The Pine Bluff City Council is expected to vote Tuesday on a proposal to redraw the lines for the city’s four wards as part of decennial redistricting.
The council will meet Tuesday because city hall is closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday on Monday. The Ordinances and Resolutions and Ways and Means committees meet at 5 p.m. Tuesday and the full council meets at 5:30 p.m. in council chambers at the civic complex.
Jerre George of Southeast Arkansas Regional Planning drafted the proposed new wards for the council and said she recommends they approve them Tuesday to stay on track with state-mandated timetables. The council held a special-called meeting on Jan. 9 during which they chose between two proposed maps presented by George.
The proposed map comes before the council with the sponsorship of all eight aldermen.
George said on Jan. 9 that the selected realignment plan would have minimal boundary changes among the existing four wards, but would greatly reduce the population differences that have developed between the wards since the last redistricting in 1990.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Currently, Ward 2 contains 13,222 residents while Ward 4 has 12,975; Ward 3 includes 11,797; and Ward 1 has 11,089.
The population figures associated with the proposed map to be voted on Tuesday would be 12,585 in Ward 2; 12,434 in Ward 1; 12,087 in Ward 4; and 11,977 in Ward 3. George said the population deviation with the entire plan is less than 5 percent.
Under the proposal, the present Ward 4 would lose some areas to Wards 1 and 3. Ward 1 would also consume small portions of Wards 2 and 3. Ward 2 would acquire limited areas from Ward 3 as well.
All of the wards would be majority black under the proposal. The respective counts of blacks, whites and others in each ward would be:
WARD 1 – 10,966; 1,155; 313
WARD 2 – 9,384; 2,740; 461
WARD 3 – 8,633; 2,971; 373
WARD 4 – 7,963; 3,623; 501
Other Business
In other business, the council will consider:
• A proposed $21,000 budget adjustment to replace the roof on the Saenger and purchase insurance covering the roof work, with $5,000 coming from Old Town Theatre Centres Inc. and $16,000 in General Improvement Fund contributions from four area state legislators. The insurance cost is $500 of the total. With the addition of funds that have already been allocated toward the roof work, the total is estimated at about $36,000.
• A proposed ordinance, up for its first reading, that would amend the 2012 budget to add four items that were approved at the last minute by the council at its last meeting. The expenditures would all be paid for out of revenue from the five-eighths-cent sales tax collected in 2011. They are: $43,000 to match a grant to finish remodeling the terminal at the airport; $59,872 for renovations at the Chester Hynes and Merrill community centers; $500,000 to replenish the 2011 contribution to the city’s reserve account; and $500,000 for the 2012 contribution to the city reserve account.
• And three proposals from Alderman Steven Mays regarding the establishment or revival of commissions and committees with the goal of reducing crime: a Commission on Children and Youth, a Neighborhood Watch Advisory Committee and a group of city leaders to facilitate communication with the recently revived Crime Advisory Committee.