The City Council will consider adopting an ordinance that establishes new boundaries for the five (5) election wards.  The 2010 Census is the catalyst for redrawing boundaries.  The City's 2010 population was 104,170.  Since the City has five (5) wards, the ideal population for each ward is approximately 20,830.  The Census shows that one ward has almost 25,000 people while another one has less than 18,000.  This represents a 33% population deviation from the ideal population; 19% high and 14% low.  The accepted standard is a deviation of no greater than 10%.  The City Council received two reports on redrawing ward boundaries and assigned a subcommittee to work with staff to produce one or more maps that are acceptable to Council.  Attached are the current ward boundaries with 2010 population and the proposed new wards and their population. 

The City Council may:

• Approve the recommended "Plan E"
• Direct staff to modify "Plan E" and reconsider that map at the March 11 meeting 
• Approve any of the other plans that were discussed during two January work sessions
• Not approve any plan and direct staff to redraw boundaries in 2014.  The impact of this action is discussed below.

There is no direct financial impact to the City other than the staff time that has been spent on preparing maps and discussing the changes with Council.  If the Council fails to adopt a plan prior to the 2013 municipal election or adopts a plan that does not meet the primary criteria for redrawing election boundaries, the decision could be challenged and additional resources would be committed to defending its decisions. 

Article 3 of the City of Billings Charter requires election wards, ten (10) Councilmembers and that two (2) Councilmembers must represent each ward. Chapter 11 of the City Code requires that ward boundaries be described in an ordinance and shown on a map. State Code Section 7-5-4401 requires that cities of the first class have between 4 and 10 wards and that the population in each will be as equal as possible. The US and Montana Constitutions, state and federal statutes and multiple court cases require that voters have equal voting strength and representation within their elected governing bodies.  These laws and court rulings establish the "one person - one vote" principal.  In jurisdictions that have more than one election district, equal voting power and representation are accomplished by equalizing the population among all of the election divisions.

The 2010 Census is the catalyst for redrawing the ward boundaries. The City's 2010 population was 104,170. Since the City has five (5) wards, the ideal population for each ward is approximately 20,835. The Census shows that one ward has almost 25,000 people while another one has less than 18,000. This represents a 33% population deviation from the ideal population; 19% high and 14% low. The accepted standard is 10% deviation.  In order to comply with Federal and State law, the City must as nearly as possible equalize the population in each election ward. 

The City Council has two schedule choices on when to redraw the boundaries.  The soonest it could occur is in the spring, 2013 but it could also be delayed to 2014.  The last citywide ward boundary change was made in 2005, just before the city election.  The boundaries were actually redrawn and adopted in 2004 but the ACLU challenged the City's plan because it had a 16% population deviation.  The City and ACLU resolved the dispute when the City adopted a new plan that had a population deviation of less than 10%.  The advantages of delaying drawing new boundaries are that more plans could be drafted and considered, there would be more time for public input on the plans and candidates for City Council would have more time to decide whether to run, especially if new ward boundaries place them in a ward that is different than the one in which they previously resided.  The advantages of redrawing the boundaries in 2013 are that the technology allows relatively quick map-making and adjustments to them, the City Council knows that its wards have large population imbalances and redrawing boundaries can be accomplished before the 2013 municipal election filing date of April 29, 2013.  In addition, the earlier adoption is more likely to deter legal challenges based on the "one person - one vote" principal.  After discussing the two options, Council directed staff to proceed with plans to adopt new ward boundaries in 2013.

The Council heard two staff presentations on this topic in January, 2013.  After the first presentation, the Council created a subcommittee of Councilmembers to work with staff to create one or more options for new ward boundaries.   At the second presentation, staff reported that the subcommittee selected "Plan E" as its preferred ward map.  The plan creates more compact Wards 3 and 5 while retaining the basic shape and representation in Ward 4.  Since the 1980s, most of the Heights has been in Ward 2.  Over the past ten years, the Ward 2 population grew faster than other parts of the city, so a substantial boundary shift is needed in order to reduce its population.  In "Plan E", residents who live south of Hilltop Road and east of Senators Blvd would move from Ward 2 to Ward 1.  Ward 1 had a nearly perfect population count in 2010, but it is the only ward that has a common boundary with Ward 2.  Shifting some of the Heights population to Ward 1 forces its boundary to shrink in the south and southwest areas.  Most of that area is assumed by the new Ward 3.  

Redrawing election boundaries has a judicially approved set of mandatory and a set of discretionary criteria.  From the outset, staff focused its efforts on maps/plans that meet the mandatory criteria, such as equalized population and contiguous and compact shapes.  The most common discretionary criteria are to use geographic or topographical features as boundaries and borders that use existing political unit boundaries.  A more rarely implemented, but allowed discretionary criterion, is to establish boundaries that do not adversely impact incumbent elected officials.  The Billings City Charter requires that Councilmembers reside in the wards that they represent.  If a new ward boundary plan was adopted that placed an incumbent in a different ward from the one that elected him/her, that Councilmember would immediately forfeit his/her seat because s/he would no longer reside in the ward that elected him/her.  "Plan E" does not displace any of the incumbent Councilmembers.

If the City Council adopts the Ordinance establishing new ward boundaries, State law requires that within 10 days the City must submit a map and a legal description of the new boundaries to the Election Administrator.  In a meeting in early February, the Election Administrator stated that he is less concerned than previously about entering all of the new ward data when he works with the election software program.  If the State Districting and Apportionment Commission adopts the final statewide plan on February 12 and there are no substantive judicial challenges to the plan, the Election Administrator will be able to use the new City ward map along with the Legislative boundary map to set new State election precincts and enter all of the data simultaneously.  The new boundaries will be effective 30 days after 2nd reading adoption of the Ordinance, which will be a few days prior to the earliest date to file for a City Council seat.   

Stakeholders include all registered voters within the City of Billings.  The Council offers opportunities for public input at its work sessions and one person testified at the second work session.  Because the wards boundaries are adopted by ordinance, there will be a public hearing at first reading.