City Of Arcata

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 selects one of its members to serve as Mayor and another to serve as Vice Mayor. The Mayor presides at Council meetings, appoints Council members to various internal and external committees, attends community events as the 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:

Meetings & Agendas

The City Council meets the first and third Wednesday of each month at 6 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 and study sessions on an as-needed basis.

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. Since the formal process for conducting Council proceedings is not always familiar to the general public, the Council developed a helpful Speaker's Guide to Addressing Council. Watch Meetings LIVE or watch On Demand archived videos here and view agendas complete with staff reports and other materials.

Role of 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 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 vision by annual setting the Goals and Priority Projects for the City Manager to implement, as established in [LINK] Arcata Municipal Code Sections 2000 – 2020 and the City Council Protocol Manual (Rev 02-09). The City Council has the responsibility to appoint the City Manager, City Attorney, and commission, committee, board and task force members.

Council Protocol Manual (Revised February 2009)

• 2009 Council Protocol Manual
• Appendix A - City Plans Chart 2009
• Appendix B - CA Gov Code - Brown Act
• Appendix C - City Travel Policy
• Appendix D - City Credit Card Policy
• Appendix E - List of Council Approved Proclamations 2009
• Appendix F - Arcata Code of Ethics Adopted 7-20-2005
• Appendix G - ICMA Code of Ethics
• Appendix H - Rosenbergs Rules-of-Order
• Appendix Hx - Rosenbergs Rules Addendum