The Committee of the Whole will take this item up on 3/8/2023 at 10:45 a.m.
Mayor Jordan Hess We have one additional public hearing. I just have to point out every time we do that that is required by state law and is a strange process if anyone's listening for the 2025 legislature that's, that would be a good priority. We have our Ward boundary redistricting public hearing at this time and I'll turn it over to Mark Hendrickson for our staff report.
Mark Hendrickson Good evening representatives. I'm Mark Hendrickson, I'm an associate planner with JS Focus in the Community Planning Division of CPDI and we are here today conducting the first reading and conducting a public hearing on amending the ordinance Title 1, Chapter 1.16, entitled election wards. So, every two years in preparation for City elections, staff updates Ward populations and proposes any changes needed toward boundaries in order to maintain practical equality of population by Ward. Every 10 years, Ward boundaries are adjusted, as needed, based on new census data. We are in a mixed year where we received the 2020 redistricting data but also it moved two years past when that data was accurate. Staff has decided to use the same methodology as before, using the census data, as well as building permits to calculate new population. The 2020 census data was released in spring of 2021, staff has processed it using the same methodology as was used in the 2011 redistricting effort. To calculate the base population in 2020, we use the households in each block, multiply that by the occupancy rate of the block, then multiply the average number of people per household for the block. Finally, we add group quarters population. After staff calculated the population base in 2020, we then calculate the block population increase by pulling in residential building permits multiplying the dwelling units associated with those permits by the occupancy rate for the block they've fallen, and then multiply that by the average household size as well. We can then add these two numbers together to get an updated estimated population for that census block. The only change that will happen is that we will gather the average household size and the occupancy rate from here on out using the American Community survey five-year estimates. This will enable us to capture larger demographic trends that may happen over the next 10 years. So, we're using residential building permits issued in 2021 and 2022 to estimate the number and distribution of the City's new population. Most residential development permitted in that two-year time frame will be completed and occupied by the end of 2023. This coincides nicely with the timing of the upcoming election and Ward representatives taking their seats in January of 2024. Here's a timeline of the last 12 years of redistricting efforts. In the 2021 redistricting effort, the decennial census redistricting data was not released yet. So, staff estimated population using the same methodology as the previous 10 years. We compared this methodology in population estimates with census data, in the percent of error that staff was off easing this methodology was under one percent. The estimated City population for the 2021 Ward redistricting project was 78,376 and using the same methodology as 2011 to process the decennial census, staff estimated the 2020 population to be at 78,576. Listed here are the guidelines we try to follow when redistricting. We need to maintain the population plus or minus 3% of Ward average for each Ward. We aim to keep Ward boundaries regular and compact in shape and size, so that they are convenient for voters. We aim to use natural and physical geographic boundaries. We aim to respect political and census boundaries where possible and we also need to avoid redistricting a seated representative out of their Ward. Here's a map of the current Ward boundaries with the location of award representatives in blue points. In terms of distribution of neighborhood representation, Ward 1, shown here in green represents six neighborhoods. Ward 2 in pink represents three neighborhoods. Ward 3 in blue represents three neighborhoods. Ward 4 in brown represents six neighborhoods. Ward 5 in purple represents six neighborhoods. Ward 6 and teal represents five neighborhoods. In terms of neighborhoods that are split already by current Ward boundaries, these consist of Captain John Mullan, Franklin to the Forth, North Side, West Side, University District, Southgate Triangle, Two Rivers, Moose Can Gully, and Rose Park. Here's a map of the residential development that took place in 2021 and 2022. The yellow points represent single family development and orange circles represent multi-dwelling units. The larger they are, the more dwelling units associated with them. Over these two years, 2,238 housing units have been added in the city. Development has occurred throughout the city though it has not been equally distributed. This map represents the new population that has been added according to building permits. It is important to remember moving forward that Ward populations varied from average calculated in 2021. The largest amount of dwelling units created during the previous two years was in Ward 2 shown here in