During a public hearing Tuesday, members of the public and the Madison County board raised concerns over the potential costs and work load of reducing the county from 29 to 25 districts.
The meeting was held as an opportunity for the public to view a redistricting map of Madison County proposed by Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler in accordance with state law. The public and members of the board were presented with the opportunity to discuss the proposed map and ask questions. No votes were taken.
Prenzler’s map was drawn by the University of Illinois Geographic Information Systems Lab at Springfield (UIS) under a $4,500 contract. Prenzler previously said the contract instructed the university to create a fair map without bias, except in regards to minority neighborhoods. The contract required that minority neighborhoods could not be broken up “to ensure that minority representation is not diluted disproportionately.”
The map also adheres to townships, precincts and municipalities and maintains similar populations in each district in a compact manner.
“That was basically the recipe for where this map came from,” Prenzler said.
Prenzler said at the hearing that he first asked the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) math and science department to redraw the map, but they said they were unable to do it for him. They recommended University of Missouri - St. Louis (UMSL). However, UMSL then recommended SIUE’s geography department. The geography department said they could help him but they would rather not and recommended UIS.
Prenzler said he originally asked for two maps - one with 20 districts and one with 25 districts. UIS would only draw one map for less than the budgeted $5,000, so they completed a map with 25 districts.
Board member Chris Guy also initiated an effort to have alternative maps drawn. He said at the meeting that the maps were drawn free of charge with the help of the county’s GIS and IT departments as well as fellow board members and community leaders. They put together a 29-district and 27-district map.
Three members of the public spoke during the public hearing, but Guy encouraged more citizens to share their thoughts on the redistricting proposals.
Board member Mick Madison commended Guy for the time and effort he gave by providing two maps and putting over 100 hours into the project despite his position being part-time.
Prenzler added that he employed an outside source to prevent any bias.
“It was my goal to do the opposite of gerrymandering,” he said.
Guy recognized Prenzler’s efforts and thanked him for getting things started.
“Am I a fan of the way it’s drawn? No I’m not, but I know your hands weren’t on it,” Guy said.
Board member Jamie Goggin asked why the alternative maps were not online and the public was only presented with “a map that really isn’t very popular.”
Prenzler responded that he didn’t want the public to be confused about which map was in discussion at the meeting. All proposed maps will be available to view online, he said.
Board member Eric Foster said he suspects the map is all about chasing headlines and has nothing to do with reduction.
“This is nothing more than a campaign promise coming to fruition,” he said.
Someone could be heard saying, “Amen.”
Board member Erica Conway-Harriss added that the issue comes down to power.
“If we step back and big picture this … do you want to have more people with less power or less people with more power?” she asked.
Prenzler said there is no right answer on handling the redistricting, but he does see a trend with reducing the number of districts.
“Number one, obey the law, and number two, benchmark,” he said.
“I did my best to take political bias out of this and to adhere as closely to state law as possible,” he added.
Board member Terry Eaker asked that the county not spend any additional funds on maps until they agree on an appropriate number of districts.
Board member Mike Babcock said he understands why Prenzler wants a reduction, because “it sounds good to the public.” However, he said the salaries for the additional board members amounts to about 60 cents per household per year, which is how much they would save each year by cutting board districts.
“I cannot in good conscience vote on your map,” he said, “but I appreciate what you did.”
Board member Doc Holliday noted that the larger board provides a broader perspective of county board members and more experience.
Prenzler responded that Illinois has seen a trend of decreasing the number of districts across the state and many counties in Illinois have multi-member districts, meaning one district may have two or three board members representing the residents.
Former Madison County Board member Lisa Ciampoli asked if Prenzler is considering increasing salaries if the board is reduced to 25 members. Prenzler responded that a salary change would be a decision for the county board.
Ciampoli added that if salaries are increased, then there is no benefit and it would be more difficult for ordinary citizens to run for a seat without significant funds or support from a political party.
Foster asked Prenzler what his recommendation would be in regards to salary increases under the new map. He responded that salaries would be a decision for the new board and would be a collaborative effort.
Board member Mick Madison said the discussion of salary increases has already been on the minds of many board members whose regular jobs have suffered under the weight of responsibilities that come with being a board member.
“Many of us put many, many hours into this already,” Madison said.
Madison said board members are happy to put in the hard work they signed up for, but said it is supposed to be a part-time job.
He added that the salary changes would likely be discussed after they know how many committees remain and how many committees each member is assigned to.
As a follow-up, Ciampoli asked if Prenzler has considered revamping the committee system so elected officials are not involved in so many.
“I think you are asking too much of them,” she said.
Prenzler said they have talked about combining a number of committees with the intention of eliminating about four single committees.
“There are many counties larger than us,” he said. “Some of them have more committees, some of them have fewer, and I think we can learn from them.”
Board member Mike Walters recommended consolidating committees now.
“We’ve been asking you for, now, six months to work on the number of committees, and we haven’t seen a reduction,” Walters said. “This is something we can do right now. Let’s do this now and lower the number of committees.”
Madison noted that if committees are consolidated, the meetings will also take more time.
He also asked Prenzler how many committee meetings he attends each month.
Prenzler said he does not attend a lot of committee meetings, but he is busy with other responsibilities.
“You’ll find me in my office early in the mornings quite often,” he said.
Former board member Kent Scheibel mentioned that the proposed map still includes some “very large” districts. He said large districts ask a lot of the board member. He explained that campaigning, traveling and talking to constituents is “almost impossible” for larger districts. He suggested reworking the lines to “break up some of these massive ones.”
Prenzler said some districts may be larger in size, but they are “as equal as possible” in population.
Scheibel added that the board could reduce district sizes by maintaining a 29-member board. He said that cutting those seats would save the county about $75,000 per year, which could easily be cut from other areas where the county over spends.
“I’m saying that you could cut back in some areas and still afford people’s raises and be able to afford the other board members,” he said.
Board member Heather Mueller-Jones said reducing the number of districts will make it harder for regular people to campaign for the seats, because they “won’t have the time or money.”
“While I am in favor of reducing the size of government,” she said, “it has to be done responsibly. And it must allow everyone who wants to be part of government to do that.”
Mueller-Jones added that single parents with small children will not be able to and will not want to be on the county board. Only those with a lot of funds available or party backing will run.
“That’s not how government should be,” she said.
Walters said the map isn’t drawn well.
“To say this map isn’t gerrymandering is, I think, is laughable,” he said.
Mike Weaver, a member of the public in attendance at the meeting, mentioned during the meeting that he worked in the geospatial industry and said it is “obvious” that the new map is cleaner than the current one. He suggested that the current map’s strange lines appear as though gerrymandering had been involved.
Prenzler responded that some gerrymandering is obvious, especially with the “C” shape around Edwardsville, but said the actual precincts themselves have strange shapes. He said Madison County is over 200 years old and many of the lines are “not the result of bad actions.”
In response to Walters’ comment that the proposed map also shows obvious gerrymandering, Weaver took offense and added that UIS likely asked graduate students to complete the task.
“They let the machine look at the data and let the machine draw the map,” he said.
Walters disagreed, saying the University of Illinois is biased.
“I’ve been following this stuff for 30 years,” he said. “I watch maps, To say that people don’t use political views when they are drawing the map, you’re naive.”
Weaver questioned why graduate students would be involved in gerrymandering.
“Politics is in play in everything,” Walters responded.
County Board district lines are adjusted every 10 years to reflect population changes and to ensure equal representation of residents.
According to a previous press release, the final plan for redistricting must be adopted by July 1.