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City of Mill Valley · Statewide General Election

Mill Valley City Council

This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.

On the ballot

This person would hold one of two seats up this cycle on Mill Valley's 5-member City Council, elected entirely at-large (no districts) to a 4-year term. Mill Valley, a Marin County city of about 14,000 residents (2020 Census: 14,231), incorporated in 1900 and runs under a council-manager government, with an appointed City Manager handling day-to-day operations. The Council chooses a Mayor and Vice Mayor from among its own members each December rather than electing either position directly.

Two incumbents, Mayor Max Perrey and Councilmember Stephen Burke, are the only candidates who qualified for Mill Valley's two open City Council seats. Both are effectively elected outright on November 3, 2026.

Mill Valley is a Marin County city of about 14,000 residents (2020 Census: 14,231), incorporated in 1900, that runs under a council-manager government with an appointed City Manager handling day-to-day operations. Its five City Councilmembers are elected entirely at-large (no districts) to staggered 4-year terms, and the Council chooses a Mayor and Vice Mayor from among its own members each December rather than electing either position directly.

The city's own Notice of Election, issued before filing opened, allows the City Council to appoint someone to a seat without an election only "if no one or only one person is nominated." Because exactly two candidates filed for the two open seats, that condition was never triggered -- both names appear on the printed ballot, and this is a genuine, if uncontested, election rather than a council appointment.

Max Perrey

Max Perrey has served on the City Council since June 2022 and was sworn in as Mayor in December 2025. A third-generation Mill Valley resident from the Shelter Ridge neighborhood and a Tam High School graduate, he works as Senior Director of Policy & External Relations for Aliados Health, a community health centers association, after earning a BA from UC Santa Cruz and a Master's degree from the London School of Economics. Before joining the Council, he served on Mill Valley's Emergency Preparedness Commission (2019-2022, chairing it in 2022) and the Citizens Oversight Committee of the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority. He currently sits on the MCE Board of Directors and the Marin County Sea Level Rise Committee, chairs the League of California Cities' Environmental Quality Committee, and serves as the Council's liaison to the Mill Valley School District Board, the Sea Level Rise Working Group, the Measure L Citizens Oversight Committee, and the Municipal Services Tax Study Committee.

Strengths

Nearly four years on the Council including a current term as Mayor, plus emergency-preparedness and wildfire-oversight committee experience.

Trade-offs

A vote for a sitting Mayor is largely a vote to continue current direction; no independent news profile was found beyond the city's own bio and brief Marin IJ mentions.

Keep in mind

With no challenger, the real choice is whether to keep both incumbents, not a comparison between candidates.

Stephen Burke

Stephen Burke was appointed to the City Council in 2021 and elected to the seat in 2022, serving as Mayor in 2024-25. He is a retired entrepreneur in mobile software and services who spent 15 years at Sony Corporation in senior management roles in Japan and the United States. Before his council appointment, he served on Mill Valley's Parks and Recreation Commission (2010-12 and again more recently), the 2021 Marin County Civil Grand Jury, the city's General Plan Advisory Committee (2012), the Traffic Advisory and Congestion Task Force (2016), and represented the city on the Transportation Authority of Marin's Citizen Oversight Committee. He has lived in Mill Valley with his wife, Kit Murphy, since 2001; their two sons came up through Old Mill Elementary, Mill Valley Middle School, and Tamalpais High School, and he coaches youth basketball for Mt. Carmel CYO and Tam High.

Strengths

A full term plus a prior stint as Mayor, backed by over a decade of earlier commission and task-force service before he joined the Council -- unusually broad committee experience.

Trade-offs

No independent news profile was found beyond the city's own bio and brief Marin IJ mentions; his Form 501 lists a Democratic preference though the office is nonpartisan.

Keep in mind

With no challenger, the real choice is whether to keep both incumbents, not a comparison between candidates.

Source review: Strong (89/100) · 15 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context.

