Council-Manager Form of Government
The citizens of Kaufman adopted the Council-Manager form of government in 1987 (see Charter (PDF).) It is a government overseen by an elected policy body of seven members, led by the Mayor and the Mayor Pro Temp in the Mayor's absence. It is a corporate structure similar to business. The board (or Council in our case) oversees the operations and determines what services the City will provide and at what cost. The day to day operations are administered by the chief executive officer (the City Manager.) In other words, the Council is going to determine what the City is going to do and the City Manager and the rest of the staff are going to determine how we are going to do it.