What Good Leadership Should Look Like: The Role of City Council
In a recent post, I wrote about the role of the mayor in a strong mayor system.
But the mayor is only part of the equation.
City Council plays an equally important role—to help ensure that the city is run well through policy, oversight, and a focus on the long-term public interest.
With several City Council seats coming up for election, this is an important moment to consider what good leadership should look like from those who will serve in these roles.
At the end of this post, I’ll suggest a few questions that may be useful in evaluating candidates and understanding how they think about these responsibilities.
Understanding that role—and what good leadership looks like from City Council—is essential as St. Petersburg faces important decisions in the years ahead.
The Role of City Council: Policy, Representation, and Oversight
St. Petersburg operates under a strong mayor form of government:
• The mayor manages the administration
• The City Council sets policy and provides oversight
City Council does not run departments or manage staff.
Instead, Council members:
• adopt laws and policies
• approve the city’s budget
• provide oversight of the administration
• represent the public
That role carries three core responsibilities.
Policy and how the city operates.
City Council establishes the framework within which the city operates—through laws, policies, and budget decisions. These choices set priorities, allocate resources, and shape how the city functions over time.
Representation.
City Council members represent the people of St. Petersburg—not just by voting on proposals, but by ensuring the public has meaningful opportunities to be heard and that input is thoughtfully incorporated into decision-making.
This requires public engagement and early community input—so that public perspectives help shape how options are developed and evaluated.
Public trust is built when people believe:
• they have been heard
• the process has been fair
• and decisions are made thoughtfully
Oversight.
City Council provides independent oversight by:
• asking hard questions
• reviewing proposals carefully
• ensuring decisions are supported by sound analysis
• confirming that the public interest is protected
Good oversight is not about opposition.
It is about accountability.
In many ways, City Council’s role is to ensure that decisions are not just made—but made well.
A Simple Standard
In my time at Raymond James, there was a clear and consistent principle:
Clients come first.
Everything flowed from that.
In my case, that meant being responsible for how capital from major financial institutions was invested in affordable housing. Those clients trusted us to make careful, informed decisions—and to act in their best interests.
That required more than judgment alone.
We were often dealing with complex issues, and we understood that we could not rely solely on our own expertise.
So we built a process around getting the right information:
• conducting thorough due diligence
• engaging independent appraisers
• working with legal counsel
• reviewing environmental conditions
• consulting with specialists where needed
• and evaluating decisions based on long-term outcomes
In other words, we did not just make decisions—we made sure we were properly informed before making them.
When that standard was followed, the results were strong—and the trust placed in us was justified.
The same principle applies in public service.
For City Council, the “clients” are the people of St. Petersburg.
Their responsibility is to ensure that decisions are made with the same level of care and discipline—recognizing that complex issues require more than individual judgment, and that seeking out the right information and perspectives is part of the job.
When that standard is met, the results follow:
• better decisions
• stronger public trust
• and confidence in leadership
At its core, this is the role of City Council.
And it raises a simple but important question:
Are candidates prepared to act as true stewards of their clients—the public?
That is the standard voters should expect.
What Good Leadership Looks Like
Strong City Council leadership means:
• taking the time to fully understand complex issues before voting
• recognizing that they are not expected to be experts on every issue—and therefore taking responsibility for seeking out the information and perspective needed to make informed decisions
• asking thoughtful, independent questions—even when it is uncomfortable
• ensuring that decisions are based on more than a single proposal or point of view
• creating meaningful opportunities for public input early in the process
• focusing on long-term outcomes, not short-term pressure
At its best, City Council leadership is not reactive.
It is careful, informed, and focused on getting important decisions right.
The Questions That Matter
With several City Council seats coming up for election, it may be helpful to ask a few straightforward questions:
- What do you see as the role of a City Council member—and what in your background and experience specifically prepares you to serve as a steward for the people you represent?
- What specifically will you do to obtain the information you need to make good decisions on complex issues before you vote? For example, who will you rely on, what kinds of expertise will you seek out, and how will you ensure you are fully informed?
- How will you make sure the public has a real voice in decisions before they are made, not just after plans are already in place?
These are not political questions.
They are questions about readiness, judgment, and how decisions get made.
Because in the end, how decisions are made determines the future of the city.
In a follow-up post, I’ll suggest a structure for decision-making that I believe would benefit the city—and better support both the mayor in his role and City Council in theirs.