  • marincounty.gov (opens in a new tab)Marin County Elections Department -- official "Status of local candidates for office 11/03/26" page: a table of contents of every county-administered and city/town contest in the county, listing "City of Mill Valley Member City Council" as a single, uncombined, verified filed contest line -- no candidate names or seat count appear on this page, only the office title. Retrieved via a Chrome browser workaround in a prior session (2026-08-29); direct WebFetch attempts this session returned HTTP 403.
  • cityofmillvalley.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Mill Valley -- official "Elections & Voter Information" page: states "Two four-year full-term City Council seats are being filled. No other offices are on the ballot," gives the nomination-period dates (July 13-August 7, 2026, with a conditional extension to August 12 only if an incumbent fails to file), and names both qualified candidates directly with their exact pull/file dates -- Stephen Burke (pulled papers 7/14/2026, filed nomination materials 8/05/2026) and Max Perrey (pulled papers 7/20/2026, filed 8/07/2026) -- and links each candidate's Form 501 and Form 700.
  • cityofmillvalley.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Mill Valley -- Notice of Election, signed by City Clerk Risa De Ferrari and dated July 9, 2026 (fetched and read in full as a PDF): states the General Municipal Election is called "For Two (2) Members of the City Council (Full Term of Four Years)," sets the nomination period (July 13-August 7, 2026, 4:00 p.m., with a conditional extension to August 12, 2026 for non-incumbents only if an incumbent fails to file), and states "If no one or only one person is nominated for elective office, appointments to the elective office may be made as prescribed by Section 10229 of the Elections Code" -- confirming the exact trigger condition for an appointment/cancellation, which a two-nominee field for two seats never met.
  • cityofmillvalley.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Mill Valley -- Notice of Nominees for Public Office, signed by City Clerk Risa De Ferrari and dated August 20, 2026 -- eight days after the conditional August 12 extended filing deadline, making this the final, closed roster (fetched and read in full as a PDF): lists "City of Mill Valley City Council Member -- Full Term, Vote for no more than two (2) to be elected for a full four-year term: Stephen Burke, Max Perrey" -- exactly two nominees for two seats, with no appointment or cancellation language anywhere in the document.
  • cityofmillvalley.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Mill Valley -- official "How to Run for Office" page: independently confirms "voters electing two City Council members to four-year terms" and lays out candidate eligibility (Mill Valley resident, 18 or older, registered voter within city limits) and the FPPC filing steps (Form 501, Form 410, Form 460/470, Form 700) candidates must follow.
  • cityofmillvalley.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Mill Valley -- official City Council roster page: lists all five current councilmembers and their terms -- Max Perrey (Mayor, term 2022-2026), Caroline Joachim (Vice Mayor, term 2023-2028), Urban Carmel (term 2020-2028), Katherine Jones (term 2024-2028), and Stephen Burke (term 2021-2026) -- confirming Perrey's and Burke's are the two seats up this cycle and that the council is elected at-large with no districts named.
  • cityofmillvalley.gov (opens in a new tab)Max Perrey's own official City of Mill Valley councilmember directory bio: Mayor of Mill Valley (sworn in December 2025); on the City Council since June 2022; Senior Director of Policy & External Relations for Aliados Health, a community health centers association; BA from UC Santa Cruz, Master's degree from the London School of Economics; sits on the MCE Board of Directors and the Marin County Sea Level Rise Committee, chairs the League of California Cities' Environmental Quality Committee; previously an Emergency Preparedness Commission member (2019-2022, chairing it in 2022) and a member of the Citizens Oversight Committee of the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority; a third-generation Mill Valley resident, Tam High School graduate, and a 17-time Dipsea race finisher.
  • ca-millvalley.civicplus.com (opens in a new tab)Stephen Burke's own official City of Mill Valley councilmember directory bio: appointed to the City Council in 2021 and elected in 2022; served as Mayor during 2024-25; a retired entrepreneur in mobile software and services who spent 15 years at Sony Corporation in senior management positions in Japan and the US; previously served on Mill Valley's Parks and Recreation Commission, the 2021 Marin County Civil Grand Jury, the city's General Plan Advisory Committee (2012), and the Traffic Advisory and Congestion Task Force (2016), and represented the city on the Transportation Authority of Marin Citizen Oversight Committee; coaches youth basketball for Mt. Carmel CYO and Tamalpais High School; a Mill Valley resident with his wife, Kit Murphy, since 2001, with two sons who came up through the Mill Valley/Tam schools.
  • cityofmillvalley.gov (opens in a new tab)Max Perrey's own filed FPPC Form 501 Candidate Intention Statement for Mill Valley City Councilmember, executed February 9, 2026 and stamped received by the City of Mill Valley February 10, 2026 (fetched and read in full as a PDF): checks the "NON-PARTISAN OFFICE" box, leaves party preference blank, and lists the office jurisdiction as "City," year of election 2026.
  • cityofmillvalley.gov (opens in a new tab)Stephen Burke's own filed FPPC Form 501 Candidate Intention Statement for Mill Valley City Council, executed February 24, 2026 and stamped received by the City of Mill Valley February 25, 2026 (fetched and read in full as a PDF): lists office sought as City Council, agency "City of Mill Valley," and self-declares party preference as "Democrat" -- notable because the office itself is legally nonpartisan (per Perrey's own Form 501, filed for the same office two weeks earlier, which checks the explicit "NON-PARTISAN OFFICE" box).
  • cityofmillvalley.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Mill Valley -- official "About Mill Valley" page: states "The City of Mill Valley was incorporated in 1900. It is a full-service city with a City Council/City Manager form of government" and "Mill Valley has five elected City Councilmembers who annually elect from among their ranks a Mayor and Vice Mayor, and serve four-year terms," with a population of "approximately 14,000" residents in the city's 4.8 square miles.
  • marinij.com (opens in a new tab)Marin Independent Journal -- Richard Halstead, "Slew of Marin offices up for grabs in November election" (July 27, 2026, an early-filing-period roundup): reports "In Mill Valley, council terms are expiring for Max Perrey and Stephen Burke," independently naming both incumbents whose seats are up this cycle before either had filed. Retrieved via a Google Translate proxy this session after marinij.com direct fetches were refused by this session's tooling.
  • marinij.com (opens in a new tab)Marin Independent Journal -- Keri Brenner, "Marin candidate list lengthens for November election" (Aug. 8, 2026, published as the initial filing deadline closed): reports for Mill Valley, "Burke and Perrey have both filed to run for a new term" -- independently confirming, at the close of the initial filing window, the same two-candidate field the city's own site later shows as final. Retrieved via a Google Translate proxy this session.
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)A negative-result access check: California's statewide Cal-Access campaign-finance filer/candidate search was queried directly this pass and returned no reachable content, consistent with the Cal-Access bot-wall documented elsewhere in this dataset. Local candidates for seats like these typically file with the city rather than the state in any case. Documents an access gap, not a claim about either candidate's actual state-level filings.
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia, "Mill Valley, California": used narrowly for the 2020 Census population figure (14,231); does not cover the 2026 Council election.

Last updated September 2, 2026.