Palm Bay City Government Guide

Palm Bay is run by a five-member City Council, led in October 2026 by Mayor Rob Medina, that sets policy and appoints a City Manager, Matthew Morton, to run daily operations.

Palm Bay uses the council-manager form: the City Council passes ordinances, sets policy and votes appropriations, while the City Manager runs the administration and answers to the council (City of Palm Bay City Manager page). The City Manager is one of three Palm Bay charter officers. Matthew Morton holds the post with two deputies, Brian Robinson and Jason DeLorenzo, and he oversees 13 departments: Fire, Police, Finance, Procurement, Utilities, Human Resources, Parks and Facilities, Recreation, IT, Building, Economic Development, Growth Management and Public Works.

The second charter officer is the City Clerk, Terese Jones, who is appointed by and reports directly to the Palm Bay City Council (Palm Bay City Clerk page). The City Attorney's Office serves as legal counsel to the City Council and city employees, cannot give legal advice to residents, and takes calls at (321) 409-7185 (Palm Bay City Attorney page).

Every member of the Palm Bay City Council is reached through the same address, 120 Malabar Road, and the same phone, (321) 952-3414, plus a seat mailbox such as [email protected] (Palm Bay Mayor and City Council page). As of October 15, 2026 the Seat 4 and Seat 5 entries already list terms that begin in November 2026 and expire in November 2030. The Palm Bay guides to city council members, to council-manager government and the city charter, and to city elections cover each topic in more depth.

Palm Bay City Hall is at 120 Malabar Road SE, Palm Bay, FL 32907, reached from I-95 at exits 173 and 176, and its main switchboard is (321) 952-3400.

The City of Palm Bay directions page gives that address and phone and adds a planning figure worth knowing: with existing committed development, Palm Bay expects a build out population of 257,344 residents and 103,388 housing units (Palm Bay directions to City Hall). The Building Department lists its own address, 110 Malabar Rd SE, where Chief Building Official Roy Johnston leads the department (Palm Bay Building Department page).

One change touches every Palm Bay household this year. A notice across the city website says the Utilities Department is moving residents on quarterly billing for Republic Services and Stormwater to monthly billing, with the last quarterly bill dated 04/23/2026 and the first monthly bill 07/23/2026, and it sends questions to Utilities at 321-952-3420 (Palm Bay Building Department page).

Some Palm Bay questions belong to Brevard County or the state, not City Hall. The City Clerk coordinates regular municipal and special elections with the Brevard County Supervisor of Elections and qualifies candidates for city elections (Palm Bay City Clerk page), and the Palm Bay Building Department sends septic and well permit questions to Environmental Health Services at (321) 633-2100. The Palm Bay guides to city departments and City Hall, city jobs, selling to the city and boards and committees go further on each office.

Regular Palm Bay City Council meetings fall on the first and third Thursdays at 6:00 p.m., with June skipped, and take place in the Council Chambers of City Hall at 120 Malabar Road SE.

All Palm Bay council meetings are open to the public, and the 6:00 p.m. start has applied since April 7, 2022 (Palm Bay agendas and minutes page). Agendas and minutes for the council and for other city boards are posted on the PrimeGov platform, with older ones on NovusAgenda. Section 166.041(4), Florida Statutes, has required a business impact estimate for proposed ordinances since October 1, 2023, subject to exemptions, and the city posts its estimates on the same page.

Anyone planning to use electronic media while addressing the Palm Bay City Council must give the file to the City Clerk for screening at least 48 hours before the meeting, and anyone needing an ADA accommodation should call the City Clerk's Office at (321) 952-3414 or Florida Relay at 711 at least 48 hours ahead.

Regular Palm Bay meetings air on Space Coast Government Television (SCGTV): Spectrum channel 499, Comcast channel 51 in North Brevard, Comcast channel 13 in South Brevard and AT&T U-Verse channel 99. The most recent regular meeting reruns on SCGTV on Monday at 6:00 p.m., Friday at 1:00 p.m. and Saturday at 12:00 a.m.

The Palm Bay live stream runs on the city website, and if that feed drops, the city points viewers to YouTube or Facebook, subject to availability, and to its own video archive (Palm Bay Listen and Watch Meetings page). The Palm Bay guides to city council meetings and to boards and committees go further on both.

Palm Bay building permits and inspections run through the Building Department at 110 Malabar Rd SE, open Monday to Friday 7:30 am to 3:30 pm, with plans submitted electronically through the ePermitHub Digital Plan Room and inspections scheduled in the iMS portal.

