06/15/1977 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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. Mr. Haws moved, seconded by Mr. Hamel, to approved the - segregation. 1"10 t ion ca rri ed unani mous ly. I V . Elective Districts for Lane County Cornmissioners--lVlemo, map, statistics, and Chapter III distributed to Council. Manager noted discussion had been held on this issue at COITITlittee-of-the-Whole, June tl, 1977. Mr. Jim Hale, Chairman of the Kedistricting Committee, was not able to attend tOday's Council meeting but offered to be available to discuss the issue at the June ~~ Council meeting. He noted action of the Council might be to approve, disapprove, or recommend changes. He said the item will be initially held for first reading at the June a, Lane County Commissioner's Ineeting, with a second reading and public hearing scheduled July b, 1977. Randi iljornstad, Planning Uepartment, said the memo distributed to Council was the Planning Departnent's opinion and analysis for redistricting of Lane County Commi ss i oners. She noted concern had been rai sed that the City of Eugene was divided among three districts, while at the same time including unincorporated areas within the two predominately Eugene dis- tricts. Further examination showed this situation to be unavoidable be- cause of the constraints under which elective districts must be developed. The "one lIIan, one vote" rule requires that districts have approximately equal populations or voter registrations, depending on which index is used. She said it was the overall opinion of the Planning Department that the Redistricting Committee had done as good a jOb as possible. She noted the Committee had used voter registration, rather than total popu- e lation, which had been checked by the Planning Oepartment who found the figures to De reasonably close in equal proportion of registered voters to population. Voter registration was used as only the 197U Census popu- lation data were available, quite out of date. However, voter registra- tion is up to date, and there was a possibility of redistributing on population figures after the 19<;U Census is completed. 1~lanager sai d note shoul <.l De taken of the charge of the Di stri cti ng Com- mittee as there were some strict parameters laid down as to how the redistricting would proceed. Secondly, Manager noted it would be more workable if there were seven, rather than five, districts created. He gave the example of the district including Springfield where there were 1~,UUU voters, saying each district would have to have ~d,UUU voters. Clearly, Springfield only occupied at best a bare majority of one dis- tri ct. If there were seven districts, ~1,UUU voters per district would be required, oringing Springfield much closer to comprising a district by itself. Also, Eugene would come closer to comprising three districts. ~r. Obie expressed a hesitation to take formal position on the matter, noting that the Council had not been asked to take any formal position. Ivlanager replied the Lane County Commissioners would be holding a hear- ing and would be expecting input from the City Council. He said he was sure the Convni ss i oners woul d 1 i ke some message from the Ci ty Council and it would De necessary to notify them of such a position. !VIr. Williams agreed with Mr. Ubie's statement, saying society was not - short of input and perhaps it was not necessary to take action regarding 6/1 S/77 - :3 Lf88