Should Our Village become a Charter City?

Carmel-by-the-Sea is a General Law Municipality in the State of California. 
There are pros & cons to becoming a Charter City that can increase Local Control.  
To learn more about becoming a Charter City - consider these sources
What does it take to become a Charter City?
To become a charter city, a city must adopt a charter.
There are two ways to adopt a charter:
  • The city’s voters elect a charter commission. The commission has the responsibility of drafting and debating the charter.
  • The governing board of the city, on its own motion, drafts the charter.
In either case, the charter is not adopted by the city until it is ratified by a majority ballot vote of the city's voters.
Your suggestions are welcome.   Reply to [email protected]

  • As of January 21, 2020, 125 of California's 478 cities are charter cities.   HERE is an earlier listing showing 121 Charter Cities - published by CACities.org. 
  • City Charters, in those cities where citizens have elected to have charters, determine how a city is organized and, in some circumstances, give cities certain home rule prerogatives even in the face of conflicting state statutes.
  • A county can be a Charter County as well.  14 of our 58 counties that are Charter Counties. As of 4/2024 they incllude: Counties with charters include Alameda, Butte, El Dorado, Fresno, Los Angeles, Orange, Placer, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Tehama.