Usually it's either a government through city council, or the town is actually unincorporated and the government is wholly symbolic there and all decisions about ordnances and enforcement are made at a nearby city or at the county level.
Just tagging on to this in many municipalities the mayor only votes in a tie break and otherwise provides leadership to council and the municipality. So if you have a council that works well together the mayor may never have to vote or provide leadership.
I was on the village board of trustees in my 20s for my hometown, population around 30,000, and yeah basically this, our mayor set the agenda and stuff like that, but 4/6 trustees could overrule him to add something to the agenda, and he only voted on ties, so if less than 4 people wanted to go against him, it wouldn't pass anyway. The highly overpaid village administrator from the local Catholic seminary actually ran the town, he took the job over from the Catholic who had done it for decades and mysteriously had his salary tripled just in time to retire and get an insanely inflated pension. So yeah, I could see why having a dog for a mayor would be advantageous to hiding grift.
What does it mean that a town is 'unincorporated'?
What government body oversees unincorporated towns? Why even call them towns if they are unincorporated?
They have so few people that it isn't really necessary for the town to have a government. I have a town near me with less then 50 people. It is a one church two bar town. They actually do have a mayor, but the most he does is fix the potholes occasionally and i think give out liquor license. Everything else is seen to by governments above the town. The county sheriff is the police force, the next town over has the fire and rescue. The post office is still open but is overseen by the next town over. An unincorporated town has even less then that.
Well one is about as dive bar as you get, the other is a bar that serves food (opposed to a restaurant that serves alcohol, because there is a difference)
Could be that the town has more that pass through or work there, versus live there. Because yeah two bars for 40 people is otherwise kinda nuts.
But for example my city has about 70,000 people. But because of tourism and workers, on any given day we have far more than 70,000 in the city. So we traffic and jobs, etc like s as more populated city
Oh yes, it is a very rural area. So around the town is a decent amount of people, and there are always people that drive down to have fun in a dive bar.
>Why even call them towns if they are unincorporated?
In most cases it's tradition. These are small, older communities in largely rural areas that have been there for a long time and simply lack the population and tax base to manage their own municipal services so they outsource things to either county or state agencies. Or they may have once been larger communities that de-incorporated due to loss of population.
I used to live in Talkeetna, AK, the town that famously had a cat for a mayor (this was just a gag for tourists, there were no elections or anything). It was built as a railroad hub in 1916, decades before Alaska would become a state, and just kind of hung on even after the railroad stopped being important to shipping. It's not a big enough town to manage and provide its own services so it just relies on the Borough (county) and the state. They have a part time town council that works with the other government agencies on things like infrastructure projects, but they don't have the authority to pass laws, levy taxes, change zoning, etc.
EDIT
Also what qualifies as a "town" can change from state to state. In some states it's a legal designation, in some states it's just colloquial designation. See also: Village, Civil Township, Municipality etc. On a federal level, the US Census Bureau uses the term "Census Designated Place" to define any kind of town-like community that doesn't have its own distinct municipal government.
There are even symbolic human mayors. The mayor of Hollywood is an honorary position since Hollywood isn’t actually a city and is just a part of the city of Los Angeles.
Looks like they may have stopped doing that in 2008 (Wikipedia says the list is incomplete, so could still be a thing). Was surprised to see Betty White as the mayor of Hollywood in *1955*
> all decisions about ordnances and enforcement are made at a nearby city or at the county level.
Or they need to elect a mayor to avoid that from happening. Idk if a dog would get them out of it, but in my dad's hometown the mayor is literally only the mayor for that reason. Nobody wants to do it, but he agreed to so that it stays local.
There are a few different ways that towns are governed in the US. Since the 1970s, most cities have adopted a city council system, where an elected council runs the city, and many of them have no mayor at all, instead a city manager. Then there are weak mayor and strong mayor systems, in the former a mayor is a ceremonial role, and it's part time and making appearances at events and such but not actually managing the city. These are the kinds of jobs dogs can do!
There are still plenty of towns in New England with no mayor, but with a Board of Selectmen, various other boards like Finance, and a town meeting for big issues. I was surprised to see "cities" of 500 people in other regions.
