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City Council

The City of Arcata is governed by a five-member, elected City Council which establishes the laws and overall policies for the City.  Each year the Council elects one of its members to serve as Mayor and another to serve as Vice-Mayor. The Mayor presides at City Council meetings, appoints City Council members to various internal and external committees, attends community events as the City Council's representative and performs other ministerial duties. The Vice-Mayor presides in the Mayor's absence.

City Council elections are held in November of even-numbered years. Either two or three Council members are elected to four-year terms. Currently, the five City Council members are:

Michael Winkler, Mayor, Term 2012
Shane Brinton, Vice-Mayor, Term 2012
Susan Ornelas, Council Member, Term 2012
Alexandra Stillman, Council Member, Term 2014
Mark Wheetley, Council Member, Term 2014

The City Council meets

the first and third Wednesday of each month at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber, 736 F Street, Arcata, CA 95521, to hear, discuss or deliberate upon any item or subject within the City's jurisdiction. Members also attend special meetings on an as-needed basis.

Meetings & Agendas

Meetings must be held in an open, public session as set forth in the Ralph M. Brown Act. For the conduct of meetings, the Council follows Rosenberg's Rules of Order for parliamentary procedures. Because the formal process for conducting City Council proceedings is not always familiar to the general public, the City Council developed A Public Speaker's Guide to Addressing the City Council.  Watch Meetings Live or watch On Demand  here and view agendas complete with staff reports and other materials.

Role of City Council Members

Fundamentally, the powers of the City Council are to be utilized for the good of the community and its residents and to provide for the health, safety and general welfare of the citizenry. The City Council is the policy- and law-making body of the City. State law and local ordinances define the powers and responsibilities of the City Council.

The City Council acts as a body. No one member has any extraordinary powers beyond those of other members. While the Mayor has some additional ceremonial and presiding officer responsibilities, when establishing policy, voting and performing other significant duties, all members are equal. Policy is established by at least a majority vote of the Council. While individual members may disagree with decisions of the majority, a decision of the majority binds the Council to a course of action.

Members of the Arcata City Council are collectively responsible for enacting laws, establishing administrative policy, adopting an annual budget and providing the City's vision by annually setting the Goals and Priority Projects for the City Manager to implement, as established in Arcata Municipal Code Sections 2000--2020 and the City Council Protocol Manual (Rev. 04/11) with Appendix A-J listed below. The City Council has the responsibility to appoint the City Manager, City Attorney, and City commission, committee, board and task force members and to represent the City on various regional boards and committees.

City Council Protocol Manual (Revised April 2011)