Reapportionment Committee Recommends Least Disruptive Map

After weeks of moving streets, studying statistics and drawing districts, the Mayor’s 9-member reapportionment committee voted 5-3 on Wednesday to recommend a map to the Mayor and Commission with as few changes as possible to current commission lines.

They also voted to ask the Mayor and Commission to realign the two super districts, which represent constituents from groups of districts. The committee wants District 9 to represent a tweaked version of districts 1, 2, 3 and 5, and District 10 to represent districts 4, 6, 7, and 8.

“It’s status quo,” said attorney Regina Quick, an attorney.  “Status quo.”

During Wednesday’s public hearing, she advocated passionately for the committee to do away completely with the super districts and endorse 10 districts instead of 8.

Quick said the super districts mean equity has been lost for the county’s African Americans. THey dilute black influence, she said. She wanted the Mayor and Commission to do away with the Super districts by changing the charter, but her motion didn’t gain support from most committee members.

Attending Wednesday’s public hearing were about 30 African Americans, including Rep. Keith Heard, Larry Fort, pastor of New Freedom Christian Center on Vine Street and John Clark, a civil rights attorney from Elberton.

The committee saw, projected on a large screen, a map created by Attorney Ken Dious and tweaked by Rep. Doug McKillip. It has 10 oddly shaped districts.

Committee member Vernon Payne said Wednesday’s meeting was the first time he had seen the map. He didn’t think the committee should consider it since the public hadn’t had a chance to examine and comment on it.

Had a second map of commission districts, known as 2R, been adopted, it would have sent 45 percent of people into a new district, Sims said. 

Shirley Taylor, a 60-something native Athenian, said she came to the meeting “because I wanted to know what the committee is going to do. “
She heard about the meeting through a friend from church. Taylor plans to attend more meetings, “because we don’t want to lose any representation. We can sit at home and wonder what’s going on or we can come out and find out.”

The Mayor and Commission will consider the committee’s recommended map at their agenda setting meeting, the third Thursday in September.