Grass Valley Municipal Code Art. V Legislative Department

The legislative power of the City of Grass Valley shall be vested in the people through the initiative and referendum and in the council.

Subject to the provisions and restrictions of this Charter and the valid delegation by this Charter of any powers to any person, officer, board, or committee, which delegation of power, if any, shall control; the council shall have the power to do and perform in the name of the city all acts and things appropriate to a municipal corporation and to the general welfare of its inhabitants and which are not specifically forbidden by the Constitution of the State of California, of which now or hereafter it would be competent for this Charter to specifically enumerate. No enumeration or specific statement herein of any particular powers shall be held to be exclusive of, or a limitation of, the foregoing general grant of powers.

The legislative body of the City of Grass Valley shall consist of five persons elected at large and to be known as the council.

No person shall be eligible for election to, or to hold, any elective office of the city unless he or she shall have been a resident and a registered voter thereof at the time nomination papers are issued to the candidate or at the time of his or her appointment to fill a vacancy.

Councilmembers shall be elected at large at the general municipal election, to be held the first Tuesday after the first Monday of each November in even-numbered years. The members of the council shall hold office for four (4) years from and after seven p.m. of the day of the first regular meeting of council in December following the election and until their successors are elected and qualified.

If two or more persons are elected by the same number of votes, the terms of each shall be decided by lot. A tie for the last council seat to be filled at an election shall also be decided by lot.