Before the Durham City Council cuts its size from 13 members to seven, it needs to decide how to redraw its ward lines, and whether or not it can complete that process in time for the November 2001 elections.
The council, which currently consists of the mayor, six at-large members and one member from each of Durham's six wards, plans to halve the number of at-large and ward members and redraw the boundaries to create three wards.
One of the main questions is whether or not to delay the restructuring until March 15, when the council expects to receive preliminary Census 2000 data.
Many council members are in favor of beginning the project as soon as possible. Pamela Blyth, for one, said it was important to make a start on the redrawing process, using older population statistics, so that the council would have enough time to finish the process well in advance of July 23, when candidates for the positions may begin registering.
"Using the existing data, we could have made a lot of headway," Blyth said. "I think the community has a right to know.... It really isn't fair to the community to let this wait."
She added that the census data might not even be more definitive than current statistics.
Council member Lewis Cheek said the council would discuss when to begin redrawing the lines at a retreat planned for this weekend. "I think that we ought to get started as soon as possible," Cheek said. But he added that the council might have to work out the details later. "All we have is old information, with some updates from our planning department," he said. "Anything we could do right now is not necessarily enough."
Although The News & Observer of Raleigh reported that state law might permit the council to delay the election until May 2002 due to restructuring difficulties, Blyth said she would not support such a decision.
"I just think that flies in the face of the mandate [to reduce the council] we were given," she said.
The council must also decide how much of the redrawing process to leave up to citizens. Mayor Pro Tem Howard Clement proposed delegating the redrawing to a citizens' committee in order to prevent political maneuvering, then letting the council vote on their finished recommendation.
"We should put together a citizens' committee, and these citizens, working with staff, should put together a reduction plan," Clement said. "Doing that would remove any hint of impropriety."
But Cheek said he thought the council should gather as much citizen input as possible, but make the decisions themselves. "The city council ultimately is responsible...," Cheek said. "I think the way citizen input into the drawing of the ward lines should take place is through public hearings."
Council member Floyd McKissick agreed that the council should be involved in the process throughout, but added that he would also be comfortable with a citizens' advisory committee on the issue.
Regardless of their level of involvement in the process, council members stressed the importance of having wards of roughly equal population with balanced socio-economic and racial makeup.
"While defining the boundaries could become somewhat politicized, I'm optimistic that that won't happen," McKissick said. "Each ward will be so large that the boundaries will be almost insignificant."
Most council members have not yet declared whether they will run for re-election, but they said they think members of the community will also run.
"I don't see the field being limited to the 12 people that are city councilmen right now," Cheek said.
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