Rohnert Park approves contentious plan for district-based elections over residents’ impassioned pleas to change course

In a move that divided council members and the community, the Rohnert Park City Council on Tuesday approved a contentious plan to switch to district elections, sidestepping calls from residents to revise boundaries and a voting cycle that begins with this year’s election.

The City Council voted 3-2 to finalize the plan after a four-month process to determine the voting system for seats on the council going forward. The decision will provide clear paths for two incumbents to be reelected without having to face another sitting council member, while leaving another longtime incumbent whose term is expiring without a seat to contest in 2020.

Three-term Councilwoman Gina Belforte will be unable to mount a reelection bid because the council majority selected three districts other than the one where she lives for the November ballot. Instead, the districts where current Mayor Joe Callinan and Vice Mayor Jake Mackenzie reside, as well as the southwestern portion of the city not presently represented on the council — and home to many of Latino residents — will be first up.

“This process has not been easy for any of us up here on the dais,” Callinan told attendees, reading from prepared remarks. “It is unfortunate that any of us would have to forgo running again at the end of our term, and I understand the frustration. But, unfortunately, because of the California Voting (Rights) Act, it is unavoidable.”

Members of the council endured a nearly 40-minute tongue lashing from residents who voiced anger and dissatisfaction with the city’s transition process away from its at-large voting system during the public comment period. None of the 18 people who spoke supported the council majority’s decision, with many of them citing a desire to see Belforte have a chance to run this year.

“This is not about me. This is politics,” Belforte said during the meeting via conference call during a business trip to Florida. “But the thing that concerns me most is clearly denying citizens the right to vote for their elected officials. We don’t get to pick and choose which laws we follow.”

Several residents questioned the origin of the map submitted by a resident a day before the deadline that the council chose, and the legality of the chosen election cycle. A handful of attendees left Tuesday night saying they’d be considering taking legal action against the city over its decision. Others criticized the legitimacy of the effort to involve the public and its outcome, which will see the city’s other two districts — including Belforte’s — not up for election until 2022.

“This is not a game, and should not be played like a game. It will set our city’s electoral tone for many, many years to come,” said resident Julie Broyes, who advocated for a plan that would see all three incumbents with a chance to run in 2020. “The people deserve to vote for their representatives.”

The impassioned opposition led Mackenzie to ask City Attorney Michelle Marchetta Kenyon whether she was correctly interpreting a state law that took effect in January concerning new rules guiding cities in redistricting properly.

“This is a very personal thing for each of us who run for office and who serve here,” said Mackenzie, a six-term councilman. “I’m not inclined to vote on this matter tonight until this issue is clearly resolved. It’s too important, frankly.”

Mackenzie offered a motion to delay for another two weeks a final vote on the selected map and election cycle, but it failed in a 3-2 vote, drawing sighs and jeers from some in the audience. Mackenzie and Belforte were the dissenters, with longtime Councilwoman Pam Stafford and first-term Councilwoman Susan Hollingsworth Adams joining Callinan in voting to push forward.

The 3-2 vote to approve the map split along the same lines.

Kenyon, backed by a consultant hired by the city to assist with the shift to district-based elections on the threat of a lawsuit over the current voting system, reiterated to council members that all of their proposed actions were “legally defensible.” Malibu-based attorney Kevin Shenkman sent a letter to Rohnert Park in October alleging that the city’s election process for seats on the council has long disenfranchised Latino voters, and violates the state’s voting rights law.

“Ranking maps by the term ‘legally defensible’ does not make it in the best interest of the community,” said Sylvia Lemus, a member of the Rohnert Park/Cotati-based Latino Alliance. “Rather, in this instance, it seems to be in the best interest of the current incumbency. Our eyes will be watching what you do and how it will impact our community.”

Other members of the Latino-focused nonprofit were also on hand in the emotion-fueled City Hall council chambers Tuesday. In their comments, they each backed Belforte, who they said has been a champion for seeing the city’s growing minority population receive a seat at the table on the council beginning later this year.

“You are so embedded in your privilege, you have chosen not to see us. The failure is not ours; the failures are yours,” said Shelley Gomez, Latino Alliance’s vice president and co-founder. “It is your duty and responsibility to do what is right, to do your job. I can assure you that many changes in representation are to come. We are here to hold you accountable.”

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin Fixler at 707-521-5336 or kevin.fixler@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @kfixler.