Redistricting Could Render Council Member Ineligible After Re-election

Every five years, is required to review its council wards. Compound that with the result from the 2010 U.S. Census results showing an imbalance of housing units in the current wards and it becomes clear new wards are needed.

Following the 2010 census, current ward have the following housing units: Ward 1 2662; Ward 2, 2407; Ward 3, 2152 and Ward 4, 2598.

How those wards are redistricted could pose a problem for those considering a run for one of the four open council seats as well as one councilman—David Kos—who could find himself ineligible if he wins re-election this year.

The Avon Lake Engineering Department, under the guidance of Engineering Manager Joe Reitz, recently completed several scenarios of how wards would look if redistricted. Reitz utilized a graduate student to best balance the wards and provide an independent redrawing of the wards, without regard to current council members residency.

The first scenario that was proposed shows a fairly equal rebalancing of wards from 2,452 housing units to 2,460 per ward.

“Now comes the sticky part,” Council President Greg Zilka said after Reitz showed the first proposed map.

Zilka said that if enacted the new boundaries will place Ward 4 Councilman Kos, a Redwood Boulevard resident, into Ward 3, which is currently Larry Meiners’ ward. Ward 3, currently with the least amount of housing units, will expand significantly.

The redistricting will not go into effect until July 2012 and candidates are required to run for this year’s ward elections based on the current wards they live in. As a result, if Kos won re-election in November, he would be rendered ineligible for his ward on July 1, 2012. It would then be up to the remaining council members to select a resident of redistricted Ward 3 to fill the seat until the next election.

“Here we have a situation where residents of Ward 4, if they elect Mr. Kos, would have no voted representative for 18 months,” Zilka said. “It creates an unusual dilemma for us.”

Ward 3 will most likely see the most growth in terms of units added.

Zilka said he asked Reitz to create a second scenario that would essentially leave Kos’s address in Ward 4. 

Reitz showed a second redistricting map that if approved, would keep Kos in Ward 4.

Councilman Larry Meiners noted that the second option might not be fair to other individuals running for a council seat that could also find themselves ineligible with the second option.

Zilka acknowledged Meiners’ comment and said he would like to hold at least one public hearing on the issues and create an ad hoc committee to further discuss the issue.