Madison County commissioners looked at three potential new commission district maps June 27, but the group failed to reach a consensus on which map to approve.
“Are they (the district proposals) close, or do you want to blow them up and start all over again?” Commission chairman Anthony Dove asked board members. “I just want to get your ideas so we can talk to the mapmaker.”
Madison County’s commission and school board districts — which are not the same — must be redrawn this year to account for population changes between 2000-2010.
Dove and school system leaders recently met with the General Assembly mapmaker in Atlanta. Three BOC district options were put on the table, along with two school board district proposals.
Commissioner John Pethel said he favored the first BOC district option given, but commissioner Mike Youngblood said he favored scrapping the BOC options and adopting the school board’s district arrangement. The BOE district map has the Danielsville area in district 2, not district 4 like the BOC map.
“I think my number one pick would be to go with the school board (map); my number two would be proposal number three,” said Youngblood.
Pethel noted that county commissioners voted to stagger BOC terms in 2008. District seats 2, 3 and 5 were up for grabs in 2010, while districts 1, 4 and the chairman’s seat will be on the ballot in 2012. Changing the district arrangements on the BOC could affect the terms of sitting board members.
“If we went with the school board wouldn’t that interfere with the staggering of the commissioners’ elections?” asked Pethel.
“Yeah, that would be something you’d have to consider,” said Dove.
Commissioner Stanley Thomas asked how a change to the school board map would work.
“We’re talking about (districts) 2 and 4 being swapped; are you going to just swap the numbers of the people?” asked Thomas.
Dove said it would “take an Athens lawyer to figure that out.”
County attorney Mike Pruett tried to clarify the problem.
“I guess what you’re saying is that if you use the school board map, commissioner (Dewitt “Pete”) Bond would be the district 2 commissioner and commissioner Pethel would be the district 4 commissioner,” said Pruett. “And that’s right, that would mess up the staggering.”
Bond was not at Monday’s meeting. And the group agreed to table the matter. Dove suggested that the commissioners hold a special meeting to discuss redistricting options. No date for that meeting was set Monday.
Each of the three proposed BOC district maps strongly resembles the current map. However, the highest population growth over the past decade was in districts 3 and 5, meaning those two districts will have a slightly smaller geographic area when the maps are redrawn.
Each district in the county must be split almost equally in terms of population. So, Madison County’s total population — when split five ways (for five districts) — equals 5,624. Each district in the county must be within one percent of that population figure.
The Georgia General Assembly has scheduled a special session for August to tackle redistricting. New county district proposals are expected to be approved at that time. Those maps will then be reviewed by the federal Justice Department before being used in the 2012 elections.
Commissioners must hold a public hearing to get citizen input on the redistricting proposal before submitting new districts to the state. No date for that hearing has been set.
In other matters Monday, Dove announced that roadwork on Colbert-Danielsville Road from Project Street to Peachtree Street will begin Tuesday and is expected to take about a month to complete. “We hope to get this done before school starts,” said Dove.
The board tabled renewal of a contract with the Madison County Youth Association for use of recreation department facilities for football. The group agreed that the county’s new recreation department director should have a chance to review the contract. The BOC will discuss hiring a new director Tuesday.
Mary Smith was given a new term on the county’s Department of Family and Children’s Services board. The BOC tabled a decision on approving a contractor for the paving and striping of Shirley Road. The group agreed to re-bid the paving of Pittman Mathews Road.
