The Mayor is the elected leader of a city or town. Mayors oversee a city's main departments, including the police, fire, education, housing and transportation departments. At the same time, their responsibilities vary depending on the local power structure. There are four main options for a city's local government structure, and some cities use a combination of several.

A common power structure is the council-weak mayor which gives the majority of the city power to the council members. The mayor is more of a ceremonial leader of the council. 

Another structure is the council-strong mayor, in which the mayor has significantly more authority. In this system, the council members are in charge of the legislative processes of the city, while the mayor is responsible for all the administrative duties. The mayor here is responsible for hiring and firing staff, and probably has veto power. They are also responsible for implementing legislation passed by the council.

The other two types of local government systems are the council-manager system and the commission system. Few cities use the commission system, but the Council-Manager system has become more popular. In these systems the mayor has power similar to the council-weak mayor, who may oversee council meetings or even appoint staff, but mainly serves in a ceremonial role