Frequently Asked Questions

The mayor holds a four-year term, and City Councilors and the City Auditor hold two-year terms.

Normal citizens just like you make up our council. Citizens can run for office to serve on the Council and are elected by the people in each Council District. To run for office in a Council District, a citizen must reside in that District for 365 days prior to the election. There are nine Council Districts in Tulsa and each is home to about 44,000 citizens.

Office hours for the Council are from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays.

A resolution is an action of the City Council which states the will or opinion of the City in a matter and is often an act necessary to perform some responsibility imposed on the City Council by statute or other law. However, an adopted resolution does not enact a law, the same as an ordinance. Unique to Tulsa’s Mayor‑Council form of government, Tulsa’s Mayor must either approve a resolution before it has any effect, or the Mayor may veto it.

An ordinance is a formal legislative act of the City Council which has the force and effect of law within the city limits of Tulsa. Most people correctly understand that a city ordinance may have a fine or imprisonment attached to it, if an individual violates it. However, an ordinance can also adopt a continuing regulation that governs how citizens, or the government must lawfully act, without the possibility of punishment by a fine or imprisonment. As with resolutions adopted by the City Council, Tulsa’s Mayor must either approve an ordinance before it has any effect, or the Mayor may veto it. Ordinances are adopted by the City as a matter of course many times a year. If an adopted ordinance is to be a permanent law, it is published in the City of Tulsa’s “Code of Ordinances ”, which is available in book form or on the internet.

The City Council approves scheduled meeting dates for the upcoming year every December. By Charter, the City Council must conduct no less than two regular meetings a month at City Hall. These dates are typically on Wednesdays, excluding holiday weeks, at City Hall in downtown Tulsa. Before the Regular Meeting begins at 5 p.m., the Council conducts several standing committee meetings throughout the day.

These City Council meetings are televised live on TGOV – Tulsa Government Access Television – Cox Cable channel 24.

Meetings are also live-streamed online at tgovonline.org and on our Facebook page. Watch past meetings on demand on the TGOV website.

Listening to the Council Committee discussion on an item is a great way to learn more. Some items are also posted with supporting documentation, which are documents containing more information about an item. To find and read backup material, navigate to the agenda and item of interest, then click the blue “Supporting Documentation” link at the end of the item.

Note, not all items have supporting documentation. If no documents are available, you will see the following message after clicking on the link: “No supporting documents were submitted prior to the filing of this agenda.”