The Alexandria City Council is composed of a Mayor, Vice Mayor and five City Council Members who are elected at-large and serve a three-year term of office. The Mayor, who is elected on a separate ballot, presides over City Council meetings and serves as the ceremonial head of City government. The current City Council was installed on July 1, 1997, and will hold office through June 30, 2000.

First organized in July 1749, Alexandria derives its governing authority from a State Charter granted by the Virginia General Assembly. Since September 1, 1922, Alexandria has operated under the City Council-City Manager form of government, which assigns to City Council the authority to establish City policies; appoint the City Manager, the City Attorney, and the City Clerk; adopt the annual budget, including an appropriation of funds for the operation of the Alexandria City Public Schools; adopt ordinances; issue bonds; and create and make appointments to City Boards and Commissions. The City Manager is responsible for carrying out City Council’s policies, directing City personnel, and supervising the day-to-day operations of City government.

Legislative meetings of City Council are held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at 7:30 p.m. in City Hall, 301 King Street. Public hearings are generally held on the Saturday after the second Tuesday of each month at 9:30 a.m. During July and August, City Council is in recess. City Council’s legislative meetings and public hearings are televised live on Government Access Channel 11.

Elected Mayor in a February 1996 special election, Mayor Kerry J. Donley has served on City Council since 1988, after many years of community service. Mayor Donley was re-elected in May 1997 for a three-year term through June 30, 2000. He is employed by Virginia Commerce Bank as a Senior Vice President. As the City’s Mayor, he is very involved in efforts to promote economic development, meeting regularly with business leaders as a part of the Mayor’s Local Business Outreach Program. Kerry also serves as chairman of the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership, Inc. Board. Mayor Donley is active in transportation issues, serving as a member and former chair of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission and a member of the Northern Virginia Transportation Coordinating Council. He serves on the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ Board of Directors and chairs the Washington Area Housing Partnership. Kerry is the current chair of the Virginia Municipal League’s Legislative Committee. Mayor Donley also chairs the Alexandria Youth Policy Commission and serves on the Alexandria Economic Opportunities Commission. In 1999, Kerry formed a Blue Ribbon Task Force on Reducing Teen Pregnancy, which he chairs. In the community, he serves on the boards of the Alexandria United Way, the Alexandria Volunteer Bureau, the American Heart Association and the Eisenhower Partnership. Mayor Donley resides in the Seminary Valley section of Alexandria’s West End with his wife, Eva, and their five daughters.

Elected to City Council in May 1994 and re-elected in May 1997, Vice Mayor Euille was elected Vice Mayor by City Council on July 1, 1997, for a three-year Council term through June 30, 2000. Vice Mayor Euille is co-chair of the Alexandria Welfare Reform Committee (Alexandria Works!), the Call to Community initiative on racial and ethnic diversity and the Fair Share Task Force. He serves on the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership, Inc. Board of Directors and City Council’s Human Service Committee. He also is a member of the Alexandria Economic Opportunities Commission, the Local Emergency Planning Committee and the Pension Study Committee. He represents the City on the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ Board of Directors (Alternate). In the community, he serves on the boards of the Eisenhower Partnership, Hopkins House Association, the INOVA Alexandria Hospital Service Corporation, the Northern Virginia Urban League and the Alexandria Scholarship Foundation. In addition to serving as the Annual Campaign Chairman for the Alexandria United Way (1999-2000), he served on the Alexandria School Board from 1974 to 1984. As President/CEO of William D. Euille and Associates, Inc., an Alexandria construction services firm, Vice Mayor Euille was honored as a 1996 finalist for the Greater Washington Entrepreneur of the Year.

