What does an alderman do?

Aldermen have several responsibilities. Depending on the municipality, aldermen meet with fellow council members monthly, twice a month or even weekly. They might also serve in emergency situations to work through issues pertaining to the area that they represent. Aldermen adhere to a scheduled list of items known as an agenda, but can deal with matters that arise quickly and without warning. The agenda is often posted before the meetings, which are usually open to the public.

In addition to working with fellow aldermen to hash out issues including zoning and other matters of city policy, aldermen often serve on committees that work on larger projects. For instance, let's say someone brought up the idea to build a youth center in your community. The first step in the process before ever breaking ground on the project would be to form a group to design a plan. Aldermen are appointed to head each of these committees. Aldermen might do research on some of the related issues, talk to representatives from other cities that have undertaken similar projects and discuss concerns with residents who might be affected by the construction of a new youth center.

In the United States, an alderman's job can range from a part-time position earning less than $10,000 a year to a full-time job earning as much as $100,000, as seen in Chicago [source: Office of Chicago City Clerk]. Just about anyone can run for election to be an alderman, though circumstances such as felony convictions may keep candidates off the ballot.

Each district has guidelines residents must meet to be considered viable candidates. These guidelines are often set by a board of elections or electoral commission to ensure candidates' integrity and to investigate possible conflicts of interest. This is where things can get interesting: Imagine if a city or county employee such as the person who checks your water usage was an alderman and he or she introduced a recommendation to give pay raises to meter readers. That would be an obvious conflict of interest.

Since aldermen are residents in communities and many times are only part-time city employees once elected, a potential candidate must be able to balance his or her time. While there is usually no prescribed number of hours required of aldermen, it's not uncommon to spend 20 or more hours in service per week. Also, aldermen can be required to be on call 24 hours a day.

Some well-known cities in the United States that have aldermen include St. Louis, Milwaukee, New Haven, Conn. and Chicago. Cities in Australia such as Adelaide elect aldermen, and several European countries still have their aldermen.

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