I lived in a small town where the city council members selected the mayor from their members. They basically took turns being the mayor who was mostly responsible for serving as the chair of the city council.
Maybe not dog but I know of a small town that has a mayor but it's symbolic mostly. I guess someone to represent for the county who actually manages the town.
Seeing the comments I suppose this means this small town is unincorporated
The town I live in has had a dog for a mayor. He's half grey wolf half saint Bernard. He "works security" at the municipal liquor store. He's been known to knock back a few beers on the job.But he doesn't overdo it. He's pretty harmless so long as you don't mess with his pet human, the bartender pends a lot of time on the campaign trail attending BBQs. He was involved in a sex scandal a few years ago. He had some bitch bent over in the dairy Queen parking lot after he was done with work. She got pregnant. We were told that he did pay puppy support in full and on time.
He attends the city council meetings with his pet human. She speaks for him. When the Mayor's signature is required he gets ink put on his right front paw.
Do in honesty our town mayor is the bartender who dog wanders around town collecting treats
The general answer is that they are figureheads, usually of unincorporated towns, or towns where the mayor's role is ceremonial/non-voting. Here is a complete list:
https://www.businessinsider.com/dog-mayors-of-america-2019-7
Same people that do when you elect a human the city clerk, the city council, and superintendents. All the small towns I've lived the mayor's job was to sign complaints, and break ties in the council meetings. So if you get an odd number of council members, and have the clerk sign state complaints and responses, it's easy to not hinder yourself for a publicity stunt that usually draws in several tourists.
Bigger town mayors may have more responsibilities, but in a small city it's easily manageable by amending the city laws to not require them sign off on stuff.
Typically the towns that do this are ones where the mayor has limited power or is just a ceremonial role.
A lot of towns use council-manager systems where the mayor is just another member of the city council and the council picks a town manager who actually does the executive functions.
Usually these are very small towns that run themselves and the actual governments have very little they have to do on a daily or even monthly basis. In this case, electing a dog is fine because there arent any decisions to make in the first place.
in our area, it was council that runs everything (it's a first nation or Indian Reserve) federal government said we must have a chief (which locally is useless anyway), so we nominated a local stray everyone feeds and he's been our chief now for two terms, reelection in december though.
It's now [Mayor Denali!](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cat-mayor-talkeetna-alaska#:~:text=Stubbs%20recovered%20and%20returned%20to,as%20the%20new%20honorary%20mayors.)
In the US, communities are administered in a few distinct ways. Since the 1970s, the majority of cities have embraced the system of city councils, in which an elected council governs the city; many of these communities have a city manager in place of a mayor.
There are two types of mayor systems: weak mayor and strong mayor. In the former, the mayor serves only as a ceremonial figure, working part-time and appearing at events but not really running the city. Dogs are capable of performing these tasks!
Idyllwild, CA has a dog mayor. He/She even has two dog security goons. They all have jackets. He holds dog mayor session in the town square on weekends. It's the cutest thing ever.
no different than when a town elects a human being as mayor... the special interests, lobbyists, corporations, and rich people that gave money to the campaign run the town
How far into your animal rights advocacy do you have to be to elect an animal to be the leader of your country, state, city, or town? Seriously, you have to draw the line somewhere when it comes to animal rights. What’s next, giving animals rights to fly commercial planes, work in nuclear power plants?
Usually it's either a government through city council, or the town is actually unincorporated and the government is wholly symbolic there and all decisions about ordnances and enforcement are made at a nearby city or at the county level.
Just tagging on to this in many municipalities the mayor only votes in a tie break and otherwise provides leadership to council and the municipality. So if you have a council that works well together the mayor may never have to vote or provide leadership.
I was on the village board of trustees in my 20s for my hometown, population around 30,000, and yeah basically this, our mayor set the agenda and stuff like that, but 4/6 trustees could overrule him to add something to the agenda, and he only voted on ties, so if less than 4 people wanted to go against him, it wouldn't pass anyway. The highly overpaid village administrator from the local Catholic seminary actually ran the town, he took the job over from the Catholic who had done it for decades and mysteriously had his salary tripled just in time to retire and get an insanely inflated pension. So yeah, I could see why having a dog for a mayor would be advantageous to hiding grift.