pink. This accounts for more than 50% of new residential development, primarily in large multi-dwelling apartment complexes. The lowest amount of growth in the city occurred in Ward 4, shown here in brown, accounting for just over 2% of new residential development, mostly in single family dwelling units. As I said before, in 2021 and 2022, the City added 2,238 dwelling units for a total of 37,546 throughout the city. This added 4,872 people for a total estimated population of 83,448. This means that the average population per Ward is 13,908 and 3% of that average is 417. Taking it a step further, this means that the minimum population of a Ward should be 13,491 and the maximum population should be 14,325. We use the aforementioned table to run these calculations for alignment on each Ward. As you can see, Wards 1 and 5 are within alignment. Ward 2 is over the average of population by 1,852 people. Ward 6 is over the average population by 947 people. Ward 3 is under the average population by 1,758 people. Ward 4 is under the average population by 1,547 people. Because of this misalignment, Ward boundaries must be adjusted. Here's a map of our proposed boundary adjustment option. Black lines represent the current Ward boundaries, the colored polygons represent new proposed Ward boundaries, and the red circles highlight the changes made to each Ward in this proposed option of changes. I'll get into the specifics for each of these over the course of the next few slides, but overall big picture movements are the boundary along Wards 1 and 2 have slight shifts to a more suitable geographic boundary. The Kim Williams Trail moves to Ward 3 to account for the river boundary. This block has no population in it; it is more of a geographic change. Ward 6 shrinks in Franklin to the Fort Neighborhood putting more population in to Wards 3, 4, and 5. Ward 4 continues its movement southward into Ward 5 along Hillview Way and into Southgate Triangle Neighborhoods. Ward 6 continues its growth northward into the Sxwtpqyen neighborhood. In terms of distribution of neighborhood representation in this proposed change, Ward 1 would represent five neighborhoods, Ward 2 would represent three neighborhoods, Ward 3 would represent five neighborhoods, Ward 4 would represent six neighborhoods, Ward 5 would represent five neighborhoods, and Ward 6 would represent four neighborhoods. In terms of neighborhoods that are split by these proposed boundaries, they are the same amount of neighborhoods that are currently split by the adopted Ward boundaries. Here's an overview of the Ward 1 and 2 shift in the West Side neighborhood, blocks outlined in green are shifting to Ward 1, blocks outlined in pink are shifting to Ward 2. The numbers inside of each of these blocks represent the calculated estimated population using the methodology described before. So, in this switch, Ward 1 would gain 239 people, Ward 2 would gain 580 people. The reason behind the switch is that Scott Street is the main thoroughfare and West Broadway is a main thoroughfare. It allows Wards 1 and 2 to become more regular in shape and convenient for voters. Ward 1 is already within alignment and will grow with the Scott Street Reserve Master Plan. Here's an overview of movement from Ward 3 into Ward 6 and 6. Blocks outlined in orange are shifting into Ward 3. So, in this shift, Ward 3 moves across Russell Street into Franklin to the Fort and Southgate Triangle Neighborhoods. Ward 3 gains 1,885 people, Ward 4 loses 133, and Ward 6 loses 1,752 people. The reasoning behind the shift is that it starts a gradual movement of Ward 3 westward along 14th Street and South 3rd Street. It allows greater distribution of neighborhood representation among City Council members. It also allows Ward 3 to maintain a compact and regular shape. Here is an overview of the shift of Ward 4 into Ward 5. Blocks outlined in blue are shifting from Ward 5 into Ward 4. So, in this shift, Ward 4 gains 1,166 people and Ward 5 loses 1,166 people. The reasoning behind this shift is that Hillview Way and 39th Street are main thoroughfares and continues the gradual movement of Ward 4 Southward into Moose Can Gully and South 39th Street Neighborhoods. Here's an overview of Wards 4 and 5 shifting northward into Ward 6. Blocks outlined in blue are shifting into Ward 4, blocks outlined in yellow are shifting into Ward 5. So, in this shift, Ward 4 gains 401 people, Ward 5 gains 730 people, and Ward 6 loses 1,131 people. The reasoning behind this shift is at South 14th Street and Johnson are main thoroughfares. It continues the gradual movement of Ward 5 northward and into Ward 6 and it allows greater distribution of neighborhood representation among City Council members. Here's an overview of the shift of Ward 6 into Ward 2. Blocks outlined in brown are shifting from Ward 2 into Ward 6. So, this this shift, Ward 6 gains 1,842 people and Ward 2 loses 1,842 people. The reasoning behind this shift is that it un-splits an intentionally splits census block from 2021. It continues the expansion of Ward 6 north and west into Ward 2. It allows the Pleasant View subdivision to continue to be represented by Ward 2 and it also enables either word to capture future growth in the Sxwtpqyen neighborhood. Here's