Today’s action item is for Council to consider adoption of a Redistricting Resolution.

By initiative of the people, a Charter provision requiring the establishment of six electoral districts was approved by the voters in 1989.  Each district is represented by a councilmember elected by eligible voters within that respective district.

Pursuant to Federal Law and also City Charter, Article II, Section 2, the districts are required to be substantially equal in population and the City must have the district boundary lines redrawn following each decennial census.  The City Charter further provides that redistricting shall occur following any mid-decennial census in which the City elects to participate.

The Peoria City Council voted on March 17, 2015 to participate in a special mid-decade census and is now required to redistrict prior to the 2018 election cycle. The mid-decade census counted 161,563 residents in Peoria, a 4.87% increase from our 2010 official census population count of 154,058. The goal for redistricting will be 6 council districts with a population count of 26,927 each, or as close thereto as practicable (161,563/6).

The attached draft Resolution identifies the legal basis for redistricting and sets forth Council’s redistricting criteria against which all submitted redistricting maps will be evaluated. It is important to note redistricting criteria often conflict so maps will be evaluated based upon those that best meet the criteria identified in the Resolution.

As a reminder, although the City Council is ultimately responsible for adopting new council district boundaries, it is our goal to utilize an open and engaged public process to assist Council in this endeavor. Once Council has adopted its redistricting criteria the Staff Redistricting Committee will conduct the first phase of open houses to educate on the process, solicit feedback on communities of interest and demonstrate how to submit district maps. The entire timeline is below:

Timeline

The City’s original district boundary lines were established in 1990 using the 1985 census data and redistricting was completed again following the 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2010 census.  

A supplemental budget request for $100,000 to complete the redistricting process is included in the City Clerk’s Office FY17 budget and will cover all costs of the Redistricting Consultant, translation services and public process.