In 1890, when the local population reached 1,478, an application was made to the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories to grant town incorporation.
Such was granted on 3 December of that year and the following 9 February, the first town council meeting was held in the Lethbridge Hotel.
City status was granted on 9 May 1906, and the first council meeting was held on 21 May with a mayor and six aldermen as before.
Within eight years, however, local citizens felt the commission was becoming dictatorial and were able to get the charter amended to allow for three additional but advisory commissioners.
In 1928, Lethbridgians voted in a plebiscite to change their civic government from commission board scheme to council–manager form.
Lethbridge City Council voted unanimously to adopt the gender-neutral term Councillor for its elected members on March 5, 2012.
The move came after advocacy from various public interest groups in the community, as Lethbridge was one of the last city councils in Alberta to still use the term Alderman.
[5] Every four years, the City of Lethbridge holds municipal elections for the positions of councillor and mayor.