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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 5/10/2022 - Memorandum From Anissa Hollingshead Re: Redistricting UpdateCity Clerk 300 LaPorte Avenue PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.221.6515 970.221-6295 - fax fcgov.com/cityclerk MEMORANDUM DATE: May 5, 2022 TO:Mayor and Councilmembers THROUGH:Kelly DiMartino, Interim City Manager Kyle Stannert, Deputy City Manager FROM: Anissa Hollingshead, City Clerk RE: Redistricting Update The purpose of this memorandum is in follow up to the request at the Leadership Planning Team meeting on May to provide more information to the full City Council regarding the municipal redistricting process. Included in these materials is information about the process that has been followed to date and the two options that have been developed for new district boundaries. Discussion of redistricting will continue at next Monday’s Election Code Committee before coming to the full Council for consideration, likely in June. Work has occurred with the GIS division of the City’s IT department to prepare potential options for new district boundaries based on the new precincts established by Larimer County. This work has been bound primarily by the following principles: Boundaries of election precincts in the City shall correspond with election precincts established by the County Maximum permissible deviation of ten (10) percent between the most populous and least populous district Districts must be population balanced o Appropriate to use total population, not number of voters or the citizen voting- age population (CVAP) Districts must be contiguous and reasonably compact Redistricting must comply with all local, state and federal laws, including the Federal Voting Rights Act Historic practice has included not displacing sitting Councilmembers from their current districts when adjusting boundaries In the process of drawing new precincts, Larimer County created entirely new precincts and greatly reduced the overall number of precincts in Fort Collins. The precincts within the City contain only City residents, but the City draws district boundaries based on total population counts while County precincts are established based on active registered voter counts. The changes to the County precincts have resulted in substantial changes to potential City districts. Under City Charter, all City districts must be built using the precincts established by the County. This information will be reviewed again by the Election Code Committee at its next meeting on May 9 before coming before the full Council for consideration and adoption. It is anticipated that could occur as early as June. Under City Code, the latest date for approving changes to district boundaries is October 4, 2022, six months prior to the next currently scheduled regular municipal election. Attachments being provided with this memo include: 1. Report from the City Clerk on the 2022 Redistricting Process 2. Excerpts of City Charter provisions relating to Council Districts 3. Excerpts of City Code provisions relating to Council Districts 4. Layout of current Council districts with new precinct lines 5. Population Based Redistricting Methodology memo from GIS 6. District Boundary Options with county 3-digit precinct numbers 7. Comparison of 2020 and 2022 County Voting Precinct sizes 8. Precinct Population Counts City Clerk 300 Laporte Avenue PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.221.6515 970.221-6295 - fax fcgov.com/cityclerk Current Redistricting Timeline and Process Overview A full redistricting is done across the state every 10 years as a trickle-down process that is initiated with the completion of the decennial census. At the local level, it is possible for municipalities to make boundary adjustments on a different cadence, including more often than every 10 years as is currently called for in Fort Collins, however State boundaries, including congressional districts as well as state house and senate districts, are drawn first. Then, counties create their districts and precincts. Once these levels are complete, municipalities are able to complete their own redistricting processes. Each step in this process is contingent on the steps preceding it, as the work done at each level must take into account the work done at larger units of government. The current municipal redistricting process for Fort Collins is being impacted by several variables in earlier steps in the overall process across the state and nation. Census data was delayed following the 2020 Census, largely as a result of COVID-19 impacting the timely conduct of the Census and particularly wrap up work following the Census. Full 2020 Census data at the local level was not released until December of 2021. State Redistricting Delays in data also impacted state and county level redistricting work. This was the first year the State’s Independent Redistricting Commissions0F 1 handled state-level redistricting after their establishment by act of Colorado voters in 2018. The work of these Commission could not begin until census data was available to support their charges to establish both a statewide congressional plan 1F 2 and then also state senate2F 3 and house3F 4 plans. This census data included: 2020 Census Apportionment Results4F 5 – released April 26, 2021 o Calculated congressional seats to which each state is entitled o Colorado gained a congressional district in this apportionment Redistricting Data Summary Files5F 6 – released to the states August 12, 2021 o Available with the full redistricting data toolkit on data.census.gov on September 16, 2021 The Colorado Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission began its work on March 15, 2021. Because Colorado gained an additional congressional district, all congressional districts were significantly altered. The Commission submitted its final congressional plan to the Colorado Supreme Court on October 1, 2021, and it was approved on November 1, 2021. 