CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
Memo Date: September 8, 2021
Agenda Date: September 28, 2021
Prepared By: Charlene Neuterman, Interim Community Services Director
Through: Stockton Whitten, City Manager
Requested Action:
title
Request approval of the Council appointments for the City Districting Commission.
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BACKGROUND:
Each Council member was asked to submit a recommendation of their proposed appointee. Selectees will then be pre-qualified to serve on the Commission based on the requirements of the Cocoa’s Charter. This step is being taken because of the time limit imposed by the Charter for submitting a report to Council “120 days from appointment”.
Cocoa’s City Charter requires a districting commission be appointed no later than November 2, 2021, which is at least one year prior to the next general election in 2022.
Pursuant to the City’s Charter, each Councilmember and the Mayor will appoint one city elector (registered voter) to the districting commission. No member of the commission may be employed by the City or hold any elected office of the City.
The districting commission will be required to file a report with the City Council containing a recommended plan for establishment or adjustment of the City Council district boundaries based on the federal decennial census information. Raw data of the census information has been received by the City and Staff will be working with the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council to identify the new, revised district boundaries that meet the requirements of the Charter.
Recommended Council District boundaries shall comply with the following specifications:
1. Districts shall be equal in population except where deviations from equality result from the application of the provisions hereinafter set forth, but no such deviation may exceed five percent (5%) of the average population for all City Council district according to the figures available from the most recent census.
2. Each district shall be formed of compact, contiguous territory, and its boundary lines shall follow street boundaries insofar as practical or possible, or other boundaries available.
3. The districts shall be based upon the principle of equal and effective representation as required by the United States Constitution and as represented in the mathematical preciseness reached in the legislative apportionment of the state.
4. The districts shall comply with applicable provisions of the Voting Rights Act and any applicable court orders.
The following recommendations have been made by the Council and Staff is requesting approval of these recommendations and move forward with the pre-qualification process to be conducted by the City Clerks’ Office.
Mayor Blake - Tracy Moore
District 1: Deputy Mayor Goins - Ed Greene
District 2: Councilman Levander Hearn - Alton Edmonds
District 3: Councilman Rip Dyal - Don Boisvert
District 4: Councilwoman Lorraine Koss - Jennifer Riggs
Staff is requesting approval of the recommended members for the districting commission.
STRATEGIC PLAN CONNECTION:
N/A
BUDGETARY IMPACT:
Budgeted N/A
PREVIOUS ACTION:
N/A
RECOMMENDED MOTION:
Recommendation
Request approval of the Council appointments for the City Districting Commission.