Supes seek few changes to district lines
As the county works to redraw district boundaries, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors and the overwhelming majority of county residents have asked for only minimal changes to be applied to the existing district map.
During a presentation to the board Tuesday, Redistricting Partners owner Paul Mitchell said the primary goal of the redistricting process is to ensure districts account for changes in population over the last decade and represent equal populations.
“The idea is that districts that are equal-sized, everybody has a fair amount of representative power and voting power,” he explained. “We don’t have situations where one person has 10,000 neighbors that construct their district and another person has 400,000 people that construct their district, which would really give a lot more power to the person than 10,000 per stated district. …Equal sized districts mean equal representation and equal voting power.”
When redrawing district maps, Mitchell said Redistricting Partners must also consider communities of interest. For example, several residents have expressed the importance of keeping Blue Lake, Glendale and Fieldbrook together because they “are all connected and depend on one another.”
On the other hand, many other community members have spoken out against Shelter Cove and Willow Creek being in the same district, as suggested in the first round of draft maps, because “it would be extremely difficult for Shelter Cove and Willow Creek residents to find a halfway point for a meeting involving their district.”
Mitchell said it is also essential to keep politics out of the line-drawing process.
“Based on the Fair Maps Act, we’re not allowed to and wouldn’t want to draw lines based on partisanship or drawing lines to advantage or disadvantage a political party,” he said.
Shortly after Mitchell’s presentation, 1st District Supervisor Rex Bohn said he wanted to see as little change as possible to the existing district map.
“I’ve got over nine and a half years and consider myself to be representing my district fairly well. … If you take a look at the survey results … they’re not favorable of change, nor am I,” he said. “I would be perfectly fine with making a motion that we make no changes whatsoever now that we’ve met the state re
quirements.”
Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell agreed and seconded Bohn’s motion.
“I have gotten many, many emails and phone calls concerning the redistricting and every single one of them has asked that we remain, that we keep the lines as close as we can to what is currently,” she said. “My constituents, or even people outside of my constituent area, have expressed great concern that they do not wish for the lines to be moved any more than a minor deviation and so I’m inclined to second Supervisor Bohn’s motion.”
County staff noted that 71% of the feedback received supported “a draft map similar to the current district map with minimal changes.”
Third District Supervisor Mike Wilson spoke in favor of more options.
“I am not averse to having one or two other options that are based on the existing map, in terms of modifications, based on some of the public comment that we’ve received so that we can actually discuss at the next meeting as opposed to just having one map,” he said. “I would much prefer that we have at least one if not two other options for discussion in our next meeting.”
Fifth District Supervisor Steve Madrone agreed with Wilson, adding that “change is difficult for us all.”
“I agree with Supervisor Wilson that it would be really good for our community to come back with several options at the (next) hearing,” he said. “We’re not delaying anything, we still have plenty of time to finish by December’s deadline, but I think we do a big disservice to the (commission) to not at least come back with some ideas … rather than just stick with one map at this point.”
Madrone provided his own draft map which closely resembled the existing division of districts.
“It sticks closely to existing configurations with the following exceptions,” he explained. “It combines Blue Lake and Glendale in one district, Scotia and Rio Dell in one district, and reduces the size of District 5 while increasing the size of District 3 to make a better balance of the districts in size and population. It also helps move a city back into district five, which I think is an important equity consideration.”
Madrone also emphasized the need to keep the Blue Lake Rancheria and other tribal lands intact.
The four community members who weighed in during public comment echoed the call to keep the division of districts as is.
“Whoever produced the maps did not have the knowledge or familiarity with our county’s unincorporated towns,” said Southern Humboldt resident Robie Tenario. “… I do support keeping Southern Humboldt as one district as Supervisor Bushnell has talked about. Listening to Supervisor Madrone’s suggestions seem very practical, but I don’t live in those areas, so I support the opportunity for folks living in those areas to have a chance to comment on another map that incorporates suggestions from Supervisor Madrone.”
Eureka resident Tom Wheeler thanked Redistricting Partners and the commissioners for their dedication to the community but said he also “liked the idea of keeping existing maps to the extent practicable, with only minor changes if necessary.”
“I think that there should be relatively minor changes to the existing supervisorial districts,” he said. “One thing that this process has taught me is just how much of our communities of interest are formed by existing supervisorial districts or jurisdictional boundaries and how important it is that we be conservative in our changes to existing boundaries and have not tried to pursue interesting schemes.”
After approximately two hours of discussion meandering between providing additional options and changing the existing map as little as possible, the board ultimately directed staff to return to the board with a final draft of the existing district map to reflect minor changes where appropriate, such as keeping the Blue Lake Rancheria in its entirety within one district.
The motion passed in a 3-2 vote with Wilson and Madrone dissenting.
The map will be made available to the public by Nov. 9. The Board of Supervisors’ next redistricting hearing is scheduled for Nov. 16.
More information can be found at humboldtgov. org/3106/Redistricting.