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BACKGROUND On September 21, 2021, the City Council adopted a resolution of intention to transition from at -large to district -based elections in conformance with the California Voting Rights Act of 2001 ("CVRA") (Resolution No. 21-1240). This transition would be implemented for the 2022 general municipal election. Pursuant to Elections Code section 10010, the City is required to hold at least two public hearings over a period of no more than 30 days before any map or maps of the boundaries for the proposed voting districts are drawn. At these public hearings, the community is invited to provide input regarding boundaries and district composition. Before developing draft district boundaries, the City Council is to receive comments from residents and interested community groups at the two public hearings to understand the community's view of appropriate district boundaries. At the end of the second public hearing, the City Council will determine which criteria will be used to create one or more proposed district maps. The City's demographer will then create one or more draft maps, which will be published for public comment and review at two subsequent public hearings. The City Council will receive public input both about the district boundaries and sequencing of the district elections at those two subsequent hearings and provide further direction to finalize the map and sequence of elections. The plan will then be incorporated into an ordinance that will be presented to the City Council for a final vote. The City Council is the final decision-making body on adopting district boundaries. DISCUSSION District Formation Criteria The legally -required criteria that apply to the creation of voting districts are as follows: • Each Council district shall contain nearly equal population, with any deviations justified by other traditional redistricting criteria. • A districting plan shall be drawn in a manner that complies with the state and federal Constitutions, the Federal Voting Rights Act and other applicable law, including the CVRA. • Each Council district shall not be drawn with race as the predominant factor. In addition, state law requires that the City Council use the following criteria in the following order of priority: • To the extent practicable, Council districts shall be geographically contiguous. Areas that meet only at the points of adjoining corners are not contiguous. Areas that are separated by water and not connected by a bridge, tunnel, or regular ferry service are not contiguous. Page 2 of 4