Issued by:
Marshall Wilson
San Mateo County Communications Director
Boundary Adjustment Committee Meetings Set
Committee to Hold First Round of Five Meetings Across San Mateo County
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – A committee that will review the boundaries of San Mateo County’s supervisorial districts and possibly recommend changes will hold its first meeting June 6 in San Mateo.
Four additional meetings are also scheduled: June 15 in Half Moon Bay; June 18 in Daly City; June 25 in East Palo Alto; and July 11 in Millbrae. Details are below.
The Board of Supervisors created the nine-member boundary adjustment committee after voters changed the County Charter in November. The change requires that only voters within a district can elect a supervisor who lives in that same district to represent them. Under the prior system voters countywide elected all five supervisors.
With heightened interest in district-based elections, the Board of Supervisors tasked the committee with hearing public comment, studying current and potential boundaries and recommending possible adjustments.
The kick-off meeting will be held Thursday, June 6, at 6:30 p.m. at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, 725 Monte Diablo Ave., San Mateo.
The committee and public will receive a report from a demographer and then learn how to use an online mapping tool to review the current boundaries and draw possible districts. The committee will also receive public comment.
Four additional meetings will be held throughout the county. These are:
· Saturday, June 15, 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Cunha Intermediate School Library, 600 Church Street, Half Moon Bay
· Tuesday, June 18, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., War Memorial Community Center, 6655 Mission Street, Daly City
· Tuesday, June 25, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., East Palo Alto Council Chambers, 2415 University Ave., East Palo Alto
· Thursday, July 11, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Millbrae Community Center, 477 Lincoln Circle, Millbrae
At the final meeting in Millbrae, it is anticipated the committee will consider possible draft boundary changes. An additional five meetings will be held in late summer to present possible draft changes to the public for comment before any recommendation is presented to the full Board of Supervisors.
Under State election law, districts must be approximately equal in population. In establishing the boundaries of the districts the Board of Supervisors may give consideration to the following factors: (a) topography, (b) geography, (c) cohesiveness, contiguity, integrity, and compactness of territory, and (d) community of interests of the districts.”
The committee members chosen by the Board are: Supervisors Adrienne J. Tissier and Warren Slocum; Gonzalo “Sal” Torres, a Daly City Council Member; Laura Martinez, an East Palo Alto Council Member; and public members: (1st Supervisorial District)– Hayden Lee of Millbrae;(2nd Supervisorial District)– Raymond Lee of San Mateo;(3rd Supervisorial District) — Barbara Arietta of Pacifica;(4th Supervisorial District)– William Nack of Menlo Park; and (5th Supervisorial District)–Rebecca Ayson of Daly City.
Each public member resides in one of the five current districts.
Additional information about the process will be posted at www.smcgov.org/bos under “Supervisorial District Lines Advisory Committee.”
