City of Stockton Overview
Home to over 320,000 residents, Stockton is the 11th largest city in California. Possessing an inland port and surrounded by farmland, Stockton attracted many people seeking opportunity. This led to an incredible amount of diversity, and Stockton becoming recognized as one of the most diverse cities in America, with significant Hispanic (42.7%), Asian-American (21.5%), and African-American (11.5%) populations. The residents of Stockton rely on a City Charter (municipal constitution) with a City Council-Manager form of government to establish city laws and legislation.
Pro-tip
In a council-manager government, an elected city council serves as the city's primary legislative body and appoints a chief executive officer called a city manager to oversee day-to-day municipal operations, to draft a budget, and to implement and enforce the council's policy and legislative initiatives.
Elected Officials of Stockton
Stockton City Hall
Mayor
The Mayor has the authority to hire the heads of most departments, agencies, and oversight commissions. Through these offices, the Mayor is responsible for managing the City government’s operation. He is responsible for carrying out the City’s laws (called “ordinances”), ensuring coordination among different branches of City government, and submitting an initial budget proposal to the City Council every year as part of the annual budget process. As well as to vote on matters presented before the city council.
Who is the Mayor?
Mayor Kevin J. Lincoln was elected to office in November 2020. He is serving his first term as Mayor of Stockton beginning January 2021.
Who does the mayor represent?
The Mayor represents all residents within the boundaries of the City of Stockton. As the leader of California’s 13th largest city, the Mayor's decisions and actions can influence and set precedent on the national stage. The Mayor is elected by the residents of Stockton every four years and can serve a maximum of two terms in office. Let it be noted that residents living in unincorporated areas do not participate in mayoral elections. Here is a map of the Stockton City Council Districts and Mayoral Jurisdiction.
City Council
Stockton City Council District Map
The City Council is the governing body for the City of Stockton. Council members are in charge of creating laws that legislate how civilians and businesses operate, as well as overseeing and giving final approval on budgets for the City of Stockton. Within their own district, Councilmembers have power over how and which development projects are approved. Stockton's first City Council was voted into office in 1850. The City Council consists of seven members, the Mayor and six elected district representatives. The six Council Members are nominated and elected by the districts they represent. Each member has the right to vote on all matters coming before the Council.
Who do they represent?
Take a look at the district map and visit this page to find your representatives.
City Council members:
PRO TIP
The City conducts elections every two years to fill seats on the City Council. The Mayor at Large, District 2, District 4, and District 6 will be up for election in 2024.
Appointed Officials of Stockton
The Council establishes city policies, ordinances, contracts, and agreements; approves the City's annual budget; and appoints four positions:
City Departments are under the direction of the City Manager.
City Attorney
What does the city attorney do?
The City Attorney's Office provides professional, quality legal services that protect the interests of the City of Stockton, its departments, the City Council, and the citizens of the community. Functions of the City Attorney's Office include:
Providing legal advice to City Councilmembers, officials, boards, commissions, and City departments regarding legal and regulatory matters of concern to the City and its operations;
Working with other City departments and division on legal matters to defend the City from legal action(s) brought against it, initiates lawsuits, code enforcement compliance, collection of monies owed to the City, and eminent domain proceedings;
Drafting and reviews ordinances, resolutions, contracts, bonds, deeds, and other legal documents as requested by the City Council or other officials; and
Prosecuting violations of the Stockton Municipal Code.
Who is the city attorney?
Lori Asuncion
425 N. El Dorado Street Stockton, CA 95202
Phone: (209) 937-8333
City Auditor
What does the City Auditor do?
The Auditor provides the City Council, management, and employees with objective analyses, appraisals, and recommendations for improvements to City systems and activities. The Auditor reports directly to the City Council and does not exercise direct authority over any department, system, or activity subject to audit.
The Council Audit Committee, a subcommittee of the City Council, oversees all independent auditing services for the City provided by both the City Auditor and the City's commercial auditing firm, including but not limited to the following:
Review the City Auditor's annual audit plan.
Review audit reports issued by the City Auditor.
Review the annual follow-up report issued by the City Auditor.
Refer special requests for audit services to the City Auditor.
Review the annual audit plan of the City's commercial audit firm.
Review the City's annual financial reports and reports of the commercial audit firm.
Review external quality control review reports of the Office of the City Auditor.
How can you contact the City Auditor’s Office?
Phone: (209) 937-8212
Fax: (209) 937-7149
City Clerk
What does the City Clerk do?
The City Clerk provides quality public service to connect you with your local government, with the transparency to ensure Stockton’s legislative processes are open and available to the public. The Office of the City Clerk acts as a partner in the democratic process by managing the City's official records, providing open access to this information, and serving as the community's public information resource to the Council.
The City Clerk's team assists with:
public records requests,
official city publications, records, and municipal codes.
bid openings,
claims for damages,
local elections,
FPPC campaign forms, and
Board and Commission recruitment.
How can you contact the city clerk’s office?
425 N. El Dorado Street, 1st Floor
Stockton, CA 95202
Phone: (209) 937-8458
Fax: (209) 937-8447
Email: City.Clerk@stocktonca.gov
City Manager
What does the city manager do?
The City Manager is appointed by the City Council to direct the administration of the City under the policy direction of the Council:
implementing City Council policy
providing information to assist the Council in setting policy
reporting to the Council on administrative activities
supervising the operation of City Departments
Additional functions within the City Manager's Department include:
Office of Performance & Data Analytics
One Page Strategic Plan®
StocktonStat
Innovation Lab - iLab
Office of Violence Prevention
Operation Ceasefire
Operation Peacekeeper
Public Information
Channel 97 - Government Access Cable Television
Grants
Who is the City Manager?
City Manager
Harry Black
Phone: (209) 937-8212
Email: patty.vasquez@stocktonca.gov
Deputy City Manager II
Will Crew
Phone: (209) 937-8212
Email: Nicole.Mamorno@stocktonca.gov
Deputy City Manager II
Jay Kapoor
Phone: (209) 937-8212
Email: Nicole.Mamorno@stocktonca.gov
Deputy City Manager I
Courtney Christy
Phone: (209) 937-8212
Email: Nicole.Mamorno@stocktonca.gov
City Departments
Stockton City Council Meeting
City's budget and provides other services to City departments and to the public, including business licenses, utility billing, and purchasing.
Establishes policies and goals for long-range plans for orderly growth of the community, manages the Permit Center, and promotes and preserves architecturally and historically significant resources.
Recreation activities and facilities, including operation and programming of community centers, through the Recreation Division and library services through the Library Division.
Includes redevelopment, housing, real property, Central Parking District, and Stockton Marina.
Emergency and non-emergency fire protection and prevention services through public education, fire suppression, and rescue activities.
Employment and job placement services to employees and candidates, plus workforce planning, training, and benefits services to City employees and retirees.
Implements and manages City-Wide Technology Strategic Plan for all technology for the City and its operations.
City/county system including Cesar Chavez Central Library; four branch libraries in Stockton; libraries in Escalon, Lathrop, Linden, Manteca, Mountain House, Ripon, Thornton and Tracy; and literacy services, including a mobile family literacy unit.
Water services to approximately half of the residents and businesses in the City of Stockton and wastewater and stormwater services to the entire City and some areas in San Joaquin County.
Emergency and non-emergency public safety protection and crime prevention services within the City of Stockton. Other functions include Neighborhoods Services (Code Enforcement) and Animal Services.
Plans, designs, builds and maintains streets, sidewalks, streetlights, traffic signals and other amenities (such as parks, street trees, and bicycle and footpaths) for the City of Stockton.