HomeMy WebLinkAboutRES 22-128RESOLUTION NO. 22-128
WHEREAS, the City Council cf the City of Beaumont has certain responsibilities
for redistricting under federal and state law including, but not limited to, Amendments 14
and 15 to the United States Constitution, and the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S. C.A. § 1973,
et seq.; and Texas Government Code §§ 2058.001 and 2058.002; and;
WHEREAS, the City Council has certain responsibilities for redistricting under the
City Charter; and,
WHEREAS, cn review of current demographic data it appears that a population
imbalance exists requiring redistricting of the City (--ouncilmember C)istricts; and,
WHEREAS, it is the intent of the City to comply with the Voting Rights Act and
with all other relevant law, including Shaw v. Reno jurisprudence; and,
WHEREAS, a set of established redistricting criteria will serve as a framework to
guide the City in the consideration of districting plans; and,
WHEREAS, established criteria will provide the City a means by which to
evaluate and measure proposed plans; and,
WHEREAS, redistricting criteria will assist the City in its efforts to comply with all
applicable federal and state laws;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FRESOLA/EL3 BY THE
CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BEAUMONT:
THAT the statements and findings set out in the preamble to this resolution are hereby,
in all things, approved and adopted; and,
THAT in its adoption of a redistricting plan for City Councilmember Districts, will
adhere to the following criteria:
1. Where possible, easily identifiable geographic boundaries should be followed.
2. Communities of interest should be maintained in a single district, where
possible, and attempts should be made to avoid splitting neighborhoods.
3. To the extent possible, districts should be composed of whole voting precincts.
Where this is not possible or practicable, districts should be drawn in a way that permits
the creation of practical voting precincts and that ensures that adequate facilities for
polling places exist in each voting precinct.
4. Although it is recognized that existing districts will have to be altered to reflect
new population distribution, any districting plan should, to the extent possible, be based
on existing districts.
5. Districts must be configured so that they are relatively equal in total population
according to the 2020 federal census and current population estimates from other
reliable sources. In no event should the total deviation between the largest and the
smallest district exceed ten percent (10%). The City will attempt to achieve a deviation
that is less than ten percent according to the best available data.
6. Districts should be configured in a manner that will accommodate the
reasonably anticipated growth that will occur over the next six years. Toward that end, it
will be acceptable for some newly -drawn districts to be purposefully under -populated in
anticipation of immediate growth due to the rapid construction of new housing units.
7. The districts should be compact and composed of contiguous territory.
Compactness may contain a functional, as well as a geographical dimension.
8. Proposed plans shall be assigned a name in accordance with the naming
convention established by the City, followed by an alpha character and, if applicable, a
numeric character. The term "Illustrative Map" shall be used to define all maps that are
created for internal distribution only. The term "Draft Map" shall be used to define all
maps that are shared and submitted to the public by the City.
9. Consideration may be given to the preservation of incumbent -constituency
relations by recognition of the residence of incumbents and their history in representing
certain areas.
10. The plan should be narrowly tailored to avoid retrogression in the position of
racial minorities and language minorities as defined in the Voting Rights Act with
respect to their effective exercise of the electoral franchise.
11. The plan should not fragment a geographically compact minority community
or pack minority voters in the presence of polarized voting so as to create liability under
section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1973.
The meeting at which this resolution was approved was in all things conducted in
strict compliance with the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code, Chapter
551.
PASSED BY THE CITY COUNCIL of the City of Beaumont this the 17th day of
May, 2022.
Mayor Robin Mouton -
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ATTEST:
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Chris Boone, Interim City Manager