The two major responsibilities of the council are enacting ordinances necessary to ensure the welfare and good order of the city and adopting the city's annual budget.

Providence uses a strong-mayor form of government in which the city council acts as a check against the power of the executive branch, the mayor.

City Council members are elected to four-year terms and are limited, by City Charter, to serving a maximum of three consecutive full terms (excluding any partial term of less than two years previously served).

Council members represent the concerns, needs, and issues of their constituents, and work to improve the city's neighborhoods.

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