STARKVILLE — As plans to increase the number of Mississippi House districts in Oktibbeha County from four to six make their way through the Legislature — and possibly into court — local leaders say they”d prefer fewer, but more won”t bring the house down.
Senate leaders want to bring plans for new House districts to a conference committee, where differences could be worked out. House leaders are balking, threatening to take their own plan directly to the Justice Department, and at least one lawsuit, brought by the state NAACP, has already been filed over the stalemate.
In the meantime, local leaders speculated on what the new plan would mean for Oktibbeha.
Rep. Tyrone Ellis, D-Starkville, whose district covers the greatest number of Oktibbeha citizens, would like to see the number of representatives for the Starkville area cut to two or three at the most, with one senator. Ellis is the only House member representing Oktibbeha County who actually lives here.
But if Oktibbeha ends up with six representatives?
“It would not be a serious problem because I work well with other members,” said Ellis, who is in his eighth term. “If I have an issue I need to move forward, I haven”t had any problem moving it forward. Being the majority leader does help. Seniority has its privileges. Whether you have three, four or five, results are still going to be determined by the experience you have.”
Rep. Gary Chism, R-Columbus, points to Lowndes County, which currently has six representatives, as an example of how things could go in Oktibbeha — a portion of which he represents.
“If one authors a bill (that affects Columbus), he or she would go around to the others and get them to sign on. Even though they didn”t live in Columbus, I could tell them what”s going on,” he said. “The more legislators you”ve got, theoretically, the better off you are to get legislation passed.”
Going around to the representatives is precisely what concerns Jon Maynard, CEO of the Greater Starkville Development Partnership.
“To work with five or six representatives is much more difficult than to work with one, but not impossible. They”ll be spread out over a broad geographical area, so I may need to go to Jackson and corral them all at one time (when an issue arises). Getting face time is the most important component,” said Maynard.
Maynard said the GSDP is hoping to start this next legislative term rededicated to creating stronger relationships with the area”s delegation. He”s concerned that having legislative districts which stretch from Starkville as far as Grenada County or the Alabama state line, as put forth in the House plan, may create conflicts where a representative has two areas in his or her district competing for the same development. But he understands that Oktibbeha County”s population growth in an area which has seen population decline over the last 10 years makes the county ripe for dissecting in order to fulfill population quotas in multiple districts.
“We”ll work with whomever as this plan unfolds and keep them constantly aware of who we are, why we”re valuable and what we have going on, making sure our economic development needs and concerns are acted upon,” Maynard said.
Although he”s confident any configuration will work, Ellis shares Maynard”s concern.
“The big question is, how do you bring your community interests to the table with legislators from 50-60 miles away?” he said.
REDISTRICTING MAPS
Maps and population data are available on the legislative redistricting committee”s website, www.msjrc.state.ms.us.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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