The future of Clovis may have already been drawn. After more than a century of at-large elections, the Clovis City Council is transitioning to districts, and as part of this historic process, the City has invited residents to submit their own district maps for consideration. In mid-December, the City unveiled map-drawing tools and began accepting community submissions; in early January, the City held a well-attended Community Map-Drawing Workshop; and this week, the first round of drafts were released – one of which may very well depict the future of Clovis.
Nine submissions in total were received ahead of the first of three submission deadlines and are available for viewing now on the City’s website. The submissions are also set to be reviewed by the Clovis City Council during the next Public Hearing on Tuesday, January 21, 2025, at 6:00 PM in the Council Chambers, and residents are encouraged to attend to share their thoughts. Of note, submissions include two possible scenarios – five districts with a Council-appointed mayor and four districts with an at-large elected mayor – and the Clovis City Council would like the community to weigh in. Historically, the mayor of Clovis has been a sitting Councilmember appointed to the position by a vote of the five-member Council.
For those interested in submitting a map, there’s still time. After Tuesday’s Public Hearing, two hearings will remain, and residents are encouraged to submit their maps by the map submission deadlines for each upcoming hearing as posted on the City’s webpage for official consideration. To assist residents in drawing their maps, the City has a variety of map-drawing tools available for all skill levels, from simple and printable map-drawing forms in multiple languages to an innovative online application that makes drawing districts as easy as a click. The City of Clovis is also taking a close look at communities of interest and is the first city to use a new map-drawing form for residents to outline what they see as the boundaries of their neighborhood or areas of interest that they believe should be kept together as the City’s district lines are drawn. All map-drawing tools, instructions, the public hearing schedule, map drafts, an online feedback form, and more can be found on the City’s website at cityofclovis.com/districts. To view the draft maps, click the gold “Interactive Review Map” button and select the layers titled “400” Districts and “500” Districts from the Layers List. Proposed election sequencing and PDFs of each submission are also available under the Tuesday, January 21, 2025 Draft Map Public Hearing drop-down.
The final deadline for map submissions is February 21, 2025, and the Council is expected to select the final map during the March 4, 2025 Council Meeting. Once official, the Clovis district map will be used for future municipal elections. The district map may also be adjusted after the Census cycle.
