Do District 4 Council Candidates Live in District 4?

Every 10 years, the city of St. Petersburg is required to initiate a redistricting process. That process was completed earlier this year by the redistricting committee, and the new city council district maps were approved in March. 

Two of the District 4 candidates, Dr. David McKalip and Darden Rice, were drawn out of their district and into District 3 but previously said they would still qualify by either moving or having another residence in District 4. 

However, according to a report by the Tampa Bay Times, both Rice and McKalip are not living where they claim. 

The report said the Times visited both listed addresses but found no one living there. In both cases, neighbors said there is no activity at those locations. 

In interviews with Patch, both McKalip and Rice dispute claims they do not meet residency qualifications to run for District 4. 

McKalip told Patch he is trying to sell his home now located in District 3 and is renting an apartment in District 4 that he uses. 

Rice and McKalip say they are 100 percent certain they qualify for the election. 

According to the city charter, candidates are required to live in the district they are running in for 12 continuous months prior to the primary election, which is this instance will be Aug. 27.

McKalip and Rice said they meet that qualification, and a memo from deputy city attorney Mark Winn addresses that point. 

Rice said while she has changed addresses in the last 12 months, she has continuously lived in District 4. The charter, she said, does not require a candidate to live at the same address for 12 months, just in the same district. 

She lived in District 4 prior to redistricting and now has a property in the newly drawn District 4. 

According to a March 1 memo by Winn, he said under the current charter both Rice and McKalip fit the residency qualification terms, but their qualifications could be challenged by a third party:

"In light of the foregoing research that neither dictates an interpretation of this language nor provides any guidance in interpreting it, I would opine that based on the plain language of this Charter provision that a candidate for Council Member of a district must be a resident of the district in which they wish to be elected for at least the past 12 months prior to the primary election," Winn wrote.

"It is my opinion that this Charter provision does not limit or require the candidate to have lived in the same residence or in the same precinct during those proceeding 12 months so long as any residence or precinct in which they reside is within the district for which they wish to declare their candidacy. This residency in the district must be continuous within any of the residences or precincts in the district."

(To view Winn's memo, click the PDF below the pictures with this article.) 

'There is Nothing to Hide'

McKalip told Patch he has been living continuously in District 4 for 12 months and said he does not think the city would tell him he couldn’t run.

“The city will not initiate such action,” he said. There is no “way to deny my ability to run.”

Confusion on where Rice listed her residence stems not only from being drawn out of her district but also the death of the seller of a home she was purchasing in the newly drawn District 4, she says. 

"The seller died four days before closing," Rice said. "I had to make an immediate short-term agreement to figure out what to do next to find a house."

Rice said she signed a lease at another location in District 4 until that issue is resolved. 

"I have been as open about this as I could be because there is nothing to hide," she said. "The lease was a short-term agreement I had to make. It was stop-gap measure."

Election records list McKalip's address in an apartment on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street, and Rice's is listed a P.O. Box in the area. 

The Third Candidate's Response

District 4's other candidate, Carolyn Fries, released a statement Friday about her opponent’s residency qualifications.

"I'm disappointed that my opponents don't appear to meet the residency requirements to qualify for City Council, District 4," Fries said in a statement. "I've enjoyed the back and forth on ideas and positions that we've had as a group and I'll miss future opportunities to contrast our differing visions for St. Petersburg and District 4.

"As a longtime resident of District 4, I, as well as the citizens of St. Petersburg, trust the city will do their due diligence to make sure all candidates in all districts are meeting all the requirements needed to qualify for public office," Fries continued. "These requirements are put in place for a reason, and allowing select candidates to circumvent the rules and laws of the City would set a dangerous precedent."

Both McKalip and Rice have lambasted the redistricting process that they say was flawed.

"The incumbents protected themselves," McKalip said. "They created an unjust process. The people who control government love to give trouble to challengers." 

"I believe this is not a fair process," McKalip told Patch in January. "I don’t care if it keeps me in. I’m not here to influence the process. Whether I run now or serve in another way, it doesn’t matter to me. But I am concerned that this process is not valid."

"There’s challenges with the St. Pete redistricting system and that has come into play," Rice said Friday. "I decided early on and that I saw the writing on the wall," that (I) was going to be drawn out of (my) district.

"I decided that I didn’t want to keep fighting the maps," she said. 

Rice told Patch she was already in the process of finding a new home before the redistricting maps were approved. 

"I am in (the) process of signing a lease on a new residence in a safer precinct in District 4," Rice said in January. "I started these proactive steps a few weeks ago when it became clear that the multiple maps curiously drew all three of my homes out of the district in what appears to be a very subjective process." 

According to the charter the districts must adhere to the following criteria:

1. Equal representation of 30,596 persons in each City Council district. Deviation can be ±2.0% or between 29,984 and 31,208 persons in each Council district.
2. City Council districts must follow voting precinct boundaries
3. Each district must be formed of contiguous territory.
4. City Council districts must be compact. 
5. City Council districts must follow centerlines of streets, railroad lines or natural boundaries. 

A sixth criteria, which says each current city council member must remain in his or her current council district, is recommend by city staff but is not clearly stated in the charter. However, the sitting District 4 council member, Leslie Curran, cannot run again because of term limits. 

Related Coverage

• Redistricting Leaves Council Candidates Scrambling
• Council Approves Redistricting Map
• City Council Redistricting Hearing Tonight
• St. Pete Set for Redistricting

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