Instead of making a quick switch to district elections, the city of Goleta is taking a slower approach after a new proposal from the residents who sent a letter alleging the at-large system violates the California Voting Rights Act.
Lindsay Rojas and Hector Mendez, members of the Goleta District Elections Committee, sent a Feb. 6 letter that alleged there was racially polarized voting, and the City Attorney’s Office was prepared to recommend that the City Council make the transition for the November 2018 election, mostly to avoid a costly legal fight.
Rojas and Mendez sent a second letter last Friday offering a new deal: have the city commit to district elections in November 2022, and form a special committee to consider methods to increase participation in city government.
The second letter was “a twist in the plot, per se,” Acting City Attorney Winnie Cai said at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.
What the group really wants is a broad approach to maximize public involvement in city governance, she said. Cai said she and City Manager Michelle Greene spoke with members of the committee on Monday.
Specifically, the letter asks this committee to consider holding City Council meetings after 5 p.m., become a charter city, pay council members more money, create a four-year mayor’s term, and create outreach efforts to increase participation by all city residents.
The group also wants a seat on the special commission and a voice in drawing the four districts – which would be in an “advisory capacity,” with decisions made by the City Council, Cai said.
Council members didn’t take any action Tuesday, but supported the proposal and directed Cai to come back with a settlement agreement with the Goleta District Elections Committee addressing the points of the proposal, a resolution saying they will make the switch to district elections by 2022, and an ordinance to create the special commission.
Those issues will come back to the council on May 2, Cai said.
Councilman Stuart Kasdin, who was elected in November, said the proposal alleviated some of his earlier concerns about switching to districts. Having council members paid a stipend means a smaller group of residents are financially able to run, he said.
“The insane,” he quipped.
Council members currently are paid $7,020 per year.
Councilman Kyle Richards, who also was elected in November, welcomed a system that may make it easier and less expensive for people to run for office.
However, being able to get elected is different than being able to serve, he said.
Richards said he had a full-time job when elected and it was too much, so he had to cut down to 75 percent at work.
Councilman Roger Aceves, noting that he is the only Mexican-American and Spanish-speaking member on the council, argued that the issue isn’t racially polarized voting, but people feeling their neighborhoods are represented.
Getting city residents engaged in city governance will be an uphill battle, he said, pointing to Tuesday night’s attendance (eight, including this reporter) as an example.
“I hope at the end of the day we fill this room with people who want to be engaged,” he said.
The handful of public speakers at Tuesday’s meeting included Goleta District Elections Committee members Rojas and Jacqueline Inda, who was a plaintiff in the CVRA lawsuit that was filed against and ultimately settled with the city of Santa Barbara.
Inda said the group’s goal is to get people properly represented on the council, and that the proposed process will be a lot better than trying to speed through drawing districts in 90 days.
Former councilman Tony Vallejo, who lost his re-election bid in November, said he came to comment because his candidacy was specifically mentioned in the Feb. 6 letter.
He said district elections are “a horrible idea” for Goleta.
Vallejo said he lives in one district, works in another, and shops in another, and when he ran for council, obviously cared about the whole city, not just his neighborhood.
The issues brought up by the letter are about voter outreach, he said.
Goleta is the third Santa Barbara County city considering the switch to district elections for council members. Santa Barbara held its first district election in 2015 and Santa Maria’s City Council recently decided to make the change.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
