REAPPORTIONMENT TASK FORCE

MEETING NOTES

MARCH 22, 2001

METRO COUNCIL ANNEX

Members Present: Chair Monroe, Councilors Burkholder and Hosticka

Metro Council Staff: John Houser, Chris Billington

DRC Staff: Mark Bosworth, Karen Larson

OGC Staff: Marv Fjordbeck

This meeting was the first gathering of the Council’s Reapportionment Task Force established by Ordinance No. 01-895. The ordinance provides that the task force develop and submit a proposed redistricting plan for Metro Council districts for consideration by the full Council. Task Force membership includes the three Councilors whose terms of office do not expire until 2005.

The Chair requested that Marv Fjordbeck, Senior Assistant Counsel, provide a more in depth review of Ordinance 01-895. Fjordbeck noted that the ordinance establishes timelines for the work of the task force and the citizens advisory committee.

He explained that the ordinance requires the task force to hold an initial meeting for the purpose of gathering data and providing an opportunity for a public hearing. He indicated that the purpose of this meeting was to fulfill the requirement. The next step in the task force will be the receipt of an initial staff draft plan, which must be submitted by April 23. The ordinance then requires the task force to hold at least four public hearings early May. The task force recommended plan must be submitted by June 1. Final Council action on a plan must be completed by 90 days after the receipt of the census data upon which the plan is based.

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) is authorized to review the initial staff plan and make recommendations to the task force by May 11.

John Houser, task force staff, explained that a staff work group including Council staff, Data Resource Center staff, and Mr. Fjordbeck has been working to flesh out the task force and CAC process and meeting schedule. He noted that the census data has been received two weeks ahead of the required release which will have the effect of pushing forward the deadlines set in the ordinance by about two weeks. Thus, final Council action on a reapportionment plan must now be completed by June 14. The staff work group now anticipates having an initial plan prepared for task force review during the week of April 9. He emphasized that this would not be a staff recommended plan, but rather, a demonstration to the task force of how the redistricting criteria set forth in the ordinance could be applied.

The task force then initiated a discussion of the redistricting criteria. Chair Monroe noted that the recent voter-approved charter amendment will reduce the number of councilor districts from seven to six. He indicated that contiguity and addressing communities of interest would be two of the important criteria that the task force would use in developing a plan. Mr. Fjordbeck indicated that the criteria are fully set out in the ordinance. He noted that the ordinance requires that the districts to be relatively equal in population. The ordinance sets a goal of zero population deviation, but would allow a deviation of up to five percent. Other criteria include compactness, compliance with federal and state law, not dividing cities of less than 15,000 population, preserving regional and town centers in single districts and keeping neighborhood associations whole.

Mark Bosworth and Karen Larson, Data Resource Center Staff, presented a demonstration of how the census data can be utilized in the development of redistricting plans. They noted that, in some cases, block boundaries would straddle the Metro boundary but that their preliminary assessment indicates that relatively few people live in these blocks and therefore, the population data will not be substantial affected.

They also indicated that significant ethnic data would be available which led to a discussion of the extent to which the drawing of district boundaries can be influenced by such data. Mr. Fjordbeck explained that the courts have held that racial/ethnic data can be factor in the drawing of boundaries, they cannot be a predominant factor. He indicated that the courts have indicated that other more “traditional” factors were of greater importance. While the courts have not specified defined these traditional factors, they would likely include compactness and contiguity.

Bosworth and Larson indicated that the projected population target for the six districts would be about 217,000. Population among the seven current districts is generally significantly below the targeted number which the exception of District 3 in western Washington County which has a population of 218,000.

Councilor Burkholder raised the issue of whether the plan should start with current district boundaries or should it be de novo, based on an agreed upon set of criteria. Following committee discussion it was generally agreed that the initial proposed plan should start with the boundaries.

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The committee also set its next meeting date and selected tentative locations for the required public hearings.

No one appeared to offer public testimony.

Prepared by,

John Houser

Council Analyst