Eugene City Councilors deadlocked Wednesday while trying to decide how to finish redistricting city council wards. Mayor Jim Torrey cast the tie-breaking vote.
Torrey’s vote followed a contentious 45-minute session of dialogue between councilors and narrowed the choice to Violet-A and Indigo-D scenarios. The council has scheduled Nov. 26 as the date to choose the final plan, which will determine the boundaries of city voter districts for the next 10 years.
Under the Violet-A plan, most of the councilors would stay in their current districts. Adopting Indigo-D would unseat some incumbents and may also require following some additional criteria set forth by the state.
“According to (the criteria), I have to live in Ward 5, but I live in Ward 3 — which elected me,” said Councilor Bonny Bettman, whose ward represents most of the University and nearby housing. “So, who do I represent?”
Indigo-D would also put Councilors Bonny Bettman and Gary Rayor within the same district which would cause one of them to be reassigned.
The law mandates that each district have equal populations. City attorney Jim Lidz said that after redistricting, every councilor will not be representing all the voters who elected him or her in the first place.
Mayor Torrey said councilors may be letting the prospect of the 2003 election year influence their decisions.
“If none of us were running for office again, would we come up with the same map?” he said.
Councilors Bonny Bettman, Betty Taylor, Gary Rayor and David Kelly voted against keeping Indigo-D as an option, while Councilors Gary Papé, Nancy Nathanson, Pat Farr and Scott Meisner voted for it. The council discarded the Green scenario, which Nathanson said was disappointing.
“Green has merits, too. It keeps together the University and downtown. It keeps together the industrial areas,” she said.
The council must redraw voter districts following population changes measured in the 2000 Census. They have used a set of five criteria to come up with the proposed changes, which includes looking at areas as communities of interest. Councilor Meisner said deciding what does and does not define a community is not easy.
“What does Thistledown have to do with West University? What does Fifth and Blair have to do with Churchill?” he said. “Communities of interest are hard to define.”