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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-29-2011 - Redistricting Committee Minutes MEETING NOTES Redistricting Committee, City of Ithaca NY August 29,20115:30-7:30 p.m. City Hall Room 206, 108 E Green St, Ithaca Members Attending: Cora Yao, Nancy Schuler, Henrik N Dullea, Tom Frank (chair), Vincent Sierra, Ed Strong. Also attending: Mayor Carolyn Peterson, Alderman Daniel Cogan, Ruth Aslanis (staff support) Welcome and introduction to redistricting by Mayor Attendees introduced themselves 2002 report on City redistricting is available at Mayor's office Mr. Dullea described County redistricting effort's status Looking at changing both boundaries and number of members Currently in process of developing first 2 scenarios Meetings seeking input are in progress- City officials invited to Sept 27`h meeting at Common Council Chambers Discussion of redistricting process If change boundaries need to change charter If change number of council members may need referendum Ald. Cogan, Mayor and Committee members discussed Committee's charge and scope of work Committee can look at boundary changes, number of members and at large membership or a hybrid Meetings may be needed to get citizen input County level issues are not typically specific to a City ward Having 2 members per ward has been useful to cover meetings and work as team Rule is that groups have an opportunity to have someone elected to represent them If it appears that Committee acted in a way that changed the representation of minority groups, Justice Dept can sue over redistricting plan Alignment with county districts important to lessen voter confusion about where to vote and save expenses of separate polling places and staffing; Group has choice on whether to align with or how much to align City size has increased 4.3 %; county 5.2%; Mr. Dullea reported that input has been given at County meetings that the City go to 4 wards and maybe 1 sliver in town to make up wards that act as County districts; town is asking for 3 large wards in Town, not to broken up as in 2002 Balance population in wards such that deviation from smallest to largest is less than 10%; will need to redraw boundaries as population has changed in wards Timing of committee work discussed: Full implementation in 2013; If going to ballot that would need to be in November of 2012; County to complete by March 2012 t Could committee complete work by end of 2011-not likely Will need to get input either before scenarios and/or after County group is following Open meeting law standard though not required; discussion of staff time needed to do the same was discussed; possibility of audio taping; this is a working group not required to adhere to OML Ald. Cogan having completed his remarks to group, left meeting; Mayor also left shortly after. Committee discussed scope of work, timing and scheduling Are there neighborhood boundaries designated; don't want to break up neighborhoods as block boundaries do; Collect any maps that show neighborhood boundaries Identify large developments like College Park that will effect population after wards are drawn Don't need to adhere to OML; can use the standard; can look at adherence at future meeting Meet 2 x a month Sept to December Next meeting is set for September 14th 5:30-7:30 Attending the Sept 27th County Redistricting meeting as following meeting Ruth to send maps up for meeting electronically Remaining schedule to be handled by email by Mr. Frank NEXT MEETING September 14,2011 Second floor Conference Room (#206), City Hall 5:30-7:30 P.M.