Residents of the City had voiced their concerns during Tuesday's Council meeting regarding the redistricting plan that was postponed from the previous meeting on Dec. 21, 2021. The plan will further be postponed until the next Council meeting on Jan. 18, 2022.
City Manager Megan Crouch explained that she recommended the postponement to the Council as the City has not had ample time to review the NAACP proposed plan due to major holidays.
The plan will redistrict the City’s eight Council wards which was postponed to go over the details of an alternative map proposed by the Lee County branch of the NAACP.
The City’s proposed map meets the legal requirements of the State and addresses the unequal population distribution which has grown since the last 10 years. The NAACP’s map, which caused the postponement, contains two majority-minority wards as the City only has Ward 1 represented by Connie Fitch-Taylor, the only non-white member on the Council.
The NAACP feels that the map better represents the growing minority population of Auburn. Auburn’s minority population has grown from 26.5% to 36.8% since 2010 to 2020.
Warren Tidwell, a resident, spoke on the partisanship he feels comes with redistricting and criticized Dorman Walker, whom the City hired to develop the plan.
“I implore the City to seek out non-partisan expertise - this is possible. I ask the Council to do the honorable and ethical thing and ask the City to bring in someone else in,” Tidwell said.
Bill Lee, resident of Ward 7, agreed with Tidwell’s comments and called for the City attorney and the redistricting consultant to be fired.
Crouch defended the City’s decision to retain Walker for consultation on the redistricting plan.
“I need to be clear about one thing and crystal clear. That consultant was retained by the City attorney as a redistricting expert. Mr. Dorman did not draw our districts, the staff drew the districts based on data,” Crouch said.
Kathy Molnar, resident of Ward 8, spoke in support of the NAACP plan saying that it would allow the diversity of Auburn to grow and afford all residents with the same access to opportunities in Auburn.
“Please seriously consider differences in representation and the ability to hear everyone’s voices and to bring in the strengths of the qualities of the new diverse people that are creating a much different and I think positive Auburn,” Molnar said
At the conclusion of Molnar’s speech, a small round of applause came from the audience.
Carolyn Carr, chief inspector of the Dean Road polling place, took issue with how the redistricting may affect polling. She cited the City’s redistricting plan 10 years ago and how it has confused many voters during elections.
“I am concerned about this because I really have a feeling we lived through a stupid decision and we may be heading into another similar decision of having these various polling places,” Carr said.
Carr ended her comments by saying if she could she would get on her knees and beg the Council to not make the same mistake that was made in 2010.
Crouch said that they cannot redistrict based on the county, but agrees with Carr that there needs to be better communication surrounding polling places.
Linda Lee, psychologist and resident of Ward 7, brought up the human aspect of the redistricting aspect and the lack of representation on the Council.
“I know that it’s very hard sometimes for a minority person to come to a majority white person and be able to talk about about an issue,” Lee said. “It is much easier to go to someone like Ms. Taylor. I don’t know, but I wonder if maybe Ms. Taylor gets comments from other districts.”
Taylor said that Lee was right in her assumption and that she does receive communications from people of color outside of her ward.
She said that it is hard for people to communicate what their actual needs are to someone who may not understand she said she should not be the only person on the Council for people of color to come to.
“I just hope everybody that sits to my left understands how important it is to be — to have more diversity on this council,” Taylor said. “I’m not saying that nobody on here does a bad job with their ward and everything, but people need to have somebody that they can relate to.”
Mayor Ron Anders defended the work that City had done on the redistricting plan and recognizes the passion surrounding the topic.
He also announced that the Auburn 2040 plan will be postponed yet again.
The Council will change the Feb. 1, 2022 meeting time to 5 p.m. to create ample time for the Council to look over the large development items that will be on the agenda.
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