NLV council looks at new map

Thursday, Nov. 3, 2005 | 8:06 a.m.

One year before North Las Vegas voters consider changing how council members are elected, the City Council is looking at a plan to redraw the boundaries in which members must live.

A redistricting map proposed by retired Wisconsin Judge Frederick Kessler corrects a large population disparity of 35 to 40 percent between two districts in high-growth areas and two that include much of the city's minority population in older parts of North Las Vegas.

Under's Kessler's plan, the population imbalances are corrected without diluting the minority makeup of the two older area districts.

No major opposition has surfaced so far to the redistricting plan, which the council is scheduled to consider Nov. 16, said City Manager Gregory Rose.

The city's charter requires that wards be as equal in population as possible, with no ward exceeding another by more than 5 percent. Currently, however, Councilwoman Stephanie Smith's Ward 3 and Councilwoman Shari Buck's Ward 4 have between 13,000 and 15,000 more people than Councilman Robert Eliason's Ward 1 and Councilman William Robinson's Ward 2.

Although council members are required to live in the district they represent, they are elected at-large -- citywide -- by voters in all four wards. That could change for the 2007 municipal election if North Las Vegas residents approve a November 2006 ballot measure, mandated by the Nevada Legislature. It would have council members be elected solely by voters who live in their wards.

The goal behind redrawing the maps, Kessler said, was not only to achieve population equality but also to ensure that minorities have a reasonable chance of being elected.

With North Las Vegas' long history of two minorities serving on the City Council, any plan that deprived minorities of representation would open the city to a lawsuit, he said. That could become an even bigger issue if voters opt for a ward system of electing council members, he said.

Whites represent 46 percent of North Las Vegas' population, followed by Hispanics with nearly 28 percent and blacks with about 18 percent.

Kessler, who has redrawn maps for Las Vegas, Clark County and the Nevada Legislature, said he was guided in reconfiguring the district lines by census data and the desire to preserve neighborhoods' ethnic makeup while also positioning wards for a portion of future growth.

Political considerations played no role in the proposed district lines, he said.

"I am making recommendations on legal conclusions and not making political decisions on the allocation of power in North Las Vegas," he said.

Critics of the city's government have accused the council of neglecting older portions of the community south of Cheyenne Avenue to cater to newer developments such as the Aliante master planned community and Eldorado. They blamed the at-large ward elections because residents in newer subdivisions vote in much greater numbers than residents at the south end of the city.

Mayor Michael Montandon, who can live in any ward, said he liked the plan but stressed that it does not apply to him.

"We hired Judge Kessler to get the numbers balanced and meet all the state and federal election laws in case of something getting challenged," Montandon said. "I am confident we met all the laws."

Kessler's adjustments will bring the population in all four wards to between 44,744 and 46,501.

Robinson, who is black, will see his ward's minority representation increase from 58 to 61 percent, with blacks comprising nearly 31 percent.

Robinson's Ward 2, which under the Kessler plan will include all of the south end of the city west of Interstate 15 and additional areas of downtown east of I-15, will have 11 more blacks than whites and 90 more blacks than Hispanics. Currently, the ward has about 2,700 more whites than blacks and nearly 4,000 more whites than Hispanics.

If the plan is adopted, Eliason, who is white, will represent a ward that will include nearly 63 percent blacks and Hispanics, down from the existing 82 percent. The Hispanic makeup will continue to exceed 23,000, but the number of whites will jump 88 percent to 13,623. Eliason will gain a portion of Buck's district west of I-15.

Ward 3's percentage of blacks and Hispanics would shrink from nearly 33 percent to 25 percent, while in Ward 4, the minority population would rise slightly from 29 to 30 percent.

Mayoral candidate Andres Ramirez said the districts' configuration will not be significant as long as council members are elected at large. He called for a map that has Robinson's ward west of I-15 to draw from the black population and Eliason's ward east of I-15 to draw from Hispanic areas. Under Kessler's plan, the number of Hispanics in Ward 1 would fall from 62 percent to 52 percent.

Brian Wargo can be reached at (702) 259-4011 or at wargo@lasvegassun.com.