Hill may have two supervisors in two years
Depending upon the results of the county’s supervisorial redistricting, Idyllwild, Pine Cove and the rest of the Hill communities may have two supervisors from 2023 to 2025.
In preparation for creating new boundaries for the supervisorial districts, the board of supervisors also had to repeal Ordinance 813 that officially set the current boundaries.
On Nov. 16, the board voted unanimously to repeal the current boundaries. This action will be effective in 30 days. Currently, the board plans to approve the new district boundaries at either its Dec. 7 or 14 meeting.
Even though the board will approve new boundaries either with a resolution or ordinance, they are not effective immediately. California Elections Code section 21506 states, “The term of office of any supervisor who has been elected and whose term of office has not expired shall not be affected by any change in the boundaries of the district from which the supervisor was elected.”
The terms for implementing the new boundaries, according to the Elections Code, are: “At the first election for county supervisors in each county following adoption of the boundaries of supervisorial districts, … a supervisor shall be elected for each district under the new district plan that has the same district number as a district whose incumbent’s term is due to expire.”
The Riverside County supervisorial elections are staggered. All five supervisors are not elected in the same election. For example, Supervisor Chuck Washington represents District 3 that includes all the Hill communities. He was reelected last November for a term that expires January 2025. The same is true for Supervisor Kevin Jeffries, who represents District 1.
However, the supervisors for districts 2, 4 and 5 will be elected in November 2022 and for full terms beginning January 2023. Voters in that election will be assigned according to the new district boundaries for those three districts. But supervisors Jeffries and Washington will continue to represent their current constituents within their current boundaries until January 2025.
For example, if the new district boundaries shift the Hill areas to District 4, for two years — from January 2023 until January 2025 — they would be represented by both Washington and the District 4 supervisor.
Or the opposite, the new district boundaries might shift some cities or communities into districts 1 or 3 from districts 2, 4 or 5. Since the supervisors elected in 2022 represent the constituents within the new district boundaries and supervisors Washington and Jeffries continue to represent their current constituents, these areas would technically have no representation, according to county Counsel Gregory Priamos.
“There may be a period of time where there is overlap and we will have individuals represented by both, under the old boundaries and the new boundaries,” Priamos told the board. “And there may be a period of time where individuals may not be represented …
“An anomaly within the election code,” Priamos opined.
