Laying the Foundation: The Policymakers of the City Council

As of the present day, members of the Orlando City Council incude the popularly-elected Mayor and six others who are elected from respective districts and serve a four-year term. At city council meetings, elected official about a litany of topics ranging from regular council meetings, nomination boards, and development boards. The city council monitors the operation and performance of city agencies, makes land use decisions, and has sole responsibility for approving the city's budget. The city council also makes decisions and laws on a wide range of other subjects. From the ever-changing social landscape during this time from 1958 to 1992, the Orlando City Council helped lay the foundation to the diversifying City of Orlando.

With the building of the new city hall, this gave the legislative body of Orlando a new place to meet and make decisions that would affect the future of the city. The first mayor to be in this building with his council was Mayor Bob Carr, who took office in 1956, before the building was completed. He served his terms as mayor until his untimely death from a heart attack in the early months of 1967. Which resulted in a special election being held in which Carl T. Langford was selected as mayor.

A policy of Appointive Positions was adopted by the city council that would allow the newly-elected mayor the ability to select his own personal staff. Since Mayor Langford's political experience was lacking, this gave him the ability to surround himself with people who would continue to work parallel with the growth that his predecessor Mayor Carr had during his administration.  This policy allows the appointees to serve only for that specific mayor and that these individuals would submit a written resignation a week before the new mayor is sworn in.

The new mayor also had the ability to accept or decline the resignation. This gave Mayor Langford more control over his personal sphere of influence within his position as mayor. Eventually giving Mayor Bill Frederick the same ability later on to have the continuity of people who served with mayors. Having the ability to keep those appointees would also give the mayor a simpler transition since he had the experience of others who have served with a predecessor and would know the interworking of the mayor's office.

In 1969, another policy adopted by the city council under Mayor Langford gave the city council a process of combing through requests from the general public to erect monuments and memorials on public property. The policy encouraged the building monuments and memorials while having a fair and balanced decision-making process. With a streamline process of making monuments, this would give people the desire to have monuments and signage made.