Baton Rouge, Louisiana

===Metropolitan council===
[[File:Baton Rouge City Council partisan map 2019.svg|thumb|A map of Baton Rouge City Council partisanship|alt=]]

When the city and parish combined government, the city and parish councils consolidated to form the East Baton Rouge Parish Metropolitan Council. The Metropolitan Council is the [[legislative branch]] of the Baton Rouge government. Its 12 district council members are elected from [[single-member districts]]. They elect from among themselves the [[Mayor pro tempore|mayor-president'' pro tempore'']]. The mayor-president pro tempore presides over the council's meetings and assumes the role of the mayor-president if the mayor-president is unable to serve. The council members serve four-year terms and can hold office for three terms.

In the late 1960s, Joe Delpit—a local African American businessman owning and operating the Chicken Shack<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Maker of Baton Rouge's Best Chicken Also Fought for Civil Rights |url=https://www.foodandwine.com/travel/restaurants/chicken-shack-baton-rouge-civil-rights |access-date=2022-12-29 |website=Food & Wine |language=en}}</ref>—was elected as the first black council member in Baton Rouge. As in other cities of Louisiana and the South, African Americans had been largely [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disenfranchised]] for decades into the 20th century.<ref name="johnson">[https://www.nytimes.com/1971/09/29/archives/louisiana-negroes-seek-power-in-one-parish-they-run-for-22-of-27.html Thomas A. Johnson, "Louisiana Negroes Seek Power"], ''New York Times,'' 29 September 1971; accessed 20 March 2019</ref> The Chicken Shack, with multiple locations, in 2015 was reported as the oldest continually operating business in Baton Rouge.<ref name="landry">[https://www.businessreport.com/business/delpit-familys-chicken-shack-still-going-strong-eight-decades Annie Ourso Landry, "The Delpit family's Chicken Shack is still going strong after eight decades"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622084731/https://www.businessreport.com/business/delpit-familys-chicken-shack-still-going-strong-eight-decades |date=June 22, 2018}}, ''Business Report'', 22 July 2015</ref>

The Metropolitan Council's main responsibilities are setting the [[government policy|policy]] for the government, voting on [[legislation]], and approving the [[government budget|city's budget]]. The council makes policies for the following: the city and parish general funds, all districts created by the council, the Greater Baton Rouge Airport District, the Public Transportation Commission, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sewerage Control Commission and the Greater Baton Rouge Parking Authority.<ref name=":0" />