The Eupora Board of Aldermen adopted a redistricting plan as recommended by the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District during its Dec. 6 meeting.
Toby Sanford, geographical information systems manager with the GTPDD, recommended adoption of "Plan 2," which was one of three plans presented for review during a public hearing on Nov. 1.
"It keeps our minority districts (1 and 4) high," Sanford said of Plan 2. "I think it will be the best."
The board voted to adopt the recommended plan upon a motion by Billy Tabb (Ward 2) and second by Ricky Newton (Ward 3) with no opposition.
Sanford said no one had submitted an alternate plan since last month's public hearing, which was conducted to receive comments regarding the proposed redistricting plan to redraw the city's ward district lines in accordance with the 2020 Census results.
The census puts the city's population at 2,152, down from 2,197 in 2010. Sanford said during the hearing that the ideal population per ward would be 538, with anything less or more referred to as a deviation.
The goal of redistricting is to get as close to the ideal population as possible in each ward while remaining under the allowed 10% maximum variance. Ward 1, with the smallest population, needs 53 people to met the ideal population. Ward 3, with the highest population, needs 71 fewer people.
This will be the population for each ward in Plan 2, followed by the deviation from the ideal population and percentage variance:
Ward 1: 527/11/-2.04%
Ward 2: 563/25/4.65&
Ward 3: 552/14/2.60%
Ward 4: 510/-28/-5.20%
Total: 2,152/Maximum Variance: 9.85%
Political lines must be reapportioned to make them near equal as possible while maintaining the racial majorities to ensure equal representation. This is the percentage population by race for each ward in Plan 2:
Ward 1: White, 38.1%; Black, 56.7%; Other, 5.1%
Ward 2: White, 78.5%; Black, 13%; Other, 8.5%
Ward 3: White, 67.6%; Black, 27.4%; Other, 5.1%
Ward 4: White, 33.9%; Black, 62.9%; Other, 3.1%
The next step will be creating a written description of the new wards, which Sanford said should take about a week, and publishing that with a map in the newspaper. Department of Justice preclearance is not required for any redistricting plan at this time.
