Most residents of Farmington Hills could not, off the top of their head, explain how their city government is organized — and that’s not a knock on residents. It’s a knock on civic education. Farmington Hills operates under what’s called a council-manager form of government, the same system used by neighboring Farmington and by about 70 percent of American cities with populations greater than 2,500. Understanding how it works is the first step to participating in it — and Farmington Hills, with its seven-member council and professional city manager, is a textbook example of the model in action.

I’ve spent a career inside this system, both as an academic studying it and as a practitioner living it. I taught public administration at three universities — Texas Tech, the University of Arkansas, and Southern Illinois University — and lectured on local government in six countries. I also served as Mayor of Hazelwood, Missouri, a council-manager city in suburban St. Louis, and as president of the St. Louis County Municipal League representing roughly 80 cities. What follows is an attempt to deliver just the facts about how this form of government is structured, what the city charter says, and what your role as a citizen looks like inside it.

The Core Idea

The council-manager form of government is, at its heart, an attempt to run a city the way you’d run a well-managed business. It pairs strong policy leadership from an elected city council with strong day-to-day management from a professional, appointed city manager. The council sets direction; the manager executes. In Farmington Hills, that means department heads — police, fire, public works, parks and recreation, and the rest — report up through the city manager, not directly to elected officials.

The Farmington Hills City Council is elected citywide. The mayor and six council members all answer to the same constituency: every voter in the city. They are co-equal. Each has one vote. Together, they hire exactly two employees of the city — the city manager and the city clerk — and those two report to the council as a body, not to any single elected official. That’s the architecture of our city government, written directly into our charter.

Who Does What

The most common point of confusion in a council-manager city is the role of the mayor. Because the title carries so much weight in popular imagination — and because mayors in other forms of government do, in fact, run cities — residents often assume our mayor does too. Under the Farmington Hills charter, the mayor is one vote among seven. The mayor presides over council meetings, represents the city at ribbon cuttings and public events, and works with the council as part of a team. The mayor does not have veto power. The mayor has no authority over city staff. The mayor has no authority over other council members.

Boards and commissions are another area where this gets misunderstood. Farmington Hills has roughly eight to ten standing boards and commissions covering everything from planning to parks. Residents apply to serve; their applications come to the city; the mayor presents them to the council; and the council as a whole votes to approve. So while you may hear someone say “the mayor appointed me,” the charter tells a different story — every appointment is a council action.

Stability by Design

One of the quiet strengths of the council-manager form is that it builds in continuity. A council can rotate after every election. Personalities change, priorities shift, occasionally there’s dissension. But the manager, as a credentialed professional bound by an ethical code, becomes a source of steadiness — keeping garbage trucks running, snowplows out, and budgets balanced regardless of which way the political wind blew in November. That’s not an accident. The system was designed that way.

Elective office at the local level is a popularity contest. The professional city manager is a specialist. The system works because it asks each to do what they’re qualified to do — and not what they aren’t.

That distinction matters when you think about your own civic involvement. If you want to actually manage city departments, the path is education — a master’s in public administration or a related field, followed by years of professional experience. City managers don’t grow on trees. If, on the other hand, you want to influence the policies that shape your community, the path is elected office, which under our charter requires only that you meet the age and residency thresholds. Mayors and council members differ in title, but not in role or power. Both pursuits are honorable. They are not interchangeable.

What Citizens Owe

An informed citizenry is the foundation of an accountable local government. We say we want government to be accountable — the mechanism by which we make it accountable is staying informed. That doesn’t mean every resident of Farmington Hills needs to read every meeting packet. It means enough of us do, often enough, that the people we elected know we’re paying attention.

The Bottom Line

The council-manager form of government is built on a clear separation of duties: the people we elect set policy, and the professional we hire carries it out. It’s a structure designed to deliver services consistently, ethically, and efficiently — through political seasons and across changing councils. Farmington Hills works best when its residents understand that structure, watch over it, and engage with it. That’s the whole point of seeing clearly. Once you can see how your city government works, you can decide for yourself how — and where — to participate in it.