Agenda Item Wording:
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Public Hearing and City Council District Decennial Redistricting Presentation.
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Deadline for Action: 9/20/2021
Submitting Department: Administration
Contact Name and Phone Number: Allison Mackey, Communications Manager 713-4535
Department Recommendation:
Receive initial presentation from Jeff Tilton, Senior Consultant, National Demographics Corporation, receive presentation on public outreach plan from Allison Mackey, Communications Manager, and hold public hearing number two to receive public input on the process and criteria for revising voter districts boundaries for the City of Visalia Council as required by law following each census.
Background Discussion:
Every ten years, cities with by district election systems must use new census data to review and, if needed, redraw district lines to reflect how local populations have changed. This process, called redistricting, is intended to ensure, among other things, that all districts have nearly equal population. The redistricting process for the City of Visalia must be completed by April 17, 2021.
The City must adopt boundaries for five Council districts that are generally equal in population based on new census data from the 2020 Census, and that comply with State and Federal election laws, including whether there is a legal requirement for one or more majority-minority districts. Detailed demographic data is needed to develop legally appropriate district boundaries. The City does not have these skills in house, therefore, an experienced demographer, NDC, a professional consulting firm has been retained to perform the needed technical tasks to establish these new districts and provide information to the public to assist in the public submittal of proposed district boundaries.
Census Data
The U.S. Census Bureau released Redistricting Data in a "legacy" text format on August 12, 2021, followed on August 18, 2021 when the Statewide Database released the "lega...
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