Oktibbeha County supervisors on Monday contracted with the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District for redistricting services, the same group that led that work for the county 10 years ago.
Redistricting is a process that follows the U.S. Census every 10 years and redraws the lines of representation within a particular entity — in this case the five county supervisor and the three justice court districts — according to federal guidelines.
Toby Sanford with GTPDD told supervisors Monday there could be no more than a 10-percent difference between the least- and most-populated district. If the current district lines fall within those parameters according to the 2020 Census, he said, the county would not have to redistrict.
Oktibbeha County’s population, though, grew by nearly 2,000 residents according to 2019 estimates, the only county to show growth in Sanford’s coverage area (which also includes Lowndes, Clay, Noxubee, Choctaw, Winston and Webster), he said.
“If you grow by that estimated number, … it’s almost guaranteed you’ll have to redistrict,” he said.
In 2011, Sanford said GTPDD received the census data from the year before in April. This year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic slowing down the process, he said it will probably come around June.
Once the numbers come and GTPDD can map the data, Sanford recommended supervisors hold public hearings before approving either new or the existing district lines. If the districts don’t change, he said, GTPDD will not charge the county. If they do, Oktibbeha will pay $15,000 for the service, the same as in 2011.
The districts must be contiguous, Sanford said, and include one district where minority groups outpopulate the majority. Right now, District 5 holds that designation for the supervisors, where Sanford told The Dispatch about 65 percent of the population is minority.
As of now, unlike past redistricting efforts, the county’s redistricting will not require preclearance from the U.S. Department of Justice.
District 3 Supervisor Marvell Howard expressed hope that what he believes to be “gerrymandered” lines, particularly inside Starkville’s city limits, will be corrected this year.
“I think this would be a good time to ungerrymander (sic) some things,” he said during the meeting. “There is a lot of gerrymandering that has taken place in years past.”
Speaking with The Dispatch later Monday, Howard specified concerns about how his district and District 5, which Joe Williams represents, connects. District 3 includes Greensboro Street and the neighborhoods around OCH Regional Medical Center in north Starkville, but District 5 takes up many of the residential areas between.
“We addressed some of this 10 years ago,” Howard said. “But there’s some that still needs attention.”
During Monday’s meeting, District 4 Supervisor Bricklee Miller pressed Sanford on whether redistricting could more evenly distribute road miles. She said her district had, by far, the most road mileage to maintain, yet board policy to divide road money evenly among the districts makes it harder to meet her district’s needs.
Howard clapped back at Miller’s suggestion.
“This is just about people,” he said. “This doesn’t have anything to do with road miles.”
Sanford, while acknowledging Miller’s point, agreed with Howard.
In other business Monday, supervisors heard a report from C Spire representatives promising to expand 5G cell service throughout the county by the end of this year.
The board also approved a pair of unanimous resolutions for roadwork — one to request $1.9 million from the state Legislature for a project on Oktoc Road and another to dedicate nearly $1 million in State Aid funds to repaving Maben-Sturgis Road.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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