The Mayor is the top elected official who runs the day-to-day business of Macon-Bibb County's government. The job is to carry out the laws, run the departments, hire the people who do the work, and write the yearly spending plan. But the Mayor does not rule alone: a nine-member Commission (nine elected members who make the rules and control the money) works alongside the office, and the two are built to check each other.
Macon-Bibb is a consolidated government — the old City of Macon and the old Bibb County merged in 2014 into one government. So there is one Mayor for the whole county, not a separate city mayor and county official.
The short answer
- What the office is
- The elected head of the whole consolidated government. The Mayor holds the power to run things and carry out the law.
- The structure
- This is a strong-mayor government: the elected Mayor is the chief executive who actually runs the departments, not a ceremonial figurehead. (More on what that means below.)
- Who holds it now
- As of 2026, the Mayor is Lester M. Miller, re-elected in 2024 to a second four-year term.
- The one key fact
- The Mayor runs the government and proposes the budget. The Commission passes the laws and approves the money. Neither side gets its way alone.
- How to reach the office
- Call 478-751-7170, email miller@maconbibb.us, or write to 700 Poplar Street, Macon, GA 31201 (the Government Center).
What this means for you
When a pothole goes unfilled, a department is slow, or a service breaks down, that is the Mayor's side of the government. The Mayor and the staff the Mayor hires are the ones responsible for making the day-to-day work actually run.
But when the question is about a rule or how much money something gets — a new local law, a tax rate, this year's budget — that power is shared. The Mayor proposes; the Commission decides. Knowing which kind of problem you have tells you where to push.
Who runs the office
The Mayor is elected county-wide — by every voter in Macon-Bibb, not just one district — to a four-year term, and can serve only two terms. The charter (the government's rulebook) makes it a full-time office.
What the Mayor actually controls
Here is the real power the office holds:
- Runs the government
- The Mayor has to make sure local laws and state laws are carried out, and oversees the government's day-to-day work.
- Hires the top people
- The Mayor picks the county manager, the clerk of commission, and other top staff, and directs the departments. The Commission has to approve certain appointments. These people answer to the Mayor.
- Works through a manager
- As of 2026, the county manager is Dr. Keith Moffett, who serves at the Mayor's pleasure, directs the Department of Administration, and carries out the Mayor's written directives. The Mayor sets the direction; the manager makes it happen across departments.
- Proposes the budget
- At least six weeks before the new fiscal year starts, the Mayor hands the Commission a budget message, a budget report, and a draft appropriations (spending) ordinance. The Commission then has to adopt it.
- Can veto
- When the Commission passes an ordinance, the Mayor has ten calendar days to sign it, reject it (a veto, meaning block it), or do nothing (in which case it becomes law at noon on the tenth day). The Mayor can also use a line-item veto — striking out or shrinking one spending item in the budget without killing the whole thing.
The Commission can push back. It can overturn a veto with six of the nine votes (an affirmative vote of at least six members). And while the Mayor runs Commission meetings and can propose local laws, the Mayor is not a voting member — the Mayor votes only to break a tie. Together, the Mayor and the nine commissioners form the one body that governs both the city and the county. You can see who your commissioners are on the Commission page and find your district under Districts.
A "strong mayor" government
Macon-Bibb runs on what's called a strong-mayor system. That is a plain description of how the government is wired — not praise and not criticism. It tells you where the power sits.
- In a strong-mayor government, the elected mayor is the chief executive: the mayor runs the departments, writes the budget, hires the top staff, and can veto the commission's votes.
- In the other common setup — a council-manager government, sometimes called a "weak mayor" system — an unelected professional manager, hired by the council, runs the day-to-day, and the mayor is mostly a council member who leads meetings.
Macon-Bibb's charter picks the first one, in so many words: "all of the executive powers ... are vested in the mayor," who is "the chief executive officer."
Here is the part that confuses people: Macon-Bibb also has a county manager. That does not make it a council-manager government — because the manager works for the mayor, not the commission. The mayor appoints the manager, and a majority of the commission has to confirm the pick — but from there the manager serves at the mayor's pleasure (the mayor alone can replace them) and exists to carry out the mayor's directives. The commission signs off on the hire; the manager still answers to the mayor. It's the same job title you'd find in a council-manager city, with the opposite chain of command.
Why is the office built this way? Consolidation. When Macon and Bibb County merged in 2014, the executive power once split between a city and a county was combined into one office, elected by the whole county. Put the budget, the veto (including the line-item veto), and the power to hire and fire the department heads into that single office, and you get a genuinely strong executive. That concentration is also why the charter builds in limits: the mayor is capped at two terms, and it takes six of the nine commissioners to override a veto. The power is concentrated on purpose — and checked on purpose.
What the Mayor does NOT handle
This is where residents most often get it wrong. Several big local services run on their own elected or appointed boards. The Mayor does not control them:
- Schools
- The Bibb County School District is run by its own elected school board, not the Mayor. See the Board page.
- Water
- The Macon Water Authority runs your water and sewer service under its own board.
- The Sheriff
- Voters elect the Sheriff directly. The Mayor does not appoint or direct the Sheriff.
- The courts
- Judges and the court system are separate from the Mayor's office.
- Transit
- The bus and transit system runs under its own authority.
So if your issue is a water bill, a school policy, or something a deputy did, the Mayor's office is not the one that fixes it.
What you can do
- Contact the Mayor's office directly. As of 2026: phone 478-751-7170, email miller@maconbibb.us, or in person at 700 Poplar Street (the Government Center).
- Speak at a Commission meeting. Because so much real power is shared with the Commission, speaking there is often the better move on rules and spending. You can look up agendas and past votes on the Commission page.
- Watch what the government does. Follow votes on the Commission page.
Where to go next
- Office of the Mayor — Macon-Bibb County — the official Mayor's page with contact details.
- County Manager — Macon-Bibb County — who runs the departments day to day.
- Macon-Bibb County Code of Ordinances (Municode) — the charter that defines the Mayor's powers, the veto, and the budget process.
- Office of the Mayor, Macon-Bibb County — the Mayor as head of the government; current officeholder Lester M. Miller; office phone (478-751-7170), email (miller@maconbibb.us), and address (700 Poplar Street).
- Macon-Bibb County Code of Ordinances / Charter (Municode) — durable charter facts: the mayor runs the government and carries out the laws; all of the executive powers are vested in the mayor as chief executive officer (the "strong-mayor" structure), and the county manager is appointed by the mayor, serves at the mayor's pleasure, and carries out the mayor's directives (not a council-manager system); budget submitted at least six weeks before the fiscal year; the appointment and directive powers; the ten-calendar-day veto and line-item veto; a veto overridden by an affirmative vote of at least six members; the mayor presides but is not a voting member and votes only to break a tie; county-wide majority election to a four-year term with a two-term limit; the mayor is a full-time office; the consolidated structure of one Mayor plus nine commissioners.
- National League of Cities — Cities 101: Mayoral Powers — the plain distinction between a strong-mayor system (the elected mayor is the chief executive, with budget, veto, and appointment power) and a weak-mayor / council-manager system (an appointed manager runs day-to-day operations).
- County Manager — Dr. Keith Moffett, Macon-Bibb County — the county manager serves at the Mayor's pleasure, directs the Department of Administration, and carries out the Mayor's written directives; current manager Dr. Keith Moffett.
- 13WMAZ: Mayor Lester Miller wins re-election — Lester Miller re-elected in 2024 to a second term.
- WGXA: Mayor Miller and a possible third-term charter amendment — quotes the charter's two-term limit ("no more than two four-year terms").