Salt Lake City operates under a Mayor/Council form of government. The Mayor is the chief executive, and the City Council is the legislative body. This system is modeled after the Federal Constitution structure of government. Salt Lake City residents elect the Mayor and Council Members in separate elections.

Download the Council’s guide to local government for the City’s young constituents.

Council Members serve four-year terms, work for the City part-time, and are paid. Each Council Member represents one of the City’s seven geographical Council Districts of similar population size.

The City Council exercises the legislative powers of city government, including adopting the annual City budget, ordinances, and resolutions; setting appropriate tax levies; establishing sewer and water rates; setting other general tax and service rates; Mayoral veto override authority, and setting the Council agenda. Other responsibilities for City Council Members include introducing legislation, setting City policy, and giving advice and consent on appointments made by the mayor to City boards, commissions and departments.

The Council also serves as the Board of Directors for Salt Lake City’s Redevelopment Agency, the Local Building Authority, and jointly with the Mayor as the Board of Canvassers.

The Mayor is elected by residents separately from the Council and serves a four-year term. The position is full-time and paid. The Mayor’s authority includes; proposing the annual City budget, appointing City Department Directors, exercising veto authority, and managing the City’s day-to-day operations.

Every January, the Council elects one of its members to serve as Chairperson and one member to serve as Vice Chairperson

Chair duties include; signing documents such as adopted ordinances and resolutions, representing the position of the Council to the media and the Mayor’s Administration, overseeing the management of the Office of the City Council, including monitoring and guiding the Council priorities, and scheduling items on the City Council meeting agendas. The Vice Chair is a backup to the Chairperson if the Chairperson is unavailable for any reason.

In addition, the Council Chair and Vice Chair represent the Council in meetings with stakeholders, including the Mayor, Salt Lake City School Board, and the Salt Lake Chamber Board.

2024 Council Leadership: Victoria Petro, Chair. Alejandro Puy, Vice Chair.

The budget is one of the Council’s strongest policy-making tools. Each year, the Mayor and City Council adopt an annual budget and some budget amendments (changes) throughout the year. Check out our Budget 101 for more information.

Ceremonial resolutions are non-binding and support, recognize, or show appreciation for individuals, groups, and causes. A ceremonial resolution can either be jointly supported and signed by the Council and the Mayor or supported and signed only by the Council.

The public may submit an online request for the Council to consider. Submit the request at least 30 days from the date you hope to have your resolution adopted. Please allow Council staff three business days to confirm your request. The Council receives many submissions and, unfortunately, can only accommodate some requests. The Council has made it a practice to refrain from passing resolutions on issues outside its responsibilities.

The Council determines the final resolution language but suggested language is requested. Please provide information in bullet point format or as “whereas” clauses. Please specify whether you intend for the resolution to:

• Recognize a person or cause.
• Urge others to action.
• Support a position.
• Raise awareness of a month, week, or day.

View an example of a resolution that the Council has adopted.

After the Council adopts the resolution, we will provide an original signed copy via the delivery method indicated in the request.

Guidelines:

• Keep the resolution text to one page.
• Order the bullet points or “whereas” clauses in a way that helps the resolution flow in telling the story/background of the topic.
• Language and tone can be inspirational or celebratory.
• Provide sources of any fact-based text.

The Redevelopment Agency (RDA) of Salt Lake City works with communities to implement Salt Lake City’s master plans to create vital housing opportunities, improve infrastructure, and participate in the economic development of Salt Lake City.

The Salt Lake City Council members serve as RDA Board Members and regularly meet with the Redevelopment Advisory Committee (RAC) to discuss current focus areas.

Learn more about the RDA, upcoming meetings, and their current projects.

The Council’s meetings are a place for people to feel safe and comfortable in participating in their government.  A respectful and safe environment allows a meeting to be conducted in an orderly,
efficient, effective, and dignified fashion, free from distraction, intimidation, and threats to safety.

