Napa City Council Explores Electing Council Members By District

NAPA, CA — The Napa City Council has called a special meeting for Tuesday night to consider the city's transition to electing council members by district rather than the current method where council members are elected on an at-large, citywide basis.

During the meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Feb. 11 at Napa City Hall, 955 School St., the City Council will consider adopting a resolution that lays out steps the city would need to take in order to establish boundaries for by-district elections in time for the next City Council election scheduled for Nov. 3.

According to a city news release, Tuesday's meeting is in response to a letter received Jan. 2 asserting the city is required to transition to by-district elections in order to comply with the California Voting Rights Act.

Currently, the Napa City Council is comprised of five members — a mayor and four council members — all of whom must live within the city limits and are elected by registered voters who also live within city limits.

Under the proposed "by-district" process, a map of the city would be divided into four districts, and voters in each district would elect a council member who lives in their district. The mayor, however, would still be elected at-large by voters throughout the city.

If the City Council chooses Tuesday to adopt the resolution for by-district elections, a series of public hearings would be held about the formation of council districts.

The city has already set up a webpage, Cityofnapa.org/districtelections, about the process.