By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph city council members have a big decision ahead, one they have been pondering for some time.
The city faces the task of redistricting in accordance with the 2020 Census and the voter-approved charter change that reduced council districts from five to four.
St. Joseph City Manager Bryan Carter says the first work session on city council redistricting was held in March. The council is scheduled to consider proposals next week.
“So, we’ve been able to make adjustments based on feedback we’ve gotten from the community and from the council during a series of work sessions,” Carter tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline.
Carter estimates the city council has spent five work sessions on the issue since first considering redistricting proposals in March. The council has also held three public hearings on various redistricting proposals.
All of the proposals have boiled down to two alternatives, one which has received a slim majority of votes. That one would carve out the downtown as a city council district as a hub from which three other council districts would serve as spokes. The other proposal calls for a more-or-less equal division of the city into quadrants.
Carter says the council faces a difficult challenge, reshaping districts according to shifting population centers while maintaining the districts that historically have shaped St. Joseph.
“A lot of discussion about the shapes and then a lot of discussion about preserving the integrity of the north end and south end concept that’s developed, of course, in St. Joseph over years,” according to Carter.
The hub and spoke plan with downtown St. Joseph as the core district has received a 5-4 vote from the city council in previous meetings.
“There’s been a lot of discussion from proponents of the proposal,” Carter says. “There’s been a lot of discussion about the fact that it captures many different demographics within each district. So that’s been one of the major points of discussion.”
Carter says there is some urgency to the council’s action, because candidates for city council seats must know the districts in order to file for office.
“As soon as that’s adopted, we will be preparing to start getting petitions from potential candidates,” Carter says.
The council meets next Tuesday, September 7th, to consider the two proposals.