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Interesting, that makes sense
Alternatively, if a super intelligent dog could be voted in, they could just do the job.
What does it mean that a town is 'unincorporated'? What government body oversees unincorporated towns? Why even call them towns if they are unincorporated?
They have so few people that it isn't really necessary for the town to have a government. I have a town near me with less then 50 people. It is a one church two bar town. They actually do have a mayor, but the most he does is fix the potholes occasionally and i think give out liquor license. Everything else is seen to by governments above the town. The county sheriff is the police force, the next town over has the fire and rescue. The post office is still open but is overseen by the next town over. An unincorporated town has even less then that.
Interesting this town has twice the bars than a town some of my family live at with a population of \~400.
Well one is about as dive bar as you get, the other is a bar that serves food (opposed to a restaurant that serves alcohol, because there is a difference)
Could be that the town has more that pass through or work there, versus live there. Because yeah two bars for 40 people is otherwise kinda nuts. But for example my city has about 70,000 people. But because of tourism and workers, on any given day we have far more than 70,000 in the city. So we traffic and jobs, etc like s as more populated city
Oh yes, it is a very rural area. So around the town is a decent amount of people, and there are always people that drive down to have fun in a dive bar.
I live in an unincorporated municipality with more than 50,000 residents, so I don’t think it’s fair to say they’re always so tiny.
>Why even call them towns if they are unincorporated? In most cases it's tradition. These are small, older communities in largely rural areas that have been there for a long time and simply lack the population and tax base to manage their own municipal services so they outsource things to either county or state agencies. Or they may have once been larger communities that de-incorporated due to loss of population. I used to live in Talkeetna, AK, the town that famously had a cat for a mayor (this was just a gag for tourists, there were no elections or anything). It was built as a railroad hub in 1916, decades before Alaska would become a state, and just kind of hung on even after the railroad stopped being important to shipping. It's not a big enough town to manage and provide its own services so it just relies on the Borough (county) and the state. They have a part time town council that works with the other government agencies on things like infrastructure projects, but they don't have the authority to pass laws, levy taxes, change zoning, etc. EDIT Also what qualifies as a "town" can change from state to state. In some states it's a legal designation, in some states it's just colloquial designation. See also: Village, Civil Township, Municipality etc. On a federal level, the US Census Bureau uses the term "Census Designated Place" to define any kind of town-like community that doesn't have its own distinct municipal government.
They said the answer in the comment, either the county or a nearby city.
I’m in an unincorporated city of a little under 10k- we answer to the county.
What do you prefer to call them? Village? Same diff
In my area a village is always incorporated. If it's unincorporated it's a hamlet.
There are even symbolic human mayors. The mayor of Hollywood is an honorary position since Hollywood isn’t actually a city and is just a part of the city of Los Angeles.
Looks like they may have stopped doing that in 2008 (Wikipedia says the list is incomplete, so could still be a thing). Was surprised to see Betty White as the mayor of Hollywood in *1955*
Wikipedia is indeed correct. After Johnny Grant died, they haven’t replaced him.
This is what the dog wants us to think
Sounds like my village. We had a "mayor" there who died awhile ago. Now, it's a neighbor who runs a boat tent that acts as a public ground.
> all decisions about ordnances and enforcement are made at a nearby city or at the county level. Or they need to elect a mayor to avoid that from happening. Idk if a dog would get them out of it, but in my dad's hometown the mayor is literally only the mayor for that reason. Nobody wants to do it, but he agreed to so that it stays local.
Why does your hypothetical city need to make decision about explosive weapons?
There are a few different ways that towns are governed in the US. Since the 1970s, most cities have adopted a city council system, where an elected council runs the city, and many of them have no mayor at all, instead a city manager. Then there are weak mayor and strong mayor systems, in the former a mayor is a ceremonial role, and it's part time and making appearances at events and such but not actually managing the city. These are the kinds of jobs dogs can do!
That makes sense!
