County Council to Consider Non-Partisan Redistricting Commission

None by KCPW

(KCPW News) Salt Lake County won't have to redraw lines for county council districts and school board seats until after the 2010 Census. But County Councilman Joe Hatch thinks now is the time to start planning. Today he is proposing a nonpartisan commission to head up the County's next redistricting effort:

"They would draw up the boundaries, do it in a neutral, non-partisan matter and then submit it to the County Council," says Hatch. "And we still as a County Council could approve it or disapprove it."

The concept is not new, but it has failed to gain traction at a local or state level because of the politically charged nature of district boundaries. Hatch believes starting the process now - four years before the next redistricting effort - should allow enough time to find a solution. He believes both Granite and Jordan School District could benefit from a less-partisan approach to re-districting. East-side factions within both districts are now considering splitting off:

"Maybe if re-districting had been done more equitably and more sensitively to what was going on in those districts, the governance problems those districts currently face may have been avoided," says Hatch.

Hatch wants the redistricting commission to exclude the heads of political parties and insiders who typically drive redistricting efforts. His proposal will first be studied by a subcommittee of the County Council before receiving full debate and public hearing.

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