I.Analyze the Missouri state government‘s historical arrangement and constitutional issues. Main Idea (1c):Local Government. UNIT 4: The Missouri Constitution Liberty and the LawMr. Presley

C. MAIN IDEA - Local Government Where most citizens begin is at the locally elected governing bodies, where much of the power to regulate internal affairs in Missouri is delegated, such as governments of counties, cities, townships and various districts. These local units have no reserved powers of their own, but only those which are granted to them by the Missouri Constitution under Article VI. The state sets up both the basic frameworks of government available to the local units and also the conditions governing local choice and implementation. The people in the local units fill in the details with appropriate actions and ordinances, being allowed varying degrees of discretion depending on the size of the population and other factors.

There are 114 counties in Missouri, plus the City of St. Louis which, under the constitution, has county status. With the exception of the City of St. Louis, all 114 Missouri counties have some basic type of county government, although the structure and operation of county governments vary considerably. Most county governments are directed by the presiding commissioner of the county commission and the other commissioners of the commission; all of them are elected by the people. The county commission serves as both the central executive and legislative body.

Within each county there is a collection of separate elective officers performing various tasks. Most counties elect a prosecuting attorney, sheriff, coroner, assessor, and a revenue collector. Other elected, appointed or contracted personnel, perform necessary law enforcement, clerical, maintenance, recordkeeping and fiscal management duties to support government operations. County governments are characterized by varying degrees of coordination and centralization. This is due in part to the fact that the General Assembly and the governor are themselves, technically, the primary legislative and executive organs of the state and its subdivisions.

There are three main types of city government being used in Missouri today: the mayor-council form, the commission form and the council manager form. The mayor-council form is the form of city government which appears most frequently in Missouri. The council members are usually elected from subdivisions (wards) of the city in order to adopt the ordinances (local laws) for the city, while the mayor acts as the chief executive of the mayor-council organization and is responsible for carrying out the ordinances made by the council.

In the commission form, the board of commissioners, (or the city council in some places), performs both the legislative and the executive functions. The board of commissioners (elected by the people of the city) has the duty of passing the ordinances which govern the affairs of its city, but also each commissioner then acts as a department head and carries out one particular group of ordinances.

Finally, the council-manager form of government is comprised of a council, a mayor, and a city manager - The council passes the city ordinances, and its members are elected from wards within the city, while the duties of the mayor include presiding at council meetings. The mayor has little administrative power, for the administrative power lies with the city’s chief executive, known as the city manager, who is a nonpartisan official hired by the city as an administrator.