After months of work, hours of deliberation and a weeklong delay, the Athens City Council unanimously voted in favor of the city’s new district map in its meeting Monday at City Hall.
The vote had been pushed back a week by the council due to concerns raised by members of the public and District 3 councilman James Lucas during their regularly scheduled meeting May 13.
“I’ve been working with the people who draw up the map, and they showed me all the different ways to fix the issues while staying within legal guidelines,” Lucas told The News Courier after the vote. “I’ve tried to keep as many Black people in the district as possible, legally.”
In Monday’s meeting, Lucas introduced a proposed amendment to the previously drawn up map that resolved some of the “issues” that he found in his district.
“Two blocks had been taken out of my district and I wanted them back in there,” Lucas said. “It didn’t make sense to me to take them out, and we got those back.”
The council voted unanimously in favor of Lucas’s proposed changes Monday, allowing for the vote on the amended district map to go forward.
Council president Dana Henry talked to The News Courier after the long awaited vote, expressing her gratitude to the city employees who helped draw up the approved map.
“Members of the planning department truly deserve a lot of credit, because they’ve been working on this for at least six months,” Henry said. “They consulted with Alabama State University several months ago, and they worked alongside them to create the best map they possibly could.”
Henry also noted that the final draft of the map, which was approved by the council, was the most accurate map to represent the people of Athens.
“We had the opportunity to study several different versions of the district map, and some of which were unobtainable,” Henry said. “In terms of numbers, the one that was presented and voted on tonight was the best representation of the districts.”
The passage of the new district map came after totals from the 2020 Census revealed that Athens is one of the fastest growing cities in the state, and a redrawing of district lines would be needed to adequately reflect the increased population.
The redistricting process needed to be completed prior to the next municipal election in August 2025, with enough time to inform Athens natives as well.
“We’ve been working on this whole process with our city planners for about a year,” Mayor Ronnie Marks said. “This vote means that people know exactly who their representatives are, and they know what voting boundaries they fall in now.”
Members of the public aired grievances with the map, particularly with District 3, prior to the vote in Monday’s meeting. Accusations of possible gerrymandering were heard, but Mayor Ronnie Marks and city attorney Steve Black said that there was no discrimination in the drawing of the districts.
“How you put the lines together, and how you stay continuous in the lines of the map, took a lot of time and we made sure to do it correctly,” Marks said. “The growing population and diversity of the city is a good thing, we are okay with taking time to make sure everyone is represented properly.”