Kent's city wards are due for a Census-based update, but when will map be redrawn?
Six of Kent City Council's nine seats are up for grabs this year, but the city is conducting the November election using ward maps drawn in 2011 — despite new population data received two years ago.
City Law Director Hope Jones pointed out that the Ohio Revised Code doesn't "require a date certain to change the maps" following each decennial U.S. Census.
"The candidates on the ballot had to get signatures from the wards that were in place prior to the primaries," Jones wrote in an email to the Record-Courier. "Therefore, even if council had approved the maps before November, they could not have been recognized by the (Portage County) Board of Elections for November election. New ward boundaries take effect prior to primary elections."
Community Development Director Bridget Susel said redrawing the city's ward maps is a months-long process, so it also won't be realistic to expect the new maps to be ready in time for the March primary election.
The census data used to revise the maps was received in the fall of 2021. The city then submitted several data review question to the U.S. Census Bureau's Count Question Resolution (CQR) operations office in 2022. In September 2022, the city received a letter from the CQR office resolving its questions. Then, the Community Development Department began working on new maps for the city.
According to the city charter, council is required every 10 years to reapportion its wards so that there is no more than a 10% disparity in resident population between wards.
The Community Development Department revised the maps as required under the city charter. However, during a Sept. 6 Council committee meeting, Ward 6 Councilwoman Tracy Wallach proposed asking voters whether to change the charter's 10% disparity maximum to 15% before any discussion about the new maps could take place. If the ordinance passes Council, it will be put on the March 2024 primary ballot.
With no discussion or vote on the new maps, the old ones stay legally in place.
Wards or no wards?
At Council's Sept. 20 meeting, At-Large Councilman Roger Sidoti said the city and residents should be open to discussing eliminating wards, asking if they are "really necessary when you look at the small geographic unit that Kent has?"
"That presupposes the next conversation," he said, "and that is, if we don't have wards, shouldn't we all be at-large?"
Sidoti argued that no matter what ward an individual councilperson represents, their decisions ripple rough the city, affecting residents regardless of where they live or their political affiliation. He emphasized, though, that he he wasn't advocating for these changes — rather, he was only advocating for having the conversation.
Ward 3 Councilman Robin Turner said the rationale for having wards is making sure that everyone in the city is fairly represented. If, he said, the city made the switch to at-large council only, it's possible that everyone elected to council could be from one geographic area, disenfranchising others.
"Quite frankly if you were to go to Mississippi in the '60's when they went to at-larges, there was a reason for that. It was to eliminate the participation of the Black population," Turner said. "Going to this amalgam that you may like to see has implications as well."
Contact reporter Derek Kreider at DKreider@Ganett.com
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Kent awaits reapportionment of city wards following latest census
