Title
Districting Process Advisory Committee FInal Report to City Council and City Clerk
Presenter:
Carlos Perez, District 2 Representative and Chair of the Committee
Body
Summary:
City Council, in accordance with City Code Section 5.1.302, convened a Districting Process Advisory Committee (DPAC) by appointing seven committee members this past April, which serves as an advisory committee to oversee the public process, educate the public, assist the City Clerk, and advise City Council on the districting process. By City Charter and City Code, The City Clerk is to review the six City Council districts every four years in the even year before district Councilmembers are elected.
Background:
The City of Colorado Springs has a Council-Mayor form of government. The nine member City Council acts as the City’s legislative body and the members are elected by the people to serve a four year term of office. The nine members include three at-large members and six district members. The Mayor, a fulltime position, acts as the Chief Executive Officer of the City and is elected by the people to serve a four year term of office.
The DPAC consists of one member from each of the six council districts and one member at-large, all of whom are registered electors of the city. City Council is required to strive for gender, racial, ethnic, age and geographic diversity of the committee members. The Committee will prepare a final Advisory Committee report and submit it to City Council in December.
City Charter requires the City Clerk to review the six City Council district boundaries every four years. Neither City Council nor the Mayor has approval authority over any plan relating to district boundaries. Some relevant details regarding the districting process are as follows:
• Only complete precincts will be moved from one district to another.
• The Clerk will release a preliminary district report in October and will hold a public hearing in October.
• The Clerk will release the final district report, setting the district boundaries in November.
• Districts must be substantially equal in population, contiguous, and comply with the Voting Rights Act, City Charter and City Code.
Previous Council Action:
This is the second time a DPAC has been convened, after the relevant City Code section was adopted by City Council in 2013. The DPAC preliminary report was presented at the September 22, 2020 City Council Work Session.
Financial Implications:
N/A
City Council Appointed Board/Commission/Committee Recommendation:
The DPAC final report is attached to this memo
Stakeholder Process:
The committee has met regularly since their appointment to plan their work and discuss public input. They hosted seven virtual public input meetings (one in each of the six Council districts and one “at-large”) to solicit input for the City Clerk’s consideration in drawing the new district boundaries. They worked with the City Clerk to design a redistricting web page with four option maps and a survey/comment link for citizens to provide comments. The Committee’s report includes a summary of the public comment and a recommendation on possible district boundaries changes. The Committee continued to work with the City Clerk to gatherr public comment on the Clerk’s preliminary map, which was released on October 1, 2020.
Alternatives:
N/A
Recommended Action
Proposed Motion:
N/A
Summary of Ordinance Language
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