Editing Costa Mesa, California (section)

===Local===
A general law city, Costa Mesa has a [[Council–manager government|council-manager form of government]]. In [[Municipal elections in Costa Mesa, California#2016 Measure EE Election|November 2016]], voters approved changing the City Council seats from five at-large seats to six voting districts and a directly elected mayor, who acts as the chairperson for the council and head of the government.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Money |first=Luke |date=September 28, 2016 |title=Election 2016: Costa Mesa has all-time high 8 ballot measures in November |work=[[Daily Pilot]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/tn-dpt-me-costa-mesa-ballot-initiatives-20160928-story.html |access-date=January 2, 2024}}</ref> The mayor serves two-year terms and councilmembers serve four year terms, with each office having a two-term limit. [[Municipal elections in Costa Mesa, California|Municipal elections]] are held every two years, during which the mayor and three councilmembers are up for election.

Day to day, the city is run by a professional city manager and staff of approximately 460 full-time employees.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Costa Mesa {{!}} City of Costa Mesa |url=https://www.costamesaca.gov/about |access-date=June 22, 2022 |website=www.costamesaca.gov |language=en |archive-date=November 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221108225254/https://www.costamesaca.gov/about |url-status=live }}</ref> Management of the city and coordination of city services are provided by:<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ci.costa-mesa.ca.us/departments/cafr/cafr-07-08.pdf | work = City of Costa Mesa | title = COMPREHENSIVE ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT |date= | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090625180859/http://www.ci.costa-mesa.ca.us/departments/cafr/cafr-07-08.pdf | access-date = June 4, 2009| archive-date = June 25, 2009 }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Office
! Officeholder
|-
|City Manager
|Lori Ann Farrell Harrison
|-
|Assistant City Manager
|Cecilia Gallardo-Daly
|-
|City Attorney
|Kimberly Hall Barlow
|-
|City Clerk
|Brenda Green
|-
|Economic & Development Services Director
|Carrie Tai
|-
|Finance Director
|Carol Molina
|-
|I.T. Director
|Steve Ely
|-
|Public Works Director
|Raja Sethuraman
|-
|Parks and Community Services Director
|Brian Gruner
|-
|Fire Chief
|Dan Stefano
|-
|Police Chief
|Ronald Lawrence
|}
Residents of the city are also governed by various [[Special district (United States)|special districts]], including the [[Mesa Water District]], the [[Orange County Water District]], the [[Municipal Water District of Orange County]], the [[Irvine Ranch Water District]], and the [[Costa Mesa Sanitary District]].