STAFF REPORT - CITY COUNCIL/SUCCESSOR AGENCY/PUBLIC FINANCE AUTHORITY

Every ten (10) 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 Coalinga must be completed by April 17, 2022.

The City adopted its current district boundaries on June 14, 2018, when the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 811. The first election under the districts was November 2018. The current district boundaries are based on 2010 census data as required by law. The districts must now be redrawn using the 2020 census data and in compliance with the FAIR MAPS Act, which was adopted by the California legislature as AB 849 and took effect January 1, 2020. 

Under the Act, the Council shall draw and adopt boundaries using the following criteria in the listed order of priority (Elections Code 21621(c)): 

1. Comply with the federal requirements of equal population and the Voting Rights Act
2. Geographically contiguous
3. Undivided neighborhoods and "communities of interest" (social-economic geographic areas that should be kept together)
4. Easily identifiable boundaries
5. Compact (do not bypass one group of people to get to a more distant group of people)
6. Shall not favor or discriminate against a political party

Once the prioritized criteria are met, other traditional districting principles can be considered, such as:

1. Minimize the number of voters delayed from voting from 2022 to 2024
2. Respect voters' choices / continuity in office
3. Future population growth

By law, the City must hold at least four (4) Public Hearings that enable community members to provide input on the drawing of district maps: 

• At least one (1) hearing must occur before the City draws draft maps
• At least two (2) hearings must happen after the drawing of the draft maps
• The fourth (4th) hearing can happen either before or after the drawing of the draft maps
• City Staff or consultants may hold a public workshop instead of one of the required public redistricting hearings

To increase the accessibility of these hearings, cities and counties must ake the following steps: 

• At least one (1) hearing must occur on a Saturday, Sunday, or after 6:00pm on a weekday 
• If a redistricting hearing is consolidated with another local government meeting, the redistricting hearing portion must begin at a pre-designated time
• Local public redistricting hearing should be made accessible to people with disabilities 

The purpose of this Public Hearing is 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 is requested to provided input regarding communities of interest and other local factors that should be considered while drafting district maps. A community of interest under the relevant Elections Code 21621(c) 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."

Possible features defining community of interest might include, but are not limited to: 

A. School attendance areas; 

B. Natural dividing lines such as major roads, hills, or highways; 

C. Areas around parks and other neighborhood landmarks; 

D. Common issues, neighborhood activities, or legislative/election concerns; and 

E. Shared demographic characteristics, such as: 

(1)  Similar levels of income, education, or linguistic insolation; 

(2)  Languages spoken at home; and 

(3)  Single-family and multi-family housing unit areas. 

Next Steps

Public Hearing #2, scheduled for March 3, 2022, to seek additional public input and provide direction on criteria to be considered while drafting district maps. Following that hearing, draft district maps and proposed election sequencing will be posted to the City's website and available at City Hall. 

Public Hearing #3 is scheduled for Thursday, March 17, 2022 at 6:00pm and Public Hearing #4 is scheduled for Thursday, April 7 at 6:00pm to consider draft maps. Demographer Dave Ely will be available for questions during these Public Hearings. 

Boundaries cannot be adopted earlier than August 1, 2021 and must be adopted before April 17, 2022. However, the U.S. Census Bureau has indicated they will not release data before September 30, 2021. To date, the Bureau has not released the data.