By Mya Castro 

The Riverside Community College District Board of Trustees moved the date of the public hearing on redistricting to a later date due to miscommunication.

Redistricting Partners previously presented an introduction to redistricting to the Board of Trustees with data from the 2020 census Feb. 15. The organization provided new draft maps the Board could choose from. Alternatively, the Board can stick with the current district lines for reallocating Riverside cities.

During the Board’s regular meeting on March 1, a spokesperson from Redistricting Partners showcased a presentation about potential redistricting plans and opened the floor to a public hearing.

When asked if there were any questions or comments, vice president of the Board Jose Alcala felt the process was wrong.

To his understanding, the Board previously agreed on the March 1 public hearing but felt as if there was not adequate outreach, leaving the public with less opportunity to comment.

Board president Bill Hedrick agreed and expressed concern about the process’s timeline.

“I’m curious if we post March 15 for the first hearing,” Hedrick said. “Is it too late if this moves into April?”

While members were unsure of how this would affect the timeline moving forward with the redistricting plans, Trustee Mary Figueroa explained that it would be okay to push the hearing back.

“We do not want to appear that this is something that is not publicly on the agenda for the community to have input on,” Figueroa said.

The members of the meeting came to a unanimous decision to save the current session for March 15 and post that meeting as the first public hearing.