The Baltimore County Charter requires that the county hold at least one public input hearing on county redistricting before the commission submits its recommendations to the county council no later than October 15 2011.  The redistricting plan for the county must be finalized by January 2012.

Community members have barely two weeks to organize and put together their concerns, all during a time when citizens are distracted with the damage being inflicted upon us by the General Assembly.  But since the Annapolis session ends April 11, they can defend that they waited until after session was over before holding the hearings.

The importance of community input was laid out in my previous article here.  Community associations, particularly those that are split by multiple representative districts, need to coordinate a presence at these hearings.

Charter Requirements

Per the county charter:  “The plan shall provide for councilmanic districts that are compact, contiguous, and substantially equal in population, and in which due regard is given to current natural, geographic, and community boundaries.”

These are the primary objectives required of any county redistricting plan.

What does “community boundaries” mean?

From the 2002 report of the Murphy Commission:  “The idea that communities should be kept together is compelling. We added the word “community” to the list of criteria in the Charter to be considered.  However there was a suggestion in furtherance of this goal that we should require new districts to preserve community association boundaries. While we found this to be an admirable goal, we could not recommend it as a requirement, in view of the uncertainty of such boundaries and even the make up of the community associations. We could not be certain that after ten (10) years there would always be a contact person for each association. Consequently, we recommend this idea become one of a list of criteria given in the Policy Manual as a guide and goal for the Commission and Council to consider.”

The commission concluded:  “A Baltimore County community is one of the well-established, traditional/historical areas of the County that is recognized by the Master Plan or County Council resolution as a discrete area for purposes of planning or funding.”

Current boundaries vs split communities

Per the commission:  “There have been past instances in which County Council redistricting decisions have affected traditional, recognized communities in the County, i.e. redrawn district lines have split traditional, recognized communities. Such action is not foreclosed to future Councils, but the Council will now be required to give consideration to the current boundaries, however imprecise, of communities before committing to drawing lines that split them.”

If your community is already split, you will have a tougher argument for recognizing community boundaries than ones that have not been split.

Built-in gerrymandering?

From the redistricting manual (see here):  “Because the process is in part a political one, the Council may consider countless other factors, including broad political and narrow partisan ones, and the Council may pursue a wide range of objectives. So long as the plan does not contravene the Charter criteria, that it may have been formulated to achieve other social or political objectives will not affect its validity.”

I read the paragraph above as a liability disclaimer.  Because the process is expected to be gerrymandered, they want to allow for political manipulation to occur so long as the requirements of the county charter are not violated.  i.e.  You can’t make the charge of political gerrymandering as a case against the maps unless they violate the charter requirements.

 For details on the hearings schedule, see council website here.