Friday, June 3, 2011

CLATSOP COMMISSIONERS HOLD PUBLIC HEARING JUNE 8 ON REDISTRICTING PLAN

The Clatsop County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing Wednesday, June 8 on the proposed new boundaries for county commissioner districts.

The hearing will be held during the board’s regular meeting beginning at 10 a.m. at the Judge Guy Boyington Building, 857 Commercial St., Astoria.

The board will take testimony on and review a proposed redistricting plan approved by a citizen panel last month. The group was convened by the Clatsop County Clerk to meet the requirement of the County Charter that district boundaries be redrawn every 10 years to account for shifts on population revealed in the U.S. Census.

The Redistricting Board reviewed population data and voted to recommend one of several boundary scenarios. The panel’s choice can be viewed on the Clatsop County website, www.co.clatsop.or.us under “Redistricting 2011” on the “Clerk/Records” page.

New legislative boundaries must be contiguous, be of equal population, utilize existing geographical or political boundaries, not divide communities of common interest and be connected by transportation links.

The new boundaries will reflect a change in the method of counting the population. The current districts are based on the number of registered voters, while the new districts are to be based on total population. For that reason, the new proposed boundaries follow census blocks, while the current boundaries are based on voter precincts.

The county sets only the boundaries for county commissioner districts. State legislature and congressional district boundaries are set by the Oregon Legislature.

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