As he said he would, my second most favorite retired NIU professor, Herb Rubin, followed up on trying to get the DeKalb city council to open up their thinking on redrawing ward boundaries. The item is on the Committee of the Whole (COW) agenda for tonight’s regularly scheduled meeting.
Here’s Herb’s email to the mayor and five council members (a quorum):
To: “Kris Povlsen”; “Ron Naylor”; “Kristen Lash”; “Tom Teresinski”; “David Jacobson”; “Dave Baker”
Sent: Friday, August 05, 2011 7:54 AM
Subject: RedistrictingAt present, the preliminary discussion of redistricting is being held only at the work session. Citizens cannot speak at such sessions. I know that citizens can speak at the full council, but by then proposals are well advanced.
I would suggest that the council schedule an open public meeting on different redistricting ideas prior to a formal motion being moved to the council. This will allow citizen input into this crucial matter and perhaps introduce other options for council consideration.
thank you
Herb Rubin
Herbert J. Rubin
Professor Emeritus-Sociology
NIU“A community will evolve only when
the people control their means of
communication.” Fanon
The city is required to redistrict its wards (every 10 years after the U.S. Census is taken) in order to make the wards have as equal a population as possible. The staff recommended boundary map can be read about on this Daily Chronicle report. An alternative proposal is available here.
Rubin brings up a great point. By the time citizens are able to provide input a COW proposal is well advanced. This adds to the growing public perception of done deals.
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6 Comments
Okay,
I don’t mind publicizing efforts to do things openly but usually writing private on a note is enough so that the recipient will keep it private, but no big deal
Main question to you: you are arguing whether or not your proposal would require a referendum. To me that is secondary to getting you proposal discussed by the city council or better yet at a city sponsored public discussion about redistricting. How are you going to move your proposal forward?
If the city is going to have a public meeting you could present it then and there.
But if the city is not going to have a public meeting you need to present it in foiaable letters to council members and/or manager to ask that it be put into the discussion. I really do think your stripes should be discussed so take some action please.
Herb
Missed the workshop last night but from the DC account it would seem to be a good time for you Mac to formally submit your proposal to the Mayor and to the Manager as a formal proposal. Ditto for others with alternative ideas.
Oh, I see the word quorum?
I highly doubt if the OMA rules for a quorum hold if someone sends a note to a quorum. It is only when the quorum talks to one another that the OMA rules would hold.
I probably should send all notes to council using bcc’s but on the other hand I don’t want council members to think I’m only communicating with them individually.
Why is such a simple matter so complicated?
Herb
I wasn’t trying to exclude any council members. Not all e addresses work for the council, a shame. Usually a note to the mayor and my own council member is enough.
Mac, okay it is now your turn to push your proposal forward somehow. I have no proposal of my own, just want the matter to be discussed, though of course would favor any fair redistricting that reduces the disparity in turn out between the wards. From the DC story today it seems that city staff in this suggested redistricting is trying to accomplish the reduction in disparity and doing so in a way that avoids a referendum. Still your striped approach deserves discussion, as does another approach that a friend is working on on his own and to which i am not yet privy.
I did request in my cc to you that the note as a note be treated as a private one, though i guess when you send something to the council it is more or less public. That does raise an interesting question: is a citizen’s request to a council member/mayor a private act or an foiaable act? On the one hand, I’m proud and don’t mind people knowing that I support public discussions, but what if my note had been a complaint about a neighbor?
Herb
In some cases emails sent to a council member/mayor is subject to FOIA. Email exchanges between citizens and county board members regarding the landfill were FOIA’d and received. Emails between staff and elected officials pertaining to the library’s proposed purchase of property was FOIA’d and received with redaction.
I have a hard fast policy that any email sent to me pertaining to the public’s business and addressed to multiple elected officials is public business. I publish them. Complaining about a neighbor is not public business. It’s likely not any of my business either.
Low voter turnout in local elections is the result of the problem created by the 2001 ward reapportionment. The problem is students living in the dorms are evidently counted in the census as residents even if registered to vote at their home when school is not in session. A good number don’t vote in either location.
That may bring in some federal monies but it exasperates the non-participative problem we have in local elections. My proposal evenly distributes that population as part of the total number of residents in the city.
A legal question for the city: Is a referendum needed to reapportion to 4 wards?
The municipal statues for reapportionment are reference-linked here (for the legal beagles et seq applies):
“Commission” form of government
And here:
“Managerial” form of government
Since the city would be reducing the number of wards I don’t think a referendum is needed.
Based on last night’s COW meeting the consensus mooved towards a debate between tweaked status quo or an at large-system referendum question. A staff recommended plan based on private conversations between individual board members or consensus gathering at meetings at which the public is silenced is not the right way to conduct the public’s business. Elections should be between the elected and the citizens. A committee should be appointed and approved and given a deadline.
According to DeKalb County Clerk, John Acardo, filing for the next municipal election wouldn’t be until December 2012, for the April 2013 Elections. Even if a reapportionment referendum is to be on the November 2012 election there is time to do it right.
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I am in a different city but in Illinois and we are having some of the same issues, discussions on form of government and redistricting.
Would like to talk with anyone to share knowledge and methods for us as citizens to do referendums by petition.