How the city works · The county seat
Winder Government
Winder runs under a mayor-council form of government. An elected mayor and a six-member council serve overlapping four-year terms, and an appointed professional city administrator runs the day-to-day operations.
The city was incorporated as Jug Tavern in 1884 and renamed Winder in 1893. As the Barrow County seat, it also hosts the county government and courthouse.
The structure
A mayor, a council, and a city administrator
The mayor and council
An elected mayor and a six-member council serve overlapping four-year terms.
The city administrator
An appointed professional city administrator runs the day-to-day operations under the council's direction.
The city and the county
Two governments, one square
Winder is both a mayor-council city and the Barrow County seat. The city runs its own administration, parks, and downtown; the county runs the courthouse, the courts, the elections office, and the county-level services based in the city.
Meetings
Public meetings on a regular schedule
Council meetings are open to the public and run on a regular schedule published by the city. The agenda, the meeting calendar, and the department contacts live on the official city of Winder website.
An editorial guide, not a listings site. Updated September 13, 2026. Real-estate guidance on this page is provided by Rob Dietrich, REALTOR® with eXp Realty, LLC.