1 STAFF REPORT
DATE: September 12, 2023
TO: Justin Hess, City Manager
FROM: Joseph H. McDougall, City Attorney
BY: Jill Vander Borght, Senior Assistant City Attorney
SUBJECT: Introduction of an Ordinance to Adopt a 5-District Map and Sequencing for Future Council Elections and, Subsequently, Introduction of an Ordinance to Amend the Burbank Municipal Code to Conform with District Elections
RECOMMENDATION
1. I ntroduce AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK ADDING A NEW ARTICLE 3 TO TITLE 2 OF THE BURBANK MUNICIPAL CODE TO CHANGE THE CITY’S ELECTORAL SYSTE M FROM
AT-LARGE TO BY -DISTRICT ELECTIONS WITH RESPECT TO ELECTING
CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS, ESTABLISHING DISTRICT BOUNDARIES,
SCHEDULING ELECTIONS WITHIN THE DISTRICTS, AND MAKING CERTAIN
FINDINGS PURSUANT TO THE CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT (Attachment 1).
2. Introduce AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK AMENDING SECTIONS 2-3-104, 2-3-111, 2-3-122, 2-3-127, 2-3-129, and 2-3-131 OF CHAPTER 3 OF TITLE 2 OF THE BURBANK MUNICIPAL CODE, KNOW N
AS THE CITY ELECTIONS CODE, AND MAKING CERTAIN FINDINGS
PURSUANT TO THE CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT
(Attachment 2).
BACKGROUND
On August 23, 2022, the City received a notice of a potential violation of the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) on b ehalf of a Latino voter in the City of Burbank, Mr. Nick Gutierrez. (Elec. Code §§14027- 14032.) Gutierrez provided both a report allegedly evidencing racially polarized voting (Attachment 3) and a draft complaint (Attachment 4) for future litigation with the notice of potential violation.
CITY ATTORNEY’S
OFFICE
2 On January 24, 2023, Council adopted a Resolution of Intent to Initiate a Transition to District Elections and authorized staff in paragraph 3 of the Resolution to retain National Demographics Corporation (NDC), proven expert demographers serving local governments in California in successful districting, to guide the process . In consultation with NDC, staff developed and fulfilled a robust timeline of workshops and public hearings for the districting process. Council also directed, and staff and a communications partner, Arellano Associates, delivered substantial and wide-reaching outreach to the community regarding the process and various opportunities to engage.
Council held two pre -map public hearings on March 14, and April 11, with three community forums on March 30, April 6, and April 8. Prior to the initial June 2 deadline, 26 draft maps were submitted along with 14 submissions in the “Draw Your Neighborhood” tool. On June 14, Council held its first public hearing to consider maps submitted by the June 2 deadline. At that hearing, Council considered the maps submitted and provided direction to staff and the demographer on specific focus maps. At Council’s direction, the City hosted five additional community forums on June 15, 22 (one virtual and one live), 24 and 29 to allow constituents multiple opportunities to discuss and debate Council’s five “focus” maps and other direction provided at the June 14 hearing. The City received thirteen additional maps and one more “Draw Your Neighborhood” submission by the second July 7 deadline. Council held a fourth public hearing on July 18 at which it considered the additional submissions and directed the demographer to create two variations of Map 130. The demographer created Map 130 and four variations (two more than Council reques ted to allow for discussion of the consequences of the directions provided by Council), with corresponding sequencing proposals were posted on July 28 and are attached hereto for reference (Attachment 5). Council also requested a side-by- side comparison chart of Map 130 and its variants (Attachment 6 ). Council considered map 130 and its variants at a public hearing on August 23, but directed staff to return for future discussion following the outcome of the California Supreme Court decision in the Pico Neighborhood Ass’n v. City of Santa Monica case.
Additional information and updates on the districting process, community forums, public hearings, and more are available on the City’s districting website at www.burbankcouncildistricting.com
. The California Supreme Court ruling is available
https://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/S263972.PDF.
