NILES Council will consider ward-boundary changes

U.S. Census figures show the city population dipped slightly between 1990 and 2000.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- Council members will meet again next week to discuss redrawing ward boundaries to reflect the latest population figures.
Cities are required to consider redrawing ward boundaries every 10 years using U.S. Census figures.
Under Ohio law, the wards are to be made up of areas that are "adjacent, contiguous and compact." Roughly the same number of residents are to live in each ward. The 2000 Census put the city population at 20,932, down slightly from about 21,000 residents in the 1990 count.
But city officials don't have a population breakdown for each of the four wards. Most of the new developments and homes have cropped up in the 2nd Ward, meaning it may have to be trimmed and sections added to the other wards.
Unchanged in 30 years: Council President Fremont Camerino said at a meeting on the issue Wednesday that the city's ward boundaries have remained the same since 1971.
No decisions were made at Wednesday's gathering. The group will meet Wednesday after the 4 p.m. finance committee meeting. Camerino hopes to have more numbers, such as current voter registration by ward, for that meeting.
A letter this month from the Trumbull County Board of Elections asked the city to deliver any ward boundaries to the board by Sept. 1.
Officials said that the city has until December to complete the redrawing. If council members haven't done so by then, the task falls to the city's service director, officials said.