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Regular City Council Meeting <br />September 6, 2001 <br />Page 6 <br /> <br />is 23% smaller than the ideal district should be. He said this is a total deviation <br />of about 53%, and anything in excess of 10% is considered to be <br />unconstitutional. Therefore the boundaries now in place are not constitutional <br />under the one person - one vote standard. <br /> <br />Mr. Bass told the City Council that the plan that they have devised achieves an <br />acceptable population balance. He said he would like to see deviations in <br />population below 5%, but because of the distribution of minority populating in <br />the City of Paris they were only able to achieve numerical balance at 8.27%. <br />Mr. Bass said that this a legal level of population deviation as it is below the <br />10%. He felt that it would be an acceptable level for submission to the <br />Department of Justice. <br /> <br />More important criteria for preclearance is the ethnic identity of the population. <br />Under the existing law the city identifies any districts in which any minority <br />population has a significant presence. Mr. Bass said there are two districts in <br />Paris with high levels of minority population. District 1 has a black population <br />of 58.1%, Hispanic population of 4%, and the other population is slightly better <br />than 2%. District 2 has a black population of 47.01%, a Hispanic population <br />of 6.77%; and other minority population of a little more than 2%. Mr. Bass <br />said after struggling with the population distribution within the city, they found <br />that it is very difficult, but not impossible to hold both districts at the <br />benchmarks that were established under the existing plan. Mr. Bass advised <br />that with the help of the Committee, he achieved a plan that is about 60% <br />compliant in District 1, and about 57% compliant in District 2. Mr. Bass felt <br />this plan meets the required legal obligations imposed on the city and felt it <br />would be preclearable. <br /> <br />Councilman Carter entered the council chamber and assumed his seat at the <br />council table at 6:25 P. M. <br /> <br />Mr. Bass said since they last met, he has been asked to look at a possible plan <br />modification on the request of Paris Junior College because the college uses <br /> <br /> <br />