City Hall opened in a new building in 2006 and blends glass and wood into its design, providing 44,000 square feet of working and meeting space. The three-level building sits on thirty acres of what's called Sammamish Commons, a city property that includes a plaza, park, picnic areas and trails.

The building's first floor houses chambers for the seven-member council. Council members, who are elected at large, typically hold regular meetings the first and third Tuesday of the month at 6:30pm. Study sessions are scheduled for the other Tuesdays of the month, also at 6:30 pm. The top administrator is the city manager.

Sammamish 21/61 TV broadcasts council meetings on cable providers Comcast (Channel 21) and Broadstripe (Channel 61, formerly Millenium).

City Hall also is home for arts, parks and planning commission meetings, a Technology Committee and the Sammamish Youth Board. The Sammamish police officers have first-floor offices in City Hall. Sammamish contracts with the King County Sheriff's Office for police services.

While the top floor has offices, the bottom level has public parking. From mid May to late September, the plaza is the site of a Farmers Market each Wednesday. It starts in the late afternoon and ends in the evening. From Sammamish Commons, visitors can see the sunset.

The municipality takes its name from two Northwest Native American words, samena and mish, according to the King County Library System. Samena means "hunter"; mish means people.