With the population of Morgan Hill having jumped by about 20% in the past decade, city officials expect the four elective council districts to change significantly before the next general election.
Cities, counties, states and special districts are required to undergo a redistricting process every 10 years, based on the results of each decennial U.S. Census. The new districts are supposed to reflect how local populations have changed in order to ensure each district has an equal number of voting residents.
Data released last week by the census bureau showed that Morgan Hill’s total population grew to 45,483 from April 2010 to April 2020.
“We expect our districts to change quite a bit,” City Clerk Michelle Bigelow said at an Aug. 6 council workshop.
The new district maps will apply in the November 2022 general election. Some residents of Morgan Hill will likely be voting in new districts, Bigelow noted.
The city is beginning the process now to inform and engage residents in the redistricting effort. The final districts will be based on the complete census data, which is not expected to be released until October.
The city council must hold at least four public hearings throughout the redistricting process, and produce a draft map of the new districts that will be fine tuned and submitted for council approval, likely in early 2022.
The council’s first public hearing on redistricting is scheduled for 8pm Aug. 18, which will be an online Zoom meeting. The meeting will also be livestreamed on the Facebook page titled “City of Morgan Hill – Engage” and on the city’s website at morganhill.ca.gov. It will also be broadcast live on Channel 17.
“The purpose of this public hearing is to update the community on the redistricting process and to receive feedback about what neighborhoods and/or communities of interest (COI) should be taken into consideration while creating district boundaries,” says a city staff report.
The Morgan Hill City Council first created elective council districts in 2017, following a Voting Rights Act lawsuit. Those districts were based on population data from the 2010 census.
The city’s mayor is still elected by voters throughout Morgan Hill.
