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DeKalb County, Illinois |
Minutes of the
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AD HOC REDISTRICTING COMMITTEE Redistricting committee Others Present CBD= County Board District At 6:10 p.m. the meeting was called to order and roll call indicated that all committee members were present. R. Tobias motioned and R. Oncken seconded adoption of the agenda. The agenda was unanimously adopted. The Committee first considered the precinct maps prepared by DeKalb County Clerk John Acardo. S. Newport moved and R. Oncken seconded forwarding the precinct maps to the full Board. R. Tobias, P. Stoddard and J. Hulseberg raised objections to the motion. P. Stoddard indicated that adopting the precinct map first would encourage gerrymandering. J. Fullerton felt that dealing with established boundaries would actually inhibit any gerrymandering. The Committee decided to leave the adoption of the precinct map to the next meeting. J. Hulseberg inquired of the County Clerk who he had spoken to and consulting with in drawing the precinct boundaries. J. Acardo explained that he looked at the populations of other counties and reviewed the number of precincts in other counties in an effort to find an appropriate number for DeKalb County. He indicated that he spoke with election judges, NIU Student Association members and others. He also made cold calls to DeKalb County citizens to inquire if their polling place was easily accessible and examined population trends to determine which areas of the county are most likely to grow. J. Acardo offered to send J. Hulseberg a list of those individuals with whom he spoke. As J. Acardo spoke with individuals on the NIU campus, he discovered that it was difficult for NIU students to make it to their current polling place: the Best Western on Lincoln Highway. J. Hulseberg asked if additional polling places had been secured on campus. J. Acardo replied that the recreation center location was confirmed and that he was working on securing the Holmes Student Center. L. Anderson requested that the public provide their opinions and suggestions regarding the precinct maps to the County Clerk. The Committee began discussing generally which CBDs require additional population and those that must lose population. L. Anderson stressed that it is the County Board’s charge to draw the map and then to use staff resources to refine the map. J. Berkes-Hansen indicated that her office is willing to assist Board members in whatever way they deem appropriate in order to complete the redistricting process. She explained that the IMO has added over 57, 000 addresses to GIS in order to better align it with current voter rolls and her Department was well-equipped to handle the task. K. Andersen inquired as to the software used to draw the precinct maps and if using computer generated maps would be a more effective way of drawing maps that the current process. J. Hulseberg inquired if staff could just draw up the maps and L. Anderson expressed his concern that the County Board carry out its duty to drive the redistricting process and use staff to assist in the process. After additional discussion of districts, the Committee determined that the IMO/GIS should create maps for the next meeting and assist Board members in creating their own maps. The maps can be shared with Board members electronically. The Committee decided to meet the following week to discuss in detail proposed CBD maps. L. Anderson indicated that he would like to have precinct and CBD maps ready for consideration at the May Board meeting so that Board members would have one month to consider them prior to voting on final precinct and CBD maps. The meeting adjourned at 6:55p.m. by unanimous consent with S. Newport making the motion and J. Fullerton seconding. |
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