HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrd No. 11-3557126
ORDINANCE NO. 11 3557
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PLAINVIEW,
TEXAS ADOPTING CRITERIA FOR USE IN THE REDISTRICTING 2011
PROCESS; PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE; AND PROVIDING FOR
PUBLICATION.
WHEREAS, the City Council has certain responsibilities for redistricting under
federal and state law, including but not limited to, Amendments 14 and 15 to the United
States Constitution, U.S.C.A. (West 2006), and the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C.A.
1973 and 1973c (West 2010); and Tex. Gov't Code Ann. 2058.001 and 2058.002
(Vernon 2008); and
WHEREAS, the City Council has certain responsibilities for redistricting under the
City Charter; and
WHEREAS, on review of the 2010 Census data, it appears that a population
imbalance exists requiring redistricting of the City's councilmember districts; and
WHEREAS, it is the intent of the City to comply with the Voting Rights Act and
with all other relevant law, including Shaw v. Reno jurisprudence; and
WHEREAS, a set of established redistricting criteria will serve as a framework to
guide the City in the consideration of districting plans; and
WHEREAS, established criteria will provide the City a means by which to
evaluate and measure proposed plans; and
WHEREAS, redistricting criteria will assist the City in its efforts to comply with all
applicable federal and state laws.
SECTION I
NOW, THEREFORE, The City of Plainview hereby ordains that:
The City of Plainview, Texas, in its adoption of a redistricting plan for city
councilmember districts, will adhere to the following criteria to the greatest
degree practicable:
1. Where practicable, easily identifiable geographic boundaries should be
followed.
2. Communities of interest should be maintained in a single district, where
practicable, and attempts should be made to avoid splitting
neighborhoods.
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SECTION II
SECTION III
3. To the extent practicable, districts should be composed of whole voting
precincts. Where this is not possible or practicable, districts should be
drawn in a way that permits the creation of practical voting precincts and
that ensures that adequate facilities for polling places exist in each voting
precinct; and splitting census blocks will not be allowed.
4. Although it is recognized that existing districts will have to be altered to
reflect new population distribution, any districting plan should, to the extent
practicable, be based on existing districts.
5. Districts must be configured so that they are relatively equal in total
population according to the 2010 federal Census. In no event may any
single district deviate from the ideal size by more than five percent (5
above or below.
6. The districts should be compact and composed of contiguous territory.
Compactness may contain a functional, as well as a geographical
dimension.
7. Consideration may be given to the preservation of incumbent constituency
relations by recognition of the residence of incumbents and their history in
representing certain areas.
8. The plan should be narrowly tailored to avoid retrogression in the position
of racial minorities and language minorities as defined in the Voting Rights
Act with respect to their effective exercise of the electoral franchise.
9. The plan should not fragment a geographically compact minority
community or pack minority voters in the presence of polarized voting so
as to create liability under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C.
1973.
10. No city block shall be divided in the formation of districts in accordance
with City Charter, Section 6.02(d)(2).
The City Council will review all plans in light of these criteria and will evaluate
how well each plan conforms to the criteria.
Any plan submitted by a citizen to the City Council for their consideration should
be a complete plan —i.e., it should show the full number of councilmember districts and
should redistrict the entire city; must show all district boundaries in detail sufficient to
permit the City to reproduce the proposed plan accurately; and also report the total
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127
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population and voting age population for Hispanics, non Hispanic Blacks, non Hispanic
Asians, and non Hispanic Anglo /other for each proposed district, based on 2010
Census data. The City Council may decline to consider any plan that is not a complete
plan with sufficient geographic and population detail.
SECTION IV
All plans submitted by citizens, as well as plans submitted by staff, consultants,
and members of the City Council should conform to these criteria.
SECTION V
This Ordinance shall be of full force and effect upon its passage and publication
as required by law.
PASSED AND APPROVED on first reading this 12 day of July, 2011.
PASSED AND APPROVED on second reading this 26 day of July, 2011.
ATTEST:
Belinda Hinojosa, City Secr
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
ry
Lest e Spear Pear e, City Attorney
Ord. No. 11 3557
ohn C. Anderson, Mayor
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