Questions to City of Aiken Regarding its Council Redistricting Plan.

by Don Moniak

February 14, 2023.

Two hours and forty five minutes after Aiken Mayor Rick Osbon called the February 13, 2023 Aiken City Council meeting to order, the last item on the agenda was addressed:

“V(2). Approval of a Resolution Establishing City Council District Boundaries.

A RESOLUTION RELATING TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CITY COUNCIL MEMBER DISTRICT BOUNDARIES.”

The agenda item itself was contradictory, stating the resolution (1) established boundaries even though the resolution itself is only “relating to the establishment” of boundaries. In fact, the resolution does not define boundaries, it defines criteria for the boundaries. No boundary maps were released or approved via resolution Monday night.

According to the supporting memorandum (2) from City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh, boundaries will not be approved until after two public information sessions are held—more than one year after the process was initiated.

However, according to an exchange with contract attorney James Holly, boundaries have been drawn, if not finalized. After Councilwoman Lessie Price asked if “these are the latest plans that we reviewed at our last meeting,” Mr. Holley confirmed that was the case.

Mr. Holley has been working on redistricting with the city’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) office for more than a year, billing the city 35 hours and ~$9400 for the first six months of 2022 alone. Mr. Holley was present at the November 28, 2022, closed-door Executive Session which Council held, in part to “receive legal advice regarding possible changes to the City Council districts (3) resulting from the population and demographic information compiled as part of the 2020 Decennial Census.”

More legal advice on redistricting was provided during another Executive Session held on January 9, 2023.

To clarify the situation, the following email was sent to City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh and cc’ed to Mayor Osbon and City Council members.

Mr. Bedenbaugh, 

Could you clarify the resolution on City Council District Boundaries that was passed last night? Due to the meeting running so late, I deferred on asking any questions about this year-long process that has involved several Executive Session meetings. 

1. Your supporting memorandum stated that it was “necessary for Council to adopt via Resolution the criteria to produce updated district maps.” Ten criteria are identified in the resolution. 

2. On the other hand, the announced public information sessions are intended to “allow citizens to provide their input regarding the proposed updated Council district boundaries.” The first of these meetings is scheduled for February 23rd, one week from Thursday

3. During the reading of the resolution, you stated a map will be made available today. 

4. During the reading, Councilwoman Price asked: 

“Are these the last plans that we reviewed at our last meeting?” (This would have been an executive session on 1/9/23?). 

Attorney Holley replied in the affirmative. 

5. Questions: 

a.  Why were the criteria adopted more than one year after the process began as early as January 2022? In February 2022 contract attorney Jim Holley began meeting with GIS Administrator Tim DeTroye and others to work on this sensitive issue, and this work continued throughout 2022. For the first six months of 2022 alone, Attorney Holley billed  the city ~55 hours at a cost of ~$9400 for redistricting legal work. 

b. Why were the criteria adopted one day before the map would be made available? 

It sounds like Council actually adopted the boundaries last night by virtue of accepting the criteria to define the boundaries, and is now seeking public input on a decision, not public input on a process. If this is an incorrect assessment, please advise. 

Thank You,
Donald Moniak

Footnotes

(1) Resolution approved by Aiken City Council on February 13, 2023.

(2) Supporting City Manager’s Memorandum for the Resolution.

(3) Map of current Districts.