Council adopts by-district elections
Also adopted a district map
The Porterville City Council recently adopted an ordinance establishing by-district council elections and adopted a district map.
The council also adopted on May 1 the draft ordinance of the council of the City of Porterville adding sections 2-1.1 through 2-1.5 of Chapter 2, Article I, to the Porterville Municipal Code relating to elections of city council members by districts, approved the first reading of the ordinance, waived further reading and ordered the ordinance to print.
Patrice Hildreth, the city’s administrative services director, said on April 3, the city council held its second public hearing to consider three draft maps — green, yellow and purple 2. Based on public commentary and council consideration, Hildreth said the council approved the green map as the district map for city council at-large elections.
Now that a district map has been approved, Hildreth said it is an appropriate time in the process to proceed with amending the city’s municipal code to transition from an at-large to a by-district election system.
In August 2017, Hildreth said the city received written notice alleging that the city’s atlarge system violates the California Voting Rights Act. While the city disputes the allegation, Hildreth said the council determined that it was in the best interest of the city to transition from at-large elections to bydistrict elections.
In October, Hildreth said the city began the process by holding public hearings to solicit commentary prior to the drawing of draft district maps.
On Dec. 19, 2017, Hildreth said judgment was entered in Tulare County Superior Court enjoining the city from utilizing an
at-large voting system and ordering the city to proceed with the implementation of by-district elections.
In March and April, Hildreth said the council held public hearings to receive public commentary on three draft district maps and election sequencing, with the green map being approved on April 3, 2018.
Hildreth said the draft ordinance provides that members of the city council shall be elected by-district in five singlemember districts, with one member elected from each district by the voters of that district alone. She said each member of the council shall serve a four-year term until their successor is qualified.
Hildreth said city council members elected
to represent a district must reside in that district and be a registered voter in that district. She said any candidate for city council must reside in, and be a registered voter in, the district in which they seek election at the time nomination papers are issued.
Hildreth said the boundaries and identifying number of each of the five city council districts shall be described on the city council district map, also known as the “Green Map.” She said the boundaries of the city council districts shall be reapportioned from time to time as required by applicable law.
Hildreth said the bydistrict election system shall be implemented beginning at the general municipal election
held in November 2018. She said members of the city council shall be elected in Districts 1 and 2 beginning in November 2018, and every four years thereafter.
Hildreth said members of the city council shall be elected in Districts 3, 4, and 5 beginning in November 2020, and every four years thereafter.
Porterville resident Barry Caplan said he would like to see the city’s downtown area be represented by one council member as he believes it would be a good way to anchor the map and grow the city.
“Downtown is a coherent district and the main thing that concerns me is one of the most important areas of our city is kind of getting the short shrift in this map [green
map] and the other ones too,” Caplan said. “The way the [green] map is right now, depending on which block you live on, you might have a different representative and that is going to be confusing and not helpful to growing downtown.”
Porterville resident Brock Neeley said he doesn’t think it would be a good idea if all the power was concentrated with one council member on Main Street.
“This way everybody has buy-in and not one district will be getting preferential treatment over the other four,” Neeley said, adding that he likes the green map council chose to go with. “It has got nice, even lines and the demographer did a good job with all the statistics and everything.”
Vice Mayor Brian Ward said he agrees with Neeley.
“I think the idea is that the more council members that touch Main Street the more likely you are going to have buy-in from those districts,” Ward said, adding, “If you are going to protect the downtown area with the power of the council, having as many votes or voices on the council that are touching Main Street is the best way to do that.”
Mayor Milt Stowe agreed also.
“The more council members downtown the better off we will be,” he said. “I’ve seen in other cities with only one council member representing downtown and sometimes it didn’t work out for the downtown area.”