Information

Type: Hearing - Resolution

Department: BOCC - Board of County Commissioners

Directors' Update: Dec. 8, 2021

Business Meeting: Dec. 14, 2021

Summary:

First redistricting hearing -- will need to attach map options

Publications:

Cover Letter To:

Additional Copies To: Larry Grove, Gary Hurley, Matt Hyatt, Tom Stanton, Terry Jouper

Resolution

WHEREAS, under the provisions of RCW 29A.76.010 and RCW 36.32.020, the Lewis County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) is required to divide Lewis County into three commissioner districts, with each district comprising -- as nearly as possible -- one-third of the population of the county; and

WHEREAS, the BOCC also must ensure that voting precincts are not divided by commissioner district lines; and

WHEREAS, the BOCC must prepare a redistricting plan for the commissioner district boundaries every 10 years based on new data from the U.S. Census Bureau; and

WHEREAS, due to a new law the state Legislature passed in 2021 (SSB 5013, which amended RCWs 29A.76.010 and 29A.92.050), Lewis County must submit its redistricting plan by December 31, 2021, instead of “no later than eight months after receipt of the federal decennial census data,” as previously prescribed; and

WHEREAS, the county's redistricting plan must reflect changes adopted by the Washington State Redistricting Commission (WSRC) and approved by the state Legislature; and

WHEREAS, though the WSRC missed its Nov. 15, 2021, deadline for submitting its plan for congressional and legislative redistricting to the state Legislature, the state Supreme Court on Dec. 3, 2021, indicated it will allow the WSRC's work to continue as set forth in article II, section 43 and chapter 44.05 RCW; and

WHEREAS, the BOCC passed Resolution 21-414 on November 30, 2021, setting December 14, 2021, as the date of the first hearing on the county's redistricting plan and December 21, 2021, as the date of its second hearing on the matter; and

WHEREAS, notice of the two hearings was published in The Chronicle on December 4, 2021, and December 11, 2021, and in The East County Journal on December 8, 2021; and

WHEREAS, the Lewis County Auditor's Office and the Lewis County Geographic Information Systems (GIS) team have worked together to create options for redrawing the boundaries of the three commissioner districts in an effort to make them more proportionally equal in population; and

WHEREAS, the Auditor's Office and the GIS team also have realigned old precincts and created new precincts to ensure the WSRC's new congressional boundaries do not divide any Lewis County precincts; and

WHEREAS, the proposed options are being presented to the BOCC and the public as Attachment A, attached hereto; and

WHEREAS, the board held its first hearing Dec. 14, 2021.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the BOCC hereby proclaims that on Dec. 14, 2021, it held the first of Lewis County's two public hearings on the options for redistricting, with the second public hearing planned for at or after 10 a.m. Tuesday, December 21, 2021.

DONE IN OPEN SESSION this 14th day of December, 2021.