In order to support a respectful meeting, items that disrupt the meeting, intimidate other participants or that may cause safety concerns are not allowed. For example:

• Council staff or security officers may ask you to open any large bags, purses or backpacks for inspection, and may also request changes to placement of recording equipment or other props to help facilitate the meeting.
• Please refrain from jeering, cheering, clapping, finger snapping, waving signs, or other distracting behavior as it may intimidate other speakers and cause a disruption.
• Please be respectful to the historic elements in the room such as: keep feet off furniture; avoid leaning or touching paintings and other décor; and no food or drinks are allowed in the Council Chamber (Room 315).
• Generally, props and equipment are not allowed. If you have a prop or piece of equipment integral to a presentation, please clear its use with a staff member or security officer before entering the meeting room.
• Signs are permitted; however, so that they do not cause disruption or block the view of others, please follow these guidelines: signs should be able to be kept at your feet or on your lap; sticks or dowels are not allowed; signs can be kept near the podium on the floor during your turn to speak.
• If you have questions about proper placement of recording equipment or recording in general, please coordinate this with a security officer or staff member before the beginning of the meeting who will make requests to help ensure that it does not disrupt the meeting or make other attendees feel uncomfortable.
• If you have written remarks, a document, or other items you may want the City Council to review, do not approach the dais. Instead, please give them to Council staff and they will distribute them for you.
• Failure to follow these rules of order may result in removal from the meeting.

Print Version

Read a copy of the Council Member Policy Manual.

Please note, the Council adopted changes to the manual on Tuesday, July 16, 2019, relating to Social Media Management and Social Media Terms of Use. See the updated terms of use policy in the section below “Social Media Terms of Use.”

The Salt Lake City Council strives to represent the citizens of Salt Lake City through all its legislative actions.

The Salt Lake City Council Office has created this web page to enable communication between the public and the City Council regarding City programs, services, projects, issues, events, and activities. Salt Lake City’s official website is www.slc.gov. The City Council’s official website is www.slc.gov/council.

Social Media Terms of Use

a. Any individual accessing or using this social media account (the “User”) accepts, without limitation, the following terms of use (“Terms”). The City maintains the right to modify these Terms without notice. Any change is effective upon posting to this account.

b. A User is also subject to any terms of use of the social media platform provider (“Provider”). The City Council has no control over a Provider’s terms of use, content, commercial advertisements or other postings produced by the Provider that may appear on this account page as part of the Provider’s environment.

c. Comment Policy
Posted content (comments, photos, links, or other material, referred to hereafter as “Comments”) must relate to discussion of City programs, services, projects, issues, events, or activities. Comments posted on this account will not be edited by the City Council. Comments that do not relate to the City Council business may be hidden or removed, including specifically, Comments that:

• Promote, foster, or perpetuate discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity;
• Include slanderous, or defamatory attacks; threatening, harassing, or profane language; obscene or sexual content or links to obscene or sexual content;
• Solicit commerce or advertisements including promotions or endorsements;
• Promote or conduct illegal activity;
• Are spam that include links to external online sites;
• Violate a legal ownership interest of any person, including improper use of a trademark or copyrighted material; or
• May compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems.

d. Comments are the opinion of the User and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or policy of the City, its officers, employees, or agents.

e. Comments may be a public record subject to public disclosure under the Utah Government Records and Access Management Act (“GRAMA”).

f. Comments made on this page do not constitute a legal or official notice or comment to Salt Lake City and will not be regarded as a request for service.

g. Comments requesting for copies of a public record will not be considered. A public record request can be made here: GRAMA request

h. This account may contain links to websites not owned or controlled by the City Council. The City Council is not responsible for content that appears on these websites and provides links as a convenience only.

i. The City Council reserves the right to hide, remove, mute, or delete information posted by a User who violates these Terms, or report the User to the Provider for a violation of the Provider’s terms of use. Repeated or egregious violations of these Terms may result in denial of access to this Account. Such actions will be taken pursuant to the Social Media Management Policy.

j. Copyright Policy
Information and materials produced by the City Council and posted on this page are City property. The City Council retains the copyright to all text, graphic images, and other content produced by the City Council. A User may, without obligation to the City, view, copy, link to, or distribute information found here if for non-commercial use, unless otherwise stated. However, the City Council makes no warranty that information on this web page is free of copyright claims or other restrictions on free use. Commercial use is prohibited.

l. Disclaimers
The City Council does not guarantee that Comments are monitored regularly, and therefore, Users should not use this account to contact or provide notice to the City about dangerous conditions on public property. If a dangerous condition exists, please contact the police department, fire department, public utilities, or other relevant City department. The City Council does not guarantee the completeness or accuracy of any information posted on this account. The City Council may suspend or discontinue this social media account at any time.

The information posted is provided on an “as is” basis and the User assumes the risk of use or reliance on such information. The City Council, its officers, employees, or agents are not liable for any injury or damages resulting from viewing, distributing, or copying materials on this account, including without limitation, liability for indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages.