City Government By City of Tulsa staff
The City of Tulsa serves 401,352 citizens in our community and it is the 47th largest city in the United States. The City strongly pursues an organization-wide commitment to continuous improvement, but our deeper commitment is to bring all Tulsans along on our journey to excellence. Incorporated nine years before Oklahoma statehood, the City operates under a homerule charter, amended by Tulsans in 1989 to establish a mayor-council form of government. With a total annual budget approaching $1 billion, the City manages over $4 billion in capital assets, from a complex network of underground water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure to the world’s most comprehensive collection of art and artifacts of the American West at Gilcrease Museum.
Mission, vision and values We rally around a clear mission, share an ambitious vision for our future and resolve to live and work by unwavering organizational and community values.
MISSION Build the foundation for economic prosperity, improved health and enhanced quality of life for our community.
VISION Tulsa will be a globally competitive, world-class city.
VALUES Committed teamwork — we work together toward common goals. High expectations — we expect excellence in our work, our organization and the city we are building.
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Our values reflect what unites us. We excel at representing different (even competing) interests across our diverse community and bringing people together — in a spirit of high expectations — to address critical challenges.
Public service The City establishes local laws and public policies, builds and maintains the basic infrastructure that enables commerce and quality-of-life and delivers a variety of services and programs. These operations are managed through administrative and operating departments in addition to public trusts and public-private partnerships. We work every day across silos to provide quality services to all those who live, work and play in Tulsa.
Organizational relationships and structure Tulsa has a strong-mayor form of government. Responsible governance is ensured through checks and balances among three separate elected offices: the Mayor, the City Council and the City Auditor. The Mayor executes municipal laws and administers City operations, while the City Council and City Auditor are responsible for financial oversight and governance. In effect, the City Council and City Auditor act as governance board members. The City’s Authorities, Boards and Commissions (ABCs) are empowered in different ways to achieve Citywide objectives. The ABCs assist in oversight and management of City operations, but also provide a citizen perspective. This ensures that residents have a voice in the prioritization of resources and delivery of services and products.
Citizens hold the leaders of all three branches of City government accountable through the election process. Elections are non-partisan, which gives Tulsa’s citizens a strong voice in each election. This power, along with the rights of initiative and referendum, provides citizens a strong governance role. The Mayor is elected for a four-year term; City Councilors and the City Auditor are elected for two-year terms. The City of Tulsa also takes great strides to protect its financial health. In its June 2018 report, Moody’s Investors Service assigned the City of Tulsa an Aa1 rating with a stable outlook. Standard and Poor’s assigned an AA rating with a stable outlook for the City’s general obligation bonds in its September 2018 report. Reports of internal audit findings and financial reports, such as City Budgets and Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports, are published on the City website. Transparency in operations is achieved through open records and open meetings. The City maintains records for public inspection and agendas with all items of business to be conducted are posted 24 hours in advance of public meetings. The City’s television channel, TGOV, broadcasts all City Council meetings and select ABCs to give interested parties a window into decision-making processes. Meetings are broadcast live, and once recorded, can be viewed anytime on the TGOV website. City Council meetings are also broadcast via Facebook Live.
Workforce profile The City is one of the largest employers in our community, with 3,557 public servants who are as diverse as the community they serve. In addition to a paid workforce, the City engages
