Joint Meeting of the Redistricting Advisory Committee Executive Committee DANE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Minutes of the April 25, 2001 Meeting

Transcription

1 Joint Meeting of the Redistricting Advisory Committee Executive Committee DANE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Minutes of the April 25, 2001 Meeting REDISTRICTING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Juan Jose Lopez, Denise Solie, Gail Shea, Matt Sloan, Deb Neal, John Van Dinter, Rob Fyrst (exofficio), and Phil Salkin (ex-officio). REDISTRICTING ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEMBER EXCUSED: Steve Braunginn EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Kevin Kesterson, Ruth Ann Schoer, Karen Cornwell, D. Blaska, Mark Opitz, and Scott McDonell EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS EXCUSED: Jim Mohrbacher, Dennis O Loughlin, Lyman Anderson, Darold Lowe, and Judith Wilcox OTHERS PRESENT: John Hendrick, Jim Campbell, Billy Feitlinger, Bill Hitzemann, Eileen Bruskewitz, Jim Mueller, Gary Douglas, Lee Sensenbrenner, Larry Gleasman, Amy Volkmann, Roger Touchette, Don Peterson, Tony Roach, Mark Vivian, Ken Sipsma, Brad Robinson, and Lyle Updike Chair Lopez called the Redistricting Advisory Committee to order at 6:10 p.m. Chair Kesterson called the Executive Committee to order at the same time. Approval of the minutes of the April 18, 2001 meeting was before the committee. Motion by Sloan/Shea to approve the minutes for the Redistricting Advisory Committee. Motion carried, 8-0. Members of the committees and other County Board supervisors present introduced themselves. An overview of the county redistricting process was before the committee. Tim Saterfield provided 1) background about redistricting in general, 2) the process in Dane County, 3) challenges in the process, 4) a statistical overview, and 5) the meeting schedule. Public comment on redistricting was before the committee. Chair Lopez indicated that each registrant would be allowed 5 minutes to address the committees, followed by questions from committee members.

2 Tony Roach, 5759 Lacy Road, Fitchburg, WI addressed the committees, representing the City of Fitchburg. He serves as the city administrator. Fitchburg makes up part of 3 supervisory districts. He indicated that Fitchburg does not have coterminous boundaries, which results in up to 14 different ballots per election. He said that this situation is difficult both for staff and for those voting. He urged the committee to try to reduce the number of districts in Fitchburg, or at least not increase it. Supv. Fyrst asked Mr. Roach how many wards Fitchburg has. Mr. Roach responded that there are 20 wards. Mark Vivian, 2942 Bellvue Drive, Fitchburg, WI addressed the committee. He serves as the Mayor of Fitchburg, and spoke as a representative of the city. He indicated the city will be sending a letter to the committee. According to Mr. Vivian, it is a nightmare of confusion to administer elections in Fitchburg. He would like no more than 2 districts, and further would like to have the City of Fitchburg make up the majority of each district. He indicated that Fitchburg is the second largest city in Dane County and the people deserve fair representation. He believed it was not unreasonable to have two districts to represent their interests. Mayor Vivian then responded to several questions. Supv. Fyrst asked if he would object to a majority minority district encompassing the northern part of Fitchburg and the City of Madison. Mayor Vivian indicated that there are natural boundaries and Fitchburg really does not have large concentrations of minorities. Supv. Fyrst pointed out that, in fact, there are concentrations of minority communities in Fitchburg north of the beltline. Mayor Vivian reiterated that he would like districts where the majority of residents in the district are City of Fitchburg residents. Alder Sloan asked Mayor Vivian about his comment that the city would be better represented by a supervisor elected by a majority of city voters. Mayor Vivian cited the conflict over PD improvements. Ms. Solie asked the Mayor how he felt about three districts, if that became necessary. Mayor Vivian responded that this would be fine if the boundaries represented areas of common interest. Supv. Salkin asked with which communities the city had common interests. He mentioned the Village of Oregon, the Town of Madison, and the Town of Verona. He said Fitchburg does not want to be combined with communities north of the beltline. Ken Sipsma, 5121 Caton Lane, Waunakee, WI addressed the committee, representing the Town of Westport. He indicated that Westport had sent a letter to the committee. The town would like to break up the lake district since there are no commonalties between Shorewood Hills and Maple Bluff and the town of Westport and Middleton. Westport residents go to Waunakee or Middleton schools. Westport believes the district should be the Town of Westport and the Village of Waunakee, keeping a bit of Middleton if possible. John Van Dinter pointed out that there is an issue with size because the combined populations of Westport and Waunakee would be over the size for a supervisory district. This led to a series

