The first five members of Santa Barbara County’s Citizens’ Independent Redistricting Commission had their first meeting on Oct. 22, where they briefly introduced themselves to the public and set dates for several upcoming meetings where they’ll choose the commission’s remaining six members.
At the meeting, all commissioners expressed their dedication to creating a group that will accurately represent the population of Santa Barbara County, a controversial issue that’s hung over the redistricting process since the initial applicant pool was narrowed down to a predominantly white and male group in September.
Lindsey Baker, former president of the League of Women Voters of Santa Barbara, said during public comment at the Oct. 22 meeting that the redistricting process should include full disclosure and robust public input.
“The League of Women Voters is concerned that the process to date has not been open or transparent up to this point. We hope your commission will change that,” Baker said. “We also hope you will take seriously the obligation to select the next six members of the commission so that the final commission will reflect the county’s racial, ethnic, geographic, age diversity and be as proportional as possible to the actual voter registration demographics of the county.”
Laura Katz, William McClintock, Norman Bradley, Cary Gray, and Glenn Morris are the first residents named to serve on the Citizens’ Independent Redistricting Commission, a group of 11 responsible for drawing the lines that will define the county’s five supervisorial districts for the next 10 years. The first five—one person from each of the county’s supervisorial districts—were chosen randomly at an Oct. 13 Board of Supervisors meeting from a pool of a little more than 40 applicants. They’re now tasked with interviewing other candidates and filling the commission’s six remaining seats.
The county initially received nearly 200 applications for the commission, and at the Oct. 13 meeting, community members and supervisors questioned the process county Registrar of Voters Joseph Holland used to whittle it down to what were supposed to be the 45 most qualified candidates. Instead, critics say Holland landed on a group that does not adequately represent the people of Santa Barbara County.
Katz, the only woman among the first five members and representative of the county’s 1st District, said at the Oct. 22 Redistricting Commission meeting that she hopes to help correct the current demographic imbalance.
Katz moved to Santa Barbara with her family as a high schooler in the ’70s and graduated from San Marcos High School. She left the area briefly to attend college, returned to live in the Carpinteria area in 1993, and worked as a nurse practitioner specializing in geriatrics. She’s now “semi-retired” and said at the Oct. 22 meeting that she intends to choose the remaining commissioners with Santa Barbara County’s demographics in mind.
“I am so pleased to be randomly selected to be on this citizens’ commission,” Katz said. “And I just want to echo Lindsey Baker in her comment, that that’s my hope as well.”
Second District Commissioner McClintock is a marine scientist at UC Santa Barbara’s National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis. For the past 20 years, McClintock said he’s been developing mapping software that’s used for ocean zoning in public and participatory processes where diversity and inclusion are key.
“So I’m hoping that some of that experience in the ocean can be transferred to the redistricting process,” he said at the meeting. “In any case, I’m super excited to be a part of it, and I would also like to echo on the speaker’s comments that I’m very concerned about having a very demographically representative commission.”
Bradley, a Lompoc resident and full-time writing lecturer at UC Santa Barbara, is representing the 3rd District. Throughout his time living in Santa Barbra County, Bradley has served on a number of academic and community committees, including the Solvang Unified School District board of trustees, the steering committee for the Santa Ynez Valley Blueprint, and a Solvang task force designed to consider the impacts of outlet stores in the city. He also co-founded the Santa Ynez Valley Alliance, a nonprofit educational and land use study organization.
The 4th District’s representative, Cary Gray, is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who’s lived in Santa Barbara County since 1986. Self-described as a businessman, at one time Gray taught courses like ethics in business and corporate communications at Chapman University and the University of La Verne. But Gray said he’s always also been philanthropic and active in the community, serving as board member for United Way for more than 15 years and co-founding Leadership Santa Maria Valley, a teen program designed to foster and create future community leaders.
Morris, president and CEO of the Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce, will represent the 5th District. With years of experience in economic development, tourism, and community development, Morris brings more than two decades of leadership and collaborative practice to the table.
“Happy to be here and pleased to engage in this activity,” he said at the meeting.
The first five members of the Citizens’ Independent Redistricting Commission are scheduled to meet again on Nov. 12 at 3:30 p.m., where they’ll discuss the criteria and process they’ll use to select the remaining members.
