The City of Tulsa has a mayor-council form of government. This form of government has been in place since 1989, at which time Tulsa converted from a city commission form of government. The mayor is elected by the entire population and each of the 9 Councilors are elected from districts based on population.
Tulsa is the county seat for Tulsa County. Within the boundaries of the city and surrounding county are tribal lands belonging to and governed by various Native American nations.
The current mayor of Tulsa is Mayor G. T. Bynum, a Republican, who was first elected in 2016. [1] The mayor is responsible for the day to day operations of the city and preparing a budget. The mayor names the police and fire chiefs.[ citation needed ]
In August 2021, Mayor G. T. Bynum announced he would appoint Cassia Carr to be Deputy Mayor of Tulsa on August 30, 2021. [2]
The current auditor of Tulsa is Cathy Criswell. The auditor is elected independently of the City Council and Mayor to ensure the auditor can act in an objective manner. Criswell was elected in 2013. The city auditor serves a term of two years.[ citation needed ]
The 2018-2021 Tulsa City Council [3] has a historic super majority of women. [4] The Chair and Vice-Chair of the Tulsa City Council are one year appointments which are nominated and elected by the Councilors each December. All 9 seats on the Council are nonpartisan and are elected by the voters of Tulsa in August (General Election) or November (Run Off Election) every other year. [5]
| Name [6] | District | Year First Elected | Council Chair/Vice Chair Appointment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vanessa Hall-Harper | District 1 | 2016 | |
| Jeannie Cue | District 2 | 2011 | 2023 Vice-Chair |
| Crista Patrick | District 3 | 2018 | 2023 Chair |
| Laura Bellis | District 4 | 2022 | |
| Adam Grant Miller | District 5 | 2022 | |
| Christian Bengel | District 6 | 2022 | |
| Lori Decter Wright | District 7 | 2018 | |
| Phil Lakin, Jr. | District 8 | 2011 | |
| Jayme Fowler | District 9 | 2020 |
Until 2007, City Hall was located in the civic center, a sector of downtown that included most governmental services, including the Federal Courthouse, Tulsa County Courthouse, Tulsa City-County Library, and The Convention Center. In 2007 Mayor Kathy Taylor proposed to move City Hall from its civic center location to One Technology Center, on the northwest corner of Second Street and Cincinnati. Taylor argued that a recent study showed the move would save $15.2 million over a 10-year period. Most of the savings would come from the new energy efficient building. [7] The move then allowed the former City Hall property to be redeveloped into a new Aloft Hotel, [8] to support the BOK Center. The conversion was completed in 2013. [9]
On July 12, 2007, the Tulsa City Council voted 8-1 to move the City Hall to One Technology Center. [10]
Tulsa's first city office building was a two-story brick building constructed in 1906 at 211 West Second Street. Primarily intended as a fire station, it included administrative offices and a police station. The city jail was in the basement. [11] The city quickly outgrew that facility and began renting office space in the privately owned Reeder Building.
In 1917, Tulsa government offices moved into a much larger facility at Fourth and Cincinnati, formally called the Municipal Building, to house city services. This served the city until the 1960s, when the Civic Center building was opened. [12] The Municipal Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion C on July 18, 1975. Its NRIS number is 75001574. [13]
Tulsa is the second-most populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and is the 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa metropolitan area, a region with 1,023,988 residents. The city serves as the county seat of Tulsa County, the most densely populated county in Oklahoma, with urban development extending into Osage, Rogers and Wagoner counties.
New York City Hall is the seat of New York City government, located at the center of City Hall Park in the Civic Center area of Lower Manhattan, between Broadway, Park Row, and Chambers Street. Constructed from 1803 to 1812, the building is the oldest city hall in the United States that still houses its original governmental functions. The building houses the office of the Mayor of New York City and the chambers of the New York City Council. While the Mayor's Office is in the building, the staff of thirteen municipal agencies under mayoral control are located in the nearby Manhattan Municipal Building, one of the largest government buildings in the world, with many others housed in various buildings in the immediate vicinity.
Kathryn Louise Taylor was elected the 38th mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma on April 4, 2006, in the city's largest voter turnout for a mayoral election. She defeated Republican incumbent Mayor Bill Lafortune to become Tulsa's second female mayor, after Susan Savage first filled the post in 1992. Taylor is married to Bill Lobeck, CEO of Vanguard Automotive Group. Taylor served as Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce and Tourism in Governor Brad Henry's administration from 2003 to 2006. She resigned from that post in order to run for Mayor.
Tom Adelson is an American politician from Oklahoma. He was an Oklahoma State Senator representing the 33rd Senate District, located in Tulsa County, from 2004 to 2012. Adelson is a Democrat who was first elected in 2004. Prior to his election, Adelson served Governor of Oklahoma Brad Henry's first Oklahoma Secretary of Health from 2003 to 2004.