the proposed Ward scenario population. As you can see, all Wards are within alignment; however, Ward 1 is now 48 people from the Ward population average, Ward 2 is 213 from average, Ward 3 is 50 people from average, Ward 4 is 118 people from average, Ward 5 is 167 people from average, and Ward 6 is 76 people from average. This map, this shows a map of future movement of Ward boundaries within the next few iterations and what it may look like eventually based on current and projected trends of development. Entitled lots are shown on the map with larger circles representing a larger number of units in the subdivision. As you can see, the largest growth is expected to happen in Ward 2 and 5. Also the Sawmill District is expected is expected to grow Ward 3's population in the next few years. Entitled lots are not mapped for the subdivisions that have been approved in 2022 yet. So, some expected growth areas are going to be in the Sxwtpqyen neighborhood circled here in red, the Scott Street North Reserve master plan also circled here in red, and the Miller Creek area subdivisions circled here in red at the southern end of the city. There’s going to be movement of Ward 4 along Hillview Way into that growth. There's also going to be growth along Mary Jane Boulevard and finally in the Sawmill District. Shown here is a timeline of this project I first presented to you all at the Budget and Finance Committee on February 8, 2023 to set the public hearing. There have been two legal ads placed in the Missoulian on February 19, 2023 and February 26, 2023. I gave an informational presentation of the community Forum on February 26, 2023 as well. There is an Engage Missoula page where the public is invited to send comments. I have included the link here and it will be available on the home page of Engage Missoula. We've had a total of, we have had 70 total visits to the page and one public comment through Engage Missoula. Next City Council meeting will be on March 13, 2023, which will be the second public reading and final consideration. Here's a recommended action that we are inviting questions and comments from the public on. I'm here to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.
Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you Mr. Henderson. And with that, I will open the public hearing first and then we'll come back to any public or any Council discussion. Ms. Bornstein.
Maggie Bornstein Hello, good evening. For the record, my name is Maggie Bornstein. It's been a while since I've done things this way and I just want to say, I'm speaking on behalf of myself and not my employer, but I will reference some things related to things that I've seen in my work right now. And I've seen kind of what happens with Senate districts, and these are getting close to the numbers and Senate districts and legislators get to pick what they put on their name tag, whether it's the name of their county. I've seen a lot of correction happening to say I mostly represent Laurel and not Billings and I think that I understand the nature of this and trying to expand the number of neighborhoods that are represented across the board, but I'll say I'm a ward 3 resident now but in my experience being a Ward 1 resident, I often felt that the issues related to downtown were not given the same consideration as those issues related to what was happening in the Rattlesnake and on the North Side, and I don't mean to say that with any ill will to the folks that represented me there, but that by nature, I just feel like expanding the greater number of neighborhoods will not lend itself to better government and I would really encourage City Council to perhaps direct staff to draft an alternative map. And then, I think that also kicks it back into your hands to have a little bit more onus on, on the direction that you take in allowing the City Council to decide between potentially two maps I think that's a better way to govern and, and a way to kind of stand behind that because I think they are significant changes. And I'm speaking really to the efforts to split up Franklin to the Fort, I think that's a really, really unique neighborhood with unique needs and I kind of am worried about the delusion of their issues by spreading that further across more Council people. I think that having more localized neighborhood representation lends itself to better government. I think overall what is good for one Ward is really good for the City of Missoula as a whole but I think that just one principle that that's sort of the direction that we should move towards rather than splitting it up, though I do understand that a lot of staff time has been put into this and I do understand that it's coming from a very great place. I just disagree with the nature of it and so I'd offer you the opportunity to consider it further. Thanks.
Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you. Thanks for your comments. Anyone else tonight? Okay, I don't see anyone else online or in the room. A couple items, by way of housekeeping, so I, my understanding is that this will go back to committee for additional discussion, as well just to make sure that we meet our, our deadline. Ms. Jones, is that's just confirming that I guess please?