1 https://redistricting.colorado.gov/ 2 https://redistricting.colorado.gov/content/congressional-final-approved 3 https://redistricting.colorado.gov/content/senate-final-approved-errata 4 https://redistricting.colorado.gov/content/house-final-approved 5 https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2020/dec/2020-apportionment-data.html 6 https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/about/rdo/summary-files.html Page | 2 Report on 2022 Redistricting from the City Clerk's Office A separate commission, the Colorado Independent Legislative Redistricting Commission, was also formed and began its work on March 30, 2021, to establish state house and senate districts. Final sate house and senate plans were submitted to the Colorado Supreme Court on October 15, 2021, and upheld by the Court on November 15, 2021. Larimer County is now split amongst three different congressional districts - 2, 4, and the new 8 th district. The majority of the County, including all of the population of Fort Collins, is within Congressional District 2, however the communities of Loveland and Wellington are in district 4 and parts of southern Larimer County are in district 8. County Reprecincting The impact of these changes has flowed down to subsequent boundary adjustments. At the county level, Larimer County is required to redraw precinct boundaries after state redistricting to ensure no precinct is part of more than one State Representative, State Senatorial, or Congressional district. The degree of change in these districts across the state resulted in a full redrawing of all county precincts, leaving no correlation between old and new precincts. Although the County has districts, all three commissioners are elected at large. There was no adjustment made by Larimer County to the three Commissioner district boundaries. The County’s work therefore consisted of only redrawing precinct boundaries as a data driven process based on the number of active eligible voters, and not a redistricting.6F 7 Planning for Municipal Redistricting after the 2020 Census District boundaries were last adjusted under the City’s redistricting procedures in 2016. These adjustments have occurred more frequently than every 10 years based on the additional triggers in City Code. Additional adjustments were also prompted in February of 2018, when the Council opted to waive the requirement to do so because of the recency of other changes, and again in October of 2019, when required changes were again waived due to the pending 2020 census. In recent history, the redistricting process of creating potential scenarios for districts has been done by the City’s in house GIS team within the IT department. Following the 2016 process, there was substantial discussion around how to better refine that work going forward. At the direction of the City Council at the time, the City Clerk’s Office pursued a path for engaging a consultant in a more robust redistricting process, including incorporating thorough community engagement. There was funding for a redistricting effort with a shift in focus and operational execution as part of the 2019-2020 BFO process. However, due both to the timing of redistricting not being ready to start in 2020 and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic requiring the identification of budget cuts, the dollars allocated at that time were returned as part of 2020 budget reductions. A new budget offer was developed for the 2022 budget process, and subsequently approved. The vision at the time that 2022 budget offer was prepared and submitted in April of 2021 was to support a community-wide redistricting effort with the assistance of a consultant. This process was intended to incorporate an effort to examine the method of establishing and recalibrating Council 7 https://meetings.municode.com/d/f?u=https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/larimerco- pubu/MEET-Agenda- e7aa944c36104e1fbbbe9a86f363d852.pdf&n=ADMINISTRATIVE%20MATTERS%20Agenda%20Document.pdf Page | 3 Report on 2022 Redistricting from the City Clerk's Office Districts, with the objective of having the project complete and in effect prior to the 2023 election. It was acknowledged in this request that staff had performed the work in the past, but that the complicated and sometimes controversial processes could benefit from assistance from an outside consultant to supplement the expertise and knowledge in GIS and the Clerk’s Office. While the budget process was underway, the current Council term started and the Election Code Committee began meeting with its current membership. At one of the first ECC meetings