11-15-12 Special Redistricting Minutes

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Special Advisory Committee for Redistricting South Bend Common Council The November 15, 2012 meeting of the Special Advisory Committee for Redistricting was called to order at 8 a.m. in the Council Informal Meeting Room by Mr. Karl G. King, called pursuant to the November 8, 2012 meeting notice (copy attached). Mr. King welcomed everyone to the meeting. He noted that the members of the Special Committee were recently appointed by the Council President for the purpose of providing advisory recommendations to the Common Council on re-districting. Mr. King then asked everyone present to introduce themselves. Those in attendance included the five (5) members of the Special Advisory Committee for Redistricting: Karl G. King, Jesusa Rivera, Theresa Sedlak, Jack L. Smith, and Council Member at Large Karen L. White. Persons also in attendance included Council President Derek D. Dieter, Council Vice-President Oliver Davis, 5a' District Council Member Dr. David Varner, Interim City Attorney Aladean DeRose, Area Plan Executive Director John Byorni, City Engineer Michael Mecham, City Clerk John Voorde, Council Attorney Kathleen Cekanski-Farrand, Cecil Eastman, Glenda Rae Hemadez, and Greg Chavez. Mr. King noted that drafts of several documents were emailed to members of the Special Committee, with hard-copies being made available to those in attendance. He then called upon the Council Attorney for a summary of the legal criteria governing the re-districting process. Mrs. Farrand noted that Indiana Code § 36-4-6-3 sets forth the governing state law. It requires the Common Council to pass an ordinance establishing the councilmanic districts during the second year after the year in which a federal decennial census was conducted. It further requires that six (6) districts be established which are: • Composed of contiguous territory, except for territory that is not contiguous to any other part of the city; • Reasonably compact; • Do not cross precinct boundary lines, except as authorized by law; and • Contain, as nearly as is possible, equal population. She noted that a draft ordinance would be including the precinct numbers for each Council District, which is the method used by the City of Fort Wayne. The legal descriptions for each Council District would be prepared by the Department of Public Works and would be included in the ordinance as an exhibit and would be kept on file in the Office of the City Clerk. A map depicting the District boundaries would also be included in the ordinance as an exhibit. Mr. King stated that the most recent census used shows that the City of South Bend has a population of 101,168, which was used in preparing the data. He then summarized key information from Exhibit B (copy attached) which sets forth the current data on the six (6) Council Districts in South Bend: --+ District 1 has a population of 15,615 (15.4%) which is less than one-sixth (1/6) of the city's population by 1,236 (1.3%)