DISCUSSION
This report follows the Council’s public hearing on August 23, 2023, and is designed for Council to consider and discuss focus Map 130 and the requested variants of the same (Elections Code § 10010(a)(2)). The Council may choose one of the maps presented and a sequence of elections for that map, introduce an ordinance to adopt this map for Council district elections commencing in 2024.
3 First Draft Ordinance (Five-district map and sequencing of elections) Staff has prepared two draft ordinances, the first will allow for the adoption of a five-district map and election sequencing by adding a new Article 3 to Title 2 of the Burbank Municipal Code (BMC) to change the City’s electoral system from at-large to by-district elections for City Council elections, establish district boundaries, and schedule elections within the districts.
Second Draft Ordinance (“Clean-up” Ordinance)
The second “clean-up” ordinance will become necessary following introduction of the first and will coordinate the City’s Elections Code with the new electoral system with regard to such matters as durational residency requirement for candidates for election to a district seat, and the circulation and signing of nomination papers (Attachments 1 & 2).
Any ordinance the Council introduces tonight will need to be adopted at a subsequent meeting. The first ordinance will require a public hearing to adopt, the second can be added to a regular agenda for future adoption.
Sequencing Of District Elections
Elections Code § 10010 has provisions for the sequencing of elections in the new districts:
1) The draft districting plans that are subject to the second round of public hearings must include a “potential” sequencing of elections for each draft plan. (Elec. Code § 10010(a)(2).)
2) Elections Code § 10010(b) specifies two criteria for “consideration” in setting the sequencing. Those criteria are “consideration to the purposes of the California Voting Rights Act” and “tak[ing] into account the preferences expressed by members of the districts.” There is no judicial guidance about what either of these criteria means. Nevertheless, CVRA advocates contend this provision requires the district with the highest percent of citizens of voting age who are Latino (“LCVAP” or “Latino CVAP”) to be placed on the ballot in the presidential election cycle. However, assigning an election cycle based predominantly on the race of the voters in the district presents potential constitutional issues. In practice, cities transitioning to by-district elections have not uniformly placed the district with the highest Latino CVAP on an election cycle in the presidential year.
The sequencing of elections published with the draft plans, however, is only “potential .” The sequencing of elections in the districts of the finally adopted new districting plan is at the discretion of the Council. In anticipation of litigation, the bases for the exercise of that discretion should be made part of the record of the districting process, including 4 compliance with the requirements of Elections Code § 10010(b). In addition to the considerations required by Section 10010(b), cities commonly consider:
a. Completion of the terms of incumbents elected at -large. For ex ample, a Council Member whose term ends in 2026 serves out the full four -year term even if that member resides in the same district as an incumbent whose term ends in 2024 and that district is placed on the 2024 ballot. This is consistent with Sections 300 and 305 of the Charter of the City of Burbank.
b. Scheduling elections in a particular district based on the expiration of the term of office of the incumbent who resides in the district. For example, a district in which an incumbent resides with a term ending in 2024 could be placed on the ballot in 2024. A district in which two incumbents reside with respective terms ending in 2024 and in 2026 could be placed on the ballot in 2024 or 2026. If in 2026, the incumbent with a term ending in 2024 would be out of office after the 2024 elections , but he or she could run again in 2026 for the district seat in which he or she resides.
If the district seat were placed on the ballot in 2024, the incumbent with the term ending in 2026 would serve out the full four-year at-large term to which elected, and then could seek election in 2028 for the district seat. Alternatively, that incumbent could run for the district seat in 2024 and, if elected, resign from the at -large seat on the City Council, creating a vacancy to be filled in accordance with the city’s laws.
c. Scheduling elections in a district in which no current incumbent resides at the earlier election cycle consistent with maintaining the appropriate number of C ouncil Members.
The following is a schematic demonstrating the impact of the alternative proposed sequencing in draft Map 130. The alternative proposed sequencing is the same in the variations of draft Map 130. As stated above, sequencing is in the discretion of the Council. It is not bound by the proposed sequencing published with the draft maps:
THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY BLANK
5 Sequencing Options Map 130 and Variations.
(Name & number in parentheses = City Council Member who resides in district and year in which term ends. X = district up for election in indicated year.) Sequence 1
Election District
1 District
2 District
3 District 4 District
5 Council
Members
after Elect.
Notes
2024
Presidential
X
(Anthony
24)
X
(Schultz
24, Perez
26,
Takahashi
26)
D3 – New
D4 – New
Perez,
Mullins
&Takahashi
complete
at-large
terms.
Perez
and
Takahashi
can run
for D4
seat in
2024 and
resign
from at-
large seat
if elected.
2026
Gubernatorial
X X X
(Mullins
26)
D1 – New
D2 – New
D3 – Filled
in 2024
D4 – Filled
in 2024
D5 - New
Sequence 2
Election District
1 District
2 District
3 District 4 District
5 Council
Members
after Elect.
Notes
2024
Presidential
X X
(Anthony
24)
D2 – New
D3 – New
Perez,
Mullins
&Takahashi
complete
at-large
terms.
2026
Gubernatorial
X X
(Perez
26,
Takahashi
26)
X
(Mullins
26)
D1 – New
D2 – Filled
in 2024
D3 – Filled
in 2024
D4 - New
D5 – New
Schultz
resides
in D4.
His at-
large
term
ended
in 2024.
6 “Clean-up” Ordinance
The clean- up ordinance for certain provisions of the City Elections Code updates subsections regarding the qualifications for running for office and for circulating and signing nomination papers to coordinate those provisions with a system of by -district elections for City Council M embers. The amendments also correct a few miscellaneous typographical errors in the City Elections Code and coordinate particular provisions with updated provisions of the California Elections Code. The amendments specify that a candidate for the office of City Council Member must be a resident of the district for which the candidate seeks election at least 29 days prior to filing nomination p apers and a qualified elector (citizen, 18 years of age, and registered voter) of the district at the time of filing nomination papers, that eligible signers may sign nomination papers for only one candidate for the district office, the consequences if more than one nomination paper is signed, and the requirements for nomination petition circulation and the affidavit of the circulator coordinating these provisions to the requirements of state law. State law provides that only a person who is an eligible registered voter at the time of signing the nominating petition is entitled to sign the petition and that provision is already incorporated into the City Elections Code. See California Elec. Code § 100.
Phase 2
After a district map is adopted pursuant to Elections Code S ection 10 010 and Government Code Section 34886 with five Council Members pursuant to the City Charter, the Council requested a second phase process by which the Council and the public could consider alternative proposals that might involve Charter amendments such as increasing the number of Council Members from five to seven, a directly elected Mayor (rather than rotating Mayorship among existing Council Members), or other alternatives. Based on the timeline by which Council has conducted Phase 1, any Phase 2 proposed amendment(s) to the City’s Charter to allow for alternatives to an electoral system with five-C ouncil Members elected by-district may be placed on the November 2024 or June 2026 ballot to allow for implementation in a future Council election. Staff does not recommend a Phase 2 approach for placement on the March 2024 ballot and implementation in November 2024 because to be timely, such amendments must be finalized, and appropriate resolutions passed on or before December 8, 2023, the deadline established by the County Clerk/Register Recorder. The process of drafting and finalizing these documents will therefore need to occur in October/November 2023, which does not allow for robust public input or engagement in the process.
7 ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This activity involves organizational and administrative activities of the government related to election procedures and eligibility requirements, and such internal procedural and eligibility changes have no potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. As such, this action is not a “project” subject to the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) 14 Cal. Code Regs § 15378.
FISCAL IMPACT
None.
CONCLUSION
Staff recommends Council select a five-district map and introduce an executing ordinance and a “clean-up” ordinance amending the BMC elections provisions to conform with by - district elections.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1 – Ordinance
Attachment 2 – “Clean-Up” Ordinance
Attachment 3 – Gutierrez Report
Attachment 4 – Gutierrez Draft Complaint
Attachment 5 – Maps 130, 130B, 130C, 130D, 130E
Attachment 6 – Side-by-side Comparison Chart of Map 130 and Variants