By Emily Aguilar

Eastvale – On the May 11 City Council meeting, the main discussion focused on districting. Residents stated that the city’s at-large voting system violated the California Voting Rights Act and was thus unfair — so much so that a lawsuit was threatened against the City. The council ultimately opted to adopt a by-district voting system. This means that residents will vote by district as opposed to voting at-large. In the next few weeks, the council will expect to partake in intense discussions about organizing these new districts.

While the council looks forward to these discussions, they were first presented with some calming topics. A few hours prior to the meeting, the council elected Richard Simmons as the new council member who will temporarily fill in Bill Link’s vacancy. This decision made the meeting begin late, but the council immediately went into discussion.

Lea Patterson from the Southern California Gas Company shared a PowerPoint presentation outlining the city’s pipeline project. Construction will be taking place in June on Citrus and Harrison. Following the presentation, Mayor Bootsma took a moment to make two proclamations: the first was presented to Dr. Aimee French from the American Lung Association in California Inland Counties in order to recognize the week of May 11th as Women’s Lung Health Week; the second proclamation recognized May as Mental Health Awareness Month.

The council then opened the floor to the Public Commentary portion of the meeting, and was met with four concerned Eastvale residents who were displeased with their neighborhoods. The first to express his anger was Andres Carrillo, who explained that an individual was living in an unoccupied location in his neighborhood. Another resident having issues with her neighborhood was Cindy Quach, who is allegedly being verbally harassed by one of her neighbors. Another resident named Isabel Hernandez testified in defense of Quach’s statements, and further asked the council to look into the case Quach had presented. The council assured that they would find a way to help Quach. While not necessarily a problem in her neighborhood, Amiro Alvara expressed opposition against the new districting method the council had to adopt, but unfortunately, the council explained that they could not do anything to change the decision.

All items on the consent calendar were motioned. Before the council could get to the heart of the meeting, they decided to first discuss item 8.2, which dealt with changing the city’s investment policy plan. The changes would include increasing the city’s allocations, align investments with California Government Code 53601, and add a 5% issuer limit for any non-government issuers. After making a motion to accept the new policy plan, the council finally moved to the main discussion of the night: the districting plan.

This discussion was set to be split into two, the first hearing being on that night and the second half was set to take place for the next meeting. Doug Johnson presented a PowerPoint that showed two sets of maps. The first one showed four different proposed maps that outline how each district would potentially look while another set showed five different maps. The second set would call for a single mayor at-large for all five districts. Johnson explained why each set met the necessary criteria for districting. After looking at the proposed maps, and hearing opposition and support from residents, the council discussed amongst them once more and decided to motion for five districts with one mayor at-large.

Going back to item 8.1, the council motioned to approve a Storm Drain tract on Archibald and Schleisman. The rest of the meeting consisted of talking about Richard Simmons as the new, but temporary, council member.

The second City Council meeting took place on May 25. At the beginning of the meeting, the council briefly re-introduced Richard Simmons, who would temporarily be replacing Bill Link until November. The council then plunged straight into the first order of business: the Public Safety Commission and Community Foundation update. To recap the Public Safety meeting that takes place every other Tuesday, it was stated that the meeting focused on setting up e-watches around neighborhoods as well as setting up a parking permit block, which they will discuss in their meeting at a later date.

The Community Foundation also stated that they are hard at work with setting up military banners. The Foundation has been receiving so many applications for military banners that they asked Bootsma for permission to set the banners up on Schleisman. Bootsma stated that he would like to have that proposal as a topic at a future meeting. They also announced that they are looking for new members to join the Community Foundation.

The council then moved on to recognize a number of Eleanor Roosevelt HS (ERHS) students who had volunteered their time to the city. The council also awarded certificates of recognition to graduating ERHS Julia Sung for her position as the Student Liaison.

The newest Student Liaison is Sophomore Natalie Diaz. Her first school update was short, announcing that Ronald Reagan’s first promoting class would graduate on June 24. She also announced that ERHS’s graduation ceremony, which is expected to include 10,000 family members, will take place on June 1.

The public comment was short, but touching. The Troop 724 Girl Scouts presented two craft books compiled of thoughtful life lessons, which will be displayed at the Eastvale Public Library.

After all the items on the agenda were motioned, the council was once again able to focus on the districting topic that will be taking up a good portion of council discussions for the next few meetings. Once again, Doug Johnson was present to show the council a series of five maps that they can choose from. Johnson reminded the five members that they are to choose a map that balances the population in each district. A few city residents shared their opinion about the maps, with some of them stating that they were in support of the districting and others showing discontent with the new system. Nevertheless, the council decided to look more in detail at the maps and make a decision on which map they will chose next meeting.

Moving onto other topics, the council motioned to approve the new unclaimed money policy, which meant the city would have claimed any funds that remain unclaimed for over three years. They also approved a request to adopt a lighting and landscaping maintenance. Lastly, the council appointed Simmons to lead the Planning Commissions and Public Safety Commission team.

The council concluded their meeting with a few announcements from the staff. Michele Nissen mentioned the opening of the new Amazon fulfillment center. Amongst other topics were the council’s plans for the upcoming weeks in regards to discussions about the city’s future.