Published: August 19, 2008 12:00 am            

Proposed ward boundaries unveiled

Four areas of Norman would migrate from one ward to another under a proposed revision of ward maps from the City's' Reapportionment Committee, presented at a public hearing Tuesday evening in council chambers at City Hall.

The changes, if adopted, would bring wards closer in population.

Currently, there is a 19.95 percent deviation from the largest populated ward to the smallest, which has been trending upward. The deviation is figured by adding the ward with the highest percentage above the average -- or Ward 1 at 11.16 percent above -- and the ward with highest percentage below the average, which was Ward 4 at 8.79 percent below the average.

The proposed ward changes would reduce the deviation to 7.69 percent and are the same proposed and voted down 7-2 by council in 2007.

By charter requirement, wards must be compatible and contiguous.

A portion of the southwest part of Ward 1 would go to Ward 4. And a northwest portion of Ward 4 would go to Ward 2.

A western portion of Ward 6 would move to Ward 8 and a southwest portion of Ward 8 would move to Ward 3.

Committee members said they believed the changes would not unseat any councilmember, as it has done occasionally in the past.

The most recent unseating of a councilmember occurred to former Ward 8 councilmember Darian DeBolt in 2001 after the 2000 U.S. Census.

The percent deviation is up from 19.11 percent as of Dec. 31, 2006, 16.96 percent as of Dec. 31, 2005, and 10.87 percent as of Dec. 31, 2004.

Larry Edmison asked if, in the future, that numbers of registered voters be factored into decisions, with several wards having large numbers of transient student populations who don't typically vote.

"We do not look at registered voters," said Mark Morton, Reapportionment Committee chair.

Morton said the City has a different weight factor in how it figures population for apartments.

Koscinski said he would caution against weighting the changes to consider registered voters.

"I would caution you against using registered voters --?it's all voters," Koscinski said.

Morton said the committee was apparently moving in the right direction because the same changes last year would have produced an 8.5 percent deviation. Now it's a 7.69 percent deviation.

More detailed proposed ward maps are on the City of Norman's Web site at www.normanok.gov/planning/reapportionProposal.htm.

The reapportionment committee will meet to vote on the recommendations 6:30 p.m. Sept. 3. The recommendations are expected to go to council for consideration in late September or early October.

Carol Cole-Frowe 366-3538 ccole@normantranscript.com

        

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