Members of the Richmond County School Board voted on Dec. 14 to ask the state legislature to approve a map to redistrict county commission and school board districts. The map, being called the “minimal change” draft and was approved by the Augusta Commission on Dec. 7, was drawn by Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Office in Atlanta.
The school board vote split on the same 6-to-4 margin as the commission vote. Board President Charlie Hannah and Trustee Venus Cain, who both served on the Richmond County Ad Hoc Redistricting Committee, were joined by trustees Wayne Frazier, A.K. Hasan, Patsy Scott and Shawnda Griffin on supporting the map. Trustees Jimmy Atkins and Helen Minchew, who both served on the ad hoc committee, voted no, along with Walter Eubanks and Charlie Walker, Jr.
MORE: Augusta Commission votes on redistricting map
The 2020 census shows Richmond County population grew by 3% to 206,607 residents. That means the ideal, balanced district size is 25,825. However, District 3, represented by Catherine Smith-McKnight, grew by more than 21% and now has 31,316 residents.
Prior to the vote, the board heard from three citizens including Rev. James Williams, representing Helping Our People to Excel, and Rev. Anthony Booker, president of the Baptist Ministers Association of Augusta. Both spoke in favor of the state drawn map.
The third speaker was Maggie DeLoach, president of the Summerville Neighborhood Association. She reiterated comments she made to the commission that residents oppose the minimal change map because it further divides their neighborhood.
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“The opinion of our residents is clear. They wish to maintain their representation as is and desire to keep their community in line with the guiding principles of the redistricting process,” she said. “The ad hoc redistricting committee had the opportunity and the obligation to act upon the voices of its electorate. We are advocating not only for Summerville, but Pepperidge, Woodlake, Fleming Heights and Forest Hills, all of which its citizens are affected by this decision.”
DeLoach also repeated the comment she made to the commission that SNA is considering filing a lawsuit to stop use of the map.
The map must still be reviewed by members of the local delegation of Georgia’s House and Senate.
“We hope that the state legislature recognizes the faults with this map and provides us with one that grants fair representation for all. We are certainly prepared to send it to federal court if needed,” said David Dunagan, chairman of the SNA Redistricting Committee.
Cain had opposed the map during a series of committee meetings and public meetings to collect citizen input. Eubanks asked why she changed her mind.
“I realized that no matter what we do on this end of District 3, nobody was going to be happy,” Cain explained. “The way I look at it, let the judge make the decision. Nobody’s going to argue over what the judge said. No matter what we did, how we did, no one was going to be happy. Period, point blank, somebody was going to get their feelings hurt.”
A judge made the decision for the 2011 redistricting map.
Atkins explained why he stood by his decision to oppose the draft map.
“That very first minimal change map we were presented, we were told was just a rough draft. I even made the comment at one meeting that we should have never presented it in public because it got a lot of uproar,” he began. “It was all for nothing. We made a mockery of the entire system. I made a comment that if I had known that’s how it was going to turn out I wouldn’t have agreed be a part of that Ad Hoc Committee. And I still feel that way.”
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a Staff Reporter with The Augusta Press. You can reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com
