces; the County took up the matter to "fill-in the empty spots", sort of, but the Board of Supervisors voted against the motion. So, in each little city limit, you must wear a mask, but as soon as you leave the city limits- which is not the same as leaving town, population and business-wise- you do not need to wear a mask.
In most areas, my "supervisors" are called "commissioners", and are still elected to office by the voters in the county. In some counties, the Administrator is also elcted.
If you Google your county name + government, you should find your personal set of elected county officials, where they work from (most often the County Courthouse, but not always) and learn a bit about county issues going on all around you. You might become interested enough to show up at a Supervisors or Commissioners meeting, and that might even set you on the path to running for elected office. Just think- you could bang the gavel!
The equivalent of "mayor" for a county is "mayor".
The office of mayor is not entirely consistent between city, county, and municipality.
For example, the county of Los Angeles has a board of supervisors. The city of Los Angeles has a mayor, and most of the other larger cities within the county do as well. Many of the smaller cities have a city council, but no mayor. The mayor of Los Angeles is a full executive, and the council reports to him, where many of the smaller cities have council-managerial governments, and the mayors are effectively the chair of the council, not a full executive.
In some places, mayors are the executive at the county level, not the city level. This is the case in Hawaii, where I grew up. It generally has more to do with the total population of the geopolitical unit; a county with a population of less than 200,000 is not typically going to have mayors for every town, unless the towns are far more coherent units than the county.
In short, there is no reason to presume equivalence of the office by name alone.
That's going to depend on the county and state.
In Los Angeles, the city has one mayor, and the county of Los Angeles is governed by a five-member Board of Supervisors, each representing a district - Districts 1 through 5 that cover the whole county of Los Angeles. The Board is also supported by an Executive Office that provides service to the Board, and to the community. To note, the population of Los Angeles County is just over 10 million, and an area covering over 4700 square miles. In California, most of the counties are governed by a Board of Supervisors.
New York City covers five boroughs, which could be considered counties, with one mayor for the whole region, but each borough is governed by a Borough President. So, it's rather the reverse of Los Angeles - the city is the larger entity, and governed by one person. The population of New York city is over 8.4 million, and an area just over 300 square miles.
As you can see, New York is much smaller area-wise, but it is a highly-populated city. Los Angeles County is an area 19 times larger than New York City.
There really isn't a decent comparison to make at the county level, there's usually a governing board rather than a mayor.