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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 Page 2 of 6 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 Page 3 of 6 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 Regular Meeting of the Citizens Advisory Committee, Elections and Community Involvement November 8, 2012 Page 4 of 6 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. Regular Meeting of the Citizens Advisory Committee, Elections and Community Involvement November 8, 2012 Page 5 of 6 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. Regular Meeting of the Citizens Advisory Committee, Elections and Community Involvement November 8, 2012 Page 6 of 6 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