Ceres council divided over district lines

City Council members on Monday night were divided over boundaries that will determine district voting populations.

In its continued effort to switch from at-large to district elections, the council unanimously agreed to reduce by half the six boundary options presented to it by National Demographics Corp., the company hired by the city to draw up district lines.

But eventually, the council members must choose between one option that will include in a councilwoman’s district a neighborhood with which she doesn’t identify, or one that will pit her against another incumbent should they both run again in 2017.

“Why are we more worried about incumbents running against each other when we should be more worried about the community factor which was a criteria (of district elections)?” asked Councilwoman Linda Ryno.

She favors Draft 6, which encompasses more area east of Highway 99 and extends one of the eastern borders to Moffet Road, which she said is the area her neighbors would relate as their community.

The other maps the council voted to continue to consider, Draft 2 and Draft 3, would put Ryno in a district where most of the residents live west of the highway.

“I don’t think it’s fair to my neighborhood that in Draft 3 … there’s an obvious little notch to take out my neighborhood,” she said. “It should be the neighborhood that goes to Moffet that is our neighborhood, our neighborhood is not across on the west side.”

Draft 6 would leave one district free of incumbents and put Ryno in the same district as Councilman Ken Lane, to which he is opposed.

The two live only six blocks from each other, so the maps designed to split them into different districts include a cutout in the boundaries less than a third of a mile wide.

“I’m for Draft 3,” Lane said to Ryno during the meeting. “I’ve sat on the council a long time, I’ve been elected by the people and if I choose to run again, I would let the people decide ... pitting you and I in an area that you’re ... really, in my opinion, taking the offense, council member Ryno.”

All of the six drafts include four districts because there are four City Council members. The mayor will continue to be elected by the entire city.

Ceres and many other local governing bodies around the state are switching to district elections because of the threat or reality of a lawsuit.

Civil rights groups contend the at-large voting systems put minorities at a disadvantage in violation of the California Voting Rights Act.

Modesto moved to district elections in 2008 after losing a lawsuit brought by a San Francisco civil rights law firm. The city paid a $3 million settlement and spent $1.4 million fighting the case. Soon after, the Ceres Unified School District put up no fight when the same law firm sent a warning letter.

Ceres hasn’t been sued, but it received a letter of warning from the Latino Community Roundtable, as did every other Stanislaus County city and school district that hasn’t transitioned to district elections.

In a city with a majority Latino population, former Councilman Guillermo Ochoa was the only Latino to serve on the council.

In all of the six district boundary scenarios, the highest concentration of Latino voters is in the district that encompasses most of the neighborhoods west of Highway 99.

For example, in Ryno’s preferred Draft 6, she would be in a district where 39 percent of the registered voters are Latino, but in Drafts 2 and 3, the Latino voting population in her district would be 57 percent and 54 percent, respectively.

Ceres plans to put a district election initiative on the November ballot. How the districts will be drawn could be decided at its next meeting, April 27.

Too view all the districting options, visit the city of Ceres website at www.ci.ceres.ca.us.

This story was originally published April 14, 2015 at 4:56 PM with the headline "Ceres council divided over district lines."