Adhering to a requirement from the U.S. Department of Justice, a city redistricting plan that will evenly distribute the population among Starkville’s seven wards was unanimously passed by the Board of Aldermen Tuesday night.
The revised plan must now be approved by the DOJ, and if adopted, will be in effect for the next municipal elections in 2013.
Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins said he does not think the DOJ will have any problem with the proposed revisions and should easily approve the city’s plan. He commended the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District for their hard work and thorough presentations throughout the past months.
“I have looked at the plan presented to us tonight. It is my legal opinion looking at the totality of the facts and circumstances that it should gain easy approval from the United States Department of Justice,” Perkins said.
The DOJ requires cities to ensure there is less than 10 percent population difference between wards with the highest and the lowest number of citizens.
Under the approved plan, Ward 1 would lose approximately 1,500 residents and Ward 3 would lose about 1,200, while Ward 2 would gain more than 600 residents, Wards 4 and 5 would each increase by 500, Ward 7 would gain nearly 450 and Ward 6 would add over 500 residents. The redistricting brings the maximum variance of the seven wards to just over 9 percent.
The board also heard and adopted a proposed resolution from Director of Public Works Doug Devlin to issue general obligation dollars in the maximum aggregated principal amount of $2,640,000 in order to refinance outstanding State Revolving Fund loans at a lower interest rate.
The loans, taken out over the past several years, went to improve measures for drinking water including storage, treatment and distribution, and, previously entailed rates of over 3 percent. The new interest rate was obtained through a bid by Bancorp South and will be 2.12 percent over 15 years to pay off the loans.
In other board business, interviews for filling the city’s director of sanitation position were set for 5 p.m. next Tuesday at the Sportsplex. The board will interview six candidates from a group of 25 applicants.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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