Alderperson Jones Right, we have a deadline, and my understanding is there may be some more attention paid to the maps, right.
Mayor Jordan Hess Okay and then, so we can go on next to questions from Council and let's just go ahead and take questions and comments at this time. So, I've got Ms. Jordan and then Ms. Vasecka.
Alderperson Kristen Jordan Thank you. Thank you Mr. Hendrickson for that really great report and I too, I'm with the woman who just provided comment. I know this is not an easy task, but I do have some questions for you. The first one I have; I just have two questions. The first question I have for you is on slide 18, you have no projected growth in Franklin to the Fort and I'm curious how that is a possibility? Because we have River Road, we have a lot of open areas, we're seeing a lot of, of growth and I know that you kind of used previous parameters to kind of project future parameters, but I see Franklin of the Fort being a pretty hot spot. It's the smallest Ward, it's the densest Ward, and I'm just curious why we don't see any expected growth according to your metrics?
Mark Hendrickson Yes, so you are, you are correct and think about it, it can grow, it can definitely grow into a much more, much denser neighborhood than what it is. The metrics that I'm using is just entitled lots, so that's lots that have been or lots that have been approved by City leadership.
Alderperson Kristen Jordan Okay.
Mark Hendrickson City Council….
Alderperson Kristen Jordan Okay. Thank you. May I have one more question?
Mayor Jordan Hess Of course, go ahead.
Alderperson Kristen Jordan In lieu of what is happening at the state level regarding the restrictions that may or may not be placed on how many City Council Members we can have in each Ward. I'm wondering if we put any thought into how that might affect our Ward redistricting and whether or not we might consider having more Wards? We could be drastically affected by a decision that is going to be made at the state level here and that's going to impact our Wards and who can, who can be in office, and I'm just wondering if we have any plans in place to prepare for that potentially big change that will affect half of our City Council?
Mayor Jordan Hess Yeah, so, I’ll take that and then if any staff want to fill in any, any gaps, they're welcome to. Our interpretation is that that legislation, as proposed, does not impact us since we have, since we have a charter. It's our interpretation that that only affects City governments that utilize general powers rather than self-governing, local governments. Our charter, that, that legislation frankly sets us up for a potential constitutional conflict. Our charter is, is protected in a lot of ways under, under, in the state and likely has supremacy over that law and that's, that's our view. It may require some, some form of interpretation, whether it's by a court or, or legal interpretation in order to be certain of that, but that's my understanding and since I just invoked a legal opinion that I'm that I'm or gave a legal opinion that I'm not qualified to give, I should probably give our attorney an opportunity to, to fill in on that but that's my understanding from a lot of the discussion. And Mr. Nugent.
Jim Nugent Yeah, I can understand why there's all the concern and we have to really bide our time, and wait and see what actually ends up being adopted. There's several bills right now that might conflict with our existing charter including partisan and non-partisan and right now, we asked for the voters want nonpartisan elections. There's also the one about Senate Bill 420 and moving, well there's more than one that's proposing the move the elections to the even number years. If some of them pass and if there's an immediate effective date that affects this particular year, say on the one that Kristen is asking about, we'll have to scramble obviously to try and abide by that new law. Now to answer one of her questions is technically, the City Council can create more Wards. The state law and even your own charter allow you to create more Wards. Right now, there is a state law that says up to 10 Wards, but because we're self-government, we're probably not bound literally to the 10 Ward maximum, but you can be pondering that you do have flexibility if you need to engage in that conversation. It's going to be quite a conflict with some of these laws because the filing time period will be opening, I believe, next month. Marty is usually in close coordination with the elections office about when the filing, I think it's 60 days and it's usually part of April through May into June, but it's premature at this moment and until we know for sure what passes, it's difficult to be planning anything except that you almost have to be prepared as an administrative staff to like be an emergency service responder and become a fireman or a policeman quickly trying to address whatever the aftermath is from the state legislature. So, it's a good question and there obviously are several areas that are being proposed that are in conflict with our charter, and you would think that if the voters vote and adopt a charter, the charter should prevail, but we saw what happened with the gas tax that was adopted in the 1920 or the 2021 legislature totally eliminated the laws, so that they didn't exist. So, you couldn't collect the gas tax.
Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you. Ms. Jordan, do you have a followup?
Alderperson Kristen Jordan Yes, I just have a comment to make. Just a final comment that I wanted to make sure got during a City Council meeting because we have a different audience than we do on committee day and that is, is that it's really tough as a representative of Ward 6 to see it getting piecemealed out. And again, I, I understand staff are doing the best they can, this is by no means a derogatory comment on the work that you've done in this, in this area Mr. Hendrickson. It's more coming from as an elected official of a neighborhood that's getting piecemealed out to other, other Wards when we have an identity, we have a community in Franklin to the Fort and, and this Ward is a diverse Ward that is actually pretty, pretty proud of being a Ward together. And I, I am, I am concerned about the fact that Franklin to the Fort continues to kind of shift people into other areas regardless of how it affects the neighborhood feeling. I think that this feels like it I guess if Franklin to the Fort kind of hadn't been not looked after for so long, which it hasn't been, we are, we are lacking in infrastructure, we are a food desert, we are an infrastructure desert. It feels like Franklin to the Fort is a, is a parts car that is available when other cars break down and as a representative of Ward 6, I want to see that not happen anymore and if we were to go to more than six Wards, I would love to see potentially maybe a River Road Ward and a Franklin to the Fort Ward because those are two distinct areas and I think it's just frankly, no pun intended unfair that Franklin to the Fort keeps getting the bottom of the barrel in infrastructure investment, Ward realignment, zoning updates. It's frustrating and I'm hearing from my constituents about it and that's, that's all. Thank you.
Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you Ms. Jordan. Ms. Vasecka and then Mr. Carlino.
Alderperson Vasecka Yeah, thank you. I, I basically just want to echo what my Ward mate said. With this presentation, there I, I really understand all the work that was done at Mr. Henderson and I'm not dismounting any of that because there were a lot of rules and goals that you had to, that you wanted to adhere by but as a Ward 6 representative, out of the three out of the six major changes that were happening, we were in half of them and so our Ward is getting drastically, drastically changed. And I have heard from a lot of folks, especially in the Franklin to the Fort Neighborhood that right now it is represented by Ward 5 and Ward 6, so it is divided in between two Wards but with this proposed change it is going to be divided it's going to add two more I guess two more Wards so then four more award representatives and it's a lot of, of our constituents have reached out about the frustration with that. So, I was wondering if it could be possible to I don't know do some do a little bit of changes to try to keep Franklin to the Fort within just Ward 5 and Ward 6, if that was possible to adhere by the natural boundaries that you wanted to adhere by in the population changes? So, I understand if it can't happen, I just, I would like to see if, if it is able to happen. I, I would be very interested and I'm sure a lot of our constituents would be really interested in seeing what that proposed map would be, if it is possible?
Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you.
Alderperson Vasecka Thank you.
Mayor Jordan Hess Mr. Carlino then Ms. Sherrill.
Alderperson Carlino Yeah, I just had a couple questions. I was wondering if during the redrawing of the Wards, if that would be the appropriate time to, to move to adding more Wards in the future or if we would want to do that at a separate time?
Mayor Jordan Hess Mr. Nugent. Jim Nugent.
Jim Nugent Yeah, I would suggest that you have to take it to committee and discuss it in committee, but it's appropriate to be doing it now, as you're trying to deal with or address this topic at this time. The thing is, you'll have to potentially running into the deadline that Gwen's talking about, you might have to have some special meetings just to focus on, on dealing with the Wards and it'll be real important to have a lot of public notice, so that the public can provide you with some input on their thoughts, but there's, there's no law that says you make the referral now or you make the revision now or you add the number of Wards now. So, really, the Council decides all this and it's up to the Council to see when they think they can work it in and if the Council thinks it can work it in right now, in this current process, you have the opportunity to do that. The Council makes policy and sets this type of stuff, so you are the policy making body that needs to discuss it and someone has to put it in the committee for discussion or it can evolve out of what you've got going on now, but there needs to be more notice if you're changing the number of Wards, in that you're gonna have to have Marty getting a lot of notification out that there might be more Wards, even one person per Ward, but I think that, that might most likely won't apply to the City of Missoula the way it was currently written, but until we know what the other chamber does and whether it gets amended and whether it ends up on the governor's desk and whether the governor signs it, we're in a real limbo, in a holding pattern and I think they're going to have to get more sensitive to the fact that the filing is opening here real soon for the municipal offices. So, you would hope they’d have some sort of sensitivity to try and not mess up things that are already underway, like if people are already filing for office to suddenly say there'll be no election this year is that a minimum awkward obviously.
