CITIZENS ADVISORY 2012/11/08CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON
ELECTIONS AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
MINUTES
Thursday, November 8, 2012
7:00 p.m.
Katella High School, Crown Royal Theater
2200 E. Wagner Ave., Anaheim, CA 92806
COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:
Anthony Armas John Woodhead, Ex Officio Member
Bill Dalati
David Diaz
Joseph Karaki
Larry Larsen
Martin Lopez
Gloria Ma'ae
Vivian Pham
Vic Real
COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT:
Peter Agarwal
STAFF PRESENT:
Robert J. Tyson, Deputy City Attorney
Caroline Morey, Recording Secretary
1. Call meeting to order. The meeting of the Citizens Advisory Committee on Elections and
Community Involvement (CAC) was called to order at 7:03 p.m.
2. Flag Salute
3. Chair and Vice Chair (continued from October 18, 2012 meeting)
Action: Nominate and appoint a Chair and Vice Chair.
Commissioner Ma'ae nominated David Diaz to Chair, seconded by Commissioner Armas.
Commissioner Lopez nominated Vivian Pham to Chair, seconded by Commissioner Larsen.
Commissioner Karaki motioned that the process to consider appointments be considered first,
seconded by Commissioner Real. After a brief discussion, the process of appointments were
considered before nominations. Ex- officio commissioner Woodhead took a roll call vote: AYES
— 2 (Commissioners Karaki, Real), NOES - 7 ( Armas, Dalati, Diaz, Larsen, Lopez, Ma'ae,
Pham). ABSENT — 1 ( Agarwal). Motion failed.
Regular Meeting of the Citizens Advisory Committee, Elections and Community Involvement
November 8, 2012
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Roll Call vote for Commissioner David Diaz: AYES — 4 (Armas, Diaz, Ma'ae, Real). NOES — 5
(Dalati, Karaki, Larsen, Lopez, Pham). Motion Failed. (Note: Ex- officio Commissioner
Woodhead incorrectly indicated the votes as AYES: 3, NOES - 6 during the meeting; motion still
failed).
Roll Call for Commissioner Vivan Pham: AYES — 5 (Armas, Dalati, Larsen, Lopez, Pham).
NOES — 4 (Diaz, Karaki, Ma'ae, Real). Motion Passed. (Note: Ex- officio Commissioner
Woodhead incorrectly indicated the votes as AYES: 6, NOES - 3 during the meeting; motion still
passed).
Vivian Pham was appointed Chair. Upon appointment, Chair Pham requested Ex- officio
Commissioner continue leading the remainder of the meeting.
Nominations for Vice -Chair were received with Chair Pham nominating Commissioner Bill
Dalati, seconded by Commissioner Dalati. With no other nominations received, the committee
unanimously approved the appointment.
Bill Dalati was appointed Vice Chair.
4. Public Comments
Action: Public comments on any agenda items or subject matter within
the jurisdiction of the Citizens Advisory Committee. Please note: Individual
audience participation is limited to three minutes per speaker.
Michael Dresser, Anaheim resident, explained he was trying to understand the purpose of the
committee. Mr. Dresser provided information on Anaheim's population, voter registration and
voting trends and expressed his opposition to districting.
Ron Bengochea, Anaheim resident, provided his opposition to redistricting and provided
information regarding voter turnout. He supported any decision by the commission should be
voted upon by the citizens of Anaheim.
Brian Chuchua provided comments about the process.
Council Member Kris Murray congratulated Chair Pham and Vice Chair Dalati on their
appointments and expressed her appreciation to the committee for their commitment and
energy to the CAC. She spoke to the committee about their charge, including the election
system, citizen engagement, and voter registration. She underscored the value and importance
of the tasks before the committee and encouraged them to take advantage of available
resources to ensure they obtain information necessary to make their recommendation to the
City Council.
Council Member Gail Eastman spoke of the charge placed on the CAC and explained that she
was interested in hearing about how the community felt about the city's representation. She
thanked the committee for their service and encouraged them to reach out to the public and
staff to meet their goals.
Regular Meeting of the Citizens Advisory Committee, Elections and Community Involvement
November 8, 2012
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Stephen Faessel, Anaheim resident, spoke about his community involvement and hope that the
committee could sift through the different competing agendas to arrive at what would be best for
the Anaheim community. He provided his support.
