Goleta invites public input before drawing district lines

GOLETA, Calif. - By the time Goleta celebrates its twentieth year as an incorporated city, it will have district elections.

The city hosted its first public district election workshop on Monday night.

Community Relations Manager Kelly Hoover said, "This is the very first district workshop. We are going to have three over the summer and our hope is that the public will attend at least one of the workshops. The first one is virtual, but the next two, we are hoping, will be in-person, so it is very exciting."

The city will be divided into four districts. Voters in each district will vote for a city council candidate who lives in the district, but the mayor will be elected by voters across all four districts.

Since the districts will be drawn to keep neighborhoods together the city wants residents to define neighborhoods.

The city also has a link to help residents draw maps at drawgoleta.org.

The city agreed to implement district elections by November 2022 as part of a 2017 Conditional Settlement Agreement.

It is not clear how the district will impact current elected leaders.

National Demographics Corp. President Doug Johnson said the current council members' homes are fairly well spread across the city.

Johnson said, "There are the prioritized criteria and there are the prohibited considerations and where the council members live is not in the prioritized list, but it is also not prohibited, so it is in those traditional criteria that follow after that. So it is something that can be looked at as people are drafting the maps, if they wish to, after they address all the Federal and State requirements."

In Fall 2022, both Councilmembers Roger Aceves and Mayor Pro Tempore James Kryiaco will be up for re-election.

A second workshop will be held on Saturday, June 26, at 11 a.m. at the Goleta Union School District Boardroom at 401 N. Fairview Ave. A third workshop will be held on August 2 at 6 p.m., but the location has yet to be determined.