Oneonta redistricting advances from commission

Jul. 18—The city of Oneonta's Redistricting Commission voted unanimously Monday, July 17 to bring a final electoral ward redistricting map to the Common Council, along with a recommendation to consider implementing staggered council terms.

The new map, which was introduced in March, redefines the boundaries of the city's eight wards, or voting districts. City Administrator Greg Mattice designed the new map.

Gary Herzig, commission chairperson and former Oneonta mayor, said Tuesday that there were some significant changes in population of the wards since the last redistricting, which happens every 10 years following the U.S. Census to ensure that each vote counts equally.

According to state law, the difference in population between the most and least populous city wards can't exceed 5% of the average population of all wards.

Herzig said the Sixth Ward lost a considerable number of residents and had to be expanded to cover a larger territory to bring the number of people to roughly equal in each ward.

The Sixth Ward took parts from the First Ward on the other side of Neahwa Park and from the Fifth Ward, according to Daily Star archives.

The proposed map of the Sixth Ward includes houses along Railroad Avenue, Susquehanna Avenue, Filbert Street, Wells Avenue, Factory Street and Conant Avenue from the First Ward, and the houses along the south side of Chestnut Street in the Fifth Ward.

College concerns

The census put all of Hartwick College in one block and all of SUNY Oneonta in another block.

Since a ward could have only about 1,635 residents, and the SUNY Oneonta census block had 2,069, the commission had to break the blocks up. Since the city knew how many students lived in each residence hall, the block could be broken, according to Daily Star archives.

According to the proposed map, all but one residence hall at Hartwick College would be in the Fifth Ward, while Wilder Hall would be in the Eighth Ward.

The residence halls at SUNY Oneonta also would be broken up into different wards. Hulbert, Higgins, Tobey, Denison, Bacon and Wilber would be in the Seventh Ward; Littell, Ford, Sherman and Hays in the Fourth Ward; Grant, Huntington, Curtis and Blodgett in the Third Ward; and MacDuff and Matteson in the Second Ward.

During a public hearing in March, two Hartwick College students raised concerns about the plan, citing anticipated difficulties from having the college students broken up into different wards, voter turnout among students and how much influence they could have as a block with their council member.

Herzig said Tuesday that he hopes to finalize a report within two weeks and then ask the Oneonta city clerk to schedule a presentation before the council.

Otsego County uses Oneonta's ward boundaries to define its four city voting districts, therefore the county would need to recalculate its weighted voting allotments once Oneonta's redistricting plan is approved and adopted by the council.

The commission formed Nov. 15, 2022, with the charge of reapportioning Oneonta's wards and submitting a proposed plan to the council by May 15.

Due to the late appointment of the commission, the new wards will not be in effect for this fall's election but would take affect for the 2027 council election.

The commission's deadline for submitting a proposed plan in May fell after the date in February when candidates could start filing petition to run for council.

The city can't change the ward boundaries after a candidate files a petition to represent that ward, Herzig said.

A secondary discussion at Monday's commission meeting was on the topic of staggered terms for Common Council members.

Currently, all eight council seats are up for election at the same time every four years.

Herzig said Tuesday that the commission discussed whether the system could be improved for the continuity of council business, but since staggering terms is outside of the purview of the commission, it would be up to the council to discuss the topic further.

If the council were to implement staggered terms, Herzig said it likely would be another 12 years before plan would take effect fully.