Board Approval of RAC21 Members and Meeting schedule

Published Notice Required?    Yes          No    X     
Public Hearing Required?    Yes         No    X     

Departmental Recommendation:

The County Administrator recommends the Board:

1. Receive a Redistricting update on the Solano County 2021 Redistricting Advisory Committee’s (RAC21) proposed Work Plan;
2. Consider setting an evening special meeting/public hearing for Tuesday, November 16, 2021 at 7:00 P.M. to ensure the project meets the requirements of the Fair and Inclusive Redistricting for Municipalities and Political Subdivisions (FAIR MAPS) Act; and
3. Consider the appointments of members to the Solano County 2021 Redistricting Advisory Committee for a term to expire upon completion of the project.

Summary:

Staff will provide an overview on the proposed RAC21 work plan including the RAC21 meetings and the community outreach meetings as directed by the Board at their April 27, 2021 meeting. Staff is requesting the Board set an evening special meeting/public hearing for Tuesday, November 16, 2021 to meet the requirements and timeline of the Fair and Inclusive Redistricting for Municipalities and Political Subdivisions (FAIR MAPS) Act as chaptered in state law through Assembly Bill 849 (2019/20) and Assembly Bill 1276 (2020/21). In addition, the Board will be finalizing and considering appointments of residents to serve on the County Redistricting Advisory Committee (RAC21) to help inform the Board on redrawing district lines.

Financial Impact:

The costs associated with preparing the agenda item are nominal and absorbed by the department ’s FY2020/21 Adopted Budget. There is no additional impact to the County General Fund.

Discussion:

Background
The Board of Supervisors, at their March 9, 2021 meeting, approved a resolution to form a fifteen-member Redistricting Advisory Committee (RAC21) which would consist of three members from each district including one member from each district that lives in the unincorporated area of the County to assist with outreach and help inform them on the 2021 redistricting project.

The Board of Supervisors, at their April 27, 2021 meeting directed staff to include ten public hearings, two in each district, between June and August 2021 to ensure community members in each district/city are able to participate. The Board requested staff consider holding the community outreach meetings in the evenings or on weekends, and if held in-person, to ensure they were held near public transportation to ensure the maximum participation within each district.

As noted to the Board at the April 27, 2021 meeting, the RAC21 will serve in a planning and outreach capacity consistent with the Fair Maps Act. The duties of the Redistricting Advisory Committee include planning outreach meetings and conducting them in collaboration with the County’s redistricting team made up of County staff and the County’s consultant team from Redistricting Partners, LLC. In particular, the RAC21 will perform outreach activities to help identify communities of interest to ensure the integrity of those neighborhoods are maintained geographically within the confines of federal and state law governing redistricting. It is anticipated that the Redistricting Advisory Committee will complete and convey to the Board a report outlining all its findings relative to the communities of interest groups within the County by the end of September.

RAC21 Proposed Work Plan (Attachment A)
In order to meet the December 15, 2021 deadline to approve new supervisorial district boundaries, staff developed a proposed work plan. The RAC21 Work Plan was developed by using the December 15, 2021 deadline for final map approval and worked backwards to ensure all public hearing criteria required in the Fair Maps Acts is included as well as the request by the Board to hold ten outreach meetings, two in each district, as well as incorporate time to set up and provide training for the RAC21.

The RAC21 Work Plan, contained in Attachment A, assumes the RAC21 will meet as a group twice monthly on the first and third Thursday evening for up to two hours between 6 P.M. and 8 P.M. but may end sooner depending on the subjects at hand and level of participation. In order to complete the RAC21 report to the Board by September 28, 2021, and meting twice monthly, the RAC21 Work Plan includes a total of ten RAC21 meetings. The first two RAC21 meetings will need to be compulsory since they will be receiving legal (Brown Act) and redistricting (Fair Maps Act) training to inform them on the outreach they will be conducting. They will also begin planning the community outreach at that time. Community outreach meetings will be conducted in two phases. Phase 1 will be conducted weekly on Wednesday evenings beginning on June 23, 2021 at 6 P.M. starting with District 1 and continue for a total of five weeks concluding with District 5 on July 21, 2021. district following. Phase 2 will also be conducted weekly but on Saturday mornings beginning July 31, 2021 at 9 A.M.
starting with District 1 and continue for a total of five weeks concluding with District 5 on August 28, 2021. The RAC will meet three times in September to draft and convey a full report of their findings to the Board on September 28, 2021.

