Mayor

Salary: $216,210

Term: 4 years

Some well-known past office holders: Richard J. Daley, Richard M. Daley, Jane Byrne, Harold Washington, Rahm Emanuel

What does the mayor do?

If the city were a business, you can think of the mayor as its chief executive officer. The mayor sets the city’s priorities, crafts the city’s budget and chooses who gets to run its parks, schools, trains and police. They have a hand in whether you’ll face a property tax hike or how fast you need to drive to get stuck with a ticket from the city’s speed cameras.

Why is this job important?

While ordinances require passage by the City Council, the mayor has huge sway over what can and can’t get through. They also appoint council committee chairs, who have the authority to advance — or stop — a proposed ordinance.

On issues like housing, policing and economic investment in the city, the mayor is often driving the agenda. And as Chicago recovers from the pandemic and the world stares down a possible economic downturn, it’s the mayor who will guide the city through those next chapters.

Here’s a list of who’s running for mayor this election.

City Clerk

Salary: $161,016 in 2023

Term: 4 years

What does the city clerk do?

The clerk is the city’s record keeper. The office manages the city’s official documents, such as ordinances passed by the City Council. The office is where you’ll go to get city stickers for your car, residential zone parking permits or business licenses.

The clerk’s office is even where you’ll head if you want to register your four-legged friend named Fido with the city.

Why is this job important?

The clerk’s office helps make the City Council more accessible. Through the clerk’s websites, the public can search for video archives of council meetings dating back to 2011 or pore over ordinances originally passed in 1981.

The clerk’s office also helps bring the City Council into the modern age and ensure you can stay plugged in to what your government is doing, by providing access to meeting notices and livestreams of council meetings.

City Treasurer

Salary: $161,016 in 2023

Term: 4 years

What does the city treasurer do?

The city treasurer keeps track of the city’s finances and serves as its banker. They handle the city’s $9 billion investment portfolio along with the investments of the pension funds for police, firefighters, laborers, municipal workers and teachers.

The treasurer also helps promote financial education.

Why is this job important?

The city’s pension funds have been severely underfunded for decades. The city treasurer helps steer the funds’ financial health by handling investments and serving on the pension funds’ boards. They also play a role in helping secure the financial stability of the city and serve as a reflection of the city’s values in how it invests its money, such as banning investments in fossil fuels.

Alderman

Salary: In 2023, between $115,560 to $142,776. Aldermen’s pay varies, depending on whether they’ve accepted annual raises tied to the rate of inflation.

Term: 4 years

How many are elected: 50, one for each ward

Some well-known past office holders: Former U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, Cook County Board of Commissioners President Toni Preckwinkle

What does an alderman do?

Need approval to host a block party? Or want to put up a sign for your business? Your local alderman is likely going to be one of your first stops.

Sometimes called “mini mayors,” aldermen answer for everything from snow removal to pothole repairs in their areas. There are even ward superintendents — Department of Streets and Sanitation employees who work closely with aldermen — to help make sure that kind of stuff gets done.

As one former alderman put it: “I often liken the city of Chicago [to] a feudal system, where the mayor is sort of a de facto king. And each alderman is the lord — I guess, lady, for female aldermen — of their individual fiefdom.”

But beyond the day-to-day constituent services that come with presiding over their kingdoms, they’re legislators, too. The 50 aldermen make up Chicago’s City Council, where they serve on committees and meet once a month as a full council to pass policy. They also vote on the annual city budget, approve (or reject) the mayor’s appointees and redraw the ward boundaries once a decade.

Why is this job important?

The unwritten rule of “aldermanic prerogative” (also called “aldermanic privilege”) gives aldermen major say over what development in the neighborhood looks like. And it means they can give their blessing — or veto — on whether you can add that fourth floor addition or if new public housing will be built.

The council has historically been dubbed a “rubber stamp” City Council, meaning most of the time they go along with what the mayor wants. But the new City Council — and new mayor — elected in 2019 started to change that reputation.

Police District Council member

Salary: $500 a month

Term: 4 years. You can serve on a district council for a total of 12 years in your lifetime.

How many are elected: 66 in total, with three members for each police district

What do these councils do?

For the first time, Chicagoans will serve on new elected councils to influence policing in their districts. What that looks like in practice remains to be seen, but the ordinance establishing them lays out some basics.

Each of the city’s 22 police districts will be represented by a three-member council, which will serve as a bridge between the community and the police. They’re tasked with developing and implementing community policing and restorative justice initiatives, and the community will convene forums to raise concerns about topics such as “police interactions with youth and people of all immigration statuses,” for example. District councils must hold public meetings at least once a month, and councils across the city will meet regularly with each other to share trends.

Why is this job important?

They were created by an ordinance the City Council passed in 2021 and were borne out of calls for increased civilian oversight in the wake of the court-ordered release of video showing police fatally shooting Laquan McDonald 16 times in 2014.

The inaugural district councils will have the opportunity to shape a new model of civilian oversight for the city and have a direct influence on their neighborhood’s relationship with police.

Perhaps most importantly, the district councils will play a crucial role in who will serve on the newly created Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability — a seven-member citywide body with wide-ranging oversight over the Chicago Police Department’s policies and budget. The district councils nominate commissioners, who must then be chosen by the mayor and confirmed by the City Council.

The commission can cast a vote of no confidence in the Chicago police superintendent or a Police Board member and can remove the chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.

The interim commission started meeting in September and has already weighed in on issues like the police department’s new gang database.

Read more of WBEZ’s coverage of the 2023 Chicago Elections.