Towns, villages, cities are different because – look, rain!

Ican’t concentrate. It’s raining. It’s not raining hard, but it’s raining steadily. I’m supposed to be figuring out the differences among a village and a town and a city, but I keep getting up and going out to sit on the porch to watch it rain.

Anyway, I was just about to say the differences among a village, town and city are mostly a matter of size and semantics when it occurred to me to check

stylebook. It’s a good thing I did. The stylebook is silent on the question of villages, but this is some of what it has to say about towns and cities in Arizona:

“Towns: Towns of 2,999 or fewer inhabitants follow the common council form of government. They elect five-member councils for two- or four-year terms if the community’s population is less than 1,500 and seven-member councils if there are more than 1,500 inhabitants. Council members are elected at large. The town councils choose one member as mayor.

“Cities: When a town has a population of 3,000 or more inhabitants, it may become a city in title and organization if the voters and town council approve. In a city, the mayor may be elected by the coun- cil or at large. Cities have the option of electing council members at large or from wards. Council members may have overlapping terms. The mayor and councilmen also may receive a small salary designated by state statute.”

I should read the stylebook more often. It’s just full of information. Who knew?