 Included on the agenda for voting was a motion to approve a
recommendation to reduce the number of wards in the city of Lincoln
from five to four.A committee had worked with Will D'Andrea of
the Logan County zoning and GIS office to establish new wards for
the city. On the committee were Melody Anderson and Marty Neitzel
from the council; Chuck Conzo, city treasurer; and Mayor Keith
Snyder.
During discussion Snyder expressed appreciation to D'Andrea for
his assistance in the project. The mayor told the council that with
D'Andrea's help, the project had been an easy process.
Conzo also commented, echoing Snyder's words and adding that the
new ward map met all the state and federal requirements.
Anderson said she knew the change was going to be an adjustment
for everyone, but the committee had tried hard to do the
redistricting with as little impact on constituents as possible.
Jonie Tibbs said the change was something that was hard to
accept, but everyone had to. She said she felt part of the problem
was that it (the last census) was not done the old-fashioned way
with people going door-to-door. She said with the census arriving in
the mail, she felt sure there were those who had ignored it.
Neitzel said she felt the committee had done a good job of
keeping the wards basically the same. She noted that her ward was
Ward 5, which no longer exists. However, Neitzel and Jeff Hoinacki, her co-alderman, will still be serving
many of the same people in the newly aligned Ward 4.
When the motion to approve the recommendation came to a vote, it
passed unanimously.
Reducing the wards from five to four means that after the next
election, there will be only eight aldermen serving on the council.
David Armbrust and Stacy Bacon have already confirmed they will
not be running for re-election. This means that of the eight
incumbents remaining, there will be no competition for seats on the
council. However, as the laws are written, all eight must run for
re-election, and anyone who wishes to oppose them may do so.
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The new districts will take effect in May of 2013. When eight
aldermen are sworn into office, a lottery will be conducted in
council chambers to determine who will serve a two-year term and who
will serve a four-year term.
This will be done to re-establish the rotation of four aldermen
running for office every two years. The purpose behind this is to
assure that there are always at least four experienced aldermen on
the council.
It should be noted that though it seems unlikely, for this first
year, there is a possibility the city could have an entirely new
council if all the seats are contested and no incumbents win their
election.
___
Adopted ward boundaries
[By NILA SMITH]
Past related articles
-
June 15, 2011 --
City Briefs:
City redistricting would cut aldermen to 8
-
July 13, 2011 --
City Briefs:
Water shut-offs, stop signs and more
-
Sept. 14, 2011 --
City Briefs:
Prison closure, potential ward changes,
sewer problem and more
-
Sept. 16, 2011 --
County Briefs:
County prepares to contest city
annexation, discuses raises for nonunion employees and more
-
Sept. 24, 2011 --
County Briefs:
Board struggles with possible annexation
contest with city; approves nonunion pay raises, request for
public transportation funds, letter of support to keep prison
open and more
-
May 24, 2012 --
City discusses reducing wards from 5 to 4
-
Aug. 17, 2012 --
Spring election pushes city redistricting
decision
-
Sept. 12, 2012 --
City reviews plan for redistricting to 4
wards
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