HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-12-11 Redistricting CommitteeCITY OF LA PORTE REDISTRICTING COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA
Notice is hereby given of a meeting of the City of La Porte Redistricting Committee to be held on
July 12, 2011, at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall, 604 West Fairmont Parkway, La
Porte, Texas, regarding items of business according to the agenda listed below:
1. Call to order
2. Roll call of members
3. Consider approval of June 28, 2011, meeting Minutes
4. Apply 2010 Census data to Census block geography
5. Administrative reports
6. Committee comments on matters appearing on agenda or inquiry of staff regarding
specific factual information of existing policy
7. Adjourn
A quorum of City Council members may be present and participate in discussions during this meeting;
however, no action will be taken by Council as a governing body.
In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City of La Porte will provide for reasonable
accommodations for persons attending public meetings. To better serve attendees, requests should be
received 24 hours prior to the meetings. Please contact Patrice Fogarty, City Secretary, at 281.470.5019.
CERTIFICATION
I certify that a copy of the July 12, 2011, agenda of items to be considered by the City of La Porte
Redistricting Committee was posted on the City Hall bulletin board on July 8, 2011.
Patrice Fogarty, City Secretary
I certify that the attached notice and agenda of items to be considered by the City Council was removed
by me from the City Hall bulletin board on the __ day of 1 2011.
Title:
Redistricting Committee
Minutes of June 28, 2011
Members Present Charles Harrington, Nolan Allen, Charles Montgomery, Mark Follis, Paul Berner,
Nancy Ojeda, Nanci Lotz, Lisa Garcia, Charlie Perry, Venessa Guerrero
(Alternate), and Martha Gillett (Alternate)
Members Absent Champ Dunham (Alternate)
City Staff Present Planning Director, Tim Tietjens; GIS Technician, Isaac Rodriguez; Assistant City
Attorney, Clark Askins; and Planning Coordinator, Peggy Lee
1. Call to order
Meeting called to order by Chairman Charles Harrington at 6:10 p.m.
2. Roll call of members
Roll call of members by Planning Coordinator Peggy Lee.
3. Consider approval of June 9, 2011, meeting Minutes
Motion by Nolan Allen to approve the June 9, 2011, meeting Minutes. Second by Paul Berner.
Motion carried unanimously.
4. Apply 2010 Census data to Census block geography.
Planning Director Tim Tietjens introduced Michael Cline, Associate Director of the Hobby Center
for the Study of Texas at Rice University. Mr. Cline has experience with redistricting and offered
his assistance whenever needed. Mr. Tietjens also introduced Clark Askins, Assistant City
Attorney and Isaac Rodriguez, GIS Technician.
Mr. Tietjens spoke briefly about the difficulty in trying to enumerate the four census blocks that
were split during the previous redistricting process. He described the method Staff used to arrive
at a population estimate for the four split blocks by utilizing census data currently available for the
entire block, counting rooftops, and applying vacancy and person per household rates.
Mr. Cline stated that La Porte's four split census blocks are the first split blocks that he has ever
encountered. He recommended avoiding split blocks altogether and encouraged the City to
provide input on census block boundaries with the LUCA program prior to the next census.
Martha Gillett spoke of her experience with the 2000 Redistricting process and the difficulty the
Committee had creating the boundary lines.
The ideal population for each Council District is 5,633 persons with an acceptable range of up to
5% over (5,915) or 5% under (5,351).
In trying to clean up split blocks, the Committee began by reviewing Block 1767, in Council
Districts 4 and 5.
Motion by Nolan Allen to move the Council District line splitting Block 1767 over to Ohio Street,
moving 13 persons from District 5 into District 4, changing the population in District 5 to 4,208 and
5,294 in District 4 at this point in time. Second by Nancy Ojeda. The motion carried
unanimously.
The Committee also discussed census Block 1011, which is split between Council Districts 3 & 6,
and census Block 1000, which is split amongst Council Districts 1, 3, 4, & 6.
Redistricting Committee
Minutes of June 28, 2011
Page 2 of 2
Nolan Allen left the meeting at 7:00 p.m., due to a prior commitment.
The Committee discussed different scenarios at length for adjusting boundary lines within each
Council District to meet the target population.
Motion by Charles Montgomery to direct staff to generate the first draft of the Council District Map
incorporating the changes recommended by the Committee as follows, and to provide the
summary table:
District 1: Remains unchanged.
District 2: Blocks 3000, 3001, 3002, 3012, 3013, 3014, 3015, 3016, 3017, 3018, 3019, and
3020 were moved from District 2 to District 3 leaving District 2 with a population
of 5,848.
District 3: Blocks 1002, 1020, 1021, and portions of 1011 and 1000 were moved from
District 3 to District 6 leaving District 3 with a population of 6,095.
District 4: Blocks 3060, 3061, 3062, and 3066 were moved from District 4 to District 5
leaving District 4 with a population of 5,294.
District 5: East half of Block 1767 was moved from District 5 to District 4 leaving District 5
with a population of 5,518.
District 6: Blocks 1000, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, & 2006 were moved from
District 6 to District 5 leaving District 6 with a population of 5,900.
Second by Charlie Perry. The motion carried unanimously.
5. Administrative Reports
By consensus, the Committee agreed to meet for two hours every other Tuesday at 6:00 p.m.
The next meeting will be held July 12, 2011.
6. Committee comments on matters appearing on agenda or inquiry of staff regarding
specific factual information of existing policy.
There were none.
7. Adjourn
Chairman Harrington adjourned the meeting at 8:40 p.m.
Submitted by,
Peggy Lee
Planning Coordinator
Approved on this day of ' 2011.
Charles Harrington
Redistricting Committee Chairman
UPDATED TOTALS BASED ON 6/28/11 MEETING
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