3 of questions about what to divide - Westport or Waunakee. Mr. Sipsma said he would like to achieve some commonality with the City of Middleton. County Board Supervisor John Hendrick, 1315 Spaight Street, Madison WI provided testimony to the committees, representing himself. He spoke in favor of community-based redistricting. He said that an objective standard should be to keep communities of interest together. He said that, for the most part, one could draw districts to keep towns and villages together. If division is necessary, he urged the committees to consider not dividing neighborhood associations. Or, if a town must be divided, he urged the committees not to divide hamlets. Amy Volkmann, 5365 Reiner Road, Madison registered but did not wish to address the committee. Jim Campbell, 3404 Nottingham Way, Madison, WI addressed the committee, representing the Town of Madison. Mr. Campbell also serves as a County Board Supervisor. He said that the Town of Madison wants to remain as it is, with 13 wards. He said that it would be difficult to combine with the City of Madison because the town and city are sometimes at odds. The town would rather be combined with Fitchburg. Supv. Fyrst asked several questions. He wondered about the types of issues that the city and town of Madison had that were county government issues. Supv. Campbell said that annexation issues were key and a supervisor elected in a combined town and city district would have pressure to show loyalty to one side or the other. Supv. Fyrst asked Supv. Campbell what he thought of a majority minority district, combining communities of interest. Supv. Campbell wondered if such a concept assumes segregated neighborhoods. Supv. Fyrst pointed out the courts allow building a district with a majority of residents who are minorities to help insure election of minorities to governing boards. Supv. Campbell said he was open to discussing this. He said that the Town of Madison, with 44 percent minorities, provided a great opportunity to elect a minority member without changing the district. Alder Sloan asked Supv. Campbell if a supervisor elected to a district comprised of both city and town of Madison might have more credibility with the city. Supv. Campbell said that much depended on personalities. Alder Sloan asked how the town would react to a district comprised of a majority if the town and a part of the city. Supv. Campbell said it would not be his first choice, but that he would look at options if splitting the town were necessary. An option he would prefer would be combination with Fitchburg.

4 Ms. Solie wondered if town supervisors are represented at large. Supv. Campbell indicated that this was true. Brad Robinson, 5617 Raukin Lane, Waunakee, WI addressed the committee, representing the Town of Westport. He spoke of commonalties with Waunakee. He said that Westport s growth affects its neighbors, and that Shorewood Hills and Maple Bluff do not have growth issues. Ms. Shea and others asked Mr. Robinson where he believes the break should come in the district since there are too many people to combine Westport and Waunakee in their entirety. Mr. Robinson said that the Town of Westport should remain intact, and that Waunakee should be cut. He would also like to see part of the City of Middleton remain in the district because of agreements the Town has forged with the city has created common interests. Supv. Cornwell asked what line made more sense, to follow the school district or the EMS line. Mr. Van Dinter said that all of Waunakee is served by the Westport area EMS. Supv. Opitz asked if Westport had any common areas of interest with the City of Madison. Mr. Robinson said that they did not. Lyle Updike, 5707 Twin Lane, Marshall, WI addressed the committee, representing the Town of Sun Prairie. He asked the committee to retain the Town of Sun Prairie in a single district. The town is now served by three school districts. He spoke of the complexity of elections. Ms. Solie asked which other communities the town would like to be combined with. Mr. Updike said that the town has good relations with both its rural and urban neighbors. Supv. Hendrick asked if his community of interest is largely north of the interstate. Mr. Updike agreed. Ms. Neal posed a question to Don Peterson, 5021 Timber Lane, McFarland, WI. He was at the meeting representing the Village of McFarland. She asked him how the village would respond to a district made up of the Town of Dunn and the Village of McFarland. Mr. Peterson said that this makes sense and is a logical community of interest. After calling for any more testimony, Chair Lopez declared the public comment closed. Discussion and summary of the hearing was before the committee. Ms. Neal asked for alternatives based on the original resolution, the hearing, and communities of interest. Supv. Cornwell urged the committees to review the maps in the room. Alder Sloan said that there are lots of communities of interest and staff should be given direction. He said that he also wanted to discuss if the 18 supervisory districts in Madison should be solely within the city or bleed over to include neighboring municipalities. Supv. Fyrst asked for maps and time to look at them.

5 Mr. Saterfield pointed out that the software would allow the committee to move lines on the map at the next meeting, which will be a working meeting. The software allows the easy building of districts, providing population totals as one proceeds. Chair Lopez pointed out that the next two meeting would be working meetings. He asked committee members to go inspect the maps displayed in the room. General review of maps occurred. Maps available included three maps showing concentrations of various minority groups in Dane County, a map with neighborhood associations, a map of EMS districts and one of fire districts, and a map of current supervisory boundaries, with incumbent addresses noted. Motion by Solie/Neal for the Redistricting Advisory Committee to adjourn. Motion carried, 8-0 and the committee adjourned at 7:55 p.m. The Executive Committee adjourned by unanimous consent. Respectfully submitted: Karin Peterson, recorder NOTE: These minutes reflect the notes of the recorder and are subject to correction and approval at a subsequent meeting of the committees.