11-28-12 Council Rules - Laserfiche WebLink

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COUNCIL RULES NOVEMBER 28, 2012 5:30 P.M. COUNCIL REDISTRICTING Committee Members Present: Derek Dieter, Dr. Fred Ferlic, David Varner, Karen White Other Council Members Present: Henry Davis, Valerie Schey, Oliver Davis, Gavin Ferlic Others Present: Kathy Cekanski-Farrand, Karl King, Gregorio Chavez, Jesusa Rivera, Theresa Sedlack Agenda: Redistricting— South Bend Though absent a quorum Council President and Rules Committee Chair Derek Dieter forged ahead with the scheduled public hearing to review the three re-districting proposals submitted by the special advisory committee Council Officers appointed and tasked with creating state-law conforming alternatives. More specifically, there having already been one public meeting at which alternative No. 3 was the consensus, this hearing was to allow an opportunity for any other public input resultant since publication of the committee findings. Prior to calling for a report of finding from Karl King, President Dieter recognized Councilmember Karen White who thanked all those involved for their efforts. He then called upon Council Attorney Kathleen Cekanski-Farrand to describe the state's mandated procedures for redistricting and the Council's efforts to comply. Mr. Dieter then called upon special advisory committee chair Karl King for a summation, report. Karl began his report reminding everyone that precinct boundaries could not be changed. Precincts could only be shifted from one district to another to achieve population balance. The target population balance goal according to the 2010 census was .16,850 per district. To achieve that balance Karl explained the committee provided there alternatives. Plan#1 required moving 4 precincts; Plan#2 moved 7 and the recommended plan#3 moved 4 precincts. Karl said the overall guiding principal was to be as non-disruptive to citizens, neighborhood organizations, and others as possible. Karl added that while hard numbers for ethnic breakdown were not available, an informal familiarity was taken into account. The principle of strength coming from diversity was recognized and accepted by all involved.