New Taylor City Council districts are likely to be adopted this Thursday.
On Jan. 6, the council has a special called meeting to consider an ordinance to adopt a redistricting map to redraw boundaries of the city’s single-member City Council districts.
“The point of this process was to rebalance the city’s single-member council districts to the roughly proportionate size under the one person, one vote requirement under the Constitution,” said Gunnar Seaquist, Bickerstaff Heath Delgado Acosta LLP attorney, during the map’s most recent review Dec. 9.
Taylor’s redistrict process has been prompted due to the 2020 U.S. Census, which counts populations every 10 years. The Census determines governmental districts, as well as changing demographics and how public funds are allocated in communities. The council hired the Bickerstaff Heath Delgado Acosta law firm to perform the process.
“Based on the 2020 Census, Districts 3 and 4 were heavy and 1 and 2 were a little bit light, and so we had to move population out of 3 primar ily into 2 and a little bit out of 4 and into 2,” said Seaquist. “We didn’t make any changes to council precinct 1.”
Taylor has an overall deviation of 39.3%. District 2 was approximately 20% under the ideal population of 4,064 citizens, while Distri 3 was approximately 20% over the ideal size.
“We were able to get the City Council districts back into balance,” said Seaquist. “We have a total maximum deviation under this plan of 7.16%, which is well within the 10% that we are looking for under the Constitutional standard.”
According to the Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School, the one person, one vote rule refers to the rule that one person’s voting power ought to be roughly equivalent to another person’s within the same state.
Taylor had initial redistricting workshop Oct. 27. Public hearings took place Nov. 18 and Dec. 9.
Next Thursday’s council meeting will commence at 6 p.m. at city hall, 400 Porter St., in the council chamber. Those who wish to share their thoughts and comments, which are limited to three minutes, should sign up no later than 5:45 p.m.
The council meeting will commence at 6 p.m. at city hall, 400 Porter St., in the council chamber. Those who wish to share their thoughts and comments, which are limited to three minutes, should sign up no later than 5:45 p.m.
The council agenda and live video stream of the meeting can be found on the city website at http:// www.taylortx.gov.
REDISTRICTING TIMELINE
OCT. 27
At the Taylor Public Library, the Taylor City Council received a redistricting presentation and initial assessment of districts based on recently issued 2020 Census data and set the public hearing date.
NOV. 18
At City Hall, the council conducted a public hearing and reviewed a revised map.
DEC. 9
At City Hall, city staff introduced an ordinance for the redistricting map.
JAN. 6, 2022
• 6 p.m., City Hall • Consider an ordinance adopting the redistricting map.
