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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCVRA - District Compliant - Boundaries-Maps 02-27-2020STAFF REPORT CITY OF PALM DESERT CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE MEETING DATE: February27, 2020 PREPARED BY: Lauri Aylaian, City Manager REQUEST: Conduct a public hearing to receive community input regarding the creation of boundaries and drafting of maps defining City Council districts compliant with the California Voting Rights Act. Recommendation Open the public hearing and accept community input on the creation of boundaries and the drafting of maps for City Council districts in the city of Palm Desert. Background The California Voting Rights Act (CVRA): The California Voting Rights Act, Elections Code Sections 14025-14032, was enacted in 2001 to implement the California constitutional guarantees of equal protection and the right to vote. It provides a private right of action to members of any protected class where an at -large election system impairs the ability of a protected class to elect candidates of its choice or its ability to influence the outcome of an election. The CVRA allows for legal challenges alleging that the at -large system has resulted in racially polarized voting within a jurisdiction and seeking a court order that a jurisdiction convert to a by -district election system. At -large is a designation system in which members of a governing body are elected to represent the whole city, rather than a subset of the city. In contrast, district voting systems are ones in which a city is divided into separate geographic districts, each of which elects its own representative(s) who reside(s) in the district and who is/are elected only by the voters residing in that district. A violation of the CVRA may be established if it is shown that racially polarized voting has combined with an at -large voting system to impair the ability of a protected class of voters to elect candidates of its choice or to influence the outcome of an election. "Racially polarized voting" under the CVRA means voting in which there is a difference between the choice of candidates (or other electoral choices) that are preferred by voters in a protected class and in the choice of candidates (and electoral choices) preferred by voters in the rest of the electorate. February 27, 2020 — Staff Report By -District Voting Page 2 of 5 The CVRA does not require proof that racially polarized voting actually resulted in the defeat of a group's preferred candidate. Nor does the CVRA require a plaintiff to show racial discrimination by the jurisdiction or other discriminatory intent. The CVRA also allows successful plaintiffs to recover attorneys' fees. No public entity has successfully defended itself against a CVRA challenge; some jurisdictions have paid millions of dollars in plaintiffs' attorney fees trying to do so. City of Palm Desert History Relating to the California Voting Rigghts Act., The City of Palm Desert currently elects its City Council through an "at -large" electoral system in which each council member may reside anywhere within the City's boundaries, and each council member is elected by the entire electorate. On 18 September 2017, the City received a letter from Kevin Shenkman of the law firm of Shenkman & Hughes, alleging that the City's at -large electoral system violates the CVRA. Mr. Shenkman claimed there is evidence of Latino "polarized voting" in the Palm Desert electorate and threatened litigation if the City did not adopt a by -district electoral system. Based on information provided by consultants at that time, the City did not respond to the allegations contained in Mr. Shenkman's letter. On 5 June 2019, Lorraine Salas and Karina Quintanilla, represented by Shenkman & Hughes in Malibu and Goldstein Borgen Dardarian & Ho in Oakland, filed a lawsuit against the City of Palm Desert alleging violation of the CVRA based on the City's continued use of an at -large voting system. The City does not believe that the record establishes Latino racially -polarized voting has occurred in the City in violation of the CVRA. However, it recognizes that, because the CVRA establishes a fairly low threshold, numerous public agencies throughout California have faced challenges to their at -large election systems and that no public agency has succeeded in court when challenged under the CVRA. In recognition of the unanimous record of legal rulings against similarly -situated California cities, and with mindfulness of the expenses they have incurred while challenging these rulings, the City of Palm Desert entered into negotiations with the plaintiffs and their attorneys with the goal of settling the lawsuit in a manner consistent with the best interests of all residents of the City. On 12 December 2019, the City of Palm Desert and plaintiffs Salas and Quintanilla announced a settlement of the lawsuit filed by the plaintiffs' attorneys. Key elements of the settlement agreement include conducting a public hearing process to configure two voting districts in the city of Palm Desert, and instituting ranked choice voting in both districts (if feasible). One of the districts, including approximately 20% of the city's residents, would encompass the downtown core and elect one council member. The second district would include the remainder of the city (about 80% of the residents) and elect four council members. Both the City Council and the plaintiffs must ultimately agree to the district boundaries, which are intended to fulfill the goals of the California Voting Rights Act and of the City's 2013 Strategic Plan and 2017 General Plan. February 27, 2020 — Staff Report By -District Voting Page 3 of 5 General: This staff report was prepared to accompany the second public hearing during which interested parties may offer input concerning the boundaries of districts that will comply with the California Voter Rights Act. Additional public hearings will be conducted at dates that are defined later in this report. Public input is not limited to the creation of two districts that comport to the terms of the settlement agreement between the plaintiffs and the City of Palm Desert. Input will be received regarding any number of districts in any configuration that meets the requirements of the California Voter Rights Act. Nonetheless, City