of the term in September of 2021, the committee discussion included a review of upcoming priorities, including redistricting. Committee members expressed questions regarding whether a consultant was necessary for the work at this time and also requested to have this work wrapped up as quickly as possible ahead of the 2023 election. There was a determination subsequently made by staff that IT would be able to support the work as they had in the past, and to follow that path, using some of the allocated funding to backfill other needs in IT as necessary. Steps in Local Redistricting The City’s redistricting work could not begin until the County completed redrawing its precinct lines in accordance with the new State Congressional, House, and Senate districts. Precincts are most significant for election administration. Under the Uniform Election Code the County is bound by, precinct size is based on registered voters and can be as high as 2,000 voters per precinct when a county conducts mail ballot elections using vote centers. Larimer County’s Board of County Commissioners has authorized precincts of that size. Precincts are also the building block of any representative district, and City precinct boundaries typically align with County precincts. County precincts within Fort Collins are comprised of only Fort Collins voters. A City precinct cannot be comprised of more than one County-level precinct and under the requirements of the City Charter, districts must be comprised of undivided general election precincts established by the County. Therefore the City was unable to develop any proposals for new district boundaries until the precincts were known. Once precinct data from the County was available, GIS began work on developing potential scenarios for new districts. To do so, 2020 Census block population totals were used to calculate total population for each precinct and for determining the ideal population size of each district.7F 8 Timeline of Significant Dates November 1, 2021 – Final approval of Colorado congressional district boundaries November 15, 2021 – Final approval of Colorado State House and Senate district boundaries January 25, 2022 – Larimer County Board of Commissioners adoption of the County Clerk and Recorder’s redrawn precinct boundaries February 4, 2022 – Larimer County Elections staff provided precinct maps to the City Clerk’s Office, which forwarded that information on to GIS April 11, 2022 – GIS provided two different options for district boundaries compliant with the requirements of City Charter and Code April 18, 2022 – Draft option maps provided to Election Code Committee for consideration and discussion 8 https://demography.dola.colorado.gov/ Page | 4 Report on 2022 Redistricting from the City Clerk's Office May 9, 2022 – Additional Election Code Committee consideration of redistricting options planned June – likely consideration of redistricting options by the full Council Page | 5 Report on 2022 Redistricting from the City Clerk's Office Considerations in Redistricting City Code and Charter Requirements The City Charter includes general parameters regarding Council district boundaries. Council district boundaries. The city shall be divided into six (6) contiguous, reasonably compact districts, each of which shall consist of contiguous, undivided general election precincts and, to the extent reasonably possible, an equal number of inhabitants. The districts shall be numbered consecutively in a clockwise fashion beginning with the northeast district, which shall be District 1. The Council shall establish by ordinance the process for adjusting district boundaries and giving notice of any proposed boundary changes, and the manner of protesting such proposed changes. (Charter Article II, Section 1, (c)) City Code includes additional more specific requirements around establishing and adjusting Council districts. The City Council shall by ordinance divide the City into as many election precincts for municipal elections as it may deem expedient for the convenience of registered electors in the City, and shall designate by resolution the polling place within each precinct. Insofar as practicable, boundaries of election precincts in the City shall correspond with the election precincts established by the County. (Sec. 7-66 (a)) Pursuant to the Charter, the City is hereby divided into six (6) Districts. (from Sec. 7-86) The City Council shall, by ordinance, amend the boundaries of the foregoing districts as necessary to comply with the provisions of Article II, Section 1(c) of the Charter. (from Sec. 7-87 (a)) Not more than eighteen (18) months after the official decennial publication of the United States Census concerning the population of the City of Fort Collins, the City Clerk shall recommend to the City Council any district boundary changes necessary to ensure that, to the extent reasonably possible, there is no more than a ten-percent deviation between the most populous and the least populous district. (Sec. 7-87 (b)) The need to amend precinct boundaries pursuant to § 7-71(b) shall automatically cause the City Clerk to review current population deviations, regardless of how long it has been since the last review. If the deviation is found to exceed ten (10) percent, the City Clerk shall recommend that the City Council make boundary