UPDATE: 9.11: Commission to unveil new district voting maps - SEE MAPS BELOW

Surprise! Surprise!

With slow and no response to public records requests and with minimal public notice, Sarasota County will unveil its proposed new District-level maps next week. All this stems from the Board's decision in April to explore reconsideration of the boundaries of the five county districts, in light of the new Single Member Voting.

Please attend the County Commission meeting Wednesday morning 9 AM:

County Administration Building

County Commission Chambers, 1^st Floor

1660 Ringling Blvd, Sarasota

Why this matters: Cathy Antunes

Show your opposition to this “plan”. An Open to the Public session will 

precede the Redistricting discussion. See you on Wednesday!

 <<<<BREAKING NEWS: Here are the maps Spitzer will present Wednesday:>>>>

Note: Above maps courtesy of Rachel Hackney of the Sarasota News Leader

Wednesday 9.11: 9 a.m. at the County Commission 1660 Ringling Blvd:
Open to the Public

Kurt Spitzer

Kurt Spitzer, redistricting consultant hired by Sarasota County with a no-bid
contract, will review the “alternative” District maps created with private 

input from individual County Commissioners.
How’s that FL Sunshine Law workin’ for ya? 

Board of County Commissioners Agenda: Page 1
1. OPEN TO THE PUBLIC – (Three-minute time limit per person.)

How open is it?  From The Sarasota News Leader:

Additionally, county Media Relations Officer Drew Winchester
confirmed with staff that, as of late afternoon on Sept. 4, three of the
commissioners — Charles Hines, Nancy Detert and Christian Ziegler —
have scheduled one-on-one telephone conversations with the consultant
who is handling the redistricting initiative for the county,
Kurt Spitzer of Tallahassee. The Sarasota News Leader

Will this telephone conversations be recorded? Will it be known how long
they lasted, what was discussed?

While the consultant and commissioners huddle over the phone preparing their own maps, the information needed by and promised to the public is being withheld.

Is it ignorance or incompetence?

It isn't ignorance. The commissioners were told during the final open to the