NORTHAMPTON - Judging by the length of the agenda, the final City Council meeting chaired by Mayor Clare Higgins before she leaves office will make for a late one tonight.

And it will be filled with just the kind of variety that is the hallmark of many a small-city mayor: utility pole public hearings, a slew of financial orders and fund transfers, and a resolution urging city officials to shun participation in federal immigration law enforcement programs that threaten civil rights.

As mayor, Higgins is chairwoman of the City Council, and tonight, when the council convenes at 7:15 p.m. in the Puchalski Municipal Building behind City Hall, it will be her final turn at the helm.

After nearly 12 years as the city's 43rd mayor, Sept. 9 will mark the last day in office for Higgins, 56.

She is actually leaving a few months before the conclusion of her sixth two-year term. She announced in March that she would not seek a seventh term as mayor, and then in April, she announced she would leave office three months early, having accepted a job as director of Greenfield-based Community Action, an anti-poverty program that serves Franklin and Hampshire counties.

So, for a municipal leader whose accomplishments in office include getting a senior center built, moving the long-awaited redevelopment of the former Northampton state hospital property into the active phase, creating 12 balanced annual city budgets, and getting the construction of a new police station under way, here are the matters that she will shepherd through tonight:

 · A second, required vote on a resolution condemning a controversial federal immigration law enforcement program known as Secure Communities and calling for city employees and police to refuse to cooperate with the program run by the U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement agency, which allows the FBI to use fingerprints taken by local police to cross-reference immigrants against its databases;

 · Approval of the transfer of $1.3 million in Community Preservation Fund revenues to ensure the money is available for the first round of CPA funding for fiscal 2012;

 · Utility pole hearings for Cahillane Terrace and Old Ferry Road.

 · The appointment of Nicholas J. Demetrion as special police officer;

 · A presentation by the city's Human Rights Commission;

 · Second, required votes on the appropriation of $351,500 for capital plan spending on equipment; the transfer of $76,000 from parking meter reserves to the capital program for the parking division; approval of $125,000 in capital plan spending on school-related improvements and $50,000 on recreational fields;

 · a second vote on an order designating members of the Agriculture Commission as "special status" municipal employees;

 · second, required votes on an ordinance amendment requiring a special permit for more than one curb cut in the central business district and other zoning changes consistent with the Sustainable Northampton Plan;

 · approval of an increase in the fee for an "automatic amusement device license" from $50 to $65, as recommended by the License Commission.