adjustments, and present the Council with possible redistricting options that to the maximum extent possible equalize the population in each district, subject to the requirements for contiguity and compactness set forth in Article II, Section 1(c) of the Charter, with a maximum permissible deviation of ten (10) percent between the most populous and least populous district. (Sec. 7-87 (d)) It is not a requirement of either City Code or Charter, but it has been an ongoing practice as well to avoid making any changes to districts that would remove a currently seated member of the City Council from their district. It would be a legal question for resolution to determine In terms of timing for adopting new districts, there are several parameters in City Code that must be considered. Page | 6 Report on 2022 Redistricting from the City Clerk's Office Before Council action, there must be adequate notice given via newspaper publication. This must occur first at least 14 days before the date of the first reading of a redistricting ordinance. (Sec. 7-87 (a)) Recommendations for district boundary changes must be made to the City Council not more than 18 months after the official decennial publication of the U.S. Census. (Sec. 7-87 (b)) Any district boundary changes must be established no less than 180 days before a regular municipal election. (Sec. 7-87 (e)) The earliest possible meeting City Council could consider the first reading of a redistricting ordinance would be June 7, 2022 based on the notice requirements in the Code. The latest date redistricting must be approved by would be October 4, 2022, based on the Code requirement for changes to be established no later than 180 days before a regular municipal election, currently next scheduled to occur on April 4, 2023. The City Clerk’s Office has been working to bring this process forward well in advance of the final October deadline in alignment with the feedback from members of the Election Code Committee expressing a desire to see these changes made well in advance of the next election. There is also a consideration associated with the scope of changes that have occurred to precincts, and as a result ultimately to districts. It is significant to note the County established its precincts based on active registered voter counts and allowed precincts as large as 2,000 active voters. This translates into significantly larger precincts when looking at overall population, as the City does in establishing districts. In total population counts, several precincts are significantly larger than they have been in the past, with total population counts exceeding 8,000 residents in some instances. This precinct size differential has been most impactful in the overall reduction in the number of precincts within Fort Collins. Previously, there were 110 City precincts. After the County’s reprecincting, there are now 68 City precincts. Because these precincts are the building blocks for districts, having fewer, much larger blocks provides fewer options for arranging districts that meet the parameters required under City Charter and Code, particularly for equal population across districts and ensuring districts are reasonably compact and contiguous. Guidance from CML Redistricting must comply with all local, state, and federal laws, including the Federal Voting Rights Act. Because of the constraints faced in trying to work with the new precincts established, there appear to be only two options for potential district boundaries that comport with Fort Collins’ local laws, its Charter and Code, as well as established practices. Other considerations have not to this stage been a part of developing these options given the challenges. For Council’s awareness, the Colorado Municipal League (CML) has prepared a number of resources for municipalities to help support local redistricting efforts. A primer published in the Colorado Municipalities magazine in 2011 was updated and provided again on CML’s website following the 2020 Census.8F 9 CML also cosponsored a webinar with the Colorado Municipal Clerks Association (CMCA) in mid-2021 to help prepare municipalities for the redistricting process.9F 10 9 https://www.cml.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/redistricting---a-municipal- perspective.pdf?sfvrsn=e3fab4a4_0 10 https://www.cml.org/home/publications-news/resource-detail/the-2020-census-local-government-redistricting- what-you-need-to-know Page | 7 Report on 2022 Redistricting from the City Clerk's Office State law does not establish requirements for redistricting at the municipal level. There are some provisions in the Municipal Election Code specific to establishing precincts, however in Fort Collins, as a home rule municipality, local code provisions supersede those provisions of Municipal Election Code in Title 31 of state statute. CML’s guidance is helpful in evaluating other provisions that may be taken into consideration alongside the City’s Code and Charter. It also can help provide a degree of uniformity across localities while still leaving space for municipal home rule provisions. Constitutional Doctrines Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution o “One person – one vote” Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533 (1964) o “as nearly as is practicable one [person’s] vote in a congressional election is to be worth as much as another’s.” Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1, 7-8 (1964) Constitutional mandate relating to not diluting racial groups – “Minority voting strength is impermissibly diluted when large concentrations of minority population are … fragmented and disbursed.” Carstens v. Lamm, 543 F. Supp. 68, 85-86 (D. Colo. 1982) Non-Constitutional Case Law Considerations CML also outlines several decisions from state and federal courts that have implemented non- constitutional requirements to be considered in a redistricting process. These include: Compactness (also a required consideration under Fort Collins City Code) o Standard measured by making a circle around the entire district created and comparing the ration of the area of the district itself with the area of the circle itself, seeking to bring these figures as close to a one-to-one ratio as possible. o Equality of population takes precedence over compactness under case law. Contiguity (also a required consideration under Fort Collins City Code) Preservation of communities of interest o “A community of interest is a population that shares common social and economic interests that should be included within a single district for purposes of its effective and fair representation” o “populations or communities that have common needs and interests reflected in patterns of geography, social interaction, trade, and common interests.” o "In Colorado, community of interest considerations may also include agricultural or industrial identity, water issues, transportation concerns, and comparison of growth rates. Colo. Const. Art. V § 47(3) o Includes consideration of the requirements of the Voting Rights Act as well. FORT COLLINS CITY CHARTER ARTICLE II. City Council Created: 2022-03-18 10:46:56 [EST] (Supp. No. 141) Page 1 of 1 Section 1. Membership; terms. (a)Composition of Council.The Council shall consist of seven (7) members, including a Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem, elected as provided in this Article. (b) Method of election. The Mayor shall be nominated and elected from the city at large. The remaining six (6) members shall be nominated and elected by Districts. The election of District Councilmembers shall alternate between the election of representatives for Council Districts 1, 3 and 5 and the election of representatives for Council Districts 2, 4 and 6. (c) Council district boundaries. The city shall be divided into six (6) contiguous, reasonably compact districts, each of which shall consist of contiguous, undivided general election precincts and, to the extent reasonably possible, an equal number of inhabitants. The districts shall be numbered consecutively in a clockwise fashion beginning with the northeast district, which shall be District 1. The Council shall establish by ordinance the process for adjusting district boundaries and giving notice of any proposed boundary changes, and the manner of protesting such proposed changes. (d) Terms. Except as otherwise provided in Section 18 of this Article and Section 3(d) of Article IX, the term of office of the Mayor shall be two (2) years, and the term of office of all other members of the Council shall be four (4) years each; provided, however, that all such officers shall serve until their successors have been elected and have taken office. The terms of the Mayor and other members of the Council shall begin when they take the oath of office, which shall occur as the first order of business at the first regular or special Council meeting following the final certification of election results and after expiration of the recount period, or their appointment. (Ord. No. 23, 1981, 2-17-81, approved, election 4-7-81; Ord. No. 94, 1972, 1-4-73, approved, election 2-20-73; Ord. No. 197, 1986, § 1, Parts A, B, 12-16-86, approved, election 3-3-87; Ord. No. 154, 1988, 12-20-88, approved, election 3-7-89; Ord. No. 100, 1990, 9-4-90, approved, election 11-6-90; Ord. No. 15, 1997, § 1, 2-4-97, approved, election 4-8-97; Ord. No. 011, 2011, § 1, 2-15-11, approved, election 4-5-11; Ord. No. 001, 2017 , § 2, 1-17-17, approved, election 4-4-17) CHAPTER 7 - ELECTIONS ARTICLE III. - PROCEDURE Division 2 Election Precincts and Polling Places Fort Collins, Colorado, Municipal Code Created: 2022-03-18 10:47:09 [EST] (Supp. No. 141) Page 1 of 3 Division 2 Election Precincts and Polling Places Sec. 7-66. Established. (a) The City Council shall by ordinance divide the City into as many election precincts for municipal elections as it may deem expedient for the convenience of registered electors in the City, and shall designate by resolution the polling place within each precinct. Insofar as practicable, boundaries of election precincts in the City shall correspond with the election precincts established by the County. Each precinct shall be given a separate number designation as determined by the City Council. All precincts and polling places established pursuant hereto shall remain so designated until changed by the City Council. The City Council shall have the power to change or alter election precincts at any time. (b) If the boundaries of the City are enlarged by annexation, the territory annexed shall be included in the precinct which it adjoins with all precinct boundaries extending in a straight line from the