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It isn’t only cities and school districts that have been threatened with possible legal action if they don’t switch from selecting board trustees “at large” to choosing them from specific sections of the district, each representing their own section.
At an online public hearing on Wednesday beginning at 6 p.m., the Central Contra Costa Sanitation District will talk about making such changes in the way its directors are elected. The district also is asking for public participation for helping determine what the boundaries of these five “divisions” should be.
The Central Contra Costa Sanitation District, often called Central San, collects and treats wastewater from Alamo, Danville, Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda, Pleasant Hill and Walnut Creek; portions of Martinez and San Ramon; and unincorporated communities within central Contra Costa County. It also treats wastewater from Concord and Clayton. Its main facility is near the Interstate 680/Highway 4 interchange east of Martinez.
The move to “division” elections was driven by a threat of litigation if Central San doesn’t move away from at-large board elections. That attorney has claimed at-large board elections violate the California Voting Rights Act of 2001, which asserts local at-large voting systems are discriminatory if they “impair the ability of a protected class … to elect candidates of its choice or otherwise influence the outcome of an election.”
Malibu attorney Kevin Shenkman sent similar letters to many Bay Area cities, school districts and other special districts starting in 2016. Most, if not all, of those bodies have made, or are making, the switch from at-large to district, or division, elections.
For various options for taking part in Wednesday’s hearing, people can visit here.
By Bay City News Service
By Bay City News Service
By Bay City News Service
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