Loading...
Agenda Item 9 - CONSIDERATION OF DRAFT CITY COUNCIL REDISTRICTING MAPSAGENDA ITEM NO.9 AGENDA STAFF REPORT City of West Covina I Office of the City Manager DATE: March 1, 2022 TO: Mayor and City Council FROM: David Carmany City Manager SUBJECT: CONSIDERATION OF DRAFT CITY COUNCIL REDISTRICTING MAPS RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the City Council: 1. Conduct the public hearing, receive public input, discuss and revise draft maps and election sequencing, and identify focus maps; and 2. Provide direction to staff regarding which map(s) should be considered for inclusion in the ordinance to adopt new district boundaries for the West Covina City Council. BACKGROUND: Democratic elections strengthen participatory democracy, consistent with human rights. The overarching objective is to enhance democratic governance and increase effective political participation for all, especially groups that have been historically disadvantaged or that face political, cultural, or socioeconomic barriers. This includes women, racial and ethnic minorities, indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, youth, elderly people, and other marginalized groups. California law requires that the City Council districts be updated to reflect data from the 2020 Census. These districts will be used for future elections of the West Covina City Council, including for the filling any vacancy in the office of a member of the City Council. The redistricting plan must comply with the United States Constitution, the Voting Rights Act, and the California Elections Code. The districts are to contain substantially equal population. In adopting boundaries, cities are required to use the following criteria: (1) districts should be geographically contiguous, (2) districts should respect the geographic integrity of any local neighborhood or local community of interest, including racial, ethnic, and language minorities, in a manner that minimizes division, (3) district boundaries should be easily identifiable and understandable by residents, (4) districts should be drawn to encourage geographic compactness, and (5) districts should not be drawn for the purpose of favoring or discriminating against an incumbent, political candidate, or political party. On January 17, 2017, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 2310 to change from an at -large election system to by -district elections with five districts. On February 21, 2017, the City Council approved a settlement agreement in the matter known as Sanchez v. City of West Covina. This settlement set forth requirements relating to selection of a districting consultant, selection of district boundaries and sequencing of elections. As a result, a Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued on March 14, 2017 for district consultant services. On May 2, 2017, the City Council awarded a contract for election district consulting services to National Demographics Corporation (NDC), a well-known company in the industry There were a total of four public hearings conducted with public input and participation. In total, the City Council reviewed 23 maps (20 that were submitted by members of the community and three that were submitted by NDC). The City Council selected 6 maps to bring back at the November 14, 2017 Council meeting for further discussion and selection. At the December 5, 2017 Council meeting, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 2328, designating the boundaries for the five single -member districts and the sequence of district elections. Every ten years, cities with by -district election systems must use new census data to review and, if needed, redraw district lines to reflect how local populations have changed. This process, called redistricting, ensures all districts have nearly equal population. The redistricting process for the City of West Covina must be completed by April 17, 2022. On May 3, 2021, the City released an RFP for redistricting services. On May 24, 2021, the City received three proposals and at the September 21, 2021 Council meeting a contract was awarded to NDC. The redistricting process requires four public hearings. The first two public hearing were held on November 18, 2021, and January 18, 2022. This is the third of four required hearings. The purpose of the first two public hearings was to inform the public about the districting process and to hear from the community on what factors should be taken into consideration while creating district boundaries. The public was requested to provide input regarding communities of interest and other local factors that should be considered while drafting district maps. A community of interest is "a population that shares common social or economic interests that should be included within a single district for purposes of its effective and fair representation." (Elections Code § 21601(c)(2).) Possible features defining a community of interest might include, without limitation: 1. School attendance areas; 2. Natural dividing lines such as major roads, hills, or highways; 3. Areas around parks and other neighborhood landmarks; 4. Common issues, neighborhood activities, or legislative/election concerns; and 5. Shared demographic characteristics, such as: a. Similar levels of income, education, or linguistic insolation; b. Languages spoken at home; and c. Single-family and multi -family housing unit areas. DISCUSSION: The City's districting consultant NDC provided the City with draft maps for the City Council's consideration.To be considered a viable map, the map submittals must be evaluated based on Federal and California redistricting criteria such as equal population, no racial gerrymandering, contiguous geography, easily identifiable boundaries, and not favoring or discriminating against a political party. Other traditional redistricting principles such as respecting voters' choices, future population growth, minimizing voter election year disruptions and preserving the core of existing districts can be considered in evaluating draft maps. It is recommended that the City Council provide direction regarding which map it would like to consider including in the ordinance, which will be introduced for first reading at the next Public Hearing on March 15, 2022. Prepared by: Lisa Sherrick; Assistant City Clerk Attachments Attachment No. 1 - West Covina Draft District Map 101 Attachment No. 2 - West Covina Draft District Map 102 Attachment No. 3 - West Covina Draft District Map 103 Attachment No. 4 - West Covina Draft District Map 104 Attachment No. 5 - West Covina Draft District Map 105 Attachment No. 6 - City Council District Map 2022 CITY COUNCIL GOALS & OBJECTIVES: Enhance City Image and Effectiveness Maintain Good Intergovernmental Relations City of West Covina Redistricting 2022 Draft Plan 101 ©2021 CALIPER ATTACHMENT NO. 1 DRAFT District 1 (1) 2 (1) 3 (1) 4 (1) 5 (1) 0 .5 1 1.5 Mi' les ATTACHMENT NO.2 DRAFT Y Cit of West Covina Redistricting 2022 Draft Plan 102 District �2(1) 03(1) 04(1) 05(1) 0 .6 1 1.5 02021 CALIPER Miles 2 City of West Covina Redistricting 2022 Draft Plan 103 ATTACHMENT NO. 3 DRAFT • 5 0.52% District A 1 (1) 2 (1) 3 (1) 4 (1) 5 (1) .5 1 1.5 02021 CALIPER Miles 2 -0.05% F4 2.23% City of West Covina Redistricting 2022 Draft Plan 104 3 2.19% • ATTACHMENT NO.4 DRAFT District 1 (1) 2 (1) 3 (1) 4 (1) 5 (1) 0 .5 1 1.5 C2021 CALIPER Miles City of West Covina Redistricting 2022 Draft Plan 105 a 1 ©2021 CALIPER -* ATTACHMENT NO.5 DRAFT District 1 (1) 2 (1) 3 (1) 4 (1) 5 (1) 0 .5 1 1.5 Miles ATTACHMENT NO. 6 West Covina City Council District Map YOR MAYOR DARIO CASTELLANOS C0U�LMAN TONY WU Election Cycle Council Districts Q District 1 - Brian Tabatabai Q District 2 - Letty Lopez-Viado Q District 3 - Rosario Diaz District 4 - Dario Castellanos = District 5 - Tony Wu