STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date:
February 10, 2026
BUSINESS
12 SUBJECT: CITY CHARTER DISCUSSION
RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the City Council:
1. Hear a presentation from the City Manager and the City Attorney as to options to consider should the City Council wish to ask the voters to adopt a City Charter in November 2026; and
2. Provide direction to staff and make any appropriate recommendations as to next steps.
DISCUSSION
At the City Council’s January 30, 2026 Strategic Planning session, Council members discussed briefly whether the City should move from being a general law city to a charter city. The City Attorney's Office prepared a memorandum (which is attached as Attachment 1) that outlines some of the steps to do this, as well as some of the pros and cons.
In summary, general law cities, like the City of Laguna Beach, have to follow all of the State's laws regarding city operations. Charter cities, however, can carve out certain types of functions and programs and processes and make them unique to their community. These can include service delivery methods, procurement methods, and election-related processes.
From the City Manager's perspective, becoming a charter city could enable more cost savings and efficiencies in delivering City services. For example, only charter cities can contract out parking ticket enforcement, due to existing state law. The City Manager also has discussed different models of providing certain maintenance services, which could increase flexibility and cost savings via a mix of city staffdelivered maintenance and contracted maintenance.
This Agenda item is not requesting Council to take any specific action. Rather, it allows the City Council and community to start to consider what a simple draft charter could look like (see Attachment 2) and begin a community discussion about it and what provisions to include (see Attachment 3). The formal process to adopt a charter is described in the City Attorney's memo and involves extensive public input. We welcome the Council and community’s discussion in this regard.
At its January 30, 2026 Strategic Planning session, the City Council also requested staff to prepare a financial analysis relating to the potential costs savings that could result from a city charter, as currently proposed to be used. Staff will return at a later Council meeting with that analysis. However, given the time constraints involved with putting a charter measure forward to the voters, staff wanted to dual track the financial analysis effort with the effort of drafting a charter in order to ensure sufficient time to thoughtfully consider and prepare a charter.
CITY CHARTER DISCUSSION
February 10, 2026
FINANCIAL ANALYSIS
Not applicable at this time. Staff will return with a subsequent analysis as to potential cost savings that could result from a simple draft charter that is proposed to be used for the matters identified by the City Manager.
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS
The recommended action consists of organizational or administrative activities of the City that will not result in a direct or indirect physical change in the environment and therefore does not constitute a “project” within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act. (Public Resources Code Section 21065; 14 CCR Section 15378(b)(5).
ATTACHMENTS
1. January 30, 2026 memorandum from the City Attorney’s Office (Pgs. 3-8)
2. Draft city charter (Pgs. 9-18)
3. Some Charter Policy Questions (Pg. 19)
Submitted By: . Approved: .David A Kiff
Dave Kiff, City Manager Dave Kiff, City Manager
Report Prepared By: Coordinated With:
Dave Kiff, City Manager Megan Garibaldi, City Attorney