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Redistricting mostly affects Wards 1 and 3
(by Sue Reid - July 21, 2011)
Redistricting mostly affects Wards 1 and 3
By SUE REID
Solon City Council scheduled a session to review recommendations that a ward-districting committee presented Monday.
The session will take place at 5:45 p.m. Aug. 1, prior to council's regular meeting.
The redistricting committee, required by charter to be formed after the release of the 2010 U.S. Census, was challenged with reforming the city's seven wards with equal populations. The last time it was done was in 2001, following the release of the 2000 census.
Craig Novak, the Ward 3 representative on the committee, said the committee kept "common sense" in mind, as well as where each of the City Council members lives.
"We feel this is a great redistricting plan, and we are happy about it," Mr. Novak said.
When doing the redistricting, the total population of the city was divided by the seven wards, with a target population for each ward being 3,335. The city's population based on the 2010 census was 23,348, up from 21,802 in 2000.
Mr. Novak said, because Ward 3 had the greatest amount of growth and was above the target population, the committee had to start with subtraction. In reworking the wards to accommodate subtracting more than 1,000 residents from Ward 3, the territory of Ward 1 was greatly affected, he said.
"Ward 1 had the biggest change in territory," Mr. Novak said. Ward 1 lost residents in the ABC streets and gained residents from the Ward 3, including both Signature developments and Rollingbrook. Ward 1 also lost the Preserve subdivision.
All of the other tweaks in the wards involved a few hundred people here and there, Mr. Novak said.
"Some wards had to gain population while others had to lose it," he said.
"This is a big issue," Ward 2 Councilman Robert N. Pelunis said. "You are transferring residents from one ward to another without their consent. I would be in favor of a work session to discuss our feelings of the boundaries defined." He said he wants to do that before preparing any type of legislation.
"When you have any issue of moving residents from one district to another district, it should be discussed like we have in the past," Mr. Pelunis said. "We should have a work session to discuss the ramifications of moving residents from one ward to another."
Ward 1 Councilman Richard A. Bell said there is a lot of change proposed for his ward. He is not opposed to a work session, he said, although he feels very comfortable with the work done by the redistricting committee and the amount of effort its members forth.
Ward 3 Councilwoman Toni M. Richmond said she too is comfortable with the work done by the committee. "If council feels a need for a work session, let's not deliberate this ad nauseum," she said. "Bottom line, this is about numbers," she said.
Ward 6 Councilman Edward H. Kraus said he is not looking to "undo" the committee's work. He noted that, because there was not a full council Monday due to the absence of Councilwoman Nancy E. Meany, he would like to hold off on any decisions.
Ohio's secretary of state certified the census results in March, and the city has 180 days from that time to adopt the ordinance subdividing it into wards. The new wards should be in place by late summer or early fall, per the city's charter.
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