PELL CITY — The Pell City Council has approved new city voting districts for city elections.
During its regular meeting Monday, the council approved a proposal that will see some changes to every district in the city based on recent census data. The decision came after a public hearing during the meeting, though no Pell City residents spoke during that hearing.
The new map approved by the council sees various adjustments to all districts with the largest coming in districts 2, 3 and 4; namely extending district 2 slightly northward, district 3 south eastward and district 4 northward. Districts 1 and 5 on the other hand received relatively more modest adjustment.
City Manager Brian Muenger said the exact changes in the map can be seen on an interactive map under the public notices tab on the city’s website https://pell-city.com/.
The council first looked at redistricting in February, where it looked at several intitall suggestions form Brett Isom from the Greater Birmingham Regional Planning Commission, who has been helping the city develop options.
In that meeting Council President Jud Alverson said the city had a few priorities in the process: keeping the city’ minority-majority district, namely District 2 intact, keep five districts and keep as many people in their current district as possible. Alverson gave that last goal with the understanding that keeping the districts completely the same was unrealistic, something Muenger has also said during the process.
To address that first concern, Isom said the new plan actually strengthens the non-white voter majority in the minority district by 2 percent, while bringing the number of total people in the district more in line with the other districts. The plan also in general brings every district to a lower level of deviation in population than they previously had.
Alverson said ultimately he is happy to have the redistricting process over, noting that it is required by the state.
“It’s a pretty big undertaking,” he said. “It’s something we are tasked with doing after the census and to have it done feels really good.”
Alverson noted that his own district, number five, and District 4 had the least amount of changes, but said he recognizes the larger changes in the other three. He said the city is largely left to work with what it’s given after the census, though a different conversation could be had about the accuracy of the census count itself.
“You’ve got to take that data and do with it the best you can,” Alverson said.
He said voting districts can be a lightning rod issue in many cases but said he didn’t feel the new map was controversial.
“I don’t think anybody’s gonna have any heartburn over the new lines,” Alverson said. “By and large things are unchanged, but there will be some change to some lines, but I dont think it’s anything that anybody’s gonna have a ton of angst about.”
In other matter, the council:
— Saw Mayor Bill Pruitt give a proclamation of appreciation for Finance Director Teri St. James,
— Approved a resolution rezoning property in the Cogswell Industrial Park from M-1 to M-2;
— Approved the purchase of a 2022 Kubota rough terrain vehicle for the Fire Department for $28,956.34 from Kimtek Corporation through the Sourcewell Purchasing Cooperative. The purchase is funded by a donation by the Pell City Line Dancers;
— Approved the purchase of a Kubota utility terrain vehicle for the police department for $17,557.74 from Talladega Tractor Company through Sourcewell Purchasing Cooperative;
— Approved a bid from Town and Country Ford for two Ford F-150 4×4 trucks for the street department for $83,196;
— Approved a bid from Long Lewis of the River Region for a Ford F-150 super cab 4×2 for the planning and zoning department for $31,409.50;
— Approved resolution authorizing the board of education bond funding agreement; and
— Approved resolution authorizing a new banking account for the Animal Control Center at Metro Bank for paypal and venmo donations.
Taylor Mitchell is a Daily Home reporter covering Pell City.
