Council holds second hearing on redistricting
OROVILLE » Oroville City Council met in a special meeting Thursday night for a second public hearing to receive input regarding redistricting for election of council members.
The council and public were given a presentation by demographer Jane Hood from the company Q2 Data and Research LLC. The public was encouraged to give input regarding redistricting for the district election process. The hearing was the second of five public hearing/meetings to inform the public about the redistricting process, present options available to the city, receive community input and receive a presentation from Q2 on the criteria for redrawing the boundaries of the voting districts, prior to drafting district map boundary alternatives.
Redistricting is the process of redrawing district boundaries. Redistricting occurs every 10 years once new census numbers are available to each governing jurisdiction. Elections were converted from at-large to districts in 2020.
Hood gave a Powerpoint presentation detailing an introduction and background into redistricting and the timeline for the process. She went over the online redistricting tool and pointed out that the census was delayed due to COVID-19 so the numbers weren’t presented until September of 2020. The city made a free, online mapping application available to the public, where they can login as guests, create digital input and draw maps. Boundaries should be easily identifiable and understandable.
Hood went over the different districts in the city of Oroville. There are six districts, labeled A through F. District A had an increase in population by 13 percent, for example, while District B is underpopulated.
Hood stressed that it is important for the
council and for Q2 to know about the public’s communities of interest. Common interest examples are economic interests and social interests as well as neighborhoods. Hood said that community of interest testimony must be completed by December 15.
Councilor David Pittman pointed out there are new apartments in construction and this will add 800 to 1,000 people toward the population. He asked City Administrator Bill LaGrone what if no one runs in that district? LaGrone said that in his opinion that he doubts that will be a problem.
Councilor Art Hatley expressed concern that not everyone is computer savvy enough to go online or owns electronics in order to look at the maps. He said he wanted the process to be fair to everyone.
LaGrone said that there are hard copies of the maps in the city hall lobby and that anyone who needs assistance can visit
or contact the city to ask for help so that everyone can have equal access. He also said there is a community workshop for this topic Dec. 15.
The city of Oroville will begin the redistricting within the required timeframe in preparation for the
2022 general election.
Pittman urged the public to go online and look at the maps.
Mayor Chuck Reynolds and councilors Eric Smith and Scott Thomson were absent from the meeting.
For more information, to look at maps or to see the
timeline of the redistricting process, visit www.cityoforoville.org/redistricting. The community workshop will be held December 15 in the Oroville city council chambers and the next regular city council meeting will be held Dec. 7 at 4:00 p.m.