02 Redistrict Assessmnt - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

"STEP TWO: Citizens Advisory Committee If reapportionment is legally required of the City of Paris, it is highly recommended that the City Council appoint a Citizens Advisory Committee to assist in the reapportionment process. This Committee serves several important functions: It demonstrates to the Department of Justice that the process was open and free of undue political influence. It involves advocacy groups and community leaders the political process. 3. It reduces the demands and pressures upon the City Council. Typically, the Citizens Advisory Committee is composed of 11-15 individuals appointed by the City Council. The Advisory Committee should be representative in terms of geographic area and racial demographics. One method for the appointment of the members of this committee is for each Council to appoint two individuals from their precinct, with the Mayor having three appointments from the City at large. The Mayor should insure, through his appointments, that the Advisory Committee reflects the ethnic population of the City as a whole. The Citizens Advisory Committee would conduct public meetings, and develop two or three alternative reapportionment plans for public comment. These plans may be either the result of the Committee process or City Council input. Public comment should be solicited, recorded and included in the reapportionment submission. We recommend that you consider the appointment of this Citizens Committee shortly after the receipt of our Initial Assessment. The Department of Justice has always given strong favorable treatment to plans that have been developed in conjunction with a Citizens Committee. To the extent possible, you should consider placing recognized minority leadership in the community on the Citizens Advisory Committee. We have had considerable success in working with these committees and believe that development of a suitable plan can be considerably strengthened by a strong committee recommendation. Our approach is to use the Committee to review and discuss various redistricting concepts, and to use the demographic data and the importance of governmental functions to demonstrate weaknesses in any proposed plan. After preliminary examination of various proposals by the Committee, a limited number of workable plan designs emerge for final development and consideration by the City Council.