Over the last several years, cities, school districts and community college districts throughout the state of California have been transitioning from at-large to by-district elections to comply with the California Voting Rights Act of 2001 (CVRA) and / or to avoid litigation. On September 17, 2019, the City Council authorized the transition of the city's election system from at-large to by-district.
Four public hearings were conducted to receive feedback on the composition of the district boundaries, election sequence and overall transition to district elections. At all four hearings, the professional demographer, National Demographics Corporation (NDC) provided an overview of the CVRA, and presented the draft maps for consideration at the third and fourth hearings.
Additionally, two community meetings were held on October 16, 2019 and November 9, 2019. This allowed for further public input and the opportunity for community members to draw and submit their own maps. To date, the City of Fairfield has received a total of three draft maps from the public, as well as two draft maps from NDC. All draft maps were published between the second and third public hearing as required by State law.
At the Fourth Public Hearing on January 21, 2020, by an unanimous vote, the City Council agreed to approve map 103, providing for six districts. They also agreed that the elections for Districts 2, 4, and 6 will occur at the general municipal election in November of 2020 and that the election for Districts 1, 3, and 5 will occur at the general municipal election of 2022. District 5 will elect a Councilmember in 2020 for a 2-year term to transition from a five-member to a seven-member council, and thereafter, all members will service staggered 4 year terms. The City Council will continue to have a Mayor who is elected by a city-wide election of eligible voters residing in the City of Fairfield.
The City Council received sufficient public input through the above-referenced process and the next step to effectuate the change from at-large to by-district elections is to introduce the attached ordinance. The proposed Council district maps were prepared in accordance with all applicable law, including provisions of the California Voting Rights Act, the Federal Voting Rights Act and Fairfield City Council Resolution No. 2019-218 providing criteria for the transition to by-district elections.
The public hearing for second reading and adoption of the ordinance is scheduled for the next regularly scheduled City Council meeting on February 18, 2020.