An ordinance that would establish a citizen advisory redistricting commission in Valparaiso received its first reading during the city council's Monday meeting.
Despite complaints from the council's two Republican members over the organizations involved in drafting the legislation, the council voted to advance the ordinance.
Municipal legislative bodies, like the Valparaiso City Council, are responsible for redrafting the boundaries of council districts following each decennial U.S. Census. The redistricting process allows municipalities to account for population changes, ensuring that each district contains roughly the same number of residents.
The ordinance would establish a nine-member committee tasked with proposing new district boundaries to the Valparaiso City Council, which would retain the final say over their adoption.
The council's two at-large members, along with the mayor and city council attorney, would serve in a non-voting capacity, and the five district council members would each make one appointment to the board, which would be re-established following each census.
The draft ordinance stipulates that appointees be registered voters with a voting record in the last two general elections, and makes ineligible anyone who holds a partisan office, an appointed post in city government, or a seat on a partisan precinct committee, among other restrictions aimed at ensuring neutrality.
