PH Minutes 2011-06-20PRATTVILLE CITY COUNCIL
PUBLIC HEARING MINUTES
MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2011
6:10 P.M.
CALL TO ORDER: The Prattville City Council met in public hearing on Monday, June 20, 2011 at
6:10 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall. Council President Mike Renegar called the meeting to
order. Roll was called and Council President Pro Tempore Fank was recorded as being absent.
AGENDA
1. TO DISCUSS REDISTRICTING OF COUNCIL DISTRICTS.
City Planner, Joel Duke stated that there has been significant growth in the City over the past
decade, and distributed a spreadsheet showing the growth by District, as attached. This
growth has a substantial effect on the current Council District representation. The Districts
were last re-drawn in 2003. Districts 1, 3, 4 and 7 have received the bulk of the growth. The
14th Amendment to the United States Constitution provides for one man, one vote and equal
representation within the Districts. Alabama State Code, 1975, as amended, §11-40-8 provides
for each District to be divided with almost equal inhabitants. The Voting Rights Act of 1965
Section 2, prohibits voter discrimination or any act or procedure that has a discriminatory
result and Section 5 requires pre-clearance for any operation that impacts voting such as re-
districting, annexation, or changing voting locations requires approval by the Attorney
General prior to its enforcement. The desire is to have the re-districting completed a year
ahead of the 2012 election in order to allow for pre-clearance before the end of this year.
Councilman Miller asked Mr. Duke when the 2012 elections are to be held. Mr. Duke
responded by saying that he believes that it will be the third Tuesday in August.
Councilman Argo reported that as a member of the Redistricting Committee, along with
members Councilman Wood and Councilman Striplin, met with Mr. Duke and has reviewed
the information that has been presented tonight. There will be a Resolution on tomorrow
night’s agenda and they would like to have this plan finished and ready for the Council to vote
on at the first meeting in October. This would allow the citizens to become comfortable with
which district they live in and it would allow the Board of Registrars ample time to have the
voters placed in the proper districts. The Committee would like to keep neighborhoods whole
whenever possible, respect the current boundary lines, keeping the dividing lines intact, each
district is kept as compact as possible, and the voting centers are maintained. He further
stated that the challenges are many and some concessions will have to be made, especially in
District 4. In District 2, there has been a loss of population and will have to pull from the
surrounding areas. District 1, while large in area, is not as populated as other areas. They
would like to have another public involvement meeting the end of August with some proposed
lines in place.
Councilman Miller asked Mr. Duke how much projected growth is factored in when re-
drawing the district lines. Mr. Duke responded by saying that the first goal is to equalize the
districts and try to come up with a plan that is satisfactory to the council members. Then,
there can be a 10% deviation.
PERSONS PRESENT:
Ms. Lora Lee Boone, 210 Fawn Lane, Prattville, AL 36067, appeared before the council to ask
for a preliminary drawing of the map.
Councilman Argo stated that there has not been a map drawn, but hopes to have that ready
for another public meeting by the end of August for the citizens to review and provide input.
Ms. Boone suggested that the growth in District 4 possibly comes from the various apartment
complexes and that a number of those residents are there temporarily and may not be
registered to vote in that District. She further stated that she lived in an apartment on a short
term basis and didn’t move her voter registration.
Councilman Argo stated that some of those residents may also be military and have not
moved their voter registration.
ADJOURN:
Councilman Argo made a motion to adjourn and Councilman Boles seconded the motion. The
meeting adjourned at 6:34 p.m.
APPROVED:
______________________
Stephanie J. Southerland
Interim City Clerk
________________________
Michael E. Renegar, President
Prattville City Council