DESCRIPTION: The Kanab city council consists of the mayor and council members who exercise the city's legislative and executive powers (see Utah Code, Unannotated, 1991, 10-3-101). The council is responsible for all aspects of city management, such as appointing city officials and setting their salaries, levying taxes, establishing a budget, maintaining public services and utilities, regulating activity within the city, and protecting the health and well being of residents. Kanab city council meeting minutes summarize the discussions held at council meetings. They indicate the date and place each meeting was held and identify those present. Bills authorized and paid by the council are itemized in the minutes (1924-1985).

The first book of Kanab city council minutes begins with a description of the city's municipal incorporation and a copy of the ordinances adopted at incorporation. The early Kanab council levied and collected taxes, maintained roads and a cemetery, but primarily focused on preserving law and order. The council passed ordinances governing profanity, drunkenness, horse racing, curfews, Sabbath day observance, adultery, prostitution, dancing, liquor sales, and cattle in the streets. In addition to enforcing all these ordinances the council also commissioned the town marshal to maintain roads, collect delinquent taxes, and ensure that peddlers and merchants were properly licensed. For more than thirty years the town marshal was the most frequently discussed topic at council meetings. The council proposed things for him to do, accepted repeated resignations, and dismissed marshals for failure to perform. An all female town council, which governed Kanab in 1912 and 1913, had no more success than other councils in persuading the marshal to perform as expected. The minutes continue to reflect a theme of conflict between the council and city marshals until the 1980s. In 1966 Kanab mayor, A.D. Findley, spent several months fighting with other council members and the city attorney over the appointment of a marshal.

The city council minutes document a wide range of concerns and activities over the years. In every decade the city council has appointed city officials, boards and commissions as needed. In every decade the council has been concerned about collecting taxes and issuing licenses to regulate all manner of peddling and commercial activity. The council has always been concerned about water rights, and has worked with the Kanab Irrigation Company to regulate irrigation. After the city council assumed responsibility for providing municipal water in 1920 and a sewer system in 1949 the city council has managed and maintained those systems, collecting fees and expanding service. In every decade the council has organized community clean-up and beautification efforts, and has maintained or improved city streets and bridges. Since the 1920s the Kanab city council has promoted tourism and frequently accommodated movie producers.

Ongoing, the city council has worked to build Kanab. The city council established a fire department in the 1940s and built a municipal airport in the 1950s. They began providing community recreation and built a swimming pool in the 1960s, adding a municipal golf course and senior citizens' center in the 1970s. Since the 1970s the city council has been highly involved in development planning. The council has adopted or revised several master plans, and has worked hard to expand utilities and services to annexed areas, including the Kanab Creek Ranchos which are on the opposite side of Kanab Creek from the original city. The council studied and discussed the possibility of municipal power for more than two decades before it became a reality in 1987. In the last two decades (1980-2000) the council has created a number of improvement districts, and has worked closely with a planning commission to manage growth and build Kanab. In 1998 the city council succeeded in securing Kanab as the site for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument headquarters.