The Richmond County Ad Hoc Redistricting meeting has one final meeting to gather feedback from citizens about their concerns when the county is redistricted to align with 2020 census numbers.
The 12-member committee has four representatives each; four from the Augusta Commission, four from the Richmond County Board of Education and four from the local legislative delegation.
The fourth and final meeting is Oct. 27 at 6 p.m. at Wheeless Road Elementary School. It will be livestreamed at this website.
The committee’s third session was held Oct. 25 at Richmond Academy. A total of 14 residents of the Summerville and Forrest Hills neighborhoods in District 3 spoke about their concerns, the highest number yet at any of the meetings.
Several speakers were unhappy neither District 3 Commissioner Catherine Smith McKnight or Super District 10 Commissioner John Clarke are members of the ad hoc committee.
“Why isn’t my commissioner, Catherine McKnight, on this commission,” asked Sherri Brunkow. “I do not want commissioners from other districts that don’t represent my neighborhood deciding on what’s going to be split and not split.”
“I would urge you to work closely with those members even if they are not senior members of the commission. They do represent us and do know the local area,” said Robert Mauldin.
“Forrest Hills has had an excellent relationship working with engineering and most of the county committees,” noted Marci Wilhelmi. “We’ve never had any problems that I’m aware of with the board of education. We are not anxious to break that up.”
[adrotate banner=”51″]
Former Mayor Bob Young reminded committee members Summerville is unique in Augusta-Richmond County.
“We are in an area that’s governed by a city ordinance for historic preservation. It is a defined area of this city, and it shouldn’t be split up,” he said. “My plea would be that you look at the map where you’re going to put people. You look at Summerville as a unique entity in this city that has defined boundaries under city law and you use that as a guiding principle to keep Summerville together, regardless of what district you put it in.”
The 2020 census shows Richmond County population grew by just 3% to 206,607 residents. Divided by the eight districts in the county, the ideal number for a balanced district is 25,825 people. However, District 3 population grew by 21% and now has 31,316 residents.
Resident David Moretz acknowledged the growth.
“With a growth of 21.26% in population, something’s got to give, regrettably. Consideration has to be given, as it was 10 years ago, not to divide three up too much,” he requested.
There is a website for citizens to get additional information on the process and view meeting videos.
There is a link to a citizen submission form for anyone who cannot attend one of the public meetings.
There is also an interactive map. Following the series of public meetings, the ad hoc committee will hold its next meeting on Nov. 10. That meeting, which will begin at 6 p.m., will be held at the Board of Education Office on Broad Street.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a Staff Reporter with The Augusta Press. You can reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com
[adrotate banner=”54″]
