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RECOMMENDATION It is recommended the City Council hold a public hearing to receive community input regarding the boundaries and composition of districts and proposed sequence of elections related to district -based elections for City Councilmembers, and to provide direction to the City's demographer on any preferred configurations and changes to the draft maps. FINANCIAL STATEMENT The costs to implement the procedures to transition from an at -large to a district -based election system will include approximately $50,000 for outside legal counsel and a demographer. There will also be potential attorneys' fees to prospective plaintiffs that are limited to not more than $30,000 (plus an annual adjustment for inflation). 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, which took place on January 4, 2022, and January 18, 2022, the community was invited to provide input regarding boundaries and district composition and at the second hearing the City Council gave direction to the City's demographer. Based on City Council's direction, five map alternatives have been prepared by the demographer for consideration. Additionally, seven maps were submitted by members of the public. All maps are attached. 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: Page 2 of 4