Commission looks at redistricting city

Jan. 24—The city of Oneonta Redistricting Commission met for the first time Tuesday, Jan. 24.

The commission is tasked with redrawing the city's ward boundaries to ensure residents of the city are represented equally.

Former Mayor Gary Herzig led the meeting and represented the Fourth Ward. Each ward was represented by a resident — David Hayes, First Ward, who attended the meeting via phone; Susan Lettis, Second Ward; Laurie Zimmiewicz, Third Ward; Jim Foot, Fifth Ward; Bill Shue, Sixth Ward; Glenn Pichardo, Seventh Ward; and Sean Brunswick, Eighth Ward, who didn't attend the meeting.

The commission was formed in November and has six months to come up with a redistricting plan. "We have a little over three months left," Herzig said.

Herzig gave an overview of the commission's duties. "When Mayor Drnek asked me to head the commission he said the districts probably needed just a little tweaking of the boundaries," he said.

However, after looking at the difference between the 2010 and 2020 U.S. Census figures and maps, Herzig realized it's "not going to be easy," he said. "I came across a few challenges. I now have more questions than answers."

The 2020 Census figures were released in October 2021, he said. The city's charter said redistricting should begin within six months of when the federal census is released. "We are probably 10 months behind schedule," he said.

In addition to not starting sooner, 2023 is an election year for every council member and the deadline to get the ward maps complete is Feb. 15, so people can start getting petitions signed. "That's not possible," he said.

Herzig said he called the state Board of Elections to find out what that will mean for candidates seeking election. The representative at the state was going to ask an attorney to get back to him, he said.

In addition to the Board of Elections questions, Herzig said there was a problem when he compared the 2010 and 2020 census data maps. When redistricting maps are redrawn, census blocks cannot be split, he said.

The 2020 maps put more than 2,000 SUNY Oneonta residents at the college into one census block and put all of Hartwick College — 1,000 students — in another census block, he said. Currently parts of the SUNY Oneonta block are in the Second, Third, Fourth and Seventh Wards.

"We can't have a ward of 2,000 residents," he said.

Based on the 2020 population of 13,079, each ward would get 1,635 residents if divided equally among the eight wards, he said.

To comply with newly-enacted state law, the population of the different wards can also not be more than 5% of the mean population of the highest and lowest population, he said. Using the 2010 census figures, he showed the wards did not comply with the new law, as the Fourth Ward, at 4.8% higher than the mean, is about 10 percentage points higher than the Eighth Ward's population.

"So we should aim for plus or minus 2.5%," Shue said.

Herzig looked at the 2020 Census blocks and tried to figure out which wards they belonged to to come up with some preliminary population figures.

"Ward Six has lost almost 400 people," he said. Based on the 2020 Census, the Sixth Ward has 1,326 people, which is 19% below the mean population of 1,635, he said. The ward will have to take some residents from other wards it touches.

On the map, the Sixth Ward touches the Fifth Ward, "but we all know it's separated by the railroad," Herzig said. The Sixth Ward also touches the First Ward through Neahwa Park.

Herzig also questioned how Otsego County figured out its weighted voting when the wards hadn't been redrawn yet. The county used the Benjamin Center through SUNY New Paltz to come up with its weighted voting numbers, City Attorney David Merzig said. Herzig and Merzig said they would contact the county attorney to get more information about its redistricting plan.

Oneonta used the Benjamin Center after the 2010 census to redraw its districts, and some members of the commission wondered why the council didn't use the center again last year. Herzig said he emailed and called the Benjamin Center to get more information and was waiting to hear back from them.

The commission also plans to get a city employee to overlay the census block map and current city ward map to see where people could be taken from in different districts.

The commission will meet again Thursday, Feb. 2, or Feb. 9, depending on how many answers they have from different entities.

Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221.