$1 • Friday, September 15, 2017 • Vol. 123, No. 37 • morganhilltimes.com • Serving Morgan Hill since 1894
Council points to Turner for top City Hall post CONSTANTINE: REASONING FOR MH ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER’S PROMOTION ‘NOT FAIR’ Michael Moore Editor
➝ Voices, 14
➝ City Manager, 2
Robert Eliason
by adding a grade level each year, they had outgrown the facility. Voices officials were granted a Conditional Use Permit through the City of Morgan Hill, and will be at the Jarvis Drive location for at least four years. Villasenor said they found out about the approval of their new location the second to last week of last school year in June. “It was a big relief.
The Morgan Hill City Council’s choice for the next city manager brings a wealth of financial expertise and knowledge of the city’s culture and operations to her prospective new post as City Hall’s top staff person, according to a majority of the elected officials. Christina Turner, who has served as Morgan Hill’s Assistant City Manager for Administrative Services since the beginning of 2016, was selected Sept. 6 as the best applicant for the job of city manager. The council voted 4-1 in closed session to authorize the mayor and city attorney to begin negotiating an employment contract with Turner. Councilman Rich Constantine voted against the motion, but he agrees with his elected colleagues that Turner will do a “fantastic job” as city manager. Mayor Steve Tate said the council is expecting to approve a finalized contract—which will specify Turner’s salary, benefits and other compensation— by Sept. 27. Turner will be replacing City Manager Steve
HULA TIME Kindergartners Nathaly, right, and Katia (last names not provided) enjoy some hula hooping during recess time Sept. 12 at Voices College-bound
Language Academy in Morgan Hill.
Voices fond of new campus CHARTER SCHOOL MOVES INTO FORMER SV FLEX BUILDING Scott Forstner Reporter
It’s the sixth day of school and students at Voices College-Bound Language Academy are already at ease with their new surroundings. Mostly Latino students, donning the
SEPTEMBER 15, 2017
T OUT & ABOU OF CALE NDAR EVEN TS
A section of the Gilroy Dispatch & Morgan Hill Times
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The third-year Morgan Hill charter school began the 2017-18 academic year at a new site, moving from their makeshift beginnings at Advent Lutheran Church to the former Silicon Valley Flex Academy, a much larger, two-story space that previously housed students from a different charter school provider. “We’re excited, because the parents fought all year to get us here,” said Villasenor, who has been the
Morgan Hill site leader since its inception in the 2015-16 school year. “For me, it was the biggest worry where we were going to be to start this year.” Voices, which has two other charter schools (the flagship within the Franklin McKinley School District and the other in Mount Pleasant), made due with the somewhat cramped but serviceable space on the grounds of Advent Lutheran for the first two years. However,
Districts drawn for new city elections system
THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF MORGAN HILL, GILROY & SAN MARTIN
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school’s trademark yellow-and-purple collared shirts tucked into their khakis, walk through the halls of the Jarvis Drive facility in an orderly, disciplined manner. It’s the “Si Se Puede” (translation: Yes, it is possible) way that all Voices students adopt as their own. As they pass Principal Juan Carlos Villasenor, some smile and wave. The principal, in turn, offers words of encouragement in Spanish.
BY-DISTRICT VOTING WILL BEGIN IN NOVEMBER 2018 Michael Moore Editor
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The next time Morgan Hill residents vote in a municipal election, they will only select a single choice for city council among candidates who reside within the newly established voting district where they live.
As of Sept. 6, there are now four city council districts in Morgan Hill— equal in population—each to be represented by a single councilmember who lives inside that district. At the Sept. 6 meeting— after a series of public meetings and workshops and perusing more than a dozen draft maps created by a professional demographer and Morgan Hill citizens—the council approved a four-district map that will apply until the 2020 U.S. Census. This is a stark change
from the way local voters have elected council members since the city was incorporated in 1906. Until now, councilmembers have always served the city on an at-large basis, and voters have typically voted for two councilmembers in each regular election (roughly every two years). Earlier this summer, the council begrudgingly approved the new by-district election system in response to a demand letter threatening a lawsuit under the California
Voting Rights Act. Although councilmembers dislike the new system, they approved a district map that considers traditional specific neighborhood interests and protects the voting rights of all minority groups. “We tried to keep communities of interest and neighborhoods together. It’s not perfect, and it’s going to be really hard now to get good qualified candidates to run for city council,” Mayor Pro Tem Larry Carr said. The map approved
by the council keeps current councilmembers (not including the mayor) in separate districts. Demographer Doug Johnson, who the city hired to help guide the council and the public through the districting process, said this is a common practice among agencies required to draw new districts because it respects the electorate’s desire to be able to choose the incumbents. The by-district system ➝ District Elections, 12