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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 06.16.2011 CC-Sve %05eas VWIfA Y.4%0€ %0 i.+v M tj S.. a,sr VV a Y' ;.A Thursday, Jane 16,, The City Council of the City of Georgetown, Texas, met in Regular Session on the above date with Mayor George Garver presiding. Council Present: Patty Eason, Danny Meigs, Troy Hellmann, Rachael Jonrowe Council Absent: Tommy Gonzalez, Pat Berryman, Bill Sattler Staff Present: Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager; Jessica Brettle, City Secretary; Regular Session (Council may, at any time, recess the Regular Session to convene an Executive Session at the request of the Mayor, a Councilmember, or the City Manager for any purpose authorized by the Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 551.) A Call to Order -SPECIAL WORKSHOP SESSION TO BEGIN NO EARLIER THAN 6:00 PM B Discussion and possible action regarding the redistricting process and criteria and review and discussion of potential redistricting models supplied by Bickerstaff, Heath, Delgado, Acosta L.L.C. -- David Mendez, Bickerstaff Heath Delgado Acosta, LLC Gonzalez, Berryman, Sattler absent. Mayor called the meeting order and reviewed what will be discussed at the meeting He reminded the audience and Council that this is the ninth meeting since November that has been dedicated to a discussion of the redistricting process. He introduced, Cobby Caputo, the attorney assisting the City with the redistricting process. He noted Caputo will be presenting three redistricting proposals to be considered and reviewed by the City Council. Caputo thanked the Council and said they have been working on this since April He spoke of the redistricting guidelines and criteria that were approved by the Council and that will be used to guide the building of the redistricting maps. He said the most important aspect is to draw new districts so there is no more than a 10% deviation in population between the largest and smallest districts. He said the Council is at an over 133% deviation, driven mostly by the Sun City area to the west He said District 4 is basically the size of two districts. He introduced David Gimnich, one of the GIS technicians who has been working on these maps. He said, other than the population correction, another important driver is the voting rights act. He described this for the Council and said that District 1 is what is referred to as a majority minority district by the Department of Justice. He showed the City Council Draft Plan A. He said another element unique to Georgetown is that District 7, with an only 25% hispanic population, has elected a minority candidate. He said the Department of Justice would like them to protect that candidate as well as they are a minority performing district He said, in each of the three map variations, Districts 1 and 7 will be the same. He said the other major driver is how to handle the Sun City area. He said they started up in the northwest corner and cut off Sun City where it makes a perfect district He said, in discussions with Sattler, he pointed out that the Jarrell School District cuts into Sun City. He said that is a City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 1 of 3 Pages very good boundary to use to split Sun City. He said, after drawing this line, the new district is almost perfect. He noted one of the outcomes of that is that Sattler will not be in that new district He said, with this new map, District 4 would not have an incumbent. He said the variations in the map are among Districts 3, 2, 5 and 6. He noted, to the largest extent possible, they wanted to use 1-35 as a boundary. He continued to describe this map, Draft Plan A, for the Council. He said, to the extent they could, they tried to use University Boulevard as a good dividing point. He noted one interesting thing to think about is the County jail. He said there are over 1,000 people in the jail and they were counted by the census. He said, largely, people in County jails are not felons and therefore can vote. He said District 2 used to have that block, but it now belongs to the new District 6. He said Gonzalez had talked about re -orienting his district around the 130 tollway. He said one of the attributes of this plan is that Southwestern is in District 6. He continued to speak about how the new lines were drawn for District 6. He spoke about Hellmann had talked to Caputo about District 2 and about the possibility of splitting the Georgetown Village from the Sun City population. He said the effect of that would move District 2 up and down the Williams Drive corridor. He said District 3, which was the smallest district, needs to grow up toward Sun City. He said District 5 would have what is left after District 2 got enough population to square up. Caputo showed the Council Draft Plan B. He said each of the plans has a very low deviation. Mayor asked about the difference between population per district versus the voting age population per district Caputo said there is a substantial difference in percentage of voting age population per district between the ages within each district He described the voting age population statistics for each district for the Council. Caputo said the Supreme Court has approved the use of total population and not voting age population for redistricting purposed. Caputo described Draft Plan B and said the primary variation in this plan was an effort to have District 3 grow more naturally along 1-35. He noted it had to grow all the way to the lake because of the lack of population He said, in this plan, the bottom half of Sun City is now in District 3. He said this represents a merging of Districts 2 and 3. He noted, other than that, there is not a lot of variation. He said there are small variations in Districts 6 and 7. He said the major change in this map is the Sun City and Georgetown Village areas have been combined He said, with this map, Sattler would be living in District 2. He added District 3 would have both Council member Meigs and Hellmann. He described to Council how a member would serve out their term and then run in