211222 0930 Re_ Draft Staff ReportFrom:Jon Peat
To:Peter Grant
Cc:Paulo Morales; Arianna Barrios
Subject:Re: Draft Staff Report
Date:Wednesday, December 22, 2021 9:29:34 AM
Pete,
This is what I was looking for. I think it properly characterizes the issue so that residents will
be able to understand what is being considered and why.
Thank you,
Jon
From: Peter Grant
Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2021 8:55 AM
To: Jon Peat
Cc: Paulo Morales; Arianna Barrios
Subject: RE: Draft Staff Report
Thank you all for taking a look at the draft.
Here is the section that was modified/added. Arianna and Paulo, I tried to use the intro to address
some of the concerns we chatted about in our Zoom.
On September 20, 2021, the city received a letter from attorney Kevin Shenkman of Shenkman &
Hughes, PC on behalf of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and its members residing
within the City of Cypress alleging voting within Cypress is racially polarized, resulting in minority vote
dilution, and therefore, that the city’s at-large system for electing Council Members violates the
California Voting Rights Act (CVRA). Shenkman threatens to sue the city to force a change to its
election system if the City Council does not voluntarily transition from at-large elections prior to the
November 2022 City Council election.
In at-large election systems like Cypress', voters of an entire city elect all members of the City Council.
Nearly every city that has received a CVRA violation challenge has transitioned to by-district elections
which divide a city into districts. Voters in each district elect their Council Member, who must also live
in that district.
Since receiving Shenkman's threat of litigation, the City Council met several times in closed session to
discuss the alleged CVRA violation and the city's options for a response. To date, the City Council has
engaged a demographer to assess the merits of the claim and negotiated an extension to the
deadline Shenkman set for the city to respond to his demand that Cypress change its system for
electing Council Members at-large.
At its November 22 meeting, the City Council created an ad hoc subcommittee to recommend a series
of public forums and an outreach plan to inform the community about the CVRA, at-large and by-
district election formats, and collect input from residents about this important issue. The information
gathered from the community forums and public outreach will play an important role in the City
Council's assessment and deliberation of the CVRA violation claim and the manner by-which Cypress
elects its leaders.
Working with the City Manager and community outreach specialists from Communications LAB,
Mayor Morales and Council Member Peat recommend a schedule and format for the community
forums along with an informational presentation and outreach plan.
From: Jon Peat <jpeat@cypressca.org>
Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2021 11:20
To: Peter Grant <pgrant@cypressca.org>
Cc: Paulo Morales <pmorales@cypressca.org>; Arianna Barrios <arianna@communicationslab.com>
Subject: Re: Draft Staff Report
Hi Pete,
I think it would be helpful to add a sentence to the beginning of the discussion section that says a
little more about why we are having the community forums. Everything else looks good.
Jon
Sent from my iPhone
On Dec 21, 2021, at 10:40 AM, Peter Grant <pgrant@cypressca.org> wrote:
Paulo, Jon and Arianna,
Here is the draft of the staff report.
I need to put it into our routing system tomorrow AM and would appreciate any input
by 0900 Wednesday.
Don’t worry about typos or grammar – those will get cleaned-up.
Thanks,
Pete