Let's Learn Civics! You Asked, We Answered From our Charlotte, NC headquarters, we are answering the question often asked when tackling basic civics: "What are some of the differences between City and County Government?" The answer is multi-faceted, but we've laid out some basics in these slides. 🎓️ City Government In Charlotte, the City government is led by City Council and the Mayor. A City Manager is appointed to oversee day-to-day operations. Under the City's control are agencies like Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD), and Charlotte Department of Transportation (CDOT). The Police Department is charged with maintaining Public Safety, while CDOT handles maintenance of city streets, traffic lights, bike lanes, sidewalks, and more. 🛣️ Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) acts as the operating department that manages daily transit services, vehicles, and routes. CATS is operated as a department of the City of Charlotte. It is the largest transit system between Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, providing bus, light rail, streetcar, paratransit, and CATS Micro services. While it is a city department, it is governed by the regional Metropolitan Transit Commission. The City of Charlotte also runs Charlotte Water to maintain drinking water and wastewater facilities and infrastructure. 🚰 The City is in charge of Land Use Planning and Building Code Enforcement. The City is also in charge of Zoning and handles approvals for new developments. 🏗️ 🏙️ 🏙️ 🏙️ County Government 🏛️⁠ Mecklenburg County is governed by the Board of County Commissioners. The board appoints a County Manager to oversee daily county operations, carry out board initiatives, and draft the annual operating budget.⁠ The County oversees public health, social services, and mental health programming through the Department of Health and Human Services. 🏥 The County funds capital improvements and manages the Charlotte Mecklenburg School System (CMS), as well as the Mecklenburg County Department of Park & Recreation. 🛝 The County Board of Elections presides over elections throughout the county. It also operates the Register of Deeds, maintaining vital records and property deeds.