White County’s District Seven Deemed Too Large At First Meeting

The White County Redistricting Committee needs to redraw district lines to move some of its northern population growth.

The committee met for the first time Tuesday night. The committee looked at the county maps together for the first time. County Consultant Ben Rodgers laid out the work the county needs to accomplish.

“Your problem right now is that District Seven is way too high and District One is way too low and they don’t touch,” Rodgers said. “So the committee is going to come up with a way to make District Seven smaller.”

District Seven is in the northwest of the county, containing the airport and Hormann plant. Rodgers said that area will likely be spread into District Three and Two. District Three is the Eastland and Hickory Valley areas, District Two contains northern Sparta. District One is in the center of the county, also containing Sparta.

Rodgers said the committee needs to get its district population deviation under a 10 percent difference.

“You’re trying to get under the magic number of 10 percent,” Rodgers said. “Right now you’re at 24 (percent), some counties go into it thinking they don’t have more than 10 percent in one district, so they’re good. Well, you’re adding the highest and lowest together to get your 24 (percent), so you’re 14 (percent) off.

The committee did take action Tuesday night, naming Commissioner Dale Bennett as Chairman and Commissioner Lanny Selby as Vice-Chairman. The White County Redistricting Committee will likely start altering maps when they return on October 5 at 7:00 PM.