Sebastian City Council

The Sebastian City Council is the city's five-member legislative body: it passes ordinances, sets the property tax rate and budget, hires the charter officers and doubles as the board of the Sebastian Community Redevelopment Agency (City of Sebastian).

Sebastian uses the council-manager form. The council sets policy and the City Manager, whom the council appoints, runs the departments and prepares the yearly budget that the council then amends and adopts (City Manager). In 2026 that cycle ran through two FY 26-27 budget workshops on July 15 and 16 and a first public hearing on the millage and budget on September 14, all listed in the Agenda Center.

The redevelopment role dates to 1995, when the city studied and mapped a downtown redevelopment area along the Indian River Lagoon. Under Chapter 163 of the Florida Statutes the city then created the Sebastian Community Redevelopment Agency, and by resolution the City Council itself was appointed to serve as the agency, overseeing its projects, programs and budget (Sebastian CRA). That is why many Sebastian agendas are titled City Council and CRA: the same five members simply change hats partway through the night.

The council also fills the city's citizen boards. Applications come from the Office of the City Clerk at City Hall, and in October 2026 the city was advertising vacancies on the Construction Board, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, the Natural Resources Board and the Citizens Budget Review Advisory Board (Boards and Committees). When a decision of the Sebastian Planning and Zoning Commission is appealed, the council sits as an appellate body and reviews only the record made at the original hearing (Public Participation).

Sebastian elects its council members citywide in nonpartisan November elections, two seats in even-numbered years and three in odd-numbered years, each for a two-year term (City Council).

Because every seat is at-large, a voter in the Sebastian Highlands and a voter on Indian River Drive see the same council names on the ballot, and there are no council districts to draw. The staggered calendar means the full council never turns over in one election. The 2025 race, for example, had four open seats: three regular two-year seats and a one-year seat left by a mid-term resignation, according to Sebastian Daily on September 4, 2025 (Sebastian Daily).

Sebastian council candidates qualify with the city, not the county. Qualifying papers go to the City Clerk's Office at City Hall, 1225 Main Street, and the qualifying window, which carries a financial disclosure requirement and a fee, usually falls about 96 days before Election Day (Election Information). The clerk posts the 2026 Candidate Handbook, the charter and the state disclosure forms on that page, and City Clerk Jane Garcia administers the annual municipal election and the city canvassing board (City Clerk).

The county runs the voting itself. The Indian River County Supervisor of Elections handles voter registration, precincts, mail ballots and early voting for Sebastian council races, which share the ballot with state and county contests (Election Information).

The dates come from the Supervisor of Elections pages for upcoming elections and early voting, which list the Council Chambers at Sebastian City Hall as the only early voting site in the north end of Indian River County, with the other three in Vero Beach.

Two at-large Sebastian council seats, now held by Ed Dodd and Sherrie Matthews, are on the November 3, 2026 ballot, and five candidates are running for them (Sebastian Daily, October 1, 2026).

Matthews, who joined the council in 2025, is seeking reelection, while Dodd is not on the ballot, so at least one new member will be seated after the election. Voters who live inside the Sebastian city limits pick two of the five candidates. A free public forum was held on October 2, 2026 in the Tiffany Room at Capt. Hiram's, 1606 Indian River Drive, presented by the Sebastian River Area Chamber of Commerce, the Taxpayers Association of Indian River County and Sebastian Daily (Sebastian Daily).

Sebastian Daily listed growth, annexation, the Indian River Lagoon and the city's working waterfront among the issues before the council in 2026. Those subjects match the year's agendas: the council held an Annexation Strategic Plan Workshop on September 23, 2026, and a special meeting on a septic to sewer feasibility study on October 12, 2026 in the Council Chambers at City Hall (Agenda Center; Meetings Calendar).

Sebastian's 2026 council calendar was shaped by three citizen-driven reviews: a once-every-five-years Charter Review Committee, a run of property tax workshops in February, and the annual budget review by an appointed citizens board (Agenda Center).

The Charter Review Committee is the largest panel the council appoints. It has 15 members, 10 named by council members and 5 at large, meets for six months once every five years starting in January, and recommends charter changes back to the council (Charter Review Committee). The Agenda Center shows its first 2026 agenda for January 5 and its last posted session on July 28, 2026, so its recommendations reached the Sebastian council in the same year the city put charter questions to voters.

Property taxes drew their own sessions. The Agenda Center lists Sebastian property tax workshops at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on February 24, 2026 and at 2 p.m. on February 25, 2026, scheduled months ahead of the summer budget work. The seven-member Citizens Budget Review Advisory Board, which has two alternates and meets during budget season, then reviewed the proposed budget and made recommendations to the council (Citizens Budget Review Advisory Board); its 2026 agendas run from February 9 through August 3.

Sebastian has no separately elected mayor: after each November election the newly seated City Council elects a Mayor and a Vice Mayor from among its own five members at a special meeting (City Council).

Day-to-day administration stays with the appointed City Manager at City Hall whoever holds the title. Because the titles are reassigned every year, the same member can serve as mayor several times: Sebastian Daily described Bob McPartlan in September 2025 as a council member for nearly 14 years, including multiple terms as mayor (Sebastian Daily). In October 2026 the city lists Fred Jones as Mayor and McPartlan as Vice Mayor, and that pairing will be revisited at the organizational meeting after the November 3 vote.

Every Sebastian council meeting is open to the public, and residents may address the council during public hearings, unfinished and new business, and the Public Input item set aside for subjects not on the agenda (Public Participation).

Regular meetings fall on the second and fourth Wednesdays, agendas are posted ahead of each meeting, and minutes are posted after the council approves them (City Council). The council takes written comments through a shared council email and mail sent to Sebastian City Hall, 1225 Main Street. Detailed speaking rules, time limits and Zoom procedures are set out on the city's Public Participation page, and the clerk's Agenda Center keeps council agendas from 2020 forward alongside those of the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Natural Resources Board.

Last verified: October 11, 2026, on the City of Sebastian website.