There are still plenty of towns in New England with no mayor, but with a Board of Selectmen, various other boards like Finance, and a town meeting for big issues. I was surprised to see "cities" of 500 people in other regions.
Interesting, thanks. Down the rabbit hole I go!
I lived in a small town where the city council members selected the mayor from their members. They basically took turns being the mayor who was mostly responsible for serving as the chair of the city council.
Maybe not dog but I know of a small town that has a mayor but it's symbolic mostly. I guess someone to represent for the county who actually manages the town. Seeing the comments I suppose this means this small town is unincorporated
The town I live in has had a dog for a mayor. He's half grey wolf half saint Bernard. He "works security" at the municipal liquor store. He's been known to knock back a few beers on the job.But he doesn't overdo it. He's pretty harmless so long as you don't mess with his pet human, the bartender pends a lot of time on the campaign trail attending BBQs. He was involved in a sex scandal a few years ago. He had some bitch bent over in the dairy Queen parking lot after he was done with work. She got pregnant. We were told that he did pay puppy support in full and on time. He attends the city council meetings with his pet human. She speaks for him. When the Mayor's signature is required he gets ink put on his right front paw. Do in honesty our town mayor is the bartender who dog wanders around town collecting treats
The general answer is that they are figureheads, usually of unincorporated towns, or towns where the mayor's role is ceremonial/non-voting. Here is a complete list: https://www.businessinsider.com/dog-mayors-of-america-2019-7
Same people that do when you elect a human the city clerk, the city council, and superintendents. All the small towns I've lived the mayor's job was to sign complaints, and break ties in the council meetings. So if you get an odd number of council members, and have the clerk sign state complaints and responses, it's easy to not hinder yourself for a publicity stunt that usually draws in several tourists. Bigger town mayors may have more responsibilities, but in a small city it's easily manageable by amending the city laws to not require them sign off on stuff.
Typically the towns that do this are ones where the mayor has limited power or is just a ceremonial role. A lot of towns use council-manager systems where the mayor is just another member of the city council and the council picks a town manager who actually does the executive functions. Usually these are very small towns that run themselves and the actual governments have very little they have to do on a daily or even monthly basis. In this case, electing a dog is fine because there arent any decisions to make in the first place.
Same as when the elect a human mayor, usually the secretary or deputy mayor.
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Ok that’s pretty good 😄
in our area, it was council that runs everything (it's a first nation or Indian Reserve) federal government said we must have a chief (which locally is useless anyway), so we nominated a local stray everyone feeds and he's been our chief now for two terms, reelection in december though.
Interesting, thanks for your insight
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See dog run.
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Mayor Stubbs in Talkeetna, Alaska 🥰
It's now [Mayor Denali!](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cat-mayor-talkeetna-alaska#:~:text=Stubbs%20recovered%20and%20returned%20to,as%20the%20new%20honorary%20mayors.)
In the US, communities are administered in a few distinct ways. Since the 1970s, the majority of cities have embraced the system of city councils, in which an elected council governs the city; many of these communities have a city manager in place of a mayor. There are two types of mayor systems: weak mayor and strong mayor. In the former, the mayor serves only as a ceremonial figure, working part-time and appearing at events but not really running the city. Dogs are capable of performing these tasks!
Idyllwild, CA has a dog mayor. He/She even has two dog security goons. They all have jackets. He holds dog mayor session in the town square on weekends. It's the cutest thing ever.
There’s a dog’sbody.
A lot of mayors have very little power anyway, so the same people who run other towns. Usually councils
The fleas.
no different than when a town elects a human being as mayor... the special interests, lobbyists, corporations, and rich people that gave money to the campaign run the town
lol https://imgur.com/a/1yEyDT0
The dog… 😆🐶
Well, Jimmy Kimmel is the honorary mayor of Dildo Newfoundland!! Guess it's the same idea..
Figurehead
Shadowgovernment as always
How far into your animal rights advocacy do you have to be to elect an animal to be the leader of your country, state, city, or town? Seriously, you have to draw the line somewhere when it comes to animal rights. What’s next, giving animals rights to fly commercial planes, work in nuclear power plants?