IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Rancho Cucamonga is going to go from an at-large city to a city of four council districts.
Although there are still some ballots to be counted, Measure Q held a comfortable 63 percent to 38 percent lead today with more than 40,400 votes casts, according to the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters.
The measure was in the works since early this year, after the city was sued for alleged violations of the California Voting Rights, which is modeled after the U.S. Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Rather than risk a long and expensive court fight, the city council – which was considering such a move anyway – decided early this year to put the matter before the voters, City Attorney James Markman said.
“They could continue with their lawsuit, but I don’t that will happen,” Markman said. “It would take too long, and by that time the districts will be in place.”
The first two districts are scheduled to go into place in 2018, the next two in 2020. Each district will be represented by a resident from that community, and the mayor will continue to be elected at large, Markman said.
