20-02-2025
City of Galt moving to five election districts
Feb. 20—Galt residents will not be selecting a mayor in future elections.
The Galt City Council on Tuesday directed staff and consulting firm Redistricting Partners to draft maps with five election districts and present the final renderings at the March 4 meeting.
The maps are part of answer to a letter the city received in August claiming Galt's current at-large system of voting dilutes the ability of Latino voters to elect candidates of their choice or to otherwise influence the outcome of an election.
The letter, drafted by the Shenkman & Hughes law firm on behalf of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, also claimed the at-large elections violate the California Voting Rights Act, which became law in 2003 and attempts to prevent the disenfranchisement of protected classes. A protected class, staff said, is comprised of voters who are members of a race, color, or language minority group.
City staff said the letter was a prerequisite to having a lawsuit filed against it, and something no other agency has successfully defended. To avoid a lawsuit, the council in October voted to transition from at-large elections to district elections by April 8.
The council had been given the option to move to four districts with an elected at-large mayor, or five districts with a rotating mayor.
Councilmembers Mathew Pratton, Tim Reed and Bonnie Rodriguez favored a five-district election, stating that because Galt was still a relatively small town, there was no need to elect an at-large mayor. Pratton feared that opening the city to an elected mayor could produce a victor who ran for power more than for the good of the people.
"It's hard to get people to run in this town," he said. "It's a lot of work and most people don't want to do it. To get them to run for mayor is going to be even harder. And I think it narrows us down to folks possibly with ulterior motives."
Although Reed favored a five-district council, he thought the division would actually encourage more people to seek office. Resident Paul Salinas favored breaking the council into four districts and electing a mayor who would ultimately have the final decision on issues during meetings.
"The buck stops with one person," he said. "We are familiar with a system — if you look at the federal and state elections — we vote for president. We vote for governor. If you look at your staff there's always a senior person in charge. Someone has to take responsibility. Someone has to take the lead."
At previous meetings, Chris Brossman favored splitting the council into five districts. But at Tuesday's meeting, he began leaning toward four districts and a mayor, again expressing concern if someone did not run for a particular seat.
"The other side to that is, you guys aren't exactly paid handsomely, so maybe we should look at the mayor's salary and increase it over double, because his time is going to be more encompassing," he said.
Vice Mayor Paul Sandhu also favored four districts and a mayor, but said he would go along with what the majority of the council decided.
"We have the opportunity to give more power to the residents," he said of electing a mayor. "And then in the districts, everybody can be their own district. With you running for just one district, someone with a problem will call you, and you can say 'that's my problem and I can solve it.'"
Once a final map is selected, council seats in districts 1, 3 and 5 will be up for election in 2026. Seats for districts 2 and 4 will be up for election in 2028.
The council will assign district numbers specific areas at a future meeting.
