The City of Huntsville operates under a mayor/council form of government as defined by the Mayor-Council Act of the State of Alabama. The mayor appoints all city department heads and enforces all City of Huntsville ordinances, resolutions and orders and proposes the City of Huntsville's annual budget.
The Huntsville City Council is the legislative branch of the Huntsville city government. All official actions must be approved by a majority vote of the Council during its regular meeting on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month.
There are 21 official City of Huntsville Departments. They are the Office of the Mayor, Department of Public Safety, Department of Parking and Public Transit, Department of Animal Services, Department of Information Technology, Department of Parks and Recreation, Department of General Services, Department of Public Works, Emergency Management Agency, Department of Human Resources, Department of Legal Services, Department of Finance, City Clerk-Treasurer, Municipal Court, Department of Community Development, Department of Inspection, Department of Traffic Engineering, Department of Water Pollution Control, Department of Engineering, Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Urban Planning.
There are 16 divisions of the City's departments. Among them: Office of the Chief of Staff and Communications, Office of Economic Development, Office of Multicultural Affairs, Office of Equal Employment Opportunity, Police, Fire, Parking, Transit, Sanitation, Landscape Management and others.
