Regularly scheduled city council meetings are held at 5:00 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month. Meetings are held at City Hall, 906 S. White Oak Road.

Special meetings and workshops are held as needed. Citizens wishing to speak before the city council may do so by submitting a Citizen Comment form to the city secretary on the day of the meeting. For further information, call the city secretary at (903)759-3936.

The Agendas & Minutes page provides links to the most current agendas and approved minutes.

The City's home rule charter was adopted in 1994, but does not specify the form of government of which it is to operate. The charter has attributes of both the mayor-council and council-manager form of government. Under the mayor-council form of government, the mayor can be either a strong or weak mayor, depending on the position's powers. The White Oak mayoral position is under the weak-mayor system because the positions does not include powers held by a strong-mayor. The mayor's powers are limited. The mayor has no vote and can only vote in order to break a tie. The mayor cannot appoint department heads, but can make employment recommendations to the city council for these positions. The mayor cannot discharge employees, but can make recommendations to the city council to do so. The mayor is the presiding officer over the city council, and has no veto power. The city charter delegates the mayor to act as the budget officer of city; however, this function is performed by the finance director and overseen by the city coordinator.

The city coordinator title is synonymous with city manager or city administrator. The city council acts as the legislative body, while the city coordinator acts as the executive branch in a council-manager form of government. Under this form of government, the city council and mayor have no administrative duties. The city coordinator holds administrative duties over all city employees and is responsible for adherence to city ordinances, policies, rules, and regulations set forth by the city council. Different from the normal council-manager form of government, the city coordinator is not allowed to hire department heads and cannot terminate any employee without city council approval.

The mayor and five city councilmembers are elected at large. The mayor and each councilmember serve a two-year term, with no term limits. Councilmember places 1, 2, and 3 are elected in odd-numbered years; whereas, the mayor, and councilmember places 4 and 5 are elected in even-numbered years. The mayor pro-tem is elected from within the city council every year during the first council meeting after the election. The city council as a whole, appoints the city coordinator, city secretary, city judge, city attorney, and city health officer. The mayor and city council are responsible for adopting ordinances, resolutions, and policies that provide direction to the city coordinator and department heads.