Mayor Jordan Hess [laughs]. Ms. Rehbein.
Marty Rehbein There’s lots of reference to candidate filing and I just wanted to note that candidate filing, according to the calendar that is on the Secretary of State's website is April 20, 2023. And a City Council ordinance that is not an emergency ordinance takes 30 days to go into effect. So, one of the reasons why we try to finalize Ward boundaries 30 days in advance so, that'd be March, March 21, so 31 days in March, so that this ordinance will be in effect before April 20, 2023. So, if you're going to amend boundaries, probably want to adhere to the same schedule. It’d probably need to be some sort of a, an emergency ordinance and like City Attorney Nugent indicated, you'd want some public input on it just the way you're taking it tonight.
Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks. Mr. Carlino.
Alderperson Carlino Yeah, one more question please. I was just wondering, I guess, just kind of for the Council and staff, but just wondering if we considered that keeping neighborhoods together in the same Ward and perhaps having less neighborhoods per Ward when we're looking for the neighborhood equity amongst words could make for better representation? I just want to throw that out there, that perhaps having less neighborhoods per Ward, can make for better representation than having five or six neighbor, neighborhoods for each Ward. I guess, I'm just wondering what staffs thoughts are on that or Council members?
Mayor Jordan Hess Mr. Hendrickson.
Mark Hendrickson Yeah, so, there’s some neighborhoods that can, that have stayed the same, they stayed under one Ward. There are neighborhoods that will need to be split by representatives just because of the size, the population size of them and also where Council members live. We can't redistrict Council members out of their Ward, so there's a lot of fine-tuning that goes along with this process and, and those two are kind of the biggest caveats that we can't get around.
Mayor Jordan Hess And, and did we reduce, as far as the number of, I guess if I could maybe restate the question? Did, did the number of neighborhoods represented, so for example you, you said that Ward 1 represents five neighborhoods and, and so on, did those become more balanced through this redistricting or did those numbers change dramatically?
Mark Hendrickson So, the, the distribution of representatives among neighborhoods, those went up. The only Ward that represents below four neighborhoods is Ward 2 or yeah the lowest amount of representative neighborhoods is Ward 2 and that's just the amount of growth that they're seeing. So, we need to keep them a little bit on the lower end, so we they can accommodate growth from the future. In terms of split neighborhoods, the neighborhoods that are split with this proposal maintains the same neighborhoods, of the neighborhoods that have been split by the adopted boundaries, but the current adopted boundaries.
Mayor Jordan Hess Okay, thanks. So, next I have Ms. Sherrill and then Ms. Jones.
Alderperson Sherrill Yeah, thanks. This, this, it sounds like this might be going back to committee, so I might be doing kind of some semantics here and, and I appreciate Mr. Carlino's question because as a representative of Ward 4, I have six, Mike and I have six neighborhoods and we continue to have six neighborhoods after this change, but that's a lot of neighborhoods and we have little pieces of some of those neighborhoods, which I, I don't think is ideal. So, I do understand Mr. Carlino's concern. I also understand when we have to abide by state law and we're trying to be within 3% that it's really hard to do that. So, anyway, I'm glad you didn't give me eight as I guess my, my thought on the matter, but anyway, I know you're looking at expected growth and we do this every two years, so this is the second time that I've done this on Council, and I do appreciate that you're looking at the number of neighborhoods. One of my concerns and I think I brought this up on, on Wednesday whatever Wednesday it was that we saw this and maybe is, is talking a little bit about what Kristen was saying, is like the moving back and forth, I, I'm really worried about that because I am one of those representatives that lives on the edge of my Ward and I'm sure that that you know that Mark because you were trying to draw my house in, but you know those, those neighbors, the, the people that live on the edge of these Wards, I'm really worried about them being moved back and forth. I realize we're probably not doing it every two years, but if, but since we do this every two years, I mean every four years if you get moved if you're in Ward 3 and then you're in Ward 4, and then you're in Ward 2, I mean, well I guess you couldn't get to 2 very easily, but are we look I guess my the long-winded way of saying this is are we looking historically at where those lines have been not just two years ago? So, you know, the retired couple that's living on the edge of the Ward hasn't moved Wards you know every two years when they've been living in their house for 40 years. I'm, that's one of my concerns, I, I also want to say that I appreciate this discussion and I appreciate all my colleagues concerns around it because I think it's a, it's a very complicated thing for you to try to do Mark, and I think every, every point that's been brought up is really good.
