Interested San Bernardino County residents are being called upon to apply to assist the board of supervisors in redrawing the county’s supervisorial district boundaries. Every ten years following each census, the board of supervisors must redraw the five districts’ boundaries, conditional upon population changes.
Each board member is to appoint one member to the San Bernardino County Redistricting Commission along with one alternate. The board’s appointments to the commission are to be made on April 20.
“I encourage residents to apply to serve on the redistricting commission,” said Fifth District Supervisor Joe Baca, Jr. “The decisions made by the commission will impact our community for the next decade. We must ensure equity, fairness, and transparency in the process.”
Members of the commission must meet certain criteria, Limitations on the commission’s membership include an exclusion of those who are heavily active politically.
Each member to be chosen must be registered to vote in the county. Each commissioner may not be an elected county official or a family member, staff member, or paid campaign staff member of an elected county official.
Those who have served as a staff member of an elected official during the past four years is not eligible to serve as a commission member. Nor can a commissioner have served in elected office or campaigned as a candidate for an elected office in the last four years.
Furthermore, anyone who has served as a member of a political party central committee during the past four years is ineligible. Those who have contributed more than $500 per year to any elected office candidate in the past four years cannot be a San Bernardino County Redistricting Commission member, either.
The seven-member San Bernardino County Redistricting Commission will consist of two members appointed by the presiding judge of the Superior Court, one of whom is to serve in the capacity of the commission chair. The remaining members of the commission will be nominated by the members of the board of supervisors, with each supervisor appointing a single commissioner and his or her back-up or alternate member.
The commission is scheduled to hold its first meeting in May.
Commission members and alternates will receive a stipend of $100 for each meeting they attend and reimbursement for mileage exceeding 20 miles round trip from their home.
Applications signed in ink must be postmarked no later than April 5 or hand-delivered to the clerk of the board of supervisors’ office by 5 p.m. on April 5.
The application is available at
https:/Icms.sbcounty.gov/Portals/45/AdvisorvRedistrictingCommissionApplication.pdf?ver=202
1-02-12-090449-457 or by contacting the Clerk of the Board at (909) 387-4831.