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Regular Council Meetrng <br />July 9, 2001 <br />Page 2 <br />noted that this is more service orders that they handled in the City of Paris than <br />in the City of McKinney, which is one of the fastest growing cities in the <br />nation. Mr. Ogle said they have increased their workforce by 20% to 30% and <br />these are the heroes that they talked about just a few months ago that worked <br />24/7 in the City of Paris to get the system back on line after both storms. Last <br />October, Southwestern Bell introduced their digital subscriber line, which <br />offers high speed internet up to fifty times faster than the usual dial-up modems <br />that people are using today. Mr. Ogle advised the City Council that <br />Southwestern Bell is introducing their high-speed internet satellite. He said <br />this is a comparable product similar to the digital subscriber line. <br />Bob Bass of Allison, Bass & Associates, LLP., appeared before the City <br />Council regarding redistricting of the City Council districts. Mr. Bass gave an <br />overview of the reapportioning of voting districts which is composed of <br />governmental units and it came out of the U. S. Constitution and various <br />federal statutes. Over the years, court cases have applied the duty of <br />redistricting or reapportioning representative districts to even smaller <br />governmental units. The principle of one man, one vote is the constitutional <br />goal to be achieved in this process. <br />Mr. Bass said that if the city does an assessment and determines that the <br />existing boundaries are still within acceptable tolerance, you are not obligated <br />to redraw the boundaries, but after a ten-year span, most governmental units <br />found themselves needing to redraw the boundaries. He said if you are out of <br />balance, any change you make triggers the Voting Rights Act. The Voting <br />Rights Act is designed to avoid discrimination against minority voters. It has <br />several sections that are significant to the city. Section Two allows individual <br />residents of the city to bring suit. Section Five obligates the city to get <br />preclearance from the Department of Justice for any changes they propose in <br />the boundaries of a district. <br />Mr. Bass advised that the city would adopt some criteria for reapportionment <br />that would include compactness or contiguous issues. They would try to <br />