TITLE
Introduce and Adopt an Ordinance to Establish By-District Election of Councilmembers Pursuant to Elections Code ?10010
staffreport
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On November 21, 2024, the City received a notice of potential CVRA violation from Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian, & Ho ("GBDH") on behalf of their client and claimant. The notice letter is included as Attachment A.
On January 6, 2025, the City Council adopted a resolution declaring its intent to transition to district-based elections pursuant to the California Voting Rights Act ("CVRA"), included as Attachment B. On April 7, 2025, the City Council entered into a written agreement with the claimant to complete all requisite public hearings by July 5, 2025. All four scheduled public hearings have been held, with the final public hearing conducted on June 2, 2025. The City's draft map reflects the existing district map and City Council directed staff to prepare an ordinance to transition the City's existing at-large election system to by-district or "district-based" elections pursuant to Government Code section 34871.
This hearing is the final public hearing for the matter, whereby the City Council is set to vote on the ordinance, which would initiate the ballot measure process for establishing district-based elections as well as adopt the City's existing election map to affirm the boundaries of each council district.
RECOMMENDATION
Hold a final hearing regarding the composition of voting districts to be established for the district-based election of Councilmembers beginning in 2026 and adopt an ordinance to establish district-based elections of Councilmembers and a final district map in accordance with the California Voting Rights Act.
BACKGROUND
On November 21, 2024, the City received a letter from GBDH on behalf of claimant, Robert Bulatao. The letter alleged the City was violating the CVRA because its current at-large election system led to racially polarized voting that diminished the electoral power of the...
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