By Hamilton Richardson
Elmore/Autauga News
Top Photo: A Prattville resident addresses council members Tuesday over concerns of redistricting.
As per the usual order at Prattville City Council meetings, the opportunity for residents to come and address the group was given at Tuesday’s meeting by Council President Lora Lee Boone. At first, no one came forward, but after Boone proceeded with other items on the agenda, it became clear that there were indeed several people ready to speak their minds.
Before the public comments, Mayor Bill Gillespie invited six new firefighter recruits to come forward to be congratulated by city leaders. Malcolm Cyrus, Joseph Fuller, Luke Jordan, Cainan McGinty, James Sutton and Joshua Ward all personally thanked council members for their support.
Gillespie gave some comments during his Mayor’s Report and after he had finished, Boone apologized to the crowd for not seeing a raised hand during the public comment portion of the meeting.
Several residents came forward to discuss the redistricting effort that was on the agenda for the evening. The first ordinance on the night’s list of priorities, which was first introduced ay the July 5, 2022 city council meeting and postponed on July 19, 2022, would amend Ordinance Book 2011, Page 024, Ordinance Book 2016-A, Page 009 and Ordinance Book 2020, Page 005. It would redescribe the legal descriptions of city council districts pursuant to the 2020 Federal Census and designate voting locations.
Sandy Davis shared her concerns regarding one of the proposed redistricting maps saying, “I speak on behalf of many of the residents in saying that this type of action from the city council is very concerning. While we understand that there are processes and guidelines that must be adhered to, we also believe in transparency, meaning that it is the city government’s obligation to share information with citizens that are needed to make informed decisions and to hold officials accountable for the conduct of the peoples’ business.”
Another resident, Thomas Warren, came forward next and asked if there was a financial impact analysis done with regards to the redistricting process.
Gillespie said there was not and added that, in his experience, a financial impact analysis was not part of the redistricting process.
Councilman Marcus Jackson asked Warren what exactly he was asking and Warren clarified that he wondered how financial resources were divided among districts.
Franklin Nettles also approached the group and said, “I heard you pray and I hear all of you pray every time I come here so it makes me feel warm that most of you are believers in the Most High. And with that being said, the Good Book says in as much as if you’ve done it to the least of these, you’ve done to me. So whatever decision that all of you are about to make, pause and ask yourself, if the messiah was in front of you, would he be pleased with your decision?”
After a few more residents spoke regarding the proposed map and the possibility of there not being a black representative on the council after redistricting takes place, Boone took a moment to clarify why the council was taking the action.
“We have no choice in this matter,” she said. “This is state mandated and has come down as a law because the specific words are, when there is a federal census of population, and there was a census, there shall be a reapportionment of council districts, so we have no choice. There will be a redistricting. It’s not something we wanted to do. We’re just following procedure and trying to get it right.”
Barbara Robinson, is a resident who has spoken several times to the council regarding redistricting, and came forward again passing out papers to each councilmember.
When she began to speak for her allotted three minutes, she began to read a portion of scripture from the book of 2 Samuel. She read through the passage but went over the allotted time and at one point, Boone let her know her time had expired.
“I pray to God that he’ll be with you tonight,” she said as she walked away.
Boone began to move through the agenda items including receiving a financial report for the city and the approval of the Consent Agenda.
When the ordinance dealing with the redistricting decision came before the group, Councilman Marcus Jackson spoke up.
Jackson informed the council that he had reached out to a representative from the League of Municipalities and suggested that based on information he received, Prattville is a Class 5 Municipality, which means that it does not have to adopt the redistricting map within the six-month time frame previously discussed.
Councilman John Chambers asked Andrew Odom, City Attorney, for his opinion and he said he needed time to look into the situation but he believed Prattville was a Class 6 Municipality.
Gillespie spoke up saying the city is a Class 6 Municipality and that it was determined decades ago.
Boone then asked the mayor what date the original redistricting map was introduced.
Gillespie said it was Feb. 25, 2022, to which Boone said, “So we have been working on this since 02/25 and we now have a document before us, when something is properly before us, we have five seconds to look at a document that is before us when we have had since February to work on this item.”
The Council President asked the council if there was a motion to hold the vote until a future date because there was new information presented.
Jackson asked to hold the decision to get more clarity. The motion to hold was seconded and a date of September 6 was agreed upon. All councilmembers voted to hold the ordinance over to September 6. 2022.