their new district. He showed the Council the percentages and population numbers for this new map. He said the numbers are very similar but noted this map has the voting age population of District 3 a little smaller. He noted this meets all of the Council's major criteria. Caputo pulled up Draft Plan C for the City Council. He said this map would keep Districts 1, 4, 6 and 7 as it is. He noted the challenge for this map was to pull District 3 up into District 5. He spoke of the difficulties in drawing this version of the map. He noted, in this variation, Council member Sattler would be in District 5. He said District 2 would be drawn across the highway as well. He said District 3 would keep its current area, picks up some of the area around the highway, and then around 1-35 and up toward the lake. He said this is just an example of what can be done with these maps. He spoke about the Heritage Oaks area and said that one block is 659 people. He spoke of the challenges related to highly population voting blocks. He said they are happy to take any comments, questions or direction from the Council. He noted they tried to stay as close to major roads, rivers and creeks as well as design criteria that Council feels is important Jonrowe thanked Caputo for his hard work. He said, for District 6, it is drawn the way she envisioned it She noted she had all looked at using Highway 29 as a line as well as keeping Southwestern in one District She said she is pleased with how District 6 looks. She noted, she does like the idea of keeping the people in Georgetown Village separate from Sun City and putting them with a younger population. Meigs said he appreciates the maps. He said, looking at District 3, he only has one way to go which is North and West He said regarding Plan A, looking at this objectively, he has a hard time coming to grips with District 3 stretching all the way to Sun City. Caputo showed Council Plan A. Meigs said it seems like a stretch to him for District 3 to reach that far north. He noted Plan B makes more sense to him, but it would combine the Village and Sun City. He said, to him, Plan B makes more sense. He noted it would be cleaner down Williams Drive. He said he likes the idea of keeping major arteries as major dividing lines. Caputo asked that Gimnich pull up Plan B for the Council. Caputo said, from a geography standpoint, District 3 is still strung out but not as far as in Plan A. He noted the trouble with District 3 is that it can not stretch into District 1. Meigs said, at this point, Plan B would be his first choice. Hellmann said he would like to reiterate that this is a difficult process. He said the part that makes the map look ugly is the annexations and the fact that the City limits are not compact. He noted it is tough to get the numbers right as well as satisfy everyone politically. Hellmann said he appreciates the attempt to separate the Village from Sun City in Draft Plan A. He said those two areas have very different demographics. He spoke about the voting age population in Sun City and District 4. Hellmann said he also liked how Plan A creates a district for the Williams Drive corridor. He noted, for District 2, this plan creates a more homogeneous demographic. Caputo said the challenge would be to keep the Village and Sun City separate and to use Williams Drive as a dividing line or corridor. Eason said she appreciates the hard work that has been put into this. She said District 1 has been drawn as she expected. She said she knew that the Districts on the west side would be the most challenging City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 2 of 3 Pages She asked what Hellmann thinks of Plan C. Hellmann said he thinks it look like it separates Berry Creek and noted he does not like the idea of doing that. He noted he also does not like this plan because it does not separate the Village. Eason asked and Hellmann confirmed his first choice would be for Plan A Caputo spoke about the airport and how it acts as a barrier when you try to work around that area He said there is 87 people in a large area. Meigs said if it comes out to it, we may have to prioritize whether geography or neighborhoods are more important. Caputo said that is going to be the call of the Council. Eason said she likes Plan A for what it does for the Village but noted she also supports Plan B for how District 3 works. Jonrowe asked and Caputo said the County is in the process of changing their voting districts dramatically. He said they are trying to have about 1,000 people per voting precinct. Hellmann asked if having to work with the County will change the timeline and Caputo said it should work. He spoke about the approval process for the map. Mayor said it sounds like there is some concern to try to separate the Village from Sun City. He said some of the other parameters that have been suggested are to try to keep District 3 from stretching to Jarrell. Caputo said, from a general perspective, Districts 11 6 and 7 look good. He noted we could probably say the east side is okay. Mayor asked and Caputo said the population of Heritage Oaks is about 600 or 700 people. He spoke about the possibility of added that to Sun City. Hellmann noted that would bring a portion of the Village back into Sun City as well Mayor asked about the Wesleyan facility. There was much discussion about the area around Estrella Crossing and how the population could be manipulated. Hellmann asked and Caputo said both the Census Bureau and the cities help determine the census blocks. Mayor said, as the donut holes in the city limits close, it will simplify things. Caputo agreed. Mayor thanked everyone for the hard work that was put into this. He said it seems there are different preferences for different plans. He reviewed the suggestions from Council to be discussed at another meeting. Caputo said, if anyone thinks of anything, they can contact him. He noted he now has some pretty good guidance after this meeting and will bring revised maps to the next meeting. C Adjourn City Council Meeting Minutes/ Page 3 of 3 Pages Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 07:04 PM.