Jan C. Harnik was elected to the Palm Desert City Council in 2010. Complementing her service on the Council, Jan serves on the Coachella Valley Association of Governments (CVAG) Transportation Committee and on the Coachella Valley Conservation Commission. Additionally, she is the Immediate Past President of the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), serving on SCAG’s Regional Council and Executive Administration Committee, the Transportation Committee, the Legislative/Communications and Membership Committee, and the Emerging Technologies Committee.

Jan also serves on the Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC) and as a member of RCTC's Budget and Implementation Committee and Audit Committee. Knowing the importance of visitors to Palm Desert and the surrounding Coachella Valley, Jan represents the City of Palm Desert on the Executive Committee of the Visit Greater Palm Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau.

A lover of the arts and education, she is proud to serve as a member of the McCallum Theatre's Board of Trustees, working to bring high-quality and internationally-renown performance art to all visitors and members of the community. Additionally, the McCallum Theatre Education Program seeks to enhance the role of the arts in our youths’ lives, exposing them to performances and including them in arts education experiences.  To date, the theatre education programs have served more than 660,000 students and educators in our community.

As past president of the Palm Desert High School Foundation, a non-profit corporation supporting academic excellence at Palm Desert High School, Jan worked with the organization from 2002 until 2012, spearheading multi-year efforts to raise funds and to distribute resources to support and improve every student’s academic performance and opportunities.

Recognizing the value of volunteerism and the increased quality of life it brings to our community - and to the volunteer - Jan is dedicated to volunteering and encouraging others to do so. She believes that volunteers continue to make Palm Desert the wonderful place that it is and that the community's willingness and commitment to giving back supports an even brighter future. "We don't love our community because it is great," Jan says. "Our community is great because we love it."

Jan moved to the Coachella Valley in 1977. She and her husband Brian have raised five children, all of whom attended Palm Desert High School and went on to graduate from U.C. Santa Barbara, Cal State Fullerton, U.C. Riverside, U.C. Davis, and Cal Poly Pomona. Jan is also a member of the Palm Desert Noon Rotary Club and the Palm Desert Chamber of Commerce. In the private sector, Jan works as the manager of a professional office building. Her hobbies include early morning workouts, hiking desert hillsides, nutrition and cooking, and gardening.

Throughout her tenure Jan has been recognized for her service, including the following awards:

• Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for dedicated community service, 2012
• Sunrise District Boy Scouts of America, CIEC, Distinguished Citizen of the Year award, 2014
• Palm Springs Life Women in Business Award - Business Leader, 2015
• Palm Desert Area Chamber of Commerce George V. Berkey Citizen of the Year, 2017
• LifeStream’s Humanitarian of the Year award, shared with Linda Evans and Elaine Holmes, 2018
• Cal Cities highest award in recognition of service and continued education, The Torch Program Award, Level III – Leadership in Action, presented by the California League of Cities, 2019
• The Waring's Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to Jan & Brian Harnik, 2020
• Woman of The Year 2022, Assembly District 42

Contact Mayor Pro Tem Jan Harnik

Email Mayor Pro Tem Harnik
Phone: 760-346-0611

73510 Fred Waring Drive
Palm Desert, CA 92260
City Hall Hours: 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Monday to Friday
Contact City of Palm Desert
Closed major holidays

Attend A Council Meeting 

Members of the public are welcome at all meetings of the City Council. Regular meetings of the Palm Desert City Council are held the second and fourth Thursdays of every month convening at 3:00 p.m. for Closed Session and at 4:00 p.m. for the Regular Session and Public Hearings.

Information on how to attend or speak at a City Council meeting can be found at this link.