Item 8DAGENDA ITEM # 8D
MAY 27, 2008
CITY COMMISSION MEETING
STAFF REPORT
AGENDA ITEM: District Elections
SUBMITTED BY: Jim Hanson, City Manager and Donna Busws~,y,*.Ci13c.
DATE: May 2, 2008
BACKGROUND: During the strategic planning workshop on February 27, 2008, the City
Commission asked the City Manager and City Clerk to work with the
Supervisor of Elections to recommend changes to the voting precinct
boundaries to equalize the population in accordance with State standards.
This staff report is to recommend precinct changes as well as residency
requirements that will be necessary to implement the recently adopted
district election referendum.
We first met with the Mayor and Commissioners during Mazch to receive
input as to possible precinct changes. We then met with Jerry Holland,
Supervisor of Elections and his staff on Mazch 25~' to discuss options and
alternatives. Mr. Holland pointed out that one major restriction in drawing
precinct boundaries was the need to use census tract lines. Information
about the number of registered voters is only available on the basis of
census tracts. Therefore, any new precinct lines must follow census tract
lines to be able to compare voting populations of each precinct. Some
census tracts are very large containing several hundred voters and extend
for quite a distance. Others aze relatively small. Some have no voters at
all. A rnap of the census tracts with numbers of registered voters in each
is attached.
Because of the census tract limitation, several of the alternatives
recommended by elected officials and members of the public were
impractical to implement. The recommended changes aze those which are
essentially the most simple to equalize the voting populations in each of
the precincts. Presently, Precinct's 13G and 13H aze too large and
Precinct's 13S and 13F are too small. Equalizing the voting populations
can be made by two relatively small changes. The first is moving a
portion of 13G into 13F. District 13G presently extends south as far as 4~'
Street. Moving the line from 4th Street north to 11~' Street, will equalize
the voting population in District 13H. The second change is to move some
of Precinct 13H into 135. This area is bounded by Donner Road on the
south, Mayport Road on the west and Francis Street on the east. The
attached drawing shows the two areas in question shaded in.
AGENDA ITEM # 8D
MAY 27, 2008
It will also be appropriate for the City Commission to adopt residency
requirements in connection with setting up the new district based election
procedure. While the City Charter currently requires residency in Atlantic
Beach prior to election as a City Commissioner, there is no requirement to
live in any particulaz precinct prior to election. It is recommended that a
requirement be in place that a candidate for city commission must have
lived in the precinct that they are seeking to serve for at least one yeaz
prior to the election and that they continue to live there throughout their
term of oi~ice. Residency should be established by their precinct address
being their principle residence and the location for which they claim
homestead exemption if they are a property owner.
The next step in completing the district election requirements will be to
prepare an ordinance for the City Commission to consider. This ordinance
should specify the revised precinct/district boundaries, establish residency
requirements, and assign commission seats to specific precincts/districts.
It will be necessary for the Mayor and Commission to determine which
commission seats will be assigned to which districts. The terms of the
current commissioners should be completed prior to district based
elections. This means that two seats would be elected on a district basis in
the 2009 election and the other two would be elected in the 2011 election.
BUDGET: The only budget cost related to this project will be in administrative time
to prepare the ordinance and related tasks.
RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the Mayor and Commission provide guidance as to
the preparation of an ordinance to implement the district referendum. This
guidance includes approval of the recommended precinct boundary
changes (or direction as to how to further amend them), approval (or
amendment} of the proposed residency requirements, and assignment of
commission seats to specific districts for upcoming elections.
ATTACHMENT; (1) Drawing of proposed changes to precincts.
(2) Map of census tracts
AGENDA ITEM # SD
MAY 27, 2008
Atlantic Beach Voting Districts
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AGENDA ITEM # 8D
MAY 27, 2008
AGENDA ITEM # 8D
MAY 27, 2008
Submitted by Commissioner Parsons
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AGENDA ITEM # 8D
MAY 27, 2008