School Board Representation Needs To Change

Anita Weston, Reporter

Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, Utah. February 15, 2014.  A meeting concerning representation for Garden City for the School Board membership was held to discuss the law deciding representation.  Currently there are two individuals from Randolph, one from Woodruff, one from Laketown, and one from Garden City.  State statutes states that five school board members are required for all schools with less than 10,000 students.

There were between 15 and 20 people in attendance at the meeting including all three County Commissioners, Becky Peart, the County Clerk, and Tammie Calder, a current school board member.  Bryce Huefner took charge of the meeting.  He presented some facts indicating that Garden City is not fairly represented.

Bryce showed a table showing the census figures from ten years ago and then the numbers from the last 2010 census.

City	10 Years Ago	2010 Census	Representatives
Garden City	501	824	1
Randolph	764	692	2
Laketown	317	347	1
Woodruff	401	401	1

There are different ways to determine areas.  The CCD’s (Census County Divisions) way is where the County is divided into districts.  Distance, natural barriers, and so forth are taken into account using this method.   There are actually two CCDs in Rich County—Randolph/Woodruff area and Laketown/Garden City area.  Using this method, there are 1038 from the Randolph/Woodruff District and 1226 from the Laketown/Garden City District. 

There have been estimates and projects made about the growth in the Rich County area as follows:

	2010 Census	Projection for Future
Rich County	2,264	2,532
Garden City	562	630
Randolph	464	519
Laketown	248	266
Woodruff	180	215
Balance	810	901

The County Commission is the governing body for Rich County.  It is their responsibility to make sure that things are kept fair and equitable.  In fact, the law states that a redistricting action needs to be taken every ten years.

Bryce Huefner has requested from the County the minutes from their meetings dealing with reapportionment, census information, and when realignment has been discussed.  He also asked for information that the County has about District 53 which includes all of Rich County as well as several other counties.  A list of registered voters was also requested.

The Commissioners noted that the districts have been kept the same because they have been using the number of registered voters and currently there are 647 voters in the Randolph/Woodruff area and 649 in the Laketown/Garden City area.  Census numbers are difficult because of the number of homes in the area compared with the number of homes that are primary residences.

Huefner noted that state law requires that population be used—not voter registrations.  Chris Coray noted that he had contacted the Attorney General’s office asking if it was legal to use registered voters to determine precincts or if the census was to be used.  The reply that was received indicated that census information was the data that was to be used in determining and not the number of registered voters. 

Huefner recommended that Garden City make sure that all eligible voters become registered and take advantage of the opportunity to vote.  Citizens need to become involved in the community and the county. 

Huefner had a copy of an ordinance written by Tooele when they did their last redistricting which spelled things out in a very concise and understandable manner.  The County does need five districts.  However, taking one person from Randolph and adding one to Garden City doesn’t solve the problem, it just moves the problem from the south side of the County to the north side.  However, State law does say that population numbers are what must be used to determine precincts. 

Those in attendance at the meeting were thanked for coming, for their input into the meeting and encouraged to attend the County Commissioner’s Meeting next week—March 6—to see how the Commissioner’s are going to make representation fair and equitable.

There are eight offices up for election for the County.  Hopefully people will become involved and be willing to run for the various open offices. 

Those individuals in attendance want the Commissioners to follow the law and use population data to determine precinct boundaries.  The group made it known that representation should be done in a fair and equitable manner.