With no further public comments, Ex- officio Commissioner Woodhead closed the public
comment period.
5. Receive and file a report on Community Outreach efforts and minutes of the October
18, 2012 CAC Meeting
Action: Motion to receive and file.
Motion to receive and file by Chair Pham, seconded by Commissioner Dalati. AYES — 9. NOES
— 0. ABSENT — 1 (Agarwal). Motion passed.
Before addressing the remainder of the agenda, Ex- officio Commissioner Woodhead introduced
Anaheim Deputy City Attorney, Robert Tyson who provided an update on the lawsuit filed
against the city by the ACLU.
Mr. Tyson advised that Moreno vs. City of Anaheim was filed on June 28, 2012 in Orange
County Superior Court, where the plaintiffs brought a single cause of action alleging that the
single at large system electing city council members violated the California Voting Rights Act.
The complaint alleged that an analysis of the election history in Anaheim showed what is called
"racially polarized voting," specifically alleging that Latino voters, a very significant portion of the
city and electorate, have been unable to elect their candidate of choice to the City Council as a
result of racially polarized voting. Plaintiffs further alleged that changing the election of council
members to by- district would provide the chance to influence elections which would thereby
resolve the alleged violation of the California Voting Rights Act.
He informed that the city hired outside counsel to handle the lawsuit and the City Council would
direct outside counsel on important decisions as the case proceeded. Currently, he provided,
the City filed a Motion to Stay to give the City Council time to discover the findings and
recommendations of this committee as part of any possible legislative solution to the case,
which is scheduled to be heard in December 2012. Mr. Tyson stressed that the Committee's
work must be independent from the voting rights lawsuit and advised that the Council was not
asking this committee to fix any legal problems, evaluate the merits or cost of the lawsuit, and
was not asking the committee to base the final recommendations on how their
recommendations might affect the lawsuit. Rather, he added, pursuant to the City Council
resolution, the committee was charged to provide advice to the City Council on how they could
achieve the full participation of all ethnic and racial groups in local elections.
6. Overview and Discussion of election systems
Action: Presentation by Justin A. Tucker, Ph.D. Director of Center for Public
Policy, California State University Fullerton
Printed copies of presentation made available during meeting, titled "Local Elections Primer."
Dr. Tucker confirmed that his presentation was verified by California State University Fullerton.
He encouraged the committee to review the presentation with him, take notes, and ask
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November 8, 2012
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questions. Dr. Tucker provided information about at large elections vs. district -based elections
and advised that he had no position on either system; rather, he was present to provide data
and information for the committee to base their recommendations upon. He provided a general
outline of his presentation: voting methods, how a mayor is elected, and how rules determine
the outcomes. He advised that his information was standard finding in political science research
and added that his expertise was not in the subject matter of the Voting Rights Act and he
therefore recommended the committee seek an expert to discuss such topic.
Commissioner Diaz asked if Dr. Tucker had data on whether the shift in voting systems
increased voter participation with Dr. Tucker responding that he did not have the information
available, but could provide more information at a later date.
Dr. Tucker responded, in response to Commissioner Armas, that the Voting Rights Act did not
consider the type of system a jurisdiction had, instead it looked at the outcomes and
opportunities. He added that if any group could prove exclusion, then there would be a possible
violation. Dr. Tucker added that he could not provide any legal advice providing that every
option had varying impacts.
Commissioner Dalati asked which election system was preferred with Dr. Tucker stating none.
From a theoretical perspective, Dr. Tucker elaborated, each system had pros and cons with
varying trade -offs, adding that there was no way to say that one system was the very best. He
concluded stating that there was a reasonable trade -off for each community where diversity
could be incorporate while not slowing down the impact of efficiency on the city's work.
At the request of Commissioner Real, Dr. Tucker provided the highlights of Resolution No.
2012 -090 and further recommended a roadmap plan for the committee to consider which would
assist in accomplishing their tasks.
Commissioner Dalati inquired about the city's budget with Ex- officio Commissioner Woodhead
advising that the matter in which a member is elected is separate from how money is spent,
which is directed by the City Council.
