Golden Triangle planners have eased the concerns of some black voters wary of Oktibbeha County”s supervisor redistricting plan.
Approximately 15 citizens returned to the Oktibbeha County Courthouse Monday for a question-and-answer session with Toby Sanford, Golden Triangle Planning and Development District geographic information systems manager, one week after Sanford presented the plan at the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors meeting. The board intended to vote on the plan recommended by Sanford at that meeting, but delayed its vote at the behest of citizens concerned over seeing the plan for the first time moments before the supervisors were slated to vote it into effect for the next 10 years. Their primary concern was the loss of one of two majority black districts.
The most concerned members of last week”s 30-person audience participated in a smaller Q-and-A March 22 with Sanford at the GTPDD”s office. Chris Taylor, a retired Army veteran who returned to Oktibbeha County five years ago, was one of those who visited with Sanford. Several supervisors and County Administrator Don Posey also attended that meeting as well as Monday”s meeting.
“In order to have two minority districts the supervisors need to inform the planning and development district to redraw every district line,” said Taylor, echoing a sentiment explained by Sanford at the March 22 meeting and again at Monday”s meeting. Thus, Taylor repeatedly urged participants in Monday”s meeting to speak to their supervisors and personally request a return to the drawing board.
However, everyone involved in Monday”s meeting acknowledged that was unlikely to happen.
Curtis Snell, a 16-year Oktibbeha County School Board member, summed it up.
“We feel the supervisors did the best they could with what they had to work with. It would be great (if they chose to redraw the districts) but there are a lot of other constraints that we have to work with. The county is working on a budget also and other things have to be done. We have to be realistic.”
District 3 Supervisor and Board of Supervisors President Marvell Howard confirmed the board is unlikely to start from scratch.
“After the census is taken, the Justice Department says you”ve had a population shift, you need to get the populations back in balance across all five districts with the minimal amount of changes. As far as completely redrawing the lines, I don”t think the Justice Department is looking for that and, as a matter of fact, I think they”d frown upon it,” he said.
Sanford added that any new plan would have to be finalized by the GTPDD, approved by the supervisors and sent to the Department of Justice in time to be inspected, approved and returned to the county by June 1, or 60 days before absentee voting begins in primary elections. The time and budget constraints make a redraw all but impossible.
Taylor said the presence of two minority districts is important to Oktibbeha”s African American population to avoid the appearance of regression, despite the fact that Oktibbeha”s black population was diluted naturally due to an influx of whites to the county.
“The county is 37 percent black, so there should be two minority districts. There were two in 2001 when it was District 2 and District 5,” said Taylor. “That will ease the minds of the majority of black people seeing that it”s still the way it should be.”
Snell and Taylor both hope the supervisors will reconsider, but acknowledge the proposed plan is the best available alternative.
Howard expressed relief following Monday”s meeting that citizens” concerns had abated.
“I”m happy they had the opportunity to view the process and be involved in the process. I think they have a much better understanding of what it takes to redraw those lines.”
The supervisors will hold another public hearing on the redistricting plan at their April 4 meeting before voting on the plan. The public hearing for the supervisor districts is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. and a public hearing for Justice Court districts will follow at 11 a.m.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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