The Hillsboro Civic Center is a government-built, mixed-use development in downtown Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. The development includes the city hall for the county seat of Washington County, located west of Portland, Oregon. Covering 6 acres (24,000 m2), the Civic Center has a total of over 165,000 square feet (15,300 m2) in the complex. The total of six stories for the main structure makes the building the tallest in the city, tied with Tuality Community Hospital. In addition to government offices, the Civic Center includes retail space, public plazas, and residential housing. The complex was built to centralize city government functions under one roof.
Downtown Tulsa is an area of approximately 1.4 square miles (3.6 km2) surrounded by an inner-dispersal loop created by Interstate 244, US 64 and US 75. The area serves as Tulsa's financial and business district; it is the focus of a large initiative to draw tourism, which includes plans to capitalize on the area's historic architecture. Much of Tulsa's convention space is located in downtown, such as the Tulsa Performing Arts Center and the Tulsa Convention Center, as well as the BOK Center. Prominent downtown sub-districts include the Blue Dome District, the Tulsa Arts District, and the Greenwood Historical District, which includes the site of ONEOK Field, a baseball stadium for the Tulsa Drillers opened in 2010.
Seattle City Hall is the home of the offices of the mayor and city council of Seattle, Washington, located between 4th Avenue and 5th Avenue in the downtown area of the city. Most city departments have their offices in the nearby Seattle Municipal Tower. In 2003, the Seattle city government moved into a new, "green" city hall building. Until 1962, the city government operated from the King County Courthouse, alongside the King County government. The new City Hall and Plaza, together with the adjacent Seattle Municipal Tower, Seattle Justice Center, and (unbuilt) Civic Square, comprise the Seattle Civic Center.
Oneok Field is a baseball park in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Located in the historic Greenwood district adjacent to downtown Tulsa, it is the home of the Tulsa Drillers of the Texas League. The stadium is named for Oneok.
The 2009 Tulsa mayoral election was held on November 10, 2009 to elect the mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma. It resulted in the election of Dewey F. Bartlett Jr., the Republican candidate.
Dewey Follett Bartlett Jr. is an American politician and businessman who served as the 39th Mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma. An oil industry executive and political figure in Tulsa, Bartlett was the Republican nominee for mayor of Tulsa in the 2009 election, and was elected as Tulsa's 39th mayor on November 10, 2009. He was re-elected in 2013, but was defeated in his second reelection bid in 2016.
The government of the City of Los Angeles operates as a charter city under the charter of the City of Los Angeles. The elected government is composed of the Los Angeles City Council with 15 city council districts and the mayor of Los Angeles, which operate under a mayor–council government, as well as several other elective offices. Under the California Constitution, all judicial, school, county, and city offices, including those of chartered cities, are nonpartisan. The current mayor is Karen Bass, the current city attorney is Hydee Feldstein Soto and the current city controller is Kenneth Mejia.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States.
Columbus City Hall is the city hall of Columbus, Ohio, in the city's downtown Civic Center. It contains the offices of the city's mayor, auditor, and treasurer, and the offices and chambers of Columbus City Council.
George Theron Bynum IV is an American politician and lobbyist who has served as the 40th mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma since 2016. Bynum was first elected to the Tulsa City Council representing the ninth district in 2008 as a Republican and served four terms before running for mayor in 2016.
Monroe Nichols IV is an American politician and former college football player who has served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives from the 72nd district since 2016. He is the first African-American to represent the district. In July 2023, he announced he would not seek re-election to the Oklahoma House in order to run in the 2024 Tulsa mayoral election.
The government of Columbus, Ohio, headquartered at Columbus City Hall in Downtown Columbus, is organized into a mayor-council system. The mayor is responsible for the administration of city government. The Columbus City Council is a unicameral body consisting of seven members elected or appointed at-large. The city has numerous government agencies, responsible for public education, health, and safety; emergency services; recreational facilities; sanitation; water supply; and welfare services.
The 2020 Tulsa mayoral election was held on August 25, 2020 to elect the mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma. One-term incumbent mayor G. T. Bynum ran for re-election against a number of candidates. Bynum won re-election outright, negating the need for a runoff.
The 2022 Tulsa municipal elections were held on August 23, 2022. A top two runoff election was scheduled for November 8 if no candidate receives a majority vote. All nine city council seats and the city auditor are elected to two year terms. The filing period was June 13–15. Incumbent Mayor G.T. Bynum is not up for reelection until 2024. All nine city council seats will have contested elections. City Auditor Cathy Carter was re-elected without opposition.
The 2024 Tulsa mayoral election is scheduled for August 27, 2024 to elect the mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Two-term incumbent mayor G. T. Bynum has declined to seek re-election to a third term in office. A runoff, if necessary, will be held November 5, 2024. The official candidate filing period is in June 2024.
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