Longtime Philadelphia City Council Chief Clerk Michael A. Decker has died

Michael A. Decker, 58, the longtime chief clerk of Philadelphia City Council, died unexpectedly on Tuesday, according to Council leadership.

An ever-present figure in City Hall, Mr. Decker had for the last 15 years served as Council’s unflappable chief clerk, and his voice had become synonymous with the city’s legislative branch.

At each of Council’s weekly meetings, he stood at a dais beneath the Council president and rattled off the titles of legislation, called the roll as members voted, and presided over public comment — always with a straight face and an authoritative command of Council procedures.

On occasions when he had to correct lawmakers who slipped up while trying to make a motion or call a bill up for a vote, he did so subtly and quickly.

Mr. Decker, who worked in Council for 36 years, became a familiar face for many Philadelphians during the depths of the coronavirus pandemic, when Council’s virtual meetings attracted unusually high viewerships from city residents stuck at home and looking for answers.

A cause of death was not immediately known.

City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, who was elected to that role just last month, said in a statement that Mr. Decker “was a diligent public servant and a cornerstone in City Council.”

“His commitment and invaluable contributions to the efficient functioning of our legislative body will be remembered with gratitude and respect,” Johnson said.

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, a former Council member, posted on X that she is “deeply sorrowed” by Mr. Decker’s sudden death.

“I knew Mike Decker dating to my days as a staff member for Councilmember Marian Tasco, and watched him rise through literally every position in the Chief Clerk’s Office in Council,” she wrote. “Few, if any, knew Council’s legislative process and Council’s rules and procedures the way Mike did.”

Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr., who was first elected in 2007, said Mr. Decker was “the unofficial 18th member of the Council.”

“Mike Decker knew what was going on procedurally when sometimes we didn’t,” Jones said. “There was a confidence that came when Michael Decker made a decision.”

Jones said that Mr. Decker was a consummate public servant and professional who worked well under pressure and “was one of the only people willing to tell a Council member ‘no.’” He recalled that Mr. Decker would tell him to avoid bringing legislation to his attention at the last minute before a Council session began.

“We’ll forever hear that echoing in our ears,” he said. “But we loved him. He was family.”

Council’s chief clerk, who is elected by members each term, is in charge of recording legislation, ensuring Council meetings follow legislative rules, and handling a variety of other administrative tasks.

Presiding over meetings is the clerk’s most public-facing responsibility, but the majority of the work takes place behind the scenes. Clerks are tasked with maintaining archives of Council business in an office on the fourth floor of City Hall, where ordinances dating back to 1854 are logged.

The clerk tracks each of the hundreds of resolutions and bills that Council members introduce each year, from zoning changes to amendments to the city’s Home Rule Charter.

Mr. Decker was first hired to work as a clerk in City Council in 1988. He rose through the ranks, serving in a variety of administrative jobs, and in 2009 succeeded former Chief Clerk Patricia Rafferty when she retired. Mr. Decker was one of Rafferty’s top deputies and was seen as her natural successor.

He since worked alongside three different Council presidents, including the late Anna C. Verna, who led the chamber for the first two years that Decker was chief clerk.

The vast majority of his tenure overlapped with former Council President Darrell L. Clarke, who succeeded Verna and served as Council president for 12 years before deciding last year that he would not seek reelection.