How Hudson works
Hudson follows the mayor-council government system in which a so called "strong mayor" runs the day-to-day side of city business. The mayor designates department heads, appoints members to city boards, such as the Planning Board, and sets general guidelines of how existing laws are executed. While laws are still laws, a mayor has far-reaching discretion in how they will be implemented. A mayor could for example instruct a Police Department to de-prioritize parking infringements over littering in public.
Opposed to the mayor is in Hudson the Common Council. It consists of two representatives per ward, elected by the residents in each ward, and the Common Council President - eleven members overall. The Common Council is the legislative body and its chief responsibility is to pass local laws that are to be executed by the mayor.
The Common Council creates laws but cannot execute them whereas the mayor cannot create laws but has discretion over how they will be enforced.
The Planning Board
The Planning Board in Hudson predominantly acts as a review board that has the power to either deny or approve so-called site-plan applications in which an applicant specifies how they intend to modify and use a particular site in the city.
Two examples of projects in front of the Planning Board in 2025 are the affordable housing project on Mill St and the Colarusso application for a conditional use permit of the dock. For a project to move forward, it requires an approval from the city's Planning Board.
The Planning Board consists of seven members appointed exclusively by the mayor. While it is bound by existing local, state and federal laws, it has significant leeway in how to interpret them and - in the case of conditional use permits - has the power to impose conditions and stipulations on how an applicant is allowed to use and operate on a site. Ultimate decisions are determined via a simple majority vote.
A mayor has the power to significantly change the course of city by who he appoints to the Planning Board. They can chose to elect members that are likely to value ecological concerns over the economic well-being of an applicant, or vice versa. They can pick members that place more emphasis on historic preservation than creating more housing units, or vice versa.
The Planning Board may well be Hudson's most impactful, discussed and watched political entity.
Hudson's budget and how it comes about
The city's budget for a given year is created in the last two or so months of the preceding year. It is put together by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment (BEA) which consists of three elected officials: The Mayor, the Common Council President and the Treasurer.
In a series of public meetings (in Hudson commonly at an awkward time in the middle of the day), the BEA meets with the various department heads who present their department's financial needs for the following year. It is up to the BEA to accept these figures or allot a different amount.
Once a preliminary budget has been created, typically the Mayor presents it to the public in a meeting where residents are invited to provide their feedback.
Shortly thereafter, this budget is introduced to the Common Council which is required to ratify (approve) it. Per the charter of the City of Hudson (§ C16-4), the council may reduce items in the budget but cannot enlarge it.
A reduction of the budget by the council can be vetoed by the Mayor which in turn is overridable by the council via a super-majority (two thirds or eight votes).
A budget failing to get council approval, in Hudson or elsewhere, is a rare event that inevitably leads to messiness.
All city meetings are public
As per NY State's Open Meetings Law (OML), all meetings by governing bodies are public and can be attended by all members of the public, including non-residents.
Further, OML requires that public meetings be announced no later than one week before the meeting. While in practice this doesn't always happen, the City of Hudson maintains an online calendar listing all public meetings.