former municipal boundary limit to the enlarged boundary limit. (Code 1972, §§ 9-1, 9-12) Sec. 7-67. Changes due to new precinct or boundary changes. (a) Changes in the boundaries of election precincts and the creation of new election precincts shall be completed not less than ninety (90) days prior to any municipal election, except in cases of precinct changes resulting from annexations. (b) All changes in precinct boundaries and in municipal boundaries shall be reported by the City Clerk to the County Clerk and Recorder, and a corrected map shall be transmitted to the County Clerk and Recorder as soon as possible after such changes have been effected. Sec. 7-68. Designation of precincts and polling places. (a) Polling places for the several election precincts in the City shall be designated by resolution of the City Council. (b) In the event that circumstances require any change to any polling place after designation by the City Council, the City Clerk is authorized to provide for a substitute polling place and is directed to give proper notice of any changes in the polling places. (Code 1972, § 9-7) Sec. 7-69. Polling place changes by petition. The City Council shall change any polling place upon petition of a majority of the registered electors residing within the precinct. Created: 2022-03-18 10:47:09 [EST] (Supp. No. 141) Page 2 of 3 Sec. 7-70. Judges may change polling places. (a) When it becomes impossible or inconvenient to hold an election at the place designated therefor, the judges of election, after notifying the City Clerk and after having assembled at or as near as practicable to such place and before receiving any vote, may move to the nearest convenient place for holding the election and at such newly designated place forthwith proceed with the election. (b) Upon moving to a new polling place, the judges shall display a proclamation of the change and shall station a police officer or some other proper person at the original polling place to notify all registered electors of the new location for holding the election. Sec. 7-71. Precinct map/amendment. (a) The boundaries of the election precincts as herein created in the City are hereby fixed and established as shown on the map entitled "District-Precinct Map," which map is on file in the office of the City Clerk. (b) Upon notice by Larimer County that its precinct boundaries have been amended, the City Clerk shall review precinct boundaries and recommend to City Council any precinct boundary changes to ensure they match Larimer County's precincts. (Code 1972, § 9-8; Ord. No. 005, 2017 , § 3, 1-17-17) Sec. 7-72. Rental of polling places. The City Clerk is hereby authorized to pay as rent for the polling place in each election precinct an amount established by the City Council. (Code 1972, § 9-6) Secs. 7-73—7-85. Reserved. Division 3 Election Districts0F 1 Sec. 7-86. Establishment. Pursuant to the Charter, the City is hereby divided into six (6) Districts. From each District one (1) City Councilmember will be elected. Such Districts are designated as District No. 1, District No. 2, District No. 3, District No. 4, District No. 5 and District No. 6, and are delineated on the District-Precinct Map which is adopted by ordinance and made a part hereof by reference and is on file in the City Clerk's office. (Code 1972, § 9-9; Ord. No. 130, 1990, 12-4-90) Sec. 7-87. Redistricting; notice. (a) The City Council shall, by ordinance, amend the boundaries of the foregoing districts as necessary to comply with the provisions of Article II, Section 1(c) of the Charter. The City Clerk shall cause to be published twice, 1Cross reference(s)—City Council, § 2-16 et seq. Created: 2022-03-18 10:47:09 [EST] (Supp. No. 141) Page 3 of 3 in a local newspaper of general circulation in the City, notice of the date, time and place of the City Council's consideration of any such redistricting ordinance. The first such notice shall be published no less than fourteen (14) days prior to the date of first hearing of the redistricting ordinance, and the second notice shall be published no less than ten (10) days prior to the date of the first reading of the same. (b) Not more than eighteen (18) months after the official decennial publication of the United States Census concerning the population of the City of Fort Collins, the City Clerk shall recommend to the City Council any district boundary changes necessary to ensure that, to the extent reasonably possible, there is no more than a ten-percent deviation between the most populous and the least populous district. (c) Not less than once every six (6) years after making the determination required under Subsection (b) above, the City Clerk shall again review the district boundaries to determine whether the maximum deviation between the most populous and the least populous district meets the standard described in Subsection (b) above. If the standard in Subsection (b) above is not met, the City Clerk shall recommend to the City Council any district boundary changes necessary to ensure that the districts conform to such standard. (d) The need to amend precinct boundaries pursuant to § 7-71(b) shall automatically cause the City Clerk to review current population deviations, regardless of how long it has been since the last review. If the deviation is found to exceed ten (10) percent, the