The Clark County Council tossed aside a redistricting commission recommendation Wednesday and directed county staff to create a new district map that keeps each council member in their current district.
The move, which would eliminate the need for Councilors Karen Bowerman and Julie Olson to run in different districts at their next election, came as the county struggles to comply with a charter amendment moving the county from four to five council districts.
“No voter voted to deliberately change the district of any councilor. That wasn’t the issue,” Councilor Gary Medvigy said. “The voters’ will was to break this up into five districts.”
Medvigy has repeatedly argued that the map, which was approved by voters, intentionally moved three Republican council members out of their original districts. The changes impacted Bowerman, Olson and Eileen Quiring O’Brien before she retired — all Republicans.
Charter Review Commission member Chuck Green was troubled by the council’s decision. Green said the commission specifically did not consider where the current councilors lived to avoid gerrymandering the map.
“When we put that map together last year, knowing there was a possibility that we were putting three current sitting councilors in the same district, we also recognized there’s a provision in state law that says population data may not be used for purposes of favoring or disfavoring any racial group or political party,” Green said. “At the time, those (council) positions were partisan, and we determined that moving those lines around would have been gerrymandering.”
Although the council positions are now nonpartisan, Green said he still wasn’t sure the county should move the lines to keep councilors in their districts to respect the will of those who voted for those councilors.
“It’s unusual, but I understand the balancing act they’re trying to do,” he said.
Under the approach approved Wednesday, council members will provide the precinct number where they reside to the county’s Geographic Information Services to update the map from the redistricting committee.
The new map will be reviewed by the council during its meeting at 8:30 a.m. April 5.
Process restarts
According to County Manager Kathleen Otto, the council will need to create and approve a draft map then hold a public hearing within 10 days of that approval. Following the public hearing, the council has seven days to adopt the map as is or amend it. If the map is amended, the process would repeat.
Christine Cook, who serves as the attorney for the council, said an appropriate option would be to start with the five-district map approved by voters in November, but she noted that state statute does not require the council to do that.
“The purpose of the draft is to elicit public comment and council consideration and is what I would like you to keep in mind,” Cook said.
According to Cook, the map is currently using the voter-approved map even though it has not been updated with 2020 Census data as required by state law.
Olson said it would be good to have a map with consistent council districts and one that respects voters who voted for a specific councilor.
“If there’s a way to get to a map that does that — that meets the requirements of the statute, respects the voters that voted for Councilor Bowerman and the election in November, that would be my goal,” Olson said. “Now that we’re starting anew, we have an opportunity to look at those.”
While the council previously would have been limited to changing a map from the redistricting committee by no more than 2 percent of the population of any council district, Cook said that limitation would no longer apply.
Councilor Temple Lentz suggested starting with the voter-approved map since it would respect the will of the voters as much as possible. She also suggested limiting the council’s changes by that 2 percent.
“I could certainly see this being a starting point,” Lentz said. “I would be very supportive of the idea of us following the spirit of the charter even if we don’t necessarily need to because now we’re operating under statute.”
Discussions around drawing the county districts resumed after Superior Court Judge Suzan Clark ruled for the county in a lawsuit filed by Janet Landesberg, a member of the now-defunct county redistricting committee.
Landesberg had filed suit after the redistricting committee failed to reach a majority vote on a map to send to the county council. Landesberg argued the county’s interpretation of the Clark County Charter was incorrect and that the redistricting committee did not need to have a two-thirds majority vote to approve a new map. Clark’s ruling upheld that two-thirds majority requirement.
For meeting agendas or links, go to https://clark.wa.gov/calendar.
