Chattanooga City Council
The Chattanooga City Council consists of a mayor and nine council members, who are elected through non-partisan elections. The council operates under a strong mayor system, which changed in 1990 from a commission form of government with members voted at-large, which had been established in 1911. In 1989 U.S. District Judge R. Allan Edgar ruled that the commission-style government violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by diluting the minority black vote.[1] As a result of Brown v. Board of Commissioners, Chattanooga abandoned the at-large voting system that it had used for the commission form of government, established single-member districts to represent both majority and minority elements of the population, eliminated voting privileges for non-resident property owners, and created the city's current mayor-council form of government. The current strong mayor system started in 1991 after a 1990 citywide election that used the district system.[1]
The current mayor of Chattanooga is Andy Berke, a Democrat who was elected to a four-year term in March 2013 and reelected in March 2017 to a four-year term ending in March 2021.[2][3] The council is composed of nine people elected from single-member districts in non-partisan elections.[4] The mayoral and council elections are held on the first Tuesday in March every four years in odd years, e.g. 1993, 1997, 2001, 2005, etc.[5]
History[edit]
From Chattanooga's beginnings in 1839 for over 70 years, the city was under the control of a Board of Aldermen, in which seven wards in the city elected a representative for the Board and the mayor governed for an one-year term.[6][7] In 1883, the mayoral term was extended to two years after a change in the city charter.[8] In 1911, an at-large commission style of government was implemented after a group composed of several mayors and business leaders appealed to the state legislature to change the system. In this system, five commissioners composed Chattanooga's council and the mayor's term changed from two years to four years.[7] In 1971, John Franklin, the council's first black member, was elected.[9] In 1989, after a lawsuit, Brown v. Board of Commissioners, was brought by members of the community and civil rights activists, the U.S. District Court in Chattanooga ruled that the commission system violated the voting rights of blacks in Chattanooga by diluting their vote.[1] The commission system was changed in 1990 to a city council system, with former commissioners Ron Littlefield, Gene Roberts, and Ervin Dinsmore becoming new department heads. The current strong mayor system started in 1991.[1] Brown v. Board of Commissioners created three majority-minority districts and a swing district in Chattanooga. From 2005 to 2017, the Council had its first Hispanic and openly gay members in Manny Rico (2005-2013) and Chris Anderson (2013-2017), respectively.[10][11]
Members[edit]
| District | Council members[12] |
|---|---|
| Mayor | Andy Berke |
| District 1 | Chip Henderson [1] |
| District 2 | Jerry Mitchell [2] |
| District 3 | Ken Smith (Council Chair, 2018-2019[13]) [3] |
| District 4 | Darrin Ledford [4] |
| District 5 | Russell Gilbert [5] |
| District 6 | Carol Berz [6] |
| District 7 | Erskine Oglesby, Jr. (Vice Council Chair, 2018-2019[14]) [7] |
| District 8 | Anthony Byrd [8] |
| District 9 | Demetrus Coonrod [9]] |
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- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Hightower, Cliff; Todd South (October 13, 2011). "Brown v. Board of Commissioners". Chattanooga Times Free Press. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
- ↑ Hightower, Cliff (March 6, 2013). "Andy Berke is Chattanooga's new mayor". Chattanooga Times Free Press. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
- ↑ http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/politics/local/story/2017/mar/07/andy-berke-leads-early-votes-chattanooga-mayor/416506/
- ↑ http://elect.hamiltontn.gov/Portals/12/General/Current%20Elected%20Officials.pdf
- ↑ https://library.municode.com/tn/chattanooga/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT5ELMACOMEJU
- ↑ Staff. "1840 James Enfield Berry". City of Chattanooga. City of Chattanooga. Retrieved 05/10/18. Check date values in:
|accessdate=(help) - ↑ 7.0 7.1 Staff. "1909-1915 Thomas Clarkson Thompson". City of Chattanooga. City of Chattanooga. Retrieved 05/10/18. Check date values in:
|accessdate=(help) - ↑ Staff. "1883-1885 Hugh Whiteside". City of Chattanooga. City of Chattanooga. Retrieved 05/10/18. Check date values in:
|accessdate=(help) - ↑ Staff. "Council Minutes, 04/19/11" (PDF). City of Chattanooga. City of Chattanooga. Retrieved 05/10/18. Check date values in:
|accessdate=(help) - ↑ Jeffrey, Jen (6 March 2013). "Manny Rico – Engraving A Legacy". Chattanoogan.com. Chattanoogan.com. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
- ↑ Putman, Yolanda (15 April 2013). "Chris Anderson embodies 30 years of progress: Chattanooga's first gay councilman sworn in today". Chattanooga Times Free Press. Chattanooga Times Free Press. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
- ↑ http://www.chattanooga.gov/city-council/council-members
- ↑ http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/breakingnews/story/2018/apr/10/smith-oglesby-lead-chattanooga-council/468015/
- ↑ http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/breakingnews/story/2018/apr/10/smith-oglesby-lead-chattanooga-council/468015/
