12/22/2021 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Special Council Minutes of 12-22-2021 • Discussed was the Ward Map for the City of North Olmsted. Council President Jones said Council is reviewing the Ward Map to comply with the Charter based on the Census data provided to the City. She said several Councilmembers were working on maps. Councilman Limpert said TRIAD Research had provided Council data at a Committee of the Whole meeting at which every Councilmember had expressed concerns related to streets split by the current map. He said in 2011 there was a desire to make the population of each Ward as close as possible. Mr. Limpert indicated in 2011, the Council took it literally, meaning as to the resident, this Council's interpretation of close to practicable means to align residential neighborhoods within a Ward. Councilman Limpert and Brossard met with TRIAD to try to keep the map as close to the 2011 boundaries as possible, while avoiding the breaking up of developments. Mr. Limpert said Mr. Glassburn and Ms. Hemann took an approach to align the Wards within City boundaries, for example keeping Ward 1I north and Ward IV south of Lorain Road. Mr. Limpert said the TRIAD map was 4.5% in variance and after working with Mr. Glassburn, the changes made to the Glassburn/Hemann map brought the variance down from 8% to 3.7%. Councilman Brossard said he went into this like he did in 2011 with the goal of keeping the Wards as close as possible in numbers, however, as it proceeded the goal switched to what he would want if he wasn't on City Council. He said he would want a clear map and want to know who represented him while maintaining integrity for services such as leaf collection. Mr. Brossard said he thought all the maps were good, but his preference was the Glassburn/Hemann map adopting Councilman Limpert's proposed changes. He said he believes Ward III is likely to grow the most over the next 10 years, which might impact things. Council President Jones asked Councilman Glassburn what the population variance is in the map proposed by Councilman Glassburn and Councilwoman Hemann. Councilman Glassburn said the standard out there for local governments according to the U.S. Supreme Court is within 10 points, meaning the difference between the largest and smallest district is within 10%. Mr. Glassburn said the difference for the TRIAD map is 4.5% and 3.7% for Mr. Limpert's proposal and 8.1% for the proposal offered by himself and Ms. Hemann. Mr. Glassburn said in the three proposals there are three distinct concepts to choose from. The TRIAD proposal is for maintaining boundaries as close as they are right now. The Glassburn/Hemann proposal is to keep every neighborhood as complete as possible. Councilman Limpert, mostly took the same approach, but to try to reduce the population variance a few areas most be split. Mr. Glassburn said it's a preference of keeping population close versus neat lines using main streets. Council President Jones asked Mr. O'Malley what the Charter required for a population variance. Mr. O'Malley responded it doesn't specify a percentage, but it says as nearly equal in population as practicable. He went on to describe what could be used for boundaries. He rhetorically replied, what does nearly equal as practicable mean. He said it does not mean absolutely equal, but more like what Mr. Brossard said of trying to keep the Wards balanced in population to the extent practicable. Mr. O'Malley commended Council on its work and the effort put into them. Mr. Kelly said he liked using the main streets as much as possible as it is helpful for residents to know what Ward they are in. Councilman Limpert said if Council goes with the Glassburn/Hemann proposal it should move Barton/Bradley into Ward 1. He said 2