HomeMy WebLinkAboutRES 041211-M - Adopt Criteria RedistrictRESOLUTION NO. OH IQ I i-
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
GEORGETOWN, TEXAS ADOPTING CRITERIA FOR USE IN THE
REDISTRICTING 2011 PROCESS; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE
WHEREAS, the City Council and Mayor have certain responsibilities for redistricting
under federal and state law, including but not limited to, Amendments 14 and 15 to the United
States Constitution, U.S.C.A. (West 2006) and the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C.A. §§ 1973 and
1973c (West 2010); and Tex. Gov't Code Aim. §§ 2058.001 and 2058.002 (Vernon 2008); and
WHEREAS, the City Council and Mayor have certain responsibilities for redistricting
under the City Charter and
WHEREAS, on review of the 2010 Census data, it appears that a population imbalance
exists requiring redistricting of the City Councilmember Districts; and
WHEREAS, it is the intent of the City to comply with the Voting Rights Act and with all
other relevant law, including Shaw v. Reno jurisprudence; and
WHEREAS, a set of established redistricting criteria will serve as a framework to guide
the City in the consideration of districting plans; and
WHEREAS, established criteria will provide the City a means by which to evaluate and
measure proposed plans; and
WHEREAS, redistricting criteria will assist the City in its efforts to comply with all
applicable federal and state laws.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF GEORGETOWN, WILLIAMSON COUNTY, TEXAS:
A. THAT the City of Georgetown, Texas, in its adoption of a redistricting plan for City
Councilmember Districts, will adhere to the following criteria:
1. Where possible, easily identifiable geographic boundaries should be followed.
2. Communities of interest should be maintained in a single district, where possible,
and attempts should be made to avoid splitting neighborhoods.
3. To the extent possible, districts should be composed of whole voting precincts.
Where this is not possible or practicable, districts should be drawn in a way that
permits the creation of practical voting precincts and that ensures that adequate
facilities for polling places exist in each voting precinct
4. Although it is recognized that existing districts will have to be altered to reflect
new population distribution, any districting plan should, to the extent possible, be
based on existing districts.
5. Districts must be configured so that they are relatively equal in total population
according to the 2010 federal census In no event should the total deviation
between the largest and the smallest district exceed ten percent.
6. The districts should be compact and composed of contiguous territory.
Compactness may contain a functional, as well as a geographical dimension.
7. The plan should be narrowly tailored to avoid retrogression in the position of
racial minorities and language minorities as defined in the Voting Rights Act with
respect to their effective exercise of the electoral franchise.
8. The plan should not fragment a geographically compact minority community or
pack minority voters in the presence of polarized voting so as to create liability
under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1973c.
B. The City Council will review all plans in light of these criteria and will evaluate how well
each plan confoiins to the criteria.
C. Any plan submitted to the City Council by a citizen for its consideration should be a
complete plan—i.e., it should show the full number of council member districts and
should redistrict the entire City of Georgetown. The City Council may decline to
consider any plan that is not a complete plan.
D. All plans submitted by citizens, as well as plans submitted by staff, consultants, and
members of the City Council should confoiin to these criteria.
E. This resolution shall be effective upon passage.
PASSED AND APPROVED by the City Council of the City of Georgetown, Texas this
[a day of ri l , 2011.
AP,,•.OVED:
ATTEST:
1 > .li 'tit lie
ica Brettle, City Secretary
PPROVED AS TO FORM:
City Attorney
Geor_' Garver, Mayor