Redistricting plan set for Monday vote

It must approve an ordinance and proposed plan, advertise it three weeks, approve a final version and get it approved by the U.S. Department of Justice before Aug. 29, which is when qualifying for the Nov. 8 city election begins.

The thrust of the new district plan was to add voters to Wards two and three and remove them from Ward 5 to bring all wards into a plus-or-minus five percent deviation as required by federal law.

The only sticking point for the city council is a small section of Ward 3 that sticks awkwardly into Ward 2 — a move necessitated by the desire to keep District 3 school board member Bill Davis in District 3. When the council first began discussing reapportionment, there was talk that Davis would not seek re-election. Had that been the case, the city could have “cleaned” up the boundary between Ward 2 and Ward 3, but since then, Davis has indicated a desire to run again.

City council members are elected by wards and school board members by districts, but the boundary of each ward is identical to that of the school board district with the same number.