During its regular meeting last week, the Bay Minette City Council approved the second reading of a proposal to make such alterations, which are required every 10 years by federal and state regulations once data from the U.S. Census is received.

Last week’s action followed a first reading that took place last month, as previously reported. Prior to the vote, Bay Minette Mayor Jamie Tillery detailed the process leading up to the consideration, which included a collaborative effort between Bay Minette City Attorney Scott Lewis and South Alabama Regional Planning to review the map in an effort to ensure every voter in each of the city’s five districts received equal representation. To accomplish that, boundary lines had to be drawn with a goal of 1,644 residents in each district, plus or minus between 2 and 5 percent, as previously reported.

Tillery explained last week that once new boundary lines were drawn, informational meetings were held for the public to ask questions and express concerns in October before last month’s public hearing and initial consideration of the new map.

As previously reported, that map change consists of a slight shift northward for each district. But during last week’s meeting, Lewis said public comment spurred additional changes before this second vote.

“Just so the boundaries follow the natural landmarks of the highways,” he said after the meeting.

With the city’s approval of the new district map complete, the next step is to send it for state approval.

“The next phase is this map will be delivered to the Alabama Department of Justice,” Tillery said during the meeting.

Deliberation is anticipated to be approximately 60 days.