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Central Coast City Continues Move Towards District Instead Of At-Large Municipal Elections

A Central Coast city is continuing to zero in on its planned move from at-large to district municipal elections.

The Santa Maria City Council agreed to move to the system after being threatened with a lawsuit by a candidate who lost in the last election, and claimed the current system is discriminatory.

The council looked at 17 possible maps for establishing council districts, and narrowed it down to three. Tuesday night and on May 16th the council will hold public hearings to look at the process.

The city is hoping to finalize the districts this month, so they can be used for the first district-based elections in 2018. The idea is that Santa Maria’s four council members will each be elected to represent one of four districts in the city, with the Mayor still to be elected at large by all of the city’s voters.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.