Mayor Jordan Hess Mr. Hendrickson, do you want to add anything to that?
Mark Hendrickson So, based on the population model, I, we're striving not to change people back and forth. Obviously, that's a, that's a concern. I think the, the whole goal between the future growth perspective, that last slide in 18, is just a guidance of where this will go in the future. And so, with that feature growth perspective, I used ward 3 as, as kind of a catalog of being like okay well let's, let's look at a Ward that’s bounded by a bunch of other boards. So, it can't necessarily annex into new parts like Ward 2 or Ward 5 or Ward 4, and so, with that future growth perspective, the, the population would be, would have to be at 96,000 to reach that type of, that type of movement. That was the whole goal of that was to try to get the future or predict the future.
Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you. Ms. Jones and then Mr. Nugent.
Alderperson Jones Thanks. So, clearly, I think we need to hear this in committee on Wednesday, which is fine, and I would just put this to Marty and you can chew on it if I'm thinking we could have a 10:45 to 11:45 cal meeting to discuss this. And I just wanted to point out something and then just a kind of a comment/question. We are, our charter calls for two representatives per Ward and if we, we are already by far the largest City Council in all of Montana and if we start adding more Wards on, we have to abide by that. So, to me, the local government study that is coming up in a year or so is actually the proper venue for the community to really look at this topic, if they think it's important enough because otherwise, we're, I just don't think it's appropriate with one week before a deadline to be having a completely new topic and I certainly hear the issues regarding the impact on Ward 6. So, Mark, I'm hoping Wednesday, if you can speak more to future growth and the directions we need to go in for future growth because the Wards are going to change and we have to figure out how to, what's the goal in terms of coherently having Wards that have an identity for lack of a better phrase. So, I just wanted to ask if you'll do that on Wednesday? As my question….
Mayor Jordan Hess Thanks. Mr. Nugent then Ms. Anderson.
Alderperson Mike Nugent Thank you Mr. Mayor. I appreciate all the comments I would echo my Ward mate, Ms. Sherrill’s, comments about all the neighborhoods we represent. They’re all great, but there's a lot of them. I would say similar to some of the election bills in front of the state legislature right now, everything that's in front of the state legislature as an election bill should be a study bill not a, an actual bill and if that's what we believe at the state level then that is what we should do at the local level too and I. I am open to the idea of more Wards and changing the charter and single representative and all that, but I think that conversation should be a year prior to the deadline for notice to properly file for Council seats, not a week before. So, I just think that we've got to be careful to, if we are frustrated by the standard that the state legislature is setting, I think we've got to be careful to not discount on one hand but then do it on the other and those are just my thoughts on that.
Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you. Ms. Anderson.
Alderperson Anderson Thank you Mr. Mayor. This, okay, so this probably is a question for Marty, if not Mr. Nugent in regards to, can you walk us through a little bit further the deadline? I'm concerned that you know we're having a committee and then we're supposed to vote on it again next Monday for finalization, and I'm wondering if we could have some more time and to have these discussions, but so something about 30 days before the April 20th deadline and we're bound by that no matter what?
Mayor Jordan Hess Ms. Rehbein.
Marty Rehbein So, what's before you tonight is an ordinance. An ordinance, that regular ordinances take 30 days to be adopted under state law and by your charter. So, if you want more time, this ordinance would need to be an emergency ordinance plus a regular ordinance because emergency ordinances go into effect immediately, but they're only effective, Jim, correct me if I'm wrong, 90 days and so you'd want the regular ordinance to be in effect. So, they should essentially say the same thing, so that there's continuity of the effectiveness of the two things, the emergency and regular. So, I would say, you can take more time, you just need to draft an emergency ordinance to go along with this and, and whatever boundaries you end up deciding.
