Raleigh City Council

Note: This article focuses on the Raleigh City Council as a municipal governing body. For general information about the city, see City of Raleigh.

Raleigh City Council is the legislative governing body of the City of Raleigh, North Carolina. The council operates under a council–manager government system and is responsible for adopting ordinances and resolutions, approving the city budget, and establishing municipal policy.

Overview

The council consists of the mayor and council members elected from five geographic districts and two at-large seats. The mayor serves as the presiding officer. Council members represent the city as a whole while also addressing issues affecting their respective districts.

Meetings

Raleigh City Council meets regularly throughout the year at the Raleigh Municipal Building, 222 West Hargett Street, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Regular meeting types include:

Afternoon session: First and third Tuesday of each month at 1:00 p.m.
Evening session: First Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m.
Work session: Second Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. and third Tuesday at 11:30 a.m.
Budget work sessions: Scheduled as needed during the annual budget process.

Agendas, meeting materials, and live video streams are published by the City of Raleigh.^[1]

Live and archived council meetings are also available online.^[2]

Powers and responsibilities

As the city’s primary legislative body, Raleigh City Council:

Adopts ordinances and resolutions governing local affairs
Approves the annual city budget
Establishes strategic priorities and policies
Appoints members to boards, commissions, and committees
Appoints the city manager, who oversees daily municipal operations

Committees

The council conducts additional work through standing committees, which focus on specific policy areas. Committee meetings are generally held on the fourth week of each month.

Committees include:

Economic Development and Innovation Committee^[3]
Housing and Environment Committee
Community Safety and Quality of Life Committee
Transportation and Transit Committee

Committee schedules and agendas are published by the city.^[4]

Elections and recent changes

Members of Raleigh City Council are elected in nonpartisan municipal elections.

In 2024, the council adopted changes to municipal election scheduling and term lengths, extending terms for the mayor and council members to four years and establishing staggered elections.^[5]

Term lengths

Under the revised system:

The mayor and all council members serve four-year terms.
Terms are staggered so that approximately half of the council seats are contested every two years.

2026 Raleigh City Council election

The 2026 municipal election cycle marked the first implementation of the revised election system.

Key features of the 2026 cycle included:

All mayoral and council seats appearing on the ballot.
A nonpartisan primary election held on March 3, 2026.
The top two candidates for each seat advancing to the November general election.

Details about the election process are published by the City of Raleigh.^[6]

References

[1] ttps://raleighnc.gov/government/events/raleigh-city-council-meeting-series

[2] ttps://raleighnc.gov/engage-city/services/watch-city-council-and-select-meetings-live

[3] ttps://raleighnc.gov/government/services/city-council-committees

[4] ttps://raleighnc.gov/government/services/city-council-committees

[5] ttps://raleighnc.gov/government/services/city-council-terms-and-compensation

[6] ttps://raleighnc.gov/government/services/vote-local-our-community-our-city-your-vote

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