07-26-11 La Porte Redistricting Committee

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Redistricting Committee Minutes of July 26, 2011 Members Present: Charles Harrington, Nolan Allen, Mark Follis, Paul Berner, Nancy Ojeda, and Charlie Perry Members Absent: Charles Montgomery, Lisa Garcia, Nanci Lotze, Martha Gillett (Alternate), Venessa Guerrero (Alternate), and Champ Dunham (Alternate) City Staff Present: Planning Director, Tim Tietjens; GIS Manager, Brian Sterling; Assistant City Attorney, Clark Askins; and Planning Coordinator, Peggy Lee 1. Call to order Meeting called to order by Chairman Charles Harrington at 6:00 p.m. 2. Roll call of members Roll call of members by Planning Coordinator Peggy Lee. 3. Consider approval of July 12, 2011, meeting Minutes Motion by Paul Berner to approve the July 12, 2011, meeting Minutes. Second by Nancy Ojeda. Motion carried unanimously. 4. Apply 2010 Census data to Census block geography. Planning Director, Tim Tietjens, provided a brief overview of the changes recommended by the Committee during the previous meeting. As it currently stands, to be within the 5% variation, Council Districts 4 and 6 will need to increase in population and District 3 will need to decrease in population. Paul Berner noted that District population numbers shown on the map have changed, but the ethnicity numbers have not; this was attributed to the split block populations. The Committee discussed at length, multiple scenarios for decreasing the population in District 3 and increasing the population in Districts 4 and 6. The following actions were taken: Motion by Nolan Allen to move Census Blocks 1000, 1001, 1002, 1004, 1005, and 3008 from District 3 into District 6. Second by Mark Follis. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Nolan Allen to move Census Blocks 1773, 1768, 1769, 3077, 3078, 3083, 3084, and 3085 from District 5 into District 4. Second by Paul Berner. Motion carried unanimously. For the next meeting, staff was directed to re- calculate demographic elements of the proposed districts based upon the proportional amount of split blocks in each district. Staff will include their methodology for arriving at those numbers. 5. Administrative Reports The next regular meeting, scheduled for August 9 was re- scheduled for August 16 at 6:00 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers. The change of meeting date was due to City Council Budget Workshops being held in the Council Chambers during the week of August 8th.