Mayors' Messages

Series

Identifier: 1802-C2

Staff Only

Scope and Contents note

Consisting primarily of vetoes of Council Bills, the Mayor's Messages also include annual messages to City Council, budget messages, executive orders, proclamations, and other various communications. The annual messages summarize accomplishments for specific years and also identify key issues for the Mayor in the coming year. Vetoes make up the bulk of the messages and illustrate significant issues dividing the Mayor and City Council. Liquor licenses,... for example, were a frequent subject of vetoes through 1913, and railways and related issues can be following through the 1920s. Garbage collection is another issues that arises several times between 1903 and 1913. Of note is the quantity of vetoes submitted by Mayor Hiram Gill for the years 1910 to 1917. While the Mayor's messages, in many cases, reflect the tone of the relationship between the mayor and City Council, it should be noted that not all Council Bills were vetoed because of disagreement with the Council; some Council Bills were vetoed for purely technical reasons. Council Bill is abbreviated as CB throughout the record series. The messages are arranged chronologically by Mayor. Although a large percentage of Mayor's Messages are represented in this collection, it is not a complete set of the communications by the respective mayors for these years.

Dates

Creation: 1896-1988

Creator

Seattle (Wash.). Mayor (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access note

Records are open to the public.

Historical Note

The Mayor is the chief executive officer of the City with responsibilities for appointing executive department heads, directing and controlling all subordinate officers and agencies, preparing and executing the City budget, ensuring that the laws of the City are enforced, and maintaining the peace and order in the City. The legal roles and responsibilities of the Mayor are prescribed by the City Charter, state statutes, and municipal ordinances. A... candidate for the position must be a citizen of the United States, a qualified elector of the State of Washington, and a registered voter of the City of Seattle at the time of filing his/her declaration of candidacy.

Seattle was incorporated by an act of the Territorial Legislature on December 2, 1869, and the City’s first mayor, Henry A. Atkins, was appointed by the Legislature pending the first City election scheduled for July 1870. The City Charter, granted by the Legislature, set the Mayor’s term of office at one year. Under this first Charter, the Mayor served as ex-officio President of the Common Council. A Charter amendment in 1875 gave the Mayor a vote on Council, but that provision was amended in 1886 to provide for a tie-breaking vote only.

The City's first Freeholders’ Charter (1890) completely separated the Executive and Legislative branches and changed the term of office for the Mayor to two years. Through the first decade of the 20th century, elected offices in Seattle were partisan. A Charter Amendment passed by the voters on March 8, 1910, established non-partisan nominations and elections for all City elective offices. A new Freeholders Charter in 1946 changed the term of the Mayor to four years.

Extent

5.2 Cubic Feet

Language of Materials

English

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Additional Description

Arrangement note

Chronologically by Full Council Meeting date.

Location of Records

SMA

General Note

A Comptroller or Clerk File (CF) can consist of correspondence, reports, petitions, contracts, agreements, etc. from elected officials, City departments, other government agencies, or the general public, which have been placed on file with the Office of the City Clerk (OCC). They are primarily permanent records, but also include routine material which was periodically purged. Certain archival records identified in the CF have been removed, arranged into records series, and incorporated into the collection of the Seattle Municipal Archives, a program of the OCC.