City Council

• Mayor Fred Keeley
• Vice Mayor Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson (District 3)
• Councilmember Gabriela Trigueiro (District 1)
• Councilmember Sonja Brunner (District 2)
• Councilmember Scott Newsome (District 4)
• Councilmember Susie O'Hara (District 5)
• Councilmember Renee Golder (District 6)

Council Meetings: Current Agenda and Archives
Current agenda and archives.

Councilmembers
Information about individual Councilmembers and contact information.

Council Appointments to City Groups and Outside Agencies(PDF, 77KB)

Historical Listing (1907-2017) of the Mayors and City Councils of Santa Cruz

Advisory Bodies
The City Council appoints citizens to serve on boards, commissions, committees, and task forces to assist and advise in formulating policy. These advisory bodies provide recommendations to assist the Council in making decisions.

Meeting Guidelines(PDF, 101KB) and Councilmembers' Handbook(PDF, 510KB)

Duties and Responsibilities

The City of Santa Cruz operates under a Council-Manager form of government. In this system the City Council is the legislative and policy-making body of city government. It sets city policy by passing ordinances and resolutions. The Council determines the city budget, appoints and removes certain appointive officials, and generally oversees city functions.

Election and Terms of Office

The City Council is composed of six Councilmembers and a Mayor. The Councilmembers are elected by districts and the Mayor is elected at large by city voters and are directly responsible to the people. General municipal elections take place on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in even-numbered years.

No member of the Council shall be eligible for re-election, or for election to a different Council district, for two years (i.e. one general election cycle) after the expiration of the second consecutive full term of the office for which such person was elected. However, this prohibition shall not bar (1) a Councilmember elected by-district from running for Mayor immediately after two terms as a Councilmember, or (2) the Mayor from running as a by-district Councilmember immediately after two terms as Mayor. With that said, in no event may any person serve on the Council (as either a Councilmember or the Mayor) for more than sixteen (16) consecutive years.

The Mayor

The elected Mayor presides at all Council Meetings and is recognized as the head of the city government for all ceremonial purposes.