Expectations of the RAC21
Due to the limited duration of the existence of the RAC21 and nature of the work they performing will not require them to take action on any items, therefore the formation of the RAC21 does not require formal bylaws however their meetings will be conducted in accordance with the Brown Act and will be open to the public.

Of the ten meetings contained in the RAC21 Work Plan, the first two are considered mandatory as there is limited time to provide the required legal and redistricting training prior to the community outreach meetings commencing on June 23, 2021. However, should that occur, the trainings will be conducted virtually and recorded for them to listen in on later however, they lose the benefit of asking questions directly to the trainers . The second expectation for RAC21 members is that they do not miss more than two of the remaining eight meetings and participate fully in compiling the report of their findings that is scheduled to be presented to the Board on September 28, 2021. The remaining criteria can be left to the RAC21 members to organize how they prefer to operate. In particular, they will have the latitude to determine if and who will lead the committee and also determine how and when they will participate in the outreach meetings, whether as the entire committee or form subcommittees to ease the burden of weekly afterhours and/or weekend meetings. Staff will assist them during their first meeting on May 20, 2021 to help them get organized and prepared for the tasks at hand.

Redistricting 2021 Hearing Schedule (Attachment B)
At the conclusion of the work of the RAC21, the Redistricting technical team (staff and consultants) will utilize the RAC21 final community of interests report to help inform district boundaries and GIS map options when developing proposed boundary lines or boundary options for the Board to consider between October and December during required public hearings. Attachment B contains the County ’s Redistricting 2021 Hearing Schedule affirmed by the Board on April 27, 2021. However, it was noted by staff that one hearing contained in the Redistricting 2021 Hearing Schedule was not a regular scheduled Board of Supervisors meeting and that the Fair Maps Act requires at least four public hearings, one before draft maps are drawn, at least two after the maps are drawn, and at least one to be held on a weekend or after 6 P.M. on a weekday. Therefore, in order to meet the requirements of the Fair Maps Act and stay within tight timeline for completing the Redistricting 2021 project by the December 15, 2021 deadline for adopting a final map, staff is requesting the Board approve an evening special meeting/public hearing for Tuesday, November 16, 2021 at 7:00 P.M.

Redistricting Project Calendar Overview (Attachment C)
Staff will report back to the Board periodically with status updates or as requested by the Board. An entire overview of the Redistricting 2021 project and timelines as outlined in Attachments A and B are provided as a birds-eye-view and color-coded accordingly in Attachment C and incorporates the following:

• The red shaded days indicate past, present, and anticipated future Board of Supervisor hearings. The red outlined day, Tuesday November 16, 2021, is the evening meeting staff is requesting the Board approve as part of this report.
• The yellow shaded days are the RAC21 committee meetings and the pink shaded days indicate the ten community outreach meetings requested by the Board, five on Wednesday evenings and five on Saturday mornings, however these days and times are still fluid if the Board so desires.
• The blue shaded days illustrate the days required (at least 7 days), for maps to be published prior to a Board of Supervisors hearing for them to discuss the draft map options, collect public input, and
  provide recommendations on draft maps.

Approval of the RAC21 Members (Attachment D)
For consideration of Board approval, Attachment D provides an initial list of appointees by district selected to serve on the Redistricting Advisory Committee. Staff may have an updated list of additional appointees prior to or at the Board meeting for approval however, any vacant positions can be appointed by the district at a future Board meeting as needed.

Alternatives:

The Board can choose not to receive an update or appoint its RAC21 members but this is not advised as there is limited time in which to perform community outreach efforts and delaying the project would further constrict the already tight timeline to completed the project by the December 15, 2021 deadline.

Other Agency Involvement:
Staff consulted with the redistricting technical team made up of the CAO’s office, County Counsel, Resource Management, Department of Information Technology, including GIS and Registrar of Voters, and our consultant, Redistricting Partners, Inc. to compile this report.

CAO Recommendation:
Approve Departmental Recommendation