A member of City Council since 1988, Councilman Cleveland served as Vice Mayor from 1991 to 1994. He serves on the Alexandria Carr/Norfolk Southern Design Review Board, the Alexandria City/Hospital Task Force, the Local Emergency Planning Committee and the Alexandria Economic Opportunities Commission. He established Alexandria’s first Neighborhood Watch program and led the City in establishing the Alexandria Enterprise Zone. Councilman Cleveland serves on the Governor’s New Partnership Commission, the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Advisory Committee under Governor James Gilmore’s administration, the Virginia Geographical Information Network Advisory Board and the Attorney General’s Task Force on Gangs and Youth Violence. He is a former member of the State Board of Corrections and the Commission on Parole Abolition and Sentencing Reform. He serves on the boards of the Alexandria Volunteer Bureau, The Untouchables, Christmas in April, the Eisenhower Partnership Membership Committee and the Northern Virginia Community College Foundation. A life member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), he and his wife, Ruth, have lived in Alexandria for 25 years. Councilman Cleveland serves as an Officer with the U.S. Capitol Police Department.

First elected to City Council in 1985, Councilwoman Pepper served as Vice Mayor from February 1996 through June 1997. Councilwoman Pepper co-chairs the Alexandria Beauregard Street Corridor Task Force and the Alexandria Welfare Reform Committee (Alexandria Works!). She also serves on the Alexandria Commission on Information Technology, the Library Board, the City Manager’s Anti-Drug Committee, the Alexandria Commission on Aging and the Sister Cities Committee. At the regional level, she is on the Northern Virginia Planning District Commission, where she chairs the Regional Resources Committee and serves on the Ad Hoc Committee on Telecommunications. She also serves as the City’s representative on the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ Air Quality Committee (MWAQC). In the community, Councilwoman Pepper serves on the boards of the YMCA, the T.C. Williams Parent-Teacher-Student Association, Bienvenidos, and RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Program) and is on the Transportation and Waste-to-Energy Facility committees of the Eisenhower Partnership.

Elected to City Council in May 1991 and re-elected in 1994 and 1997, Council Member Rich has taken an active lead in public education (high academic and disciplinary standards and the addition of new schools); crime (zero tolerance for nuisance activity, anti-panhandling ordinance, and increased landlord responsibility); scattered-site public housing to avoid concentrated poverty; welfare reform with work as the important component; and a balanced fair share approach to other assisted housing. Council Member Rich sponsored the Americorps “Service to Alexandria” project and served on its Advisory Board. He led the successful “Alexandrians for an Elected School Board Campaign.” Council Member Rich and Vice Mayor Euille also launched the City’s Call to Community initiative to foster dialogue and better working relations among the City’s diverse communities. He serves on the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ Human Services and Public Safety Committee and Metropolitan Development Committee.

Elected to City Council in an April 1996 special election to fill the vacancy created by the election of Mayor Donley, Councilman Speck was re-elected in 1997. He also served on City Council from July 1991 to June 1994 and in the Virginia General Assembly from 1980 to 1982. As a member of City Council, he serves on the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association Board of Governors, the City Manager’s Anti-Drug Committee, the Transportation Safety Commission and the Alexandria-Arlington Task Force on the Waste-to-Energy Facility. In the community, he serves on the boards of the Robert S. Rixse Foundation, the Alexandria Business Cares Foundation and Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN). In addition, Councilman Speck is Vice Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Virginia Municipal League. He also serves as chairman of the Northern Virginia Regional Board of The Sorenson Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia. Professionally, Councilman Speck is a Managing Director of Wheat First Union. He holds a doctoral degree from The George Washington University.

Elected to City Council in 1994 and re-elected in 1997, Council Member Walker co-founded the Alexandria Commission on Information Technology, the Potomac West Alliance and serves on the Waterfront Committee. She represents the City on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Board of Directors, the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, the Northern Virginia Transportation Coordinating Council, the Virginia Railway Express Board of Directors, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ Transportation Planning Board and the Chesapeake Bay Policy Committee. She is a member of the Virginia Municipal League’s (VML) Transportation Policy Committee and is Chair of VML’s Urban Section. She is a member of the National League of Cities’ Leadership Training Council. In the community, she serves on the advisory board of Healthy Families Alexandria. Council Member Walker attended The George Washington University and is a licensed realtor.