The City of Visalia continues to move through the City Council Decennial Redistricting process, and with a recent vote by the City Council, citizens will have more time for their voices to be heard.
“The delay of integrating California adjusted Census data with our redistricting consultant’s digital tools brought a speed bump to our process, but we’re making sure we provide plenty of time for the public to be a part of redistricting,” shared Mayor Steve Nelsen. “The Council has authorized City staff to produce a revised timeline that includes staff led mapping workshops, public hearings and drop-in times.”
To date, the City of Visalia has held two public hearings and two mapping workshops, with feedback sought from the public on communities of interest and what new a district map could look like. Additionally, there have been two updates for the City Council at public Council meetings.
“We’re awaiting the delivery of our digital mapping tool from our consultants, which we feel will give citizens another tool to draw and create maps,” added Nelsen. “Once that tool is available, we’ll be sharing our revised timeline which will include new deadlines for citizens to submit draft maps.”
While the previously posted draft map submission deadlines for the public are no longer applicable and will be rescheduled, the City will move forward with Public Hearing #3 on Monday, December 6th at 7:30 p.m. during the regularly scheduled Visalia City Council meeting. Meetings take place in the Council Chambers at City Hall West, 707 W. Acequia Ave., Visalia.
This Monday, December 6th public hearing will include, but not be limited to, input from the public on communities of interest and an update on the process from National Demographic Corporation (NDC), the City’s redistricting consultants.
For those ready to draw a map now, manual mapping solutions are currently available. These include the Public Participation Kit with Population Counts, the Public Participation Kit with Population IDs and the Public Participation Kits with accompanying Excel spreadsheet. All these kits are available in both English and Spanish and can be downloaded here.
While these tools are available, community members are not limited to the mapping solutions provided by the City. Citizens can submit maps in any form they would like, whether using their own software or creating a hand drawn map.
Once completed, maps can be emailed to [email protected], mailed to City of Visalia Redistricting, c/o City of Visalia Administration, 220 N. Santa Fe St., Visalia, CA 93292 or by dropping map files in-person at the City of Visalia Administration Office at 220 N. Santa Fe St. Visalia, CA 93292. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For materials and information related to the City Council Decennial Redistricting process, visit www.visalia.city/drawvisalia.
For questions, or to be notified when new information becomes available, contact Allison Mackey, Communications Manager at [email protected] or (559) 713-4535.