by James Coleman —
District lines are set for the next decade after Shelby County Commissioners approved new commission district boundaries on an 8-5 vote during a special-called commission meeting Monday (Nov. 8).
While the approved final district maps did not sit well with some commissioners, the maps, because of amendments approved Monday, settled some of the contentious issues lingering over the plan approved last week, including:
■ Keeping all of the Collierville precincts within the Collierville-based District 2 and restored a Germantown precinct to District 4.
■ Preventing Democratic commissioner Michael Whaley and Republican commissioner Brandon Morrison from having to run against each other in a redrawn District 13 under a plan the commission approved last week.
Republican commissions still had concerns that the new district maps could yield Democrats a 9-4 majority on the commission over the next decade.
The district maps have to be redrawn every 10 years to reflect population changes caused by a new Census. The new maps take effect January 1. The county general election is Aug. 4. Party primaries for the general election are May 3.
“This is basically the same map we had before with a few changes that were brought forth in the last meeting (Nov.1),” said Darrick Harris, project leader for redistricting. “Basically, we moved what looks like one precinct per district based on some questions and concerns that came up at the last meeting.”
The amended version of map 4a3 also creates a new district for Cordova, which has grown in population since the last census.
Many of the changes concerned placement of voting precincts.
In addition to restoring Collierville 7 to District-2, it also returned Germantown 4 to District-4. It also moves portions of former District-13 into District-4 to create another precinct.
Furthermore, a precinct is moved to both District-7 and District-8, respectively.
