Attorney’s report short on key details

Pre-meeting staff report does little to assuage left-out voters as legality of sequencing process is challenged

CHICO >> The agenda for the next-to-last meeting on districting in Chico has been released, and in it, City Attorney Andrew Jared’s staff report on the legalities of the sequencing process is rather bare on explanations.

Chico First leader Rob Berry issued a letter Jan. 23 to Jared and the city of Chico, calling into question the legality of voting on sequencing and the council’s decision to renumber districts without first seeking public comment.

“To make such a decision without affording the public an opportunity to be informed about the options and latitude of the council on district sequencing, to spring it on the council minority and public at the moment of decision, after public hearings have closed is, at the very least, a violation of the spirit and intent of the law,” Berry wrote.

Jared was unavailable for comment at that time, but did email a statement to the E-R that said: “The issue will be addressed in the staff report on the forthcoming ordinance.”

That staff report was released Thursday, but did not address sequencing other than to quote the guidance of the California Elections Code and the California Voting Rights Act of 2001 on the matter.

“The … historical interpretation of giving ‘special consideration to the purposes’ of the CVRA has been to take measures to avoid racially polarized voting, by the district with the highest concentration of a protected class is placed in the next election cycle,” Jared wrote.

Berry responded by saying Jared’s staff report “glosses over the actual intent” of the City Council, which he believes was to deprive Councilor Sean Morgan of the ability to run again in 2020.

“According to the City Attorney, the Election Code itself makes it clear that the council ‘shall take into account the preferences expressed by members of the districts,’” Berry wrote. “Since no public input on this subject was heard, and (Morgan) expressed his outrage, obviously this did not occur.”

At its most recent meeting on Jan. 21, the City Council chose Districts 1, 3, 5 and 7 to go to vote first in the November 2020 election. The councilors living in those districts are Ann Schwab, Vice Mayor Alex Brown and Mayor Randall Stone, respectively. No current councilor lives in District 7.

Of those three, both Stone and Schwab could run for re-election immediately in 2020. Brown’s district could potentially have both her and an elected district representative living there until her term ends in 2022 — unless Brown forfeits her current seat and runs for the district seat, thereby extending her time in office for two more years. At that point, it’s possible the City Council could appoint someone to take the seat for the remainder of Brown’s current term.

Districts 2, 4 and 6 will vote in the city’s 2022 election. The current councilors living in those districts, respectively, are: Scott Huber, Morgan and Kasey Reynolds. Of the three, only Morgan’s term ends before his district would go to election.

Jared also provided the racial breakdown of each district in his report. The top four districts that have

the highest Latino populations are districts 2, 4, 5 and 7.

If the council chose which districts would go to vote solely on the overall population of Latinos, it would be Huber, Morgan, Stone and District 7 — which doesn’t include the home of any current councilor — that would go to election.

That decision would effectively lock out Schwab from running in the 2020 election, in the same way that Morgan is currently locked out.

It would also place Huber and Brown in the position Brown currently is in: In a district that will go to election before the term of the incumbent councilor who is living there expires. If that happens, both Huber and Brown could forfeit their current seats to run in the district election and two seats could be appointed by the council to close out their current terms of office.

City Attorney Jared did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Thursday.

The next City Council meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4, in the City Council Chambers at 421 Main St. in Chico.