Commencing with the general municipal election of November 2016, the elective officers of the City shall consist of a Mayor and six City Council members. Commencing with the general municipal election of November 2016, the City Council members shall be residents of their respective Districts, as established pursuant to Section 500.1, and nominated and elected only by the voters of their respective Districts; the City Council shall not submit to the voters any City Council-sponsored Charter amendment (as described in Elections Code section 9255(b)(1)) repealing Charter provisions requiring that City Council members be elected by voters of their respective Districts earlier than after the November 2018 general municipal election. The Mayor shall be elected from the City at large. The elective officers shall be elected at the times and in the manner provided in this Charter and shall serve for a term of four years and until their respective successors qualify. The term “City Council,” “legislative body,” or other similar terms as used in this Charter or any other provision of law shall be deemed to refer to the collective body composed of the Mayor and City Council members unless such other provision of this charter or other provision of law expressly provides to the contrary or unless such interpretation would be clearly contrary to the intent and context of such other provision.
Notwithstanding the second sentence in the first paragraph of this Section 500, or the first sentence in the first paragraph or the first section in the third paragraph of Section 501, the Mayor and members of the City Council in office at the time this Charter provision takes effect shall continue in office until the expiration of their respective terms and until their successors are elected and qualified. Recall proceedings, if any, of such City Council members serving the remainder of a term pursuant to this provision, and the election of a successor to such City Council member to complete that term, shall be conducted at large. The Mayor shall be elected at the general municipal election held in November 2014, and each fourth year thereafter. Four members of the City Council (comprised of two seats up for election and two newly created seats) shall be elected at the general municipal election held in November 2016. Notwithstanding the term of office specified in the first paragraph of this Section 500, at the City Council meeting where these four members are sworn in, the City Council shall select by casting of lots one member elected at the November 2016 general election to hold office for a term of two years and until his or her successor qualifies; the remaining three members shall serve for a term of four years and until their successors qualify. Thereafter, the three City Council members elected at the November 2016 election to four-year terms shall be elected at the general municipal election each fourth year thereafter. The other three members of the City Council shall be elected at the general municipal election held in November 2018 and each fourth year thereafter.
Ties in voting among candidates for office, including the office of the Mayor, shall be settled by the casting of lots (Amended November 2, 1982, filed by Secretary of State January 18, 1983: amended March 5, 1991, filed by Secretary of State April 18, 1991; amended November 7, 2000, filed by Secretary of State February 6, 2001: Amended November 4, 2014, filed by Secretary of State January 5, 2015.)