After going through the districting process and months of deliberation, the La Verne City Council adopted a map of the city with five districts which established a new by-district electoral system with a rotating mayor in the City of La Verne.
Prior to selecting a map, the La Verne City Council voted in favor of adopting a map with five districts and a rotating mayor rather than a four-district system with a mayor elected at-large. The Council then adopted Ordinance No. 1106, which immediately established the five council district electoral system and adopted their preferred map. Council also moved to introduce Ordinance No. 1107, which also establishes the same new election system but does so through a process that requires two readings. Once the ordinances have been codified, the City will be sending out notices alerting voters of the changes.
Both ordinance approaches were utilized to ensure the City had legal backing to show it had met the State’s December 15 deadline. The second reading of Ordinance No. 1107 adopting this election system and map will be held on Monday, December 6 at 6:30 p.m. Ultimately, this new election system will be utilized for the City’s next election, which will be held in June 2022. The map adopted by Council includes district boundaries along Wheeler Avenue, Foothill Boulevard and D Street.
With this approval, the City determined when each district seat will be up for election. Districts 1, 3 and 4 (the two districts north of the 210 Freeway as well as the district that captures most of the Downtown La Verne area) will be up for election in June 2022. The two remaining districts, Districts 2 and 5, which encapsulate southwest La Verne and the eastern district bordered by D Street, the 210 Freeway and 8th Street, will be up for election in March 2024. The City’s local election timeline follows the State’s primary dates. In gubernatorial election years, they are conducted in June. In presidential election years, La Verne’s local elections are conducted in March. La Verne voters will vote for a council representative in the election when the district seat of their residence is open. Residents can determine which district they live in by accessing this interactive map.
The adoption of Ordinance No. 1107 will complete La Verne’s districting process. In July, the City of La Verne hired the National Demographics Corporation to guide the City’s districting process, which included four legally required public hearings, evaluating and revising draft maps and receiving public comment on communities of interest and map submissions. Beginning in September, the City held one virtual public hearing and three hybrid hearings to solicit public feedback.
Throughout the process, NDC sought feedback from the public to identify and protect communities of interest in the mapping process. Eligible draft maps and comments submitted by the public were posted to the MapLaVerne.org/Draft-Maps page prior to the third and fourth hearings.
The La Verne community submitted approximately 30 drafted maps, and NDC produced four maps utilizing public feedback on maps, communities of interest and geographical landmarks. During the third hearing, NDC presented the first publication of draft maps to the City Council and gathered feedback from the community and City Council. During the fourth public hearing, NDC presented additional community-submitted maps and the City Council voted to adopt Ordinance No. 1106 and introduce Ordinance No. 1107, as discussed above.
Once Ordinance No. 1107 goes into effect in January 2022, La Verne residents will be notified via mailer or some other similar communications method. The mailer will outline how the new by-district electoral system will affect voters in the June 2022 election and beyond. Questions regarding the City’s new by-district election system can contact the City Clerk’s Office at (909) 596-8726 or email cityclerk@cityoflaverne.org.