Agenda Item Title:
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City Attorney's Office providing the Council with a briefing on the legal requirements and timeline surrounding re-districting
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Presenter:
Lynn Pace, City Attorney
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Description/Background:
The Utah Code allows cities to determine, by ordinance, how many of the City Council members shall be elected at large, and how many shall be elected by district. The State Code also requires that every ten years, after the results of the decennial census have been completed, the City must re-adjust the boundaries of each Council district so that those districts are “substantially equal” in population. That re-districting process must be completed within 6 months after the State Legislature completes its re-districting process. See Utah Code section 10-3-205.5(2) below.
(2)(a) The governing body of a city may by ordinance provide for the election of some or all commissioners or council members, as the case may be, by district equal in number to the number of commissioners or council members elected by district.
(b)(i) Each district shall be of substantially equal population as the other districts.
(ii) Within six months after the Legislature completes its redistricting process, the governing body of each city that has adopted an ordinance under Subsection (2)(a) shall make any adjustments in the boundaries of the districts as may be required to maintain districts of substantially equal population.
The Utah State Legislature passed its re-districting bills (HB 2004, HB 2005, SB 2005 and SB 2006) on November 10, 2021. Accordingly, the City will need to adopt its adjustments to the City Council boundaries no later than May 10, 2022. City staff has informed me that the City now has the census data, so, at the Council’s direction, they can prepare various maps with different district configurations. Please let us know how you would like to proceed with this matter.
Further action to be taken:
The Council should discuss this matter...
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