City Clerk shall recommend that the City Council make boundary adjustments, and present the Council with possible redistricting options that to the maximum extent possible equalize the population in each district, subject to the requirements for contiguity and compactness set forth in Article II, Section 1(c) of the Charter, with a maximum permissible deviation of ten (10) percent between the most populous and least populous district. (e) Any changes to district boundaries shall be established by ordinance no less than one hundred eighty (180) days before a regular municipal election. (Ord. No. 26, 1998, 3-17-98; Ord. No. 063, 2011 , 6-7-11; Ord. No. 023, 2012 , § 1, 4-3-12; Ord. No. 105, 2012 , § 1, 10-16-12; Ord. No. 005, 2017 , § 4, 1-17-17) Sec. 7-88. Protest procedure. Any registered elector desiring to protest the manner of redistricting proposed in any such redistricting ordinance shall file a written protest with the City Clerk no later than noon on the Monday immediately preceding the date upon which the proposed redistricting ordinance is to be heard by the City Council on first reading. Such notice of protest shall be on a form available from the City Clerk, shall be signed by the protestor(s), and shall set forth (1) the name, address, and phone number of the protestor(s); (2) the title of the redistricting ordinance being protested; (3) with particularity, the grounds of the protest; and (4) any other information required by the City Clerk. Such protest shall be heard, considered and resolved by the City Council no later than the date of second reading of the proposed redistricting ordinance. (Ord. No. 26, 1998, 3-17-98; Ord. No. 224, 1998, 12-15-98; Ord. No. 021, 2016, § 8, 3-1-16 ) Secs. 7-89—7-100. Reserved. GIS 215 N Mason St PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.416.2050 970.221.6329 – fax www.fcgov.com/gis Population Based Redistricting Methodology Location based analysis is performed using point-in-polygon to aggregate the 2020 census population counts per county precinct. The point location information is 2020 US Census Bureau 2020 blocks, and the county precinct data are polygons provided by Larimer County. The process that summarizes the population counts into the polygons works by overlaying a polygon layer with another layer or Summarize Within. You can think of Summarize Within as taking two layers, the input polygons and the input summary features, and stacking them on top of each other. After stacking these layers, you peer down through the stack and count the number input summary features that fall within the input polygons. Not only can you count the number of features, but you can also calculate simple statistics about the attributes of the input summary features, such as sum, mean, minimum, maximum, and so on. The resulting output is a new polygon layer, and in our case the output polygon layer contains county voter precinct identifiers, and 2020 census population counts. The polygons are then categorized into districts 1 thru 6 and calculations are made to measure the deviation of each district from the ideal population needed to bring each district to an acceptable maximum deviation that does not exceed 10%. Static Variables Used for Calculations: 1. 2020 Total Districts Population = 169,810 2. Ideal Population Count per new district boundary = 2020 Census population block count totals in each district/number of districts = (169,810 ÷6) = 28,302 Calculated Variables 1. Percentage of Ideal population = (new district total population ÷ ideal population)100 2. Percentage from Ideal population = percentage of ideal population - 100 3. Lowest Difference of Change = min districts percentage from ideal 4. Highest Difference of Change = max districts percentage from ideal 5. Maximum Deviation within an option = absolute value(min districts percentage from ideal) + absolute value(max districts percentage from ideal) 2 Below is an example provided using Option 1 1. 2020 City Population = 169,810 2. Ideal District Population = (169,810 ÷6) = 28,302 District District Population Percentage of Ideal Percentage Change from Ideal Change Needed 1 28245 99.80 -0.20 -57 2 27911 98.62 -1.38 -391 3 28846 101.92 1.92 -544 4 28109 99.32 -0.68 193 5 29084 102.76 2.76 782 6 27615 97.57 -2.43 -687 Absolute % Change Lowest % Change -2.43 2.43 Highest % Change 2.76 2.76 Max Deviation 5.90 The calculated max deviation of 5.9 falls within the guidelines within city code, which states that a maximum permissible deviation of 10% between the most populous and least populous district must be achieved when redrawing district boundaries. Another consideration when redrawing district boundaries is that voting precincts that contain the address location a council member will by default be assigned to the council district. Figure 1. Default precincts to council members address location 3 Source data Current city council district boundaries which include precincts. https://gisserver.fcgov.com/arcgis/rest/services/GeneralGISData/CouncilDistrict/FeatureServer Current City Limits boundary. https://gisserver.fcgov.com/arcgis/rest/services/GeneralGISData/CityLimits/FeatureServer Updated Larimer County voting precincts. https://apps.larimer.org/api/gis/files/GIS_BoundariesGDB.zip 2020 Census block population totals. https://demography.dola.colorado.gov/