|
Volusia
County Redistricting Committee
Meeting Minutes
June 20, 2001
The Volusia County Redistricting Committee met at 6:00 p.m. at the Port Orange Regional Library, 1005 City Center Circle, Port Orange, Volusia County, Florida. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss redistricting in accordance with Volusia County’s Home Rule Charter and the 2000 Census.
Public Notice of this workshop was given in The News-Journal.
The following Committee Members were present: Committee Chair Patricia Northey, County Council Member; Committee Vice Chair John, County Council Member; Judith Conte, School Board Member; Earl McCrary, Volusia County School Board; Ann H. Smith, League of Woman’s Voters
The following Volusia County staff members were present: Mark Conway, GIS; Frank Gummey, Assistant County Attorney; Barbara Griffiths, GIS Project Leader; Betty Holness, Assistant to the County Manager; Diane Marinaro Tyler, Administrative Aide for the County Manager’s OfficeMany members of the public and the press were in attendance.
Mr. Gummey quoted from the Volusia County Charter, "After every decennial census and prior to the next ensuing general election, the council shall prepare a plan for the reapportionment of the five districts to in sure division into contiguous areas as nearly equal in population as possible." Mr. Gummey further quoted from the Charter, "If the council is unable to complete the reapportionment of the council districts within six months after the official publication of the census, the county attorney upon authorization of the council or petition of twenty-five electors of the county shall petition the circuit court having jurisdiction in the county to make such reapportionment."
Mr. Gummey explained that ten years ago during the redistricting process, the County Council and School Board adopted the same district lines. He said that the County Council and School Board would the same district lines as each other again during this process.
Ms. Griffiths reviewed the booklet provided. She explained that Sample 1 represents a target population at 0% deviation. She said that it keeps the Cities of DeBary and Deltona together while the other districts move west and south. She said that Port Orange and Daytona Beach are split between several districts and the Samsula-Spruce Creek CDP is split between two districts.
Ms. Griffiths said that Sample 1 meets the following goals:
New district boundaries do not place residences of the existing School Board or County Council members outside their district.
No two district members are within the same district
Concentrated minority populations are left intact.
Ms. Griffiths said that Sample 2 represents a target population deviation under 1%. It also keeps DeBary and Deltona together with other districts moving west and south. She said that Port Orange and Daytona Beach are split between several districts and the Samsula-Spruce Creek CDP is split between two districts.
Ms. Griffiths said that Sample 2 meets the following goals:
New district boundaries do not place residences of the existing School Board or County Council members outside their district.
No two district members are within the same district
Concentrated minority populations are left intact.
Ms. Griffiths explained that Sample 3 meets the target population deviation with no districts deviating more than 5%. She said that in this sample no cities are split by District boundaries. Several cities are moved into new districts. Samsula-Spruce Creek CDP is split between two districts.
Ms. Griffiths said that this sample meets the following goals:
New district boundaries do not place residences of the existing School Board or County Council members outside their district.
No two district members are within the same district
Integrity of municipal boundaries are preserved
Concentrated minority populations are left intact
Ms. Griffiths said that Sample 4 deviates from the target population by less than 3%. She said that this sample creates a northern district that spans the county form east to west. DeBary moves to District 1 and I-95 becomes the western boundary of Districts 2 and 3. Daytona Beach, Port Orange, New Smyrna Beach and Edgewater are split into two or more districts.
Ms. Griffiths said that this sample meets the following goals:
New district boundaries do not place residences of the existing School Board or County Council members outside their district.
No two district members are within the same district.
Boundaries of unincorporated communities are preserved.
Concentrated minority populations would be left in tact
Chair Northey said that Sample 4 actually has two east side districts and two west side districts and a district that covers both the east and west side.
Chair Northey said that the sample maps would be provided to Council at their meeting on June 21st and to the School Board at their meeting on June 26th. She said that the Redistricting Committee would meet to discuss the results of the listening sessions and other information gathered on June 25th. Chair Northey explained the makeup of the Redistricting Committee.
Chair Northey recessed the meeting for ten minutes to allow members of the public to view the sample maps.
City of Port Orange Mayor Dorothy Hukill introduced her city council members. She explained that Port Orange staff had prepared a sample map and that she and the council support the district lines on the sample map.
Mr. Kenneth W. Parker, Port Orange City Manager, explained that the City look at the goals of the Committee’s goals and also looked at other opportunities. He said that Council Member Ward could not run for another term since he would have already served three consecutive terms.
He said that the sample keeps Council and School Board members in their districts and has a population deviation of less than 5 percent. He said that County Council District 4 on the sample is similar to District 4 as drawn on Sample 4 and that it runs east and west. Mr. Parker said that County Council District 3 concentrates around the City of Daytona Beach and moves west. He said that it meets the membership criteria. He stated that it includes the Cities of Daytona Beach and South Daytona as well as Ormond by the Sea and Ponce Inlet. Mr. Parker said that County Council District 2 would include the complete City of Port Orange, the corporate boundaries of the City of New Smyrna Beach and the corporate boundaries of Edgewater. He said that this would be a similar configuration to the district set in 1990. Mr. Parker said that County Council District 1 meets the criteria of less than 5 percent deviation and is similar to a district set in 1990. He said that County Council District 5 would include the Cities of Deltona and DeBary. Mr. Parker said that this sample meets all the goals with the exception of having an open district in the City of Daytona Beach. He added that this takes advantage of the situation of a County Council member who could not run for re-election. Mr. Parker said that the City of Daytona Beach would be in two districts.
South Daytona City Manager Joseph Yarboro said that South Daytona would like to be in the same district as the City of Port Orange. He said that South Daytona would be willing to be divided into more than one district if a portion of South Daytona could be in the same district as the City of Port Orange.
Mr. Pete Atwood said that he prefers the City of Port Orange’s sample map.
Mr. Jesse J. Acosta said that he does not like the east west District 4. He said that he would prefer the use of natural boundaries and political association to create two districts on the west side of the County and two districts on the east side of the County.
Chair Northey said that all the sample maps would be available on the internet Monday, June 25, 2001.
Mr. John J. Nicholson said that he understands it is not legal to project future population growth but the sample map presented by the City of Port Orange accomplishes some projection while staying within the legal guidelines. He said that he prefers the sample map created by the City of Port Orange. He said that he lives beachside and would like to be in a district with the City of Daytona Beach.
Ms. Judy Moore said that she does not like District 4 running east and west. She said that there is no political affiliation between these two areas.
Mr. Acosta said that he does not believe that the same district member could properly represent DeLand and Oak Hill.
Port Orange City Council Member Mary Martin said that the Port Orange sample map allows for growth patters while retaining Council and School Board members in their districts. She said that Oak Hill is currently divided into two districts and the district member who represents DeLand also represents a portion of Oak Hill. She said that the current representative from District 1 represents Pierson and while they would no longer represent Pierson, they would represent Oak Hill who is politically similar.
There were no further comments and Chair Northey said that further comments would be accepted via mail, e-mail or phone.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 7:15 p.m. but staff and Committee Members remained available until 7:30 p.m.
back to county council home page
Comments or questions?
E-mail the
Copyright © 2001 Volusia County, Florida.