Mayor Jordan Hess Okay, thank you Ms. Rehbein. Does that answer your question?
Alderperson Anderson So, if we would like to continue on that path to have more time, how should we indicate that?
Mayor Jordan Hess Could I suggest, we cross that bridge if we get to it?
Alderperson Anderson Okay.
Mayor Jordan Hess We do have another week, so….
Alderperson Anderson Copy that. Thank you.
Mayor Jordan Hess Okay. Ms. Becerra.
Alderperson Becerra Thank you. I just wanted to comment that I, I have some concerns about the current map, but I think, I'm gonna have concerns no matter what map comes before us because there's always pluses and minuses to everything, and I just want to point out for my colleagues on Ward 4, that while Ward 2 has a significantly low number of neighborhoods, my neighborhoods are huge because geographically speaking, they encompass a huge amount of territory. And so, I think it's, what's important for me at least is that neighborhoods feel cohesive and that they remain unified, rather than split. It's not so much the number of neighborhoods that I could end up representing or, or anyone in Ward 2, and I, I just I also want to point out that Ward 2 is growing significantly and Sierra and I have not met many of the new residents of Ward 2, which makes it really challenging on a number of levels, but….So, like I said, I, I think that no matter what staff presents us, we're gonna, there's gonna be pluses and minuses to, to all of it, but I would encourage us to do what we can to keep neighborhoods not divided. Thanks.
Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you. I don't see any additional hands. I’ll just stay, for what it’s worth, and I’m not advocating one way or another, I, when I represented Ward 2, it was very cohesive and it included everything west of the Bitterroot Branch railroad tracks and everything in between the mainline railroad tracks and the river. So, it really included all of the west side and all of West Broadway. Over the years, that got carved off and the west side got bifurcated between Wards 1 and 2, and I actually found that to be a benefit. I, I thought, I appreciated having four representatives to work on some of the complex issues along West Broadway. I appreciated the collaborative nature and I appreciated having more voices at the table and I, I didn't see that to be a problem in, in what is also an underserved area being, being split into two Wards. I actually found it to be practically on the ground beneficial. So again, not, not advocating one way or the other, but just adding that alternate perspective. I see Jim Nugent. Mr. Nugent.
Jim Nugent Yes, I wanted to point out that Marty gave a real good outline of where you're at and where you have to be if there's any emergency ordinance, but if necessary, like she pointed out, the emergency ordinances are only good for 90 days for the non-land use ones. So, you could adopt them together on the same night. One of the things other things that's an unknown is that once the filing has opened, for orderliness, you'll want to have your Wards pretty well determined, so people would know where to file, but there really isn't any law that provides strict adherent guidance for you on that. If you went into that a week or two, I don't think the world would end, but I would urge that you try and have something done by the April 20, 2023 deadline that Marty just indicated was when they could commence filing. And then, I just observed that if, if Senate Bill 420 passes and there's the municipal elections are moved to even number of years, you might get your year to study what you want to do for the future. And one of the things that the city has to be wondering about with respect to Senate Bill 420, if they moved the elections to the even numbered years for cities, even though that conflicts with our charter, what will the County elections people do? Because Marty doesn't conduct the elections, the City Clerk's office doesn't conduct the elections, we retain or hire the county to conduct the elections, and would the county insist that we follow Senate Bill 420? That’s another unknown that's out there with respect to if we end up seeing Senate Bill 420 pass and right now, it seems to have a lot of steam.
Mayor Jordan Hess Thank you. All right, there are no additional hands raised. Would anyone like to make additional comments tonight? Seeing none, so our rules state that one member can refer an item back to Council or back to committee after a public hearing and I will interpret Ms. Jones remarks as her doing that.
Alderperson Jones Yes.
Mayor Jordan Hess Okay, so Ms. Jones has referred this item back to committee and it'll be heard on Wednesday, and we will have it back here for final consideration on March 13, 2023. Anything additional on this item before we move on? Okay, seeing none, we can move on.