Youngstown council gets offer of help from board of elections

As the battle over the redrawing of Youngstown’s ward boundaries intensifies, the Mahoning County Board of Elections has made the city an offer it should not refuse.

But there’s no guarantee that a majority of council will accept the election board’s helping hand even if it makes good financial and political sense. Why? Because it’s clear from what has occurred to date that five of the seven ward representatives are shopping around for an entity that will give them what they want.

That unyielding position is the reason Mayor John A. McNally and lawmakers have locked horns over the past couple of months.

We have praised the new mayor — he’s in his sixth month — for not succumbing to the blatant politicization of the redistricting process.

Population balance is a constitutional requirement, so Youngstown’s 65,000 residents must be divided as equally as possible among the seven wards.

Youngstown State University’s Center for Urban and Regional Studies has presented dozens of maps to city council that adhere to the constitutional requirement of population balance, but lawmakers have rejected them.

Councilwoman Annie Gillam, D-1st, is leading the charge because every map presented has the same bottom line: The 1st Ward and much of the East Side, which suffered the greatest population losses, according to the 2010 national census, will be affected the most in any redistricting plan.

But, there’s also a personal reason Gillam is refusing to do the right thing: Her house and much of the East Side cannot be part of the new 1st Ward — if the constitutional test for redistricting is to be met.

Late last month, council voted to hire Triad Research Group of Westlake to draw new boundaries. Triad would be paid between $7,500 and $10,000 if the board of control, made up of the mayor and finance and law directors, enters into an agreement with the company.

But Mayor McNally says council’s plan is dead on arrival. Indeed, he would be opening himself up to criticism from the taxpayers if he supported the hiring of Triad when the board of elections is willing to undertake the assignment for free.

There’s a compelling reason for the board to get the ward redistricting done as soon as possible: elections officials are planning to reduce the number of voting precincts in Mahoning County by at least 50 for the November election, and most of the losses will come from Youngstown, Campbell and Struthers. Those communities suffered the greatest loss in population in the last census.

In Youngstown, the precinct reduction will hit the 2nd Ward on the East Side and 3rd Ward on the North Side the hardest.

If the elections board undertook the precinct reduction before the ward redistricting in the city of Youngstown, it would have to come back and redo the cuts in Youngstown.

Public dollars spent

The city already has spent $3,854 on the YSU plans and cannot afford to cater to the whims of members of council.

No officeholder is indispensable. City lawmakers should not be allowed to manipulate the redistricting process so as to preserve Councilwoman Gillam’s political base —thereby reserving the seat for her husband. The councilwoman is termed limited next year, but former Councilman Artis Gillam can run again.

Mayor McNally is on the right side of this issue and should use the power of his office to do what the constitution requires.

The board of elections’ offer is timely and necessary.