About-face

As the City Council voted to create district-based elections under the threat of expensive lawsuits on Tuesday (Nov. 12), the refrain from the dais was that the timing was horrible for a city still struggling to adapt to the reverberations of the Camp Fire.

The allegation at hand made by two law firms: The city is violating the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) because its at-large elections have created racially polarized voting and diluted minority votes. (See “Diversity on the dais,” Newslines, Oct. 31.)

Citizen Chaz Kelley was quick to remind the council, however, how it got into this predicament. The CVRA, which prohibits the use of at-large elections if they impair the ability of minority populations to elect candidates or influence election outcomes, was adopted in 2001. Four years ago, advocacy group Districts for Chico asked the council to, at the very least, hold a community forum on the subject. The city voted not to discuss it, and when the topic came up again in 2018, it made the same call.

“We should not have to deal with the fact that the City Council has failed its job … on being able to stay up to date on state law, regardless of timing,” Kelley chided, “… and several members of council just [kicked] the ball until we were sued.”

Kelley was joined by about a dozen other speakers in favor of districts. Many suggested the city not pigeon-hole itself to just seven councilmembers. Ranking candidates by preference—aka ranked-choice voting—was another popular suggestion.

Some members of the panel appeared motivated to move forward now solely to avoid shelling out money fighting a lawsuit. The vote fell 5-1 to pass a resolution of intent to transition to district-based elections, with Mayor Randall Stone against and Councilwoman Kasey Reynolds absent.

Last month, the city received letters from two attorneys, Matt Rexroad (a former Yolo County supervisor) and Malibu-based Kevin Shenkman, threatening legal action. Assistant City Attorney Andrew Jared reminded the council that no city has successfully defended such lawsuits: The city of Palmdale, for example, paid $4.5 million to Shenkman’s firm before ultimately switching to districts (the CVRA requires losing jurisdictions to pay attorneys’ fees).

City Manager Mark Orme confirmed the city’s first district-based elections would take place in November 2020. Councilmembers Sean Morgan, Karl Ory, Ann Schwab and Randall Stone’s terms will be up, and all but Morgan have filed documentation that they intend to run.

One of the sticking points during the meeting was that the city will have to redistrict after the 2020 census is completed. Schwab said it “belies logic” that the city cannot successfully plead its case that “this doesn’t make sense for Chico right now.” She and Ory also expressed concerns over how the city would account for its new residents from the Ridge, who can choose to vote there or in Chico.

For now, it appears the districts will rely on 2010 census data, which say the city’s population is approximately 86,000, rather than its current population of about 112,000. “How do we overcome that inequity?” Ory asked.

City staff acknowledged that there weren’t clear-cut answers to questions like Ory’s. Case in point: The city will be in violation of its charter by moving forward with districts. The only way to amend the charter is to put it to a vote of the people, which ostensibly would happen at the same time as the first district-based election.

“It really puts the city in an awkward situation, absolutely,” Orme told the CN&R later. “Nobody quite understands exactly how that’s going to work [yet].”

State law stipulates a very specific process for cities transitioning to districts after receiving a CVRA violation letter. There must be at least five public hearings within the next 90 days to gather public input before and after proposed maps are drawn, culminating in the final adoption of an ordinance. Even then, the city must pay some attorneys’ fees—under a “safe harbor” provision, the maximum amount is $30,000.

The first hearing is slated for next Tuesday (Nov. 19) during a regular council meeting. It will be led by consultant Michael Wagaman, of Sacramento-based Wagaman Strategies. His work with districting predates the CVRA, he told the CN&R via phone, and has been part of his career for more than 20 years. Recently, he’s worked with several cities that received CVRA violation letters or were concerned about the prospect. The city will pay him approximately $30,000.

During the district-drawing process, Wagaman uses criteria including geography and topography, like creeks and freeways, contiguity and compactness. Districts also must be of relatively equal size. Another criteria, a “community of interest,” can be defined broadly by things such as certain neighborhoods, schools, shopping centers or cultures.

“That’s where the public can have a really important role, because there’s not a fixed data set of communities of interest, and sometimes communities of interest can be overlapping,” Wagaman said.

Chico isn’t the only city in this predicament: Oroville Councilwoman Janet Goodson, who attended the meeting, said her city received a letter from Rexroad in late October, and has discussed the issue in closed session. From her perspective, districts are a “win-win,” and a council “needs to reflect the diversity of the community, period.”