(Cheryl King, a resident of Kailua-Kona, submitted this commentary to Big Island Chronicle. Ms. King granted me permission republish it here)

The Redistricting Commission meeting was held  at 10 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 23, at the West Hawaii Civic Center in Kailua-Kona.

The Redistricting Commission Vice-Chairman Dru Kanuha chaired this meeting.  Also attending on the Kona side were Commissioners Mike Middlesworth, Jeffrey Melrose, Valerie Poindexter, and Bo Kahui.  The Commissioners  participating via Videoconference from the Hawaii County building on the Hilo side were Rene Siracusa, Patrick Kahawaiola’a, and Linda Ugalde.

Two commissioners arrived late and one left early, but all came and there was a quorum for the business at hand.  Because of conflicting work and other demands, it has obviously been a real challenge for all of the commissioners to come together for the frequent meetings.  Nonetheless, they have done it.Even more grueling will be the series of public meetings coming up around the island in October to provide even more transparency and a chance for the public to comment on different versions of county council district maps.

If the Commissioners can make this effort, why can’t we?  I was very disappointed to see that only five members of the public took advantage of the opportunity to attend this Kona Redistricting Commission meeting  and I was told that attendance was also sparse on the Hilo side.

The Commissioners cannot be expected to know the peculiarities of every street or natural feature being used as a boundary, especially since there are some things the census maps they are using do not show.  If enough members of the public do not make an effort to attend the public hearings and examine the boundaries and areas with which they are familiar, mistakes will be made.

During this meeting, public testimony was taken from the public on the agenda items, the logistics for the public hearings were discussed,  redistricting maps that were submitted were reviewed, and maps that met the commissions’ criteria were selected to be presented at the public hearings.

Margaret Wille, a Waimea resident and retired attorney, reminded the council of the hierarchy of laws if charter and code criteria conflict, stating that charter criteria should preempt code criteria.

Andy Archibald, a Kailua-Kona resident, reminded the commission that they are dealing with democracy at the grass roots level and that they will be “cursed by everyone” when they are done.  He expressed the hope that that whomever the panel annoyed would be the people attempting to prevent representative democracy with one-person-one vote status at stake on our island.  He indicated that if the Commissioners don’t insure that all districts have equal say and equal power, election results could be seriously skewed by people who quit on democracy because they feel disempowered.

During the discussion on logistics for the public hearings and the form of the maps they would be bringing, the comment was made that it was impossible to see the streets involved very clearly.  Commissioner Valerie Poindexter asked if computers could be set up at the public hearings so that the public could zoom in on the boundaries they were concerned about.    The concern was expressed that not all of the meeting places would have Internet access.Poindexter also asked the Commission’s attorney, Michael Udovic, if the public had the right to ask to see the boundaries.  He said yes, but reminded the commission that its job was to listen, not to respond at a public hearing.

Commissioner Jeffrey Melrose suggested that before and after the hearing the maps might be shown in more detail-that they could go outside the time of the public hearing to be responsive.   Poindexter reiterated that the public needed to express its opinion.

It was eventually resolved that the commission would bring blow ups of the maps to the public hearings so that they that could be examined in greater detail.

Commissioner Mike Middlesworth commented that he does not want the public to get the impression that the commission will necessarily choose from one of the  specific maps being presented at the public hearing.    They are not engraved in stone.Commissioners will be revising these maps so that they can come up with a final plan to present to the public once the initial series of public hearings are over.

Review and Discussion of Redistricting Plans/Maps

Commissioners discussed Plans 20-39, which had been submitted by the September 15th posting date of the agenda for this meeting. Most of these plans were rejected because one or more of the proposed districts in a plan deviated too much from an ideal council district’s population, were not contiguous,  split communities,  did not give Puna two districts, or were basically the same as a previously submitted map.

Plan 23, which divided Puna into East/West Districts,  was retained for further consideration in spite of opposition by Commission Chair Rene Siracusa, who stated that Puna thinks of itself as mauka/makai.  Commissioner Jeffrey Melrose  stated that it was good to have alternatives and to show how Puna could be split East/West.  He thought we should be looking at a variety of alternatives.

Plan 39, which was proposed by some Waimea residents, was eventually rejected because it did not adhere to the allowable population deviation allowed in each district  of + or – 4.99% of the ideal council district population.

Margaret Wille came up to explain to the Commissioners that the public was confused when doing the maps and did not adhere to the allowable deviations because the software was confusing in that regard.  Once her group realized the problem with the deviations, they submitted another corrected map they called 39B, but it was submitted too late to be considered at this meeting.

She also admitted that the map was “wrong for Puna” as they weren’t familiar with that area and were concentrating on what would protect the Kohala Community Development Plan and what they would like to see for Districts 8 and 9.  She expressed the hope that the Commissioners would at least consider the plan as a way to map those two districts.

The Commissioners solved the problem by slightly modifying Plan 39B (also later referred to as 39 Corrected) and turning it into their own Plan 40, which they could then discuss at the meeting.  Although this plan as such was not really acceptable to them, the majority agreed not to reject it. In addition to Plans 23 and 40, Plans 28, and 30 were also saved for further consideration.

Plans to Present at the Public Hearings

The Commission reviewed all of the plans that it has accepted for further consideration to decide which to present at the public hearings. In the end, it was decided to display Plans 10, 17, 23, 28, 30, and 40 at the public hearings.

Commissioner Rene Siracusa was opposed to Map 40 as it was and wanted to tweak it to make it more acceptable to Puna.  However, Commissioner Dru Kanuha, who was chairing the meeting, said it would take too much time to do that at this meeting.   Commissioners Bo Kahui and Valerie Poindexter both spoke in favor of allowing the map to be presented at the public hearings in appreciation of the community effort it took to design it.   In spite of Siracusa’s opposition,  it was agreed to take Plan 40 to the public hearings so the public could see it and Puna residents could comment on it.

Plan 17 also had some interesting discussion.  Its District 7 that includes Ka’u is huge, but it gives Puna two districts and keeps Volcano with Puna. At the end of the meeting, the dates set for the Public Hearings were reviewed and setting a date for the next Redistricting Commission meeting was discussed.  Most commissioners did not want to meet again until the Public Hearings were over, but agreed that the Chair could call a meeting sooner if needed.

When they are posted, a verbatim transcript of the minutes of this meeting can be found here.

The next Redistricting Commission meeting will take place on October 21 in Hilo at 10 a.m.

Public hearing location and dates

To see a general outline of the proposed districts in the maps that will be discussed at the public hearing, go to this site.

Unfortunately, these maps do not show enough detail to decipher where the boundaries are.  Taking a Mapbook to the hearings might be helpful.In addition, it might be helpful to do some homework to view maps in more detail before going to the public hearings.   For instructions on viewing and downloading the maps, see here.