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Nevada County could lose at least part of its voice on the Sierra College Board of Trustees under a proposal to redefine district boundaries.
Representation from Grass Valley, Nevada City and Truckee could be jeopardized at today’s board meeting, Trustee Nancy Palmer said Monday.
Palmer, who represents part of Nevada County on the board, said fellow board member Bill Martin of Auburn wants to discuss the college’s trustee areas and elections based on population.
Currently, trustees represent an area, but they are elected at large by all voters across the sprawling, 3,000- square-mile district, Palmer said.
That means trustees have to pay $7,000 in candidate statements for each election because the overall college district is in four counties — Placer, Nevada, El Dorado and Sacramento, Martin said.
“A supervisor only has to pay a few hundred dollars for a statement, and I question if that makes sense,” Martin said. The current arrangement also means Roseville and Rocklin only have representation from two board members, but have half the district’s population.
Urban centers in Roseville and Rocklin could get more representation if one of Nevada County’s cities is gerrymandered out by new trustee area lines drawn by population.
“If we were all urban, or all rural, it would be OK, but we’re not, we’re different,” Palmer said. “We like being different. That’s why we live here.”
“It’s an expensive race and tough on someone who is not an incumbent, but I did it,” said Trustee Aaron Klein of Colfax.
“The negative side is we have a good districting structure,” Klein said. “The trustee areas are not done by population, but we are elected by the entire population. It’s still one man, one vote.
“If we redraw the (trustee areas) by population, we’ll have to do it all over again in 2011 after the new census,” Klein said. “It makes little sense to me.”
The board meets at 4 p.m. in room L-101 on the Nevada County Campus at 250 Sierra College Drive, Grass Valley.
To contact Senior Staff Writer Dave Moller, e-mail dmoller@theunion.com or call 477-4237.
Representation from Grass Valley, Nevada City and Truckee could be jeopardized at today’s board meeting, Trustee Nancy Palmer said Monday.
Palmer, who represents part of Nevada County on the board, said fellow board member Bill Martin of Auburn wants to discuss the college’s trustee areas and elections based on population.
Currently, trustees represent an area, but they are elected at large by all voters across the sprawling, 3,000- square-mile district, Palmer said.
That means trustees have to pay $7,000 in candidate statements for each election because the overall college district is in four counties — Placer, Nevada, El Dorado and Sacramento, Martin said.
“A supervisor only has to pay a few hundred dollars for a statement, and I question if that makes sense,” Martin said. The current arrangement also means Roseville and Rocklin only have representation from two board members, but have half the district’s population.
Urban centers in Roseville and Rocklin could get more representation if one of Nevada County’s cities is gerrymandered out by new trustee area lines drawn by population.
“If we were all urban, or all rural, it would be OK, but we’re not, we’re different,” Palmer said. “We like being different. That’s why we live here.”
“It’s an expensive race and tough on someone who is not an incumbent, but I did it,” said Trustee Aaron Klein of Colfax.
“The negative side is we have a good districting structure,” Klein said. “The trustee areas are not done by population, but we are elected by the entire population. It’s still one man, one vote.
“If we redraw the (trustee areas) by population, we’ll have to do it all over again in 2011 after the new census,” Klein said. “It makes little sense to me.”
The board meets at 4 p.m. in room L-101 on the Nevada County Campus at 250 Sierra College Drive, Grass Valley.
To contact Senior Staff Writer Dave Moller, e-mail dmoller@theunion.com or call 477-4237.
