SUBJECT:
Title
An Ordinance of the Town Council of the Town of Erie Establishing the Town's Election Districts
Body
DEPARTMENT: Administration
Department
PRESENTER(S): Amy Teetzel, Director of Administrative Services & Operations
First Name Last Name, Title
TIME ESTIMATE: 20 minutes
only required for non-consent items
POLICY ISSUES:
Creating, by Ordinance, council districts to best reflect the Home Rule Charter requirements to "...recognize general election precincts and to establish contiguous and compact districts with due consideration given to equal representation and communities of interest."
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Approve the Ordinance that references Home Rule Districting Plan 2.
End
SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND OF SUBJECT MATTER:
Erie voters approved the Erie Home Rule Charter in the November 2023 election and Boulder and Weld counties certified the election results that same month. The Charter either requires or enables numerous implementation actions. Among the required actions, Article 2.03 requires the Council to create Council Districts by adopting an ordinance dividing the Town into three districts to “recognize general election precincts and to establish contiguous and compact districts with due consideration given to equal representation and communities of interest.” As provided in Charter Article 16.03.(3), the ordinance establishing the boundaries of the Council districts shall be effective on or before May 9, 2024, which is at least 180 days prior to the Nov. 5, 2024, election.
To provide the Council with district options to consider, and to be consistent with the Charter requirement that changes to Council districts be “made after considering recommendations from an independent expert with experience in the field of redistricting who is unaffiliated with the Town of Erie,” the Town retained Magellan Strategies. The consulting firm has worked on redistricting efforts for more than 20 years in Colorado.
Staff and Magellan first presented districting options to the Council at the Feb. 20 Study Session. At that meeting the Council selected two options and asked staff to conduct additional community engagement. At the Mar. 12 Council Meeting, staff shared the webpage that showed interactive maps <https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/viewer?mid=1oPV7hzLQ1EqjeOlo--qF5Z1fZ8AR23Y&ll=40.05708070732898%2C-105.05472574020315&z=11> of the districting options (Plan 1 and Plan 2) and link to a survey where residents could indicate which option they preferred and provide comments. The survey remained open until Mar. 29. Through that period 219 participants choose a plan and 60 left comments. The comments are included as an attachment to this item. The overwhelming preference was for Plan 2 at approximately 72%. Below is a graph showing the results.
With tonight’s vote the Town Council will establish the initial districts as required by the Home Rule Charter. As the Town continues to grow the Council will review districts to maintain compliance with the Charter as required by Article 2.03(3):
“As a minimum requirement, the boundaries of each district shall be considered every ten (10) years following the release of each federal census to confirm compliance with the requirements of this Article. All districts shall have approximately the same population, as determined by the federal census. Changes in the boundaries of districts shall be made by ordinance if the population in any district varies from any other district by more than ten percent (10%).”
COUNCIL PRIORITY(S) ADDRESSED:
ü Effective Governance
ATTACHMENT(S):
1. Ordinance for Home Rule Districting Plan 1
2. Map Districting Plan 1
3. Ordinance for Home Rule Districting Plan 2
4. Map Districting Plan 2
5. Districting Survey Comments