GAINESVILLE - Gainesville's City Council at a called Wednesday morning meeting began considering new boundary lines for all five wards based on a new redistricting plan.
That plan comes from the state re-apportionment office and a Gainesville project team. City Clerk Denise Jordon and redistricting consultant Andrew Whalen, a Griffin attorney, presented the plan to Council with a new ward map based on the 2010 census that evenly divides the city's population across the wards.
"Preferably as soon as we see how those census numbers apply to the current election districting maps its Council's function to try to come up with a new plan to adjust the current boundaries of the current districts to bring it within proper apportionment," Whalen said.
According to the latest Census, Ward 5, represented by Mayor Ruth Bruner, showed almost no change in population while Ward 4, represented by George Wangemann, showed a 54.94 percent increase in population. Ward 1, represented by Danny Dunagan, showed a 10 percent decrease in population. Ward 2, represented by Bob Hamrick, and Ward 3, represented by Myrtle Figueras, showed a decrease of 19-20 percent.
Whalen recommended keeping Ward 5 boundaries the same and trying to increase minority population in Ward 3 advising that the U.S. Justice Department pays close attention to minority populations when districts or wards are redrawn. Council must have Justice Department pre-clearance or approval before redistricting can take effect.
Whalen said despite Gainesville's large increase in its Hispanic population and that population is a factor in redistricting very few of them are registered to vote.
"I don't think it's a factor in what we're doing today," Whalen said. "I think it's becoming an emerging factor and will be a factor by the year 2020 when that census comes out."
Whalen said it's difficult to determine who out of the voting age population are citizens with voting rights as opposed to people who are legally in the country with the right to work and study but are not citizens with voting rights.
Council members said they want to study the proposed plan required every ten years. Mayor Bruner said at first glance it appears the changes in ward boundaries won't impact Council because they run city wide.
"We feel like we represent the whole city anyway," she said. "We really don't have a huge vested interest anyway so it's really not that important."
The Mayor said school board members may feel differently since they run for election in their districts and boundary changes could have more impact.
Board of Education seats in districts two, three and five go on the ballot for election in November along with Council wards two, three, and five.
While the new redistricting won't take effect until next year if all goes according to plan, School Board Chairman Willie Mitchell said he's not concerned about losing or gaining votes.
"It's the public and their needs and desires so that's the process that I'm really interested in," Mitchell said.
Mitchell said he planned to run for re-election in November.
Whalen said the new plan would not be ready in time for November's elections because the Justice Department would not have it pre-cleared in time.
Council discusses the redistricting proposal again at their July 28 work session at 9:00 a.m. and citizen input is invited at public hearings in the next two to three months. City Council may approve the redistricting map through the Home Rule Ordinance. Home Rule allows cities to amend certain sections of their charters without going through the State Legislature.
The redistricting represents two months of work by the project team which includes Planning Division Manager Matt Tate, Hall County Elections Interim Superintendent Charlotte Sosebee, City Attorney James Palmour, City Clerk Denise Jordan, City School Superintendent Merrianne Dyer and City School Grant Coordinator Christine Brosky.
The Gainesville ward map was last re-drawn and accepted by the City Council in 2002 following the 2000 Census.
Thursday
October 17th, 2024
3:21PM
