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More than a dozen city council district map proposals, submitted by residents and a professional demographer, are available for public review on a website created to set up the new election system.The draft maps can be viewed at drawmh.org, which provides a wealth of map drawing tools and demographic information about the City of Morgan Hill.Citizens can review the submitted draft maps and offer suggested changes, or create their own maps depicting four council districts equal in population, according to Morgan Hill Communications Manager Maureen Tobin. Residents can submit maps until Aug. 14.The city council is scheduled to approve an official four-district map in late August or early September. The map they approve will take effect with the November 2018 council election, and remain in place at least until the 2020 U.S. Census is completed.The five-member (including the mayor) Morgan Hill City Council approved the change from the current at-large election system to the new district-based system at their June 7 meeting. The change was a response to a demand letter from an Oakland law firm that claims the at-large system is in violation of the California Voting Rights Act because it limits the influence of minority groups.Under the by-district system, the city’s four council members will be elected by voters within the council district in which they reside. The mayor’s seat will continue to be elected on an at-large, citywide basis, according to city staff.By approving the change, the council aimed to protect the city from a potentially costly civil rights lawsuit. But it also forced the city to fast track the process of notifying the public and creating four new districts equal in population, without gerrymandering.The draft maps posted on drawmh.org include 10 “population balanced” maps with four districts each containing roughly 9,500 Morgan Hill residents. Seven of these were created by Morgan Hill residents. The other three were drawn by National Demographics Corporation, with whom the city contracted for $43,000 to help with the districting process.Also posted on the website are three maps created by residents that are not population balanced, and two maps that depict a single district.

Morgan Hill Unified School District’s top official has lined up a discussion item as part of an Aug. 15 board of education meeting that will cover the high school mathematics program.

New courses offered by Gavilan College in drone technology and hospitality and tourism management are coming to the Morgan Hill area for the Fall 2017 semester.

Establishing a collaborative environment amongst staff to allow students to reach their highest potential is what new Live Oak High School principal Maria Reitano has set out to do in the 2017-18 school year.

Only 10 members of the public showed up for a July 10 workshop encouraging participation from residents in shaping new Morgan Hill City Council election districts, but the experienced demographer hired by the city to gather data and coordinate the process described that as a “good turnout.”

State environmental officials will host a public meeting regarding the local school district’s Removal Action Workplan for the proposed Borello elementary school site on Peet Road from 6 to 8 p.m. July 27 at the El Toro Room inside the Community and Cultural Center.

City officials posted a new website containing interactive maps, meeting and workshop schedules and information devoted to the upcoming switch to a by-district election system for electing city council members.The website, found at drawmh.org, allows residents and voters to participate in the effort to create four council districts within the city limits. The section titled “Draw a Map” allows voters to propose their own preferred district boundaries that reflect the area or areas they think should be represented by a single elected official.An “Interactive Map Viewer” features layers of data such as the boundaries of individual U.S. Census population units within the city limits, and the number of residents within each unit. Draft maps, to be created in the coming weeks with input gathered from the public and a professional demographer, will be posted to the website.The site, which can be viewed in English and Spanish, also gives voters instructions on how to draw a proposed district map—on paper or electronically—and submit it to city officials.“The primary goal when drawing council election districts is to draw lines that keep neighborhoods together. So the council wants to know: what do you consider the boundaries of your neighborhood?” reads the “Welcome” section of the website.The next chance for voters to interact in person with city officials regarding the effort to draw new council districts will be at a July 10 community workshop, from 7 to 9 p.m. at City Council meeting chambers, 17555 Peak Ave.Under the by-district election system, each district will be represented by a single council member who resides within that district. Voters within each district will elect only one council member to represent them.This is a stark change from the at-large system that has elected council members for the last 100-plus years. Under that system, all voters throughout Morgan Hill could vote on every council seat that was up for election, regardless of where in the city each candidate lived.The council voted June 7 to make the change to a by-district system, in response to a “demand letter” from an Oakland law firm denouncing the at-large system as being in violation of the California Voting Rights Act. By adopting the change, the council is taking advantage of legal protections that limit the damages and costs that can be claimed in a potential civil rights lawsuit.The by-district system will start November 2018, when two seats—currently occupied by Councilman Rich Constantine and Councilwoman Caitlin Jachimowicz—will be up for grabs. The other two seats—now held by Mayor Pro Tem Larry Carr and Councilman Rene Spring—will be subject to the by-district change when they next appear on the ballot in November 2020.The mayor of Morgan Hill will continue to be elected at large under the change, according to city staff and drawmh.org. The mayor serves a two-year term.The May 2 demand letter from Oakland law firm Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho, alleges that the current at-large system results in “vote dilution” and prevents under-represented groups such as Latino voters from “influencing the results of elections.”The city council has held two public hearings—on June 21 and June 28—on the election system change since it was adopted.At the June 28 meeting, Douglas Johnson, President of the National Demographics Corporation, gave a presentation about NDC’s proposal to offer mapping and demographic services to the city during the transition to a by-district system.Public meetings and workshops on the subject will continue until Aug. 23, when the council is expected to adopt official district maps created with input from the voters and NDC.NDC has recently offered similar services to the Morgan Hill Unified School District, when its seven-member board of trustees voted to change to a by-district election system in 2015, also under threat of a lawsuit. It has also offered redistricting services for the Santa Clara Valley Water District.The company’s contract with the City of Morgan Hill cost $43,000.