After further discussion with Dr. Tucker reminding the committee about their charge to make a
recommendation to Council by May 31, 2013, not necessarily the drawing of lines,
Commissioner Diaz motioned to re -open public comments with a two minute limitation,
seconded by Commissioner Dalati. Ayes — 9. Noes — 0. ABSENT — 1 (Agarwal). Motion
passed.
Grant Henninger asked Dr. Tucker to share the roles a mayor could have in a city. Dr. Tucker
explained different forms of mayoral systems, however added this information may not be
relevant since such was not the charge of this committee. He added that any changes to the
mayoral system would require significant changes to the city's charter.
Ron Bengochea, resident, spoke about his experience at council meetings and that he felt
represented by council with the current at -large system.
Abe Ibrahim asked for additional facts, such as gender and financial income.
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November 8, 2012
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Brian Chuchua expressed his understanding that the committee was charged with putting
something proper before the voters to vote upon.
An unidentified individual complemented Dr. Tucker's presentation and spoke of his concern
that the committee would get caught up with the election process instead of increasing voter
participation, which he felt was most significant.
Dr. Patricia Adelekan, resident and a retired educator, thanked Dr. Tucker for his presentation
and posed several questions as to what type of information she would be interested to learn
about and believed would be helpful to this committee, such as why certain cities varied in the
number of districts they had and how those cities arrived at their decision.
Nat Villa Palma, resident, thanked Dr. Tucker for his presentation and provided supporting
words to the committee.
With no further public comments, Ex- officio Commissioner Woodhead closed the public
comment period.
Chair Pham requested a presentation on the California Voting Rights Act and update on the
lawsuit. Deputy City Attorney Tyson stated that it was likely that he would be able to provide the
committee with an update on the December 6 hearing at the committee's next meeting. Mr.
Tyson further responded to Commissioner Dalati that the cost of the lawsuit was being
managed by the City Council. Additional discussion regarding the litigation took place, with ex-
officio Commissioner Woodhead adding that the committee should think of the litigation and the
committee's responsibilities existing in parallel universes. He reminded the committee that they
were charged with looking at the electoral systems and enhancing citizenry participation.
Commissioner Ma'ae asked for information on what other cities were doing, their process,
outcome, and why they came to that decision.
7. Agenda setting and Committee meeting calendar
Action: Discuss and set an agenda for the next regular meeting and consider
future meeting dates through May 31, 2013.
After some discussion regarding meeting dates and locations the Chair requested a brief
recess.
The meeting was called back into session at 9:03 p.m. by Ex- officio Commissioner Mr.
Woodhead.
Ex- officio Commissioner Woodhead recommended the committee consider moving their
meetings to an earlier start time. Chair Pham motion to start the December 13 meet at 6:30
p.m., seconded by Commissioner Armas. AYES — 9; NOES — 0; ABSENT — 1 (Agarwal).
Motion passed.
The committee unanimously agreed to have staff select the December 13 meeting facility, to
be held in South Anaheim.
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November 8, 2012
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Motion by Commissioner Diaz, seconded by Chair Pham to accept the agenda as presented in
Dr. Tucker's roadmap and to include a presentation from other cities who have gone through a
similar process. AYES — 9; NOES — 0; ABSENT — 1 (Agarwal). Motion passed.
8. Committee Procedures
Action: Approve Procedures.
Motion by Commissioner Dalati to continue this item to the next meeting, seconded by
Commisioner Lopez. AYES — 9; NOES — 0; ABSENT — 1 (Agarwal). Motion passed.
9. Committee Communications
Action: Closing comments.
(Commissioner Larsen excused himself from the meeting at 9:00 p.m.)
Chair Pham thanked audience and staff for their participation.
Commissioner Real thanked all in attendance.
Commissioner Dalati thanked all for attending and added this process was good for Anaheim,
ensuring that no one would be left out as the committee worked together.
Commissioner Ma'ae looked forward to the next meeting and learning more about the process.
Commissioner Armas thanked those in attendance and encouraged attendees to take Dr.
Tucker's handout and share it with their neighbors. He asked the community to attend future
meetings and provide their feedback.
10. Adjournment. 9:16 p.m.
Respectfully Submi
Oar'oline KJf rey
Recording ecretary