City of Mercer Island

Mercer Island has a council-manager form of government.

The City's seven city council members are elected at-large, on a non-partisan basis, to four-year terms. Those members choose a mayor who serves a two-year term. The mayor and city council retain a professional city manager who supervises the day-to-day staff work on City matters, such as zoning, land use codes, budget issues and other operations. City Council meetings are held on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 7 pm at City Hall. The meetings are broadcast on Comcast cable channel 21. To watch archived videos (2011 to present), please visit our Council Meeting channel on YouTube and search for your desired meeting there.

Citizen volunteers serve on a number of boards and commissions that provide policy input to the mayor, city council and city manager on various operations, including the arts, civil service, open space conservation, utilities and youth and family services and senior services. The mayor and city council encourage Island residents to participate in government by volunteering on community boards and commissions.