JEFFERSONVILLE — Though they just did so last year, it’s already time for the Jeffersonville City Council to start thinking about redistricting again.

On Wednesday morning, the Jeffersonville Board of Public Works and Safety approved a time and materials contract, not to exceed $30,000, with engineering firm Jacobi, Toombs and Lanz. The firm will provide consulting on matters, such as population figures, as the council makes decisions on where political lines are drawn.

The council starting redrawing district lines in 2010 after a large annexation, which brought Oak Park and several other areas north and east of the old city limits into Jeffersonville. That attempt was met with legal action from some in the annexed area who disagreed with the city’s use of population figures from the 2000 Census in order to decide on where to draw district lines. Numbers from the 2010 Census were not available at the time.

The challenge had been based on the fact that the population data was 10 years old and therefore didn’t account for growth in the outskirts of the city. The result was a huge sixth district, which had a population that was disproportionally larger than all the other districts.

Challengers argued that the sixth district, which included Oak Park, was being under represented. The resulting federal lawsuit, which challenged the constitutionality of the redistricting, was ultimately dismissed and those embattled district lines were in place for last year’s municipal elections.

Another redistricting is required this year as the 2010 census figures have become available.

“We must redistrict. We have to do that this year,” Councilman Nathan Samuel said during recent meeting.

It’s not entirely in the council’s court, as Mayor Mike Moore will have to sign the redistricting ordinance as well.

Jacobi, Toombs and Lanz doesn’t so much make decisions on where to move the political lines but more so shows the council how line movements would affect population counts in each district, Samuel said. Under state law, there can’t be more than a 10 percent difference in population between districts.



REPRECINCTING ISSUES

The council redistricting effort also follows and effort last year by the Clark County Commissioners to redraw precinct lines following the census. However, that reprecincting may eventually have to be revised because of a couple of issues.

First, when commissioners approved the new precincts they inadvertently put Jeffersonville City Councilman Ed Zastawny’s home into a precinct which isn’t included in his council district.

Zastawny immediately took the issue to county officials and was told the issue would be fixed by the primary election. When May 8 came around, he ended up having to vote with a provisional ballot and write himself in the race for precinct committeeman. Because the election cycle has already started, the county apparently can’t amend its precincts until after November’s election.

Further, Zastawny notes, the commissioners didn’t break up the large precincts that exist in the annexed areas of Jeffersonville, where a lot of growth has taken place during the last 10 years.

“The city was hoping the county would work with us to break up the really large precincts in district six,” he said.

Because the precincts are so large, the council may have to split a number of them when it draws its district lines, Zastawny said.

When commissioners update the reprecincting to fix the Zastawny issue, it’s unclear whether they’ll address the large-area precinct issues in the east end of Jeffersonville.

“I think it’s going to stay the way it is,” said Les Young, president of the Clark County Commissioners.

Commissioner Ed Meyer said he’s not opposed to it if it’s simple to fix, but doesn’t see the county going back and redrawing the entire precinct map.

“The state approved everything we did, which tells me we’re in compliance,” Meyer said.

Commissioner John Perkins, on the other hand, said he’s in favor of sitting down with municipalities, such as Jeffersonville and Clarksville, and addressing those and other precinct issues.

“I know one commissioner that wants to straighten it out,” Perkins said, referring to himself. “It looks like a drunk chimpanzee with a crayon drew these district lines.”

He advocates waiting until next year to have the map redrawn since there are no elections in 2013.