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Special Meeting
Monday, November 29, 1993 - - 7:30 pm

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Present: Mayor Patricia S. Ticer, Vice Mayor William C. Cleveland, Members of Council Kerry J. Donley, T. Michael Jackson, Redella S. Pepper, Lonnie C. Rich, and David G. Speck.

Absent: None.

Also Present: Mrs. Lawson, City Manager; Mr. Sunderland, City Attorney; Ms. Evans, Assistant City Manager; Ms. Beidler, Registrar of Voters; Mr. Gitajn, Director of Financial and Information Services; Mr. Rosenbaum, Urban Planner, Planning and Community Development; and Mr. McMahon, Deputy Director of General Services.

Recorded by: Susan K. Seagroves, Deputy City Clerk and Clerk of Council.



OPENING

The Meeting was called to order by Mayor Ticer, and the City Clerk called the Roll; all Members of City Council were present.

(It was noted that a Notice of this Special Meeting had been previously served upon each Member of Council, pursuant to a provision of the City Charter, a copy of the Notice certified by each Member of Council being on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council.)

2. Public Hearing on the Manner in Which Members of the Alexandria School Board Should be Elected.

(A copy of a verbatim transcript prepared by a court reporter is on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 1 of Item No. 2; 11/29/93, and is incorporated herewith as part of this record by reference.

A copy of a chart entitled Race and Ethnicity of the Population by Tract: 1990 and maps entitled Precinct Map 1991 City of Alexandria, Virginia, School Attendance Areas, City of Alexandria, Virginia, are on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 2 of Item No. 2; 11/29/93, and is incorporated herewith as part of this record by reference.

Copies of correspondence received on this item are on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked collectively as Exhibit No. 3 of Item No. 2; 11/29/93, and is incorporated herewith as part of this record by reference.)


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Paul VanDeWater, 2917 Richmond Lane, recommends that Council proceed as quickly as possible with the election and supports the 3-3-3 system dividing in the City into halves, electing three members from each half of the City and the other three members at large;

Johanna Ramos, 5500 Holmes Run Parkway, #1519, representing the Hispanic Advisory Council, spoke in support of three voting sections, each electing three representatives; a copy of Ms. Ramos' statement is on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 4 of this item;

Bill Purdy, 307 Rucker Place, spoke in opposition to single-member districts and recommends Council's serious consideration of Vice Mayor Cleveland's proposal and that of the Hispanic community;

Jerry W. Boykin, 510 King Street, Suite 301, spoke in support of his proposal to divide the City into wards, with two members elected from each ward, and the chair elected at-large; a copy of Mr. Boykin's statement is on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 5 of this item;

Juan Milanes, 1400 I Street, N.W., Suite 450, representing Latino Civil Rights Task Force, spoke in support of voting by districts or wards or a mix of mostly districts with a few at-large representatives, and allowing immigrants to vote in local elections; a copy of Mr. Milanes' statement is on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 6 of this item;

Carl Feusahrens, 311 Cambridge Road, representing Alexandrians for an Elected School Board, stated that after an informal poll, they have no strong feelings one way or the other on how to elect the school board but they are concerned that the election be held next May;

Sam McTyre, 4350 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 930, Arlington, representing the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), raised concerns that electing school board members would limit the participation of Hispanics due to their immigrant status;

John Chapman Gager, representing Old Town Yacht Basin, spoke during this period;

Richard Maynard, 2403 Davis Avenue, supports ward representation and limiting the number of people who have to run at-large;

Norman Draper, 502 Ivy Circle, supports a system based on school districts with one member from each of the six elementary school zones, three members at-large, and the chair and vice-chair selected by the members; a copy of Mr. Draper's statement is on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 7 of this item;

George Lambert, 908 King Street, Suite 301, Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Virginia Urban League, spoke in opposition to at-large elections which will seriously dilute African-American representation, and in support of a system least likely to dilute minority representation; a copy of Mr. Lambert's statement is on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 8 of this item;


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Emmitt Carlton, 3110 Mt. Vernon Avenue, #405, representing the Alexandria NAACP, spoke in opposition to an at-large system;

Joyce Woodson, 1407 Wayne Street, former PTA president at Mt. Vernon Elementary and parent of three children, shared some of her concerns;

John Liss, 219 Burgess Avenue, representing Tenants' Support Committee, echoing the concerns of the Hispanic Advisory Committee, supports the creation of three sections of the City that would each elect three people at-large, supports voting rights for resident aliens who are not citizens, and requested more time than now allocated for the process; a copy of Mr. Liss' statement is on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 9 of this item;

Ardith Collins, 1222 Oronoco Street, a parent of small children and a concerned citizen, expressed concerns about the need for equitable minority representation and the potential excessive cost of running for the school board;

A. Melvin Miller, 3928 Colonel Ellis Avenue, representing the Departmental Progressive Club, reported its unanimous support of the Urban League, the NAACP and the other organizations and individuals ensuring that any plan adopted by Council meets the requirement of not having a discriminatory effect on minority representation of the School Board; and

(General Discussion. City Council participated in discussion on points raised by Mr. Miller.)

Rod Kuckro, 209 East Alexandria Avenue, supports a ward system, and he raised concerns about the cost of running at-large.)

The Public Hearing was concluded.

(General Discussion. The City Attorney reported on what he has been doing and what the process is for the City's submission to the Justice Department and what the time frame involved really is. In order for the election to proceed in May, Alexandria needs to receive Justice Department approval no later than April 1, ideally by mid-March. Justice Department regulations provide that once a submission is given to them, they have 60 days to review and act on it, although they have the ability to extend that period. There are many Virginia jurisdictions in the same boat. There are 10-25 submissions in front of the Justice Department right now from Virginia jurisdictions who hope to have a May election. The next step in the process is to make the decision whether to proceed at-large or not.

The City is getting assistance from an outside firm retained to help with the logistical and statistical measures. Information is being fed into computers to give us the capacity to take a look at alternative districts.

There are some Virginia jurisdictions which intend to submit legislation to the General Assembly in January to address the issue of when to elect our school boards if we are unable to elect them in May either because we haven't decided which way we are going or because the Justice Department has not been able to sign off on them. The proposed legislation would enable jurisdictions who are unable to have a May 1994 election not to have to wait until May 1997 to have an election. Questions relating to candidate filings would have to be addressed at that time.

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It was the consensus of Council that the recommendations Council heard tonight be fleshed out in terms of the information that's available to put the flesh on the bones of those recommendations demographically, and the line-drawing, and come back to Council by next Tuesday [December 7] if possible. If this is not possible, give Council your best effort.

Councilman Speck suggested that on December 7, Council could establish a consensus on which of several plans are most worth considering and have another public hearing, perhaps on December 11, and make a decision.

City Council rescheduled the Work Session on Welfare Reform at 6:30 p.m. on December 7 to the first legislative session in January. Council scheduled a Work Session on Elected School Boards in the Council Workroom on December 7, at 6:15 p.m., with dinner at 6:00 p.m.

THERE BEING NO FURTHER BUSINESS TO BE CONSIDERED, upon motion by Councilman Jackson, seconded by Councilman Donley and carried unanimously, at 9:34 p.m., the Special Meeting of Monday, November 29, 1993, was adjourned. The voting was as follows:

Jackson "aye" Cleveland "aye"
Donley "aye" Pepper "aye"
Ticer "aye" Rich "aye"
Speck "aye"


APPROVED BY:


___________________________________ ATTEST:

_________________________________
Susan K. Seagroves, Deputy City Clerk

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This docket is subject to change.

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