Your city council (also known as a mayor-council or district government) decides which services your community gets, how much it costs, and how to pay for it. They set the rates for income, sales and property tax. They can also sell off city-owned properties or change trash collection schedules to save money. They are often in charge of running the city’s schools and public safety departments, too.
But the big thing is that city council members are democratically elected by residents to make decisions about their city. They do this through a variety of committees, where they perform deep dives into how the city runs on a myriad of topics, from COVID-19 relief and police reform to whether your local gas station should have gaming machines.
Each council member is a member of at least one standing or select committee and may be a member of any number of other special and temporary committees. They are also part of council caucuses, groups of Members with shared concerns. There are currently seven: Black, Latino and Asian Caucus; Community-Sense Caucus; Common-Sense Caucus; Irish Caucus; Jewish Caucus; and the Progressive Caucus.
The specifics of how your city council works vary a lot, depending on the rules in place in your town, state and country. But generally speaking, the council is a legislative body that passes laws and ordinances. It’s also a check on the mayor in a mayor-council system, and it can vote to override a mayor’s veto of a law, so long as two-thirds of council votes are in favor.