By Cathy Higgins
BAY MINETTE, Ala. — Although Bay Minette residents had the chance to weigh in on the city’s redistricting process this week, none chose to do so.
During its regular meeting Monday night, the Bay Minette City Council held a public hearing on proposed boundary changes to its five voting districts, which is required once every 10 years by federal and state regulations.
“We’re not required by law to have a public hearing,” Bay Minette City Attorney Scott Lewis told the approximately 15 audience members at the meeting. “But this is our effort to show the (Alabama) Department of Justice that public input was taken into consideration when redrawing these district lines.”
The hearing was preceded by two informational meetings earlier this month designed to enable residents to ask questions about the proposed changes to districts. But as previously reported, those meetings had few attend.
In explaining the changes Monday, Lewis said the boundaries are designed to ensure residents in each district are represented during elections.
“So everybody within a district has the same voting powers,” he said.
As previously reported, that could be achieved with an ideal population size of 1,644 residents. To achieve that numeric goal, most districts shift northward slightly.
Lewis explained the three factors considered when making those shifts.
“We wanted the districts to be as compact as possible,” he said Monday. “We also wanted the core of every voting district to be preserved.”
The final factor was ensuring that each district’s definition would be recognizable.
“We want people to know what district they’re in,” Lewis said.
Following the attorney’s explanation of the proposed boundary changes, the city council opened the public hearing. But no one from the audience spoke or asked questions.
Bay Minette Mayor Jamie Tillery explained that the council will wait until its next meeting, which is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 21, to vote on the changes.
“We will have a couple of weeks to work on this,” she said.
