Citrus College Redistricting Splits Azusa

As Citrus College continues to redraw trustee district boundaries, proposed changes drew concerns from the board of trustees over gerrymandering lines and split communities.

Citrus College was presented with several scenarios outlining possible changes to the way the campus' trustee districts are established during the Sept. 13 Board of Trustees meeting.

The redistricting process is done every 10 years along with the census and in accordance with the California Voting Rights Act.

Kimi Shigetani, CCLC vice president and project partner Chris Chaffee were on hand to deliver the team's proposals.

Under proposed changes, Azusa, with its dense Latino population, is split into three different trustee areas in order to evenly disperse Latino representation as equally as the law would allow to create two majority-minority districts.

Azusa's population is above 45,000, which is the maximum population allowed for any one district.

"Under the federal Voting Rights Act, if you can create a district with a population over 50 percent, you must do it," Chaffee said.

Some of the criteria pivotal to the proposed changes, including keeping trustee areas relatively equal size, reducing excessive "hopping," following city and county government lines and maintaining compact district boundaries.

The college board of trustees expressed concerns that Azusa does not like being split up in district maps.

"The people of Azusa ... it looks like they're being left out of this whole thing," said Gary Woods, representative of area 1, which includes Azusa.

At a July , public concerns and comments from the board included the use of gerrymandering lines encompassing the cities of Duarte, Azusa and Monrovia.

There are five trustee areas the board members represent, encompassing the cities of Glendora, Azusa, Claremont, Duarte and Monrovia.

The project team will make revisions to address the trustee's concerns, but Shigetani warned that doing so might not preserve their incumbency.

The board also was given an encore of the information presented at an Aug. 29 .

The college saw a slight increase in their ending fund balance for 2010-2011 with an additional $1,888,480, courtesy of a combined increase in revenues and decrease in expenditures.

With that information on mind, the board approved the adopted budget for 2011-2012.

The next board of trustees meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 24 at 4:15 p.m. in the Center For Innovation Building, Community Room, CI 159 at Citrus College: 1000 W Foothill Blvd.