Public commenter urges Walnut Creek to adopt district elections, wants public input on demographer

Walnut Creek Mayor Kevin Wilk opened a Dec. 16 special meeting to interview commission candidates, consider appointments and hold a closed session to consult with legal counsel on anticipated and existing litigation.

During the public comment period, Scott Rafferty identified himself and urged the council to "Adopt district elections," saying litigation threats over the issue have been expected for years. "Tom ****, I think it's been 6 years since he said he was gonna sue Walnut Creek," Rafferty said, adding his view that the dispute "is based on 30 year old data" and that the situation is "not a complete, disaster."

Rafferty pressed the council to consider alternatives to the current approach, saying "there's possibly, you know, ranked choice voting, and districts" and that cities across the country use districts. He argued the city should consider whether it would be "in the city's interest to be more representative," referenced a past dispute in Martinez and described what he called "an abuse of the law."

He also urged the council to involve the public in selecting the demographer who would analyze districting, saying "I think you should let the public speak on who the demographer's gonna be, and, there's a a couple that are not would be controversial." Rafferty offered to help with analysis and said he would "do whatever analysis you'd like."

Mayor Wilk confirmed the closed session would cover the items listed on the agenda and closed public communications after Rafferty's remarks. The council then moved to conduct commission interviews and consider appointments; no public action on district elections was taken during the recorded public comment period.

The meeting proceeded to interviews and a closed session on legal matters; no formal vote or appointment on district elections was recorded in the public comment portion of the meeting.