The City of Palos Verdes Estates is a General Law City and operates as a council-manager type of government. Under this type of government, the five member City Council is the policy-making body and the City Manager is responsible for carrying out Council policy.

The City Council is elected to represent the interests of the citizenry and is responsible for delivering the services necessary to meet the needs of the community.

City Council members are elected at-large for four-year terms and serve "staggered" terms, meaning that either two or three members are voted upon at each election.  The Council selects one of its members to serve as Mayor. Palos Verdes Estates Council Members serve as volunteers and without compensation (No salary, no benefits, no allowances, no retirement).

The Council determines service levels and revenue obligations through the adoption of an annual budget, authorizes City contracts and expenditures, establishes City service and operating policies, and enacts local laws as necessary for the benefit of the community.  For more information, please view City Council Operating Guidelines.

The regular Council meetings are held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month (dark in August) at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers unless otherwise noted. All City Council meetings are open to the public. Notice of the meetings and agenda items are available at least 72 hours in advance and posted at City Hall and on the City Website. At times, the Council may have a closed session for discussing specific items concerning personnel, litigation or property matters.

Regular City Council meetings are streamed live on the City website as they occur-- visit the City Meetings page at the scheduled time and click on "Watch Live" to follow the agenda; then meeting video is archived to watch online thereafter on the same web page.

For more information on City Council meetings, please review City Council Meeting Guidelines.

City Council Actions

The three forms of action that the City Council may take involve ordinances, resolutions and minute orders.

An ordinance is the most binding form of action taken by the City Council. It is the legislative enactment of City law that requires votes at two separate Council meetings and usually becomes effective 30 days after it is adopted.

A resolution establishes Council policy or directs certain types of administrative action. It is usually effective after a majority vote at the meeting.

A minute order is considered the most informal action taken by the Council. It requires majority approval of procedural actions such as filing a report or instructing the administrative staff to take certain actions. 

To review what actions the City Council has taken on legislative matters, please visit the Legislative Affairs page.