staff advises interested parties that input concerning boundaries and districts that embody the terms of the settlement agreement described above are particularly encouraged. Communitv Outreach Staff has posted information about the process of transitioning from at -large to by - district elections on www.representpd.org, Facebook and NextDoor, engaged with traditional media, issued mass mailings to every residential and business mailing address in the city, and conducted informational workshops for interested parties on 15 January and 12 February 2020. A Notice of Public Hearing regarding the establishment of by -district elections was published in the Desert Sun on 2 February 2020 and will be published again on 16 February 2020, noticing both the first and second public hearings (13 February 2020 and 27 February 2020, respectively). Process The City is required to hold at least four public hearings during this process. The first two hearings are to help develop criteria for creating the proposed districts. These criteria may include: • School attendance areas • Natural neighborhood dividing lines, such as highways or major roads, washes, canals, and/or hills • Areas around parks and other neighborhood landmarks • Common issues, neighborhood activities, or legislative/election concerns • Shared demographic characteristics such as similar levels of income, education, or linguistic isolation. The primary focus of the process will be defining the downtown -core district. The two initial public hearings must be held within 30 days of each other (February 13 and February 27, 2020; inserted below is a draft timeline for transitioning to by -district February 27, 2020 — Staff Report By -District Voting Page 4 of 5 elections). In addition, the City held a second community meeting to supplement the first one held on January 15, 2020 to provide information about the map -drawing process and solicit feedback from the public, which will be used to draft preliminary district maps. In addition to the community meetings and required public hearings, staff will continue to engage the public through traditional and social media as well as targeted outreach and meetings. Staff is interested in feedback on the timeline and any suggestions the Council has for additional public engagement. The map drawing process begins after the initial two public hearings. The City's demographer will prepare options for the City Council's consideration. In addition, members of the public may propose maps, all of which will be considered. After the draft maps are prepared, the City Council will hold at least two additional public hearings. The maps will be available for at least seven days prior to each of these public hearings. These final two public hearings will be held within 45 days of each other. Thereafter the City Council may adopt a map establishing districts. Votinq Options As part of the transition to district voting, the City is committed to the implementation of ranked choice voting, with the intent to do so in time for the general election to be held in November 2020. This system of casting and counting votes is intended to allow voters to express a full spectrum of preferences, not locking them into a single choice, but allowing expression of a scale of preferences for various candidates. Further information about ranked choice voting is available at www.representpd.org and at www.fairvote.org, and will be the subject of voter education outreach efforts by the City in advance of its implementation. Fiscal Impact There is no fiscal impact to the General Fund associated with the conduct of this public hearing. February 27, 2020 — Staff Report By -District Voting Page 5 of 5 DISTRICT ELECTIONS PROCESS TIMELINE City of Palm Desert 73-510 Fred Waring Drive, Palm Desert, CA 92260 ph. 760.346.0611 Note: All future dates are tentative 1st Community Meeting: Presentation to community regarding January 15, 2020 process and purpose of transition from at -large to by -district election system 2nd Community Meeting: Presentation to community regarding February 12, 2020 the map drawing process and purpose of transition from at -large to by -district election system February 13, 2020 1st Public Hearing without maps: gather public input on the composition of zones February 27, 2020 2nd Public Hearing without maps: gather public input on the composition of zones Ongoing City Council and community outreach to educate and encourage public participation in mapping options March 12 and 26, 3rd and 4th Public hearings: City Council hearings to adopt new 2020 districts May through Voter outreach and education on new election format, including November 2020 ranked choice voting November, 2020 First by -district election in two districts on November 3, 2020 2021 Districts redrawn to reflect 2020 census data LEGAL REVIEW DEPT. REVIEW FINANCIAL REVIEW ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER Robert W. Hargreaves auri Aylaian Janet Moore Andy Firestine— City Attorney City Manager Director of Finance Assistant City anager U City Manager, Lauri Aylaian ATTACHMENTS: 1. Notice of Public Forum published 30 January 2020 2. Notice of Public Hearing published 30 January 2020 CITY OF PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ABOUT CRITERIA FOR CONSIDERATION IN DRAWING DRAFT MAPS AND BOUNDARIES FOR THE CITY'S TRANSITION TO A BY -DISTRICT ELECTION SYSTEM NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the City of Palm Desert will conduct two (2) initial public hearings regarding the drafting of maps of proposed districts and the process to transition from at -large to by -district elections. On each of the dates of Thursday, February 13, 2020, and Thursday, February 27, 2020, the City Council will hold a public hearing at 4:00 p.m., or as soon thereafter as practicable, at the Palm Desert City Council Chamber, 73-510 Fred Waring Drive, Palm Desert, California 92260, in order to receive public input regarding composition of the districts and criteria that the City should consider in preparing draft maps and district boundaries. More information is available at www.reoresentod.ora. Dated: January 30, 2020 RACHELLE D. KLASSEN, CITY CLERK CITY OF PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA City of Palm Desert 73-510 Fred Waring Drive Palm Desert, CA 92260-2578 www.citvofpalmdesert.orq