The redistricting committee voted Monday to let the full County Commission decide this issue after representatives from the 5th and 6th District could not reach an agreement on what should be done.
At least three other proposals related to the issue did not pass. These included not making the change, putting off the Commission vote until the first meeting in November, and sending a survey to the people who would be affected. A motion to make the change was never voted on.
“The only issue that I see is that community voting precinct will be in a different district,” 1st District Commissioner Ed Elkins said.
Disagreement on whether this would create a problem or not led to a phone call asking for the committee’s election commission member, Pam Green, to come to the meeting.
“The election commission is going to find another voting precinct,” Green said.
Green said the old school location cannot be used because it no longer has sewage facilities, and a new school would not be ready for at least a few years.
Sixth District Commissioner Robert Rominger would like to see the 6th District lines redrawn to include the land Bradley County Schools has purchased because the school has historically been in his district.
This would require 105 people from Blue Springs Road and Blue Grass Circle be redistricted for the 6th District.
Fifth District Commissioner Jeff Yarber and Rominger both said they had talked to people from the Blue Springs area. Those who talked to Yarber are happy the way things are. While Rominger said he had received calls from people wanting their residences to be redistricted in the 6th District.
“Logic states, leave things the way they are,” Yarber said.
Yarber said this is the logic the committee adopted when it chose to affect as few people as possible.
During the work session of the Bradley County Commission, the issue was discussed and placed on the agenda for the next work session. Rominger said there are 49 registered voters in the area in question.
Yarber responded that as a commissioner he represented all of the 5th District, not just those who vote.
Initially, commissioners thought the lines could be redrawn and only affect two houses. The state regulations, which require redistricting to move entire census blocks, prohibits this.
Some commissioners were surprised when they found the property was in another district. Rominger said he knew the property was in a different district when the school system bought the land.