The Rotary Club of Morgan Hill distributed $22,000 in college scholarships to 21 Morgan Hill high school seniors, according to a June 20 announcement.

Local officials and members of the public have many unanswered questions about the details and logistics of Morgan Hill’s imminent switch from an at-large to a by-district election system, which the current council claims was forced upon them by the threat of a costly lawsuit.What happens if nobody tosses their hat in the ring to become a candidate in one or more of the new districts in an upcoming council election, leaving the voters in that geographic area with no one to elect? Can the city’s voters continue to elect its mayor on an at-large basis, or would this also violate the California Voting Rights Act, as at least one private attorney contends?On June 21, the Morgan Hill City Council held its first public hearing since deciding earlier this month to implement district elections, starting with the November 2018 balloting. The June 7 decision to make the switch was in response to a “demand letter,” dated May 2, from the law firm Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho, alleging that the current at-large system, in which every voter inside the city limits gets to elect every seat on the council, violates the CVRA.Specifically, the at-large system—which the city has used since it was incorporated in 1906—results in “vote dilution” and prevents under-represented groups such as Latino voters from “influencing the results of elections,” according to the demand letter.The same law firm sent a similar letter to the Morgan Hill Unified School District in 2015, subsequently prompting the district’s seven-member board of trustees to make a switch to by-district voting.Based on council discussion June 21, city staff is recommending the council “create four voting districts in which each council member must live within the district they wish to represent, and voters may only vote for candidates within their voting district.”The staff report continues, “Any changes to the procedures for electing the mayor would need to be approved by the voters. Staff is not recommending placing a measure on the ballot at this time. Under staff’s recommendation, the mayor will continue to be directly elected through an at-large election allowing all residents (within) the city to vote for mayor.”There is a difference of opinion on whether an at-large mayor also violates the CVRA if the remaining council members are elected within individual districts. Attorney Mike Baller, who signed the May 2 letter from Goldstein, Borgen, said the council will not meet its requirements under the CVRA if it keeps the mayor’s seat elected at large.City staff is currently working out a contract with National Demographics Corporation to provide “experience, technical expertise and legal/political know-how to assist the city with a successful and inclusive transition to by-district elections,” reads the staff report. This work will include drawing the four geographic council representation districts within the city limits.The city is also planning an “extensive engagement effort” to make sure residents and voters are aware of the change. This effort includes distributing information in both English and Spanish, and an interpreter was available for Spanish speakers at the June 21 meeting.The public outreach process also includes periodic email blasts to residents—such as a June 22 message from city spokeswoman Maureen Tobin—and a series of upcoming public hearings. The next two public hearings are scheduled for June 28 and July 10 at council meeting chambers, 17575 Peak Ave.“During its discussions, the city…will strive to have an open, transparent and inclusive process,” Tobin’s email says. “More information will be available very soon, and we want to alert all residents of the need for your input and participation in establishing city council districts in Morgan Hill.”Reluctant changeMorgan Hill resident Doug Muirhead echoed council members’ views on the likely effectiveness of attracting Latino candidates under a district-based election system.“Changes to district elections under threat of legal action doesn’t guarantee that minority representation will happen,” Muirhead said June 21. “That’s the discussion I wish we were having.”He also wondered, “If we have a district, and no candidate applies, what happens to that seat?”When Councilmember Gordon Siebert resigned from the council halfway through his four-year term in 2016, the council eventually appointed Caitlin Jachimowicz to complete his unexpired term. That process started with an application and public interview process, in which more than 20 candidates participated.But the current council doesn’t even know if they would follow a similar process if confronted with a nameless ballot in a district election.Morgan Hill resident and Gavilan College Trustee Jonathan Brusco also addressed the council June 21, offering his experience from when the community college’s board switched to district voting in 2015—also under threat of a lawsuit.“It probably will not give you the best candidates,” Brusco said.Mayor Pro Tem Larry Carr said the most difficult part will be ensuring voters know about the change to a by-district system before it kicks in November 2018, which is crucial because the change is so drastic and fundamentally different from how local voters have elected their councilmembers in every election until now.Carr noted that when MHUSD implemented its by-district election system, even after a lengthy public outreach process, many voters still wondered in November 2016 why they were only voting for a single candidate.He also offered his criticism of the district-based system, and questioned whether it would attract high-quality candidates.“You can’t handicap (an election) and make a council good,” Carr said. “That’s all this is doing. I’m afraid it’s going to start politicizing everything.”By approving the change to by-district elections June 7—albeit reluctantly—the council “will take advantage of legal protection that enables cities to have a say in district boundaries and avoid costly litigation,” reads Tobin’s June 22 email.Staff reports and video recordings of the June 7 and June 21 council discussions can be found on the city’s website, morganhill.ca.gov.

School district leaders will move forward with a $1.6 million plan to clean up a contaminated 9-acre site to make way for a brand new elementary school after the board of education’s split vote gave the go-ahead at a June 27 special meeting.