During this evening’s regular Council Meeting, I raised a ‘Point of Order’ and also shared reflections on the appointment process for the Redistricting Committee. As a help to clarify the themes discussed, I wanted to share the below:

  • First, I want to thank the Mayor and President for their selection of all high caliber individuals with strong knowledge of the City who I know beyond a doubt would serve professionally, impartially, and do a great job in service of our City.

  • I want also to acknowledge the observations and concerns of my Ward 2 colleagues that, of the five member Committee formed to evaluate moving our City’s Ward boundaries, only one lives in Ward 2. It is my belief this was simply by coincidence in the process conducted in good faith for fulfilling the membership requirements of the Committee’s organizing resolution.

  • From the perspective of the question, “How do we best represent the City in the redistricting process?", I see my colleagues' point and agree that, if only from the perspective of assuring residents that their voice is being heard, it makes a difference to have a Committee where Ward 2 has more than one member at the table.

  • Note: This is not a requirement of the Committee’s organizing resolution, but I don’t want this to be a circumstance where we’ve fulfilled the ‘letter of the law’ without having fulfilled the ‘spirit of the law’, especially when a question of Representation, so foundational to our ordered democratic society, is the question.

  • Part of our duty as members of Council is the confirmation process, and while I always give deference to the appointer’s prerogative in their selection of appointees, I believe it’s a reasonable exercise of our Council duty to ask consideration that a 5-member Ward Re-districting Committee have more than one member from Ward 2.