Bill No. 72-22 Ordinance Amending Ch. 1 Sec. 1-4 of the South Bend Municipal Code Addressing "Six Councilmanic Districts"

Home Browse Search

STATUS OF SOUTH BEND'S COMMON COUNCIL DISTRICTS Using the Precincts established by the County Commissioners and the population from the 2020 Census, the Committee has set forth in the attached Exhibit B the Precincts and population for South Bend's existing Council Districts. Because Indiana law requires that Districts must contain, as nearly as possible, equal population, the Committee has also shown for each existing District the extent to which the population is over or short compared to target one-sixth of South Bend's total population (i.e.,17,245 and 16.67%). As shown in Exhibit B, the present status of South Bend's Common Council Districts is very close to the 17,245 and 16.67%targets, as follows: • District 1 - population of 17,888 (17.30%) is only slightly more than one-sixth of South Bend's total population by 643 (0.63%) • District 2 - population of 16,546 (16.00%) is only slightly less than one-sixth of South Bend's total population by 699 (0.67%) • District 3 - population of 17,902 (17.30%) is only slightly more than one-sixth of South Bend's total population by 657 (0.63%) • District 4 - population of 16,843 (16.30%) is only slightly less than one-sixth of South Bend's total population by 402 (0.37%) • District 5 - population of 17,279 (16.70%) is only slightly more than one-sixth of South Bend's total population by 34 (0.03%) • District 6 - population of 17,011 (16.40%) is only slightly less than one-sixth of South Bend's total population by 234 (0.27%) RECOMMENDATION FOR A 2022 REDISTRICTING PLAN The Committee respectfully recommends that the South Bend Common Council enact a 2022 redistricting plan that would make no changes in the present Precinct and District assignments. The Committee's reasoning is: • the population in each District is already very close to the 17,245 and 16.67% targets with less than 1%variance; • this redistricting plan would comply with Indiana Code(IC 36-4-6-3) requirements that Council Districts "(a) be composed of contiguous territory, (b) be reasonably compact, (c) not cross precinct boundary lines, and (d) contain, as nearly as is possible, equal population"; • this redistricting plan would avoid unnecessary disruption of existing relationships between Council Members and their constituent neighborhoods and citizens. 4