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Azusa's newly approved City Council districts. | Image courtesy of the city of Azusa
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The Azusa City Council last week concluded the city’s transition to district-based elections and changed the mayor’s role from an elected office to a rotating appointed title among council members.
The council voted unanimously the enact Ordinance No. 2024-01, establishing by-district elections with defined district boundaries, scheduling elections within the newly created council districts, and changing the mayor’s role from an at-large elected official to a rotational appointment held by council members.
These changes will take effect thirty days from their March 18 enactment and will form the basis for all future municipal elections in Azusa, officials said in a statement.
The move to create council districts followed more than four months of public input and about two years since the City Council declared its intent to transition from an at-large electoral system to a district system, officials said, noting the inspiration for that transition was “to align and comply with the California Voting Rights Act.”
Officials held several public hearings to get community points of view and discuss demographic and district map options. This effort included hiring Best Best & Krieger to do a demographic analysis of the city and its proposed council district boundaries.
Starting with the upcoming election in November, Azusa will be divided into five separate districts with voters electing one City Council member who must reside only within their specific district.
“While separate and unique, each of the final districts represent contiguous geographic areas along census tracts with similar population counts,” Azusa officials said in a statement. “Council districts 2, 4, and 5 will be the first up for election later this year.”
More information about the city’s new council districts and the process that led to their is online at https://www.azusaca.gov/2028/Districting-Establishing-2024-Voter-Dist.
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