How Laguna Beach City Hall actually works
Five councilmembers, a city manager, four decision-making boards, and a stack of advisory committees: a plain-English map of who decides what in this town.
Laguna Beach is run by its residents in a more literal sense than most towns, because the city's commissions and committees are where most decisions are actually shaped before the City Council ever votes. This guide maps the structure: who sits where, what each body can do, and how a resident gets into the room.
The City Council: five members, elected at large. Laguna Beach's five-member City Council handles the legislative functions of the city. Members are elected at large (by all city voters, not by district) and serve four-year terms. Meetings are generally held at 5:00 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month, with some exceptions. As of the July 2026 meetings, the council comprises Mayor Mark Orgill, Mayor Pro Tem Hallie Jones, and Councilmembers Bob Whalen, Sue Kempf, and Alex Rounaghi. The council reorganizes each December, when it selects the mayor and mayor pro tem for the coming year.
The City Manager runs the day-to-day. The council sets policy and direction; a professional city manager runs the city's departments and staff. Dave Kiff serves as city manager and appears on agendas as the city's designated representative in labor negotiations. Regular meetings are called to order at City Hall, 505 Forest Avenue.
Four bodies have real decision-making power. The city's Arts Commission, Design Review Board/Board of Adjustment, Planning Commission, and View Restoration Committee make decisions with appeals going to the City Council. This is the distinction that matters most: if a project comes before the Planning Commission or the Design Review Board, their decisions are binding unless someone appeals them to the council. Design Review is a famously Laguna institution, where the board scrutinizes the look of homes and projects, and it frequently works alongside coastal development permit review on the same applications.
Advisory committees advise, and ad hoc groups come and go. Eight committees advise the council on an ongoing basis: Emergency/Disaster Preparedness, Environmental Sustainability, Heritage, Housing and Human Services, Parking Traffic and Circulation, Recreation, South Laguna Water/Sewer, and Investment Advisory. Temporary single-issue groups are created as needed; current ones include the HIV Advisory Committee and a Hospital Task Force. Advisory committees make recommendations, not binding decisions.
How to get appointed. Laguna Beach residents may apply to serve on a board, commission, or committee through the City Clerk's office. Applicants may be interviewed, and the City Council appoints members at a specific council meeting. The city posts notices of unscheduled vacancies, and recent openings have included the Housing and Human Services Committee and the View Restoration Committee. If you want a seat at the table, the application to the Clerk is the front door.
How to follow or fight a decision. Agendas and meeting records live on the city's meeting portal. A typical council agenda runs through a study session, a closed session (for litigation, labor negotiations, and real estate matters), presentations and proclamations, a consent calendar of routine items, public hearings on appeals and land use, and regular business. Committees generally meet in person with no audio or video for public presentations, so the city advises bringing physical copies of any visuals, enough for each committee member, staff, and the public.
Decisions of the Planning Commission, Design Review Board/Board of Adjustment, or the Community Development Director on permits, including coastal development permits, may be appealed to the City Council by the applicant, any property owner within 300 feet of the subject property, or a member of the City Council. That 300-foot rule is why neighbors in Laguna organize fast when a project notice goes up: standing to appeal has a geographic limit.
Where the priorities get set. Each year the council lays out key initiatives that tell the departments where to push. For 2026, wildfire prevention and preparedness leads the list, building on the 2025 fire work: implementing the wildfire mitigation report updates, mapping the roughly 30 percent of town that still has aboveground utilities into five districts for undergrounding, finishing and expanding fuel modification zones, pushing home hardening, and monitoring the state's Zone Zero program for its effect on residents' insurance. If you read the agendas through the year, most of the fire, parking, and design fights will trace back to that list.
The mayor's office also runs a Mayor's Podcast in which the mayor walks through timely issues and decisions, and residents can send topic suggestions to the city's community engagement email. It is one of the lower-effort ways to keep up between meetings.
The throughline is simple. Council sets the direction, the manager runs the machine, the four decision boards handle the granular work, and the advisory committees keep expertise flowing. Nothing about it requires a law degree to follow, just a calendar and an application to the City Clerk.
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