The Digital Plan Room has taken complete electronic submission, review and approval of all available permit applications since March 3, 2025. Palm Bay inspections are booked or cancelled online in iMS, and the cutoff for a next-day inspection is 3:00 pm (Palm Bay Building Department page). The department phone is (321) 953-8924. Some small jobs never reach the plan reviewers: fences not tied to a pool, concrete flatwork not tied to a future structure and sheds under 120 square feet still need a permit, but it is issued through Land Development in the same iMS system and is not reviewed by the Building Department.

Two Palm Bay answers from the same page save a trip. Whether a lot can take city water or sewer is checked with Utilities Customer Service at (321) 952-3420, and the City of Palm Bay does not require residential landscape plans for houses and duplexes to be signed and sealed by a landscape architect.

Florida HB 803, in effect as of July 1, 2026, lets Palm Bay single family homes, duplexes and townhomes outside flood zones request a permit exemption for small home improvement projects under $7500, by written request on the city form with a contract or other proof of cost. Electrical, plumbing, structural, mechanical and gas work still needs a permit whatever the value, and projects may not be split to avoid permits.

Palm Bay has a guide for nearly every permit question. The guides to building permits, building permit fees and building inspections cover the basics. Project guides cover hurricane shutter and roof permits, post-storm permits, solar panel permits, fences, sheds and pools, docks, seawalls and shoreline permits, sign permits, tree removal permits and impact fees on new homes. Land use guides cover accessory dwelling units, backyard chickens and livestock, boat and RV parking, zoning districts, planning and zoning, variances and conditional use permits. Business guides cover business tax receipts, home-based businesses, mobile food vending and special event permits.

Palm Bay's Budget Office prepares the operating and capital budgets, and the city scheduled tentative fiscal year 2027 budget hearings for Wednesday, September 9 and Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at 6:00 PM in the Council Chambers.

The Palm Bay Budget Office describes its job as preparing, implementing and monitoring the annual operating and capital budgets, and it takes questions at [email protected]; Angelica Collins, Assistant Finance Director for Budget, Capital and Asset Management, is at (321) 952-3427 (Palm Bay Budget Office page).

The fiscal year 2027 Palm Bay budget went through four council workshops in 2026: strategic planning and goals on January 20, budget requests on May 13, the millage rate discussion and preliminary data on July 7 and the proposed budget data on August 4 (Palm Bay FY 2027 budget preparation page). The proposed budget file is marked updated August 7, 2026 and the version with changes September 4, 2026, ahead of the two hearings at 120 Malabar Road SE. The budget is presented to the council in August for approval before the fiscal year starts October 1.

A practical note for Palm Bay readers: as of October 15, 2026 that budget page still calls the September hearing dates tentative and its newest file is the September 4 proposed budget with changes, so the hearing agendas and minutes are the place to confirm the adopted figures. The Palm Bay guides to the city budget, the annual financial report, housing assistance programs and drainage improvement projects go further.

Palm Bay code violations are reported through the iMS online portal or to Code Compliance at (321) 952-3430, and public records are requested from the Office of the City Clerk, most easily through its GovQA portal.

Palm Bay Code Compliance requires the complainant's name and address. Florida Senate Bill 60, in effect since July 1, 2021, bars local governments from opening an investigation on an anonymous code complaint, except when an officer believes the violation is an imminent threat to public health and safety or destruction of habitat or resources (Palm Bay Code Compliance page). The city has used Intuitive Municipal Solutions (iMS) for code complaints, lien payments and inquiries since March 6, 2023, and it warns that an online request marked closed does not mean the code case itself is closed. Card payments on the iMS portal or in person carry a 2.95% convenience fee, electronic check payments a $1.50 flat fee, and checks by mail or in person cost nothing extra.

Palm Bay public records requests may be made online, by phone, in person, by mail or by email, and the GovQA portal lets a requester open an account to track the request or submit anonymously (Palm Bay public records page). The Office of the City Clerk answers records questions at (321) 952-3414, and Chapter 119, Florida Statutes, is the governing law. The same page notes that Orange Data has handled Palm Bay lien searches since March 1, 2022, at $60.00 per search.

The Palm Bay guides to code compliance, public records requests and lien searches go further on each process.

Each common Palm Bay government question has a dedicated Digital Towns guide, and the table below pairs 11 of those questions with the key fact and the guides that go deeper.

Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the City of Palm Bay website.