At its June 7 meeting the Board of Supervisors – following a brief presentation by Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley – appointed a redistricting advisory committee composed of Fridley, Assessor-Recorder Doug Wacker and Deputy Redevelopment Director Eric Seely.
Supervisorial redistricting takes place following the latest US Census. Similar processes are going on to draw the new lines for state legislative and congressional districts.
Fridley, who has been involved with the local redistricting process going back to 1980, told Lake County News last week, “This is the first time we've actually had an advisory committee.”
She added, “Each time it's been done just a little bit differently.”
The goal is to make sure each of the districts has the same number of residents. Based on the latest Census numbers, Fridley said the optimal population they've calculated for each district is 12,933.
District 1, represented on the board by Jim Comstock, has a total population of 13,259 and is therefore over that optimal number by 326, according to county calculations.
Supervisor Jeff Smith's District 2 has 13,719 residents and is over by 786, and District 5, represented by Rob Brown, has 13,412 residents and is over by 479, Fridley said.
On the other side, Districts 3 and 4, represented by Denise Rushing and Anthony Farrington, respectively, each has to gain population, Fridley said.
District 3, at 12,362, is under the optimal population number by 571, and District 4, with the lowest population of any of the county's districts at 11,913, needs to gain 1,020 residents, according to Fridley.
Regarding the potential impacts on the sitting supervisors as a result of the district lines being redrawn, Fridley said election code doesn't allow them to be affected by residency requirements as a result of boundary changes until the next election.
If they didn't live within the new boundaries they could either move or serve out the remainder of their term, she said.
Later this month, Fridley plans to host several informal public discussions on the redistricting process.
“A lot of work has to be done in a very short period of time,” she said.
The first public discussion is tentatively scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, June 27, in the board chambers at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
Fridley said she hopes to have meetings that same week at Clearlake City Hall and the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center, with dates and times to be announced. She doesn't yet have locations, dates or times for meetings in District 1 and 5.
Fridley said her goal is to give the Board of Supervisors several recommendations on how to equalize the districts through boundary changes by its July 26 meeting.
At that board meeting, the supervisors also will hold the first public hearing on the proposals, Fridley said.
She said the board should conduct its final public hearing and give approval to the plan on Aug. 16 or Aug. 23, then direct staff to prepare an ordinance establishing the new supervisorial district boundaries.
That proposed ordinance, said Fridley, has to be returned to the supervisors with the surveyor's legal description of the new boundaries no later than Sept. 13.
The changes to the boundaries can't be made within 45 days of the dates for filing for an election. Fridley said the work has to be done well ahead of Dec. 30, when candidates for supervisorial offices in 2012 can begin to take out papers to gather signatures in lieu of paying filing fees.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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