LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — At its last meeting of 2021, the Board of Supervisors took the final step in completing its redistricting process.
The second and final reading of an ordinance adopting the new supervisorial district boundaries took place as part of the board’s consent agenda at its Dec. 21 meeting. Approval of the consent agenda was unanimous.
Like the state, the board is required to do the redistricting every 10 years, once new census data have been completed and delivered to the state and counties.
Following a series of public meetings that began in late summer, county staff, assisted by consultant Margaret Long, proposed several maps with slightly different configurations of the five supervisorial districts.
At the board’s Nov. 30 meeting, it selected a final map and directed staff to come back with the necessary resolution and ordinance to adopt it.
Staff returned with the resolution on Dec. 14, at which time the board approved the resolution and held the first reading of the ordinance to establish the new district boundaries.
The deadline for the board to take that action was Dec. 15, said Deputy County Administrative Officer Matthew Rothstein, who oversaw the county’s redistricting process.
Based on the county’s population, each supervisorial district has to have 13,633 residents, or be within a 10% deviation.
The final map places the population this way: District 1, 13,479; District 2, 14,243; District 3, 13,875; District 4, 12,957; and District 5, 13,609.
Lake County’s supervisorial redistricting process has been more smooth than other counties, board members noted during the Dec. 14 meeting.
The process has been reportedly controversial in counties including Butte, Mendocino and Sonoma, where community pushback was reported on some of the options those boards of supervisors considered. Butte County’s board was divided in its final vote and in Sonoma County there have been allegations of gerrymandering.
Board Chair Bruno Sabatier said he wanted to make Lake County’s final map available for the next 10 years on its GIS site as it’s very confusing to look at the districts by census blocks.
“All of the draft maps will be retained over the next 10 years,” said Rothstein.
Supervisor Moke Simon offered three separate motions at that meeting: to adopt the resolution, to waive the ordinance reading and have it read in title only and to advance the ordinance for a second reading at the Dec. 21 meeting.
The board adopted all three motions unanimously.
Sabatier thanked Long and her office and Simon added his thanks to the public for participating in the process, whether it was attending meetings in person or virtually.
A week later, the Board of Supervisors took its final vote to approve that map at its final 2021 meeting.
The board’s last action on Dec. 21 was six days ahead of the final steps in the California Citizens Redistricting Commission’s process, which is a concurrent but separate procedure.
The state commission delivered its final maps for congressional, State Senate, State Assembly and Board of Equalization districts to the California Secretary of State’s Office on Tuesday, Dec. 27, the deadline set by the California Supreme Court.
The statewide maps showing where Lake County is placed in the newly drawn districts for Congress, the state Legislature and Board of Equalization can be seen here.
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Supervisors finalize Lake County’s decennial redistricting process
- Elizabeth Larson
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