ELECTORAL DISTRICTS 2015/09/16 ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON ELECTORAL DISTRICTS MINUTES
WEDNESDAY, SEP . ~-.~.B.-.. 16, 2015
6:30 P.M.
Anaheim City Council Chamber
Committee Members Present: Hon. James Jackman, Ret.; Hon. Nancy Wieben Sb3ck, Ret.;
Hon. Stephen Sundvold, Ret.; Hon. Thomas Thrasher, Ret.; Hon. Edward Wallin, Ret.
Staff Present: City Clerk Linda Andal, Outside Counsel Ben De K4ayo, Consultant Justin Levitt.
Chairman Wallin called the meeting to order at 6:34 p.m. He announced the Committee would
follow their usual procedure of hearing staff presentation prior to public oommenta, unless there
were any objections.
1. Consideration, discussion and possible action on the Committee's final report to
the City Council, including the Committee's recommendation of a boundary plan
for City Council districts.
Ben DeMayo, outside legal counsel, reported per Committee direction staff prepared a report
that was posted with the agenda for Committee and public review that summarized the
comprehensive public outreach process, provided a brief summary of each Committee meeting,
and detailed the criteria selected and applied in order to select the recommended plan that the
Committee had tentatively adopted. Mr. DeMayo explained the criteria used which included
population equality with the tentatively selected map having only a 1.496 deviation from the
largest to the smallest district (Largest district had 424 more than the ideal population; smallest
district had 363 fewer than the ideal population), the Voting Rights Act, compactness and
contiguity of districts, and the communities of interest as expressed by the community at
previous meetings,
Public Comments (3 minutes - all agenda items).
Martin Lopez described the community's celebration stemmed from the Committee's unanimous
selection of the map supported by the community. He thanked the Committee for their time and
commitment to serve the residents of Anaheim, for having open minds, and for listening to the
people. Mr. Lopez hoped the City Council would listen to the Committee's recommendation and
urged the judges to remain in the process to ensure the voice of the community was not
ignored. He supported Reyes Map 2 with two strong Latino-plurality districts. Chairman Wallin
asked participants to refer to the selected map as the "Recommended Plan." Mr. Lopez
expressed community support for the Recommended Plan and announced objection to any
potential changes by the City Council that would lower the pluralities in these two districts.
Marisol Ranniraz, representing various oonnnnuniUea, faith-booed, and ethnic organizations,
presented a letter to the Committee expressing thanks for valuing the voice of the community
and unanimously supporting the selected map and urged the Committee to stay involved with
the rest of the process. She explained the community only wanted strong plurality districts and
would disagree with any alterations by the City Council that would lower the 47% Latino CVAP
plurality in District 4 and the 44% Latino CVAP plurality in District 5.
Regular Meeting of the Advisory Committee on Electoral Districts
September 16,2015
Page 2 of 5
Chairman Wallin again urged the speakers to refer to the selected map as the "Recommended
Plan," to not identify it with any one individual, yet congratulating and recognizing the efforts of
that individual.
Art Montez thanked the Committee and staff for working with LULAC throughout this process
and announced the State LULAC Board approved supporting the Recommended Plan. He
emphasized that LULAC sought the best for the community and wanted at least 50Y6 Latino
majorities in districts but acknowledged that may occur once new Census data was released.
He expressed hope that community organizations would continue with efforts in voter
registration and citizenship and hoped that no additional litigation would be necessary in this
process. He acknowledged the efforts of the community in creating and supporting the
Recommended Plan, noting that it should be respected. Chairman Wallin recognized LULAC for
its long-standing efforts for the Latino community.
Mark Daniels thanked the Committee for their hard xvork, acknowledged the historic nature of
this process and change, and commended the community for their diligence and efforts. He
suggested the City Council unanimously select the Recommended Plan.
Victoria de Gomez expressed pride in her Mexican heritage and urged the Committee to respect
the map.
Rida Hamida called upon the audience to provide a standing ovation and expressed her
appreciation to the Committee for their empathy, ability to be open, and listening to the voices of
the people. Chairman Wallin acknowledged a sign in the audience and responded that voices
had been heard because people participated. He encouraged additional participation by
registering voters and getting people to the polls on Election Day.
Oscar Reyes credited the many Anaheim residents who provided their thoughts, input, and
ideas that resulted in his submitted map, calling it the "People's Map." He thanked the
Committee and staff for their service and for unanimously supporting the Recommended Plan
and for listening to the community.
Victoria Michaels acknowledged the efforts of community groups to get people involved which
resulted in more participation and better meeting attendance over time. She encouraged the
community to continue with voter-registration efforts and voting, thanked the Committee and
staff for their work during this process, and questioned the next steps in the process of City
Council review and map selection. She concluded with brief comments in Spanish.
In response to Ms. Michaels's questions, Mr. DeMayo explained that only City Council has the
discretion to form the districts pursuant to California state law so the Committee could only be
advisory in nature. City Attorney Michael Houston continued that the same provision for City
Council approval of districts existed in the City Charter and in the Settlement Agreement. He
noted that all parties recognized the importance of the Committee to make a recommendation.
Mr. Houston announced the City Council would receive the final report of this Committee at its
meeting on October 6 during which time they could oonoider, revievv, and discuss the report as
well as set dates for three required public hearings. He announced that the entire administrative
file with all submitted maps would be transferred to the City Council along with the
Recommended Plan. Chairman Wallin acknowledged the many municipal issues and
considerations the City Council was busy with, of which the district process was one that they
deferred to the Committee for advice. Mr. Houston confirmed the Recommended Plan would be
Regular g of the Advisory Committee on Electoral Districts
September 16,2015
Page 3 of 5
brought forward at City Council meetings at least four times and invited the Committee to attend
any of the meetings.
Greg Diamond requested the Committee substitute Chuchua 6 or Chuchua 9 for Chuchua 4 as
one of the final Committee-selected maps providing that those maps better reflected his
intentions after the Ponderosa community withdrew their suggested district boundaries. He
indicated he would support the Recommended Plan but preferred other options for his own
submittal. He provided comments on the residency of incumbents and encouraged the
Committee to include additional information in their report to include what they learned along
with their recommendation and to state their opinion with more detail. In response to Chairman
Wallin, Mr. Diamond requested Chuchua 9 be substituted nunc pro tunc for Chuchua 4. Mr.
DeMayo explained that all submitted maps and comments were part of the record and previous
actions by the Committee could not be undone with Chairman Wallin expressing that Mr.
Chuchua's request at a public meeting was sufficient for the record.
2. Approve minutes of the August 26, 2015 Committee meeting.
Item No. 2 was taken out of order. Judge Sundvold moved to approve the minutes of the
August 26, 2015 Committee nneeUng, seconded by Judge Thrasher. Approved Vote: 5-0.
1. Consideration, discussion and possible action on the Committee's final report to
the City Council, including the Committee's recommendation of a boundary plan
for City Council districts. (Continued)
Judge Stock stated she reviewed previous testimony by Loara High School teacher Karen
Ridley that the Recommended Plan followed elementary school districts and further enhanced
communities of interest and asked Ben DeMayo, outside legal counse|, to provide the
Committee with an update. Mr. DeMayo explained he followed up with Ms. Ridley for specftic
testimony related to the mapping effect on elementary schools and communities of interest and
added that copies of the language pertaining to their discussion was available outside Council
Chambers for public access. Judge Stock moved to add additional language to Section 4:
Districting Criteria, Subsection 9: Communities of Interest and read the language into the record
as follows:
"One type of community of interest expressed by the public is to keep elementary school
attendance boundaries wholly or substantially within a single City Council district. Speakers
favored having the areas on both sides of the County island in the same District, District 2. One
reason stated was that residents tend to form a community around their local elementary
schools and the elementary schools in that area draw students from both sides of the County
island. These are the Salk and Disney elementary schools in the Magnolia School District.
Additionally, Juliette Low Elementary School lies within this corridor and creates this continuity
with the schools along the Brookhurst Corridor.
For similar reasons, supporters of the Plan wanted to place the portions of the Centralia
and Savanna Elementary School Districts that lie within Anaheim entirely within District 1. In
District 4, the following attendance areas are kept entirely within the District boundaries:
Stoddard, Palm Lane, Ponderosa, (}live Street, Orange Grove, and Roosevelt Elementary
Schools.
Regular g of the Advisory Committee on Electoral Districts
September 16,2015
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The emdistrict/ncludea1heaneawestof8CateColleoenorthofSontaAnaAvenue. This
allowed for the people on Anna Drivewho are in the Sunkist Elementary School District area to
be /n1ha8a/nenounciluYobfctoowellaakeeptheJuarez and Guinn attendance areas in the
same district."
Judge Sundvold seconded the motion to include additional language. Approved vote: 5-0.
Chairman Wallin moved and opened for discussion that the written report and recommended
map be sent to City Council as the unanimous recommendation of the Committee, seconded by
Judge Jackman. Approved vote: 5-0.
Chairman Wallin offered supporting comments about the City Council to the public, advising that
even if the City Council disagreed with each other or certain members of the public, they are
serving their City and working hard. He thanked his Committee colleagues and staff for their
participation in the process. He expressed pride in the community for coming together, listening
to each other, and being unified behind the Recommended Plan.
3. Authorize the City Clerk to finalize and execute Committee meeting minutes of
September 8 and September 16, 2015.
Chairman Wallin moved to authorize the City Clerk to finalize and execute Committee meeting
minutes of September 8 and September 16, 2015, seconded by Judge Stock. Approved vote:
5-0.
4. Amend Committee meeting calendar, as necessary.
Not required.
5. Committee Comments I Staff comments
Judge Jackman acknowledged the efforts of people who were willing to change their position
after listening to others.
Judge Sundvold found the process rewarding and acknowledged the increase in attendance
from the early meetings until the final meetings.
Judge Thrasher acknowledged the increase in attendance from 20-30 to over 100 over the past
10 meetings and noted the hard work of staff and the people of Anaheim.
Judge Stock congratulated the community for affecting history and for establishing a strong
foundation and paving the way for the children and youth of Anaheim.
Chairman Wallin announced the Recommended Plan would go forward to the City Council after
which there would be an election in November 2016, the success of which would depend on
how the community worked to recruit good oandidatea, register voters, and get them to polls.
City Clerk Linda Andal recognized Michael Houston for working behind the scenes on this
process. Mr. Houston expressed staff's gratitude for the services and commitment by the
Committee, as well as by the nine other judges who offered to serve.
Regular Meeting of the Advisory Committee on Electoral Districts
September 16,2015
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With no further business to discuss, Chairman Wallin adjourned the meeting at 7:24 p.m.
IR= fijatfplly submitted,
Linda N. Andal, CMC
City Clerk