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Boyle proposes minor reapportionment

August 18, 2011|By DAVID BROCK | dbrock@amnews.com

Proposed magisterial districts

Boyle County will have some slightly different magisterial districts if a plan being proposed by a reapportionment committee is adopted by the Fiscal Court next week.

Reapportionment takes place every 10 years, after the federal Census is conducted, to ensure each district has a relatively similar population and there is no more than a 10-percent difference between the districts with the largest and smallest populations.

“We really strived to not make any changes that were too drastic,” said County Clerk Trille Bottom, a non-voting member of the committee. “You really want to have the least amount of voters affected as possible. Some will be, but that is just part of it.”

Although there were not any major shifts and the six districts appear largely unchanged, there was some work for the committee.

One of the most substantial changes to the size of a district came in District 4, which is in the far eastern part of the county. That district, now represented by Jack Hendricks, will be made larger to include most of the county east of U.S. 127 and U.S. 150.

A portion of what was District 3, represented by Phil Sammons, east of U.S. 150 and south of Ky. 52 will now be part of District 4.

Although District 3 loses that territory, its southern boundary was expanded to include everything inside the city limits of Danville south of the bypass. Bottom said this would eliminate the issue of a split precinct in Junction City where a handful of Danville voters had to go to vote.

District 3 will now have the largest population with 4,981 residents.

Bottom said one quirk in the process this time that made it necessary to increase the size of District 4 was the difference in population at Northpoint Training Center. Because the Census Bureau counts the inmate population, the total numbers for the district took a hit following the riot when the population decreased by more than half.

The reapportionment committee is made up of Beverly Sleet, Karl Luttrell and Paul Smiley, who Bottom said represent the western, eastern and central parts of the county as well as both political parties.

Bottom served as a non-voting member of the committee.

Bottom said a major difference this time was the use of software provided by the Bluegrass Area Development District, which drastically reduced the amount of time spent on a process that used to include mapping by hand.

“I think everything has gone pretty smoothly,” Bottom said. “Being able to plug in the numbers and see immediately whether you are over or under was a big help.”

The Fiscal Court is expected to consider the proposal at Tuesday's meeting, where it can accept, amend or reject the plan. Magistrates will still represent the constituents who voted them in during last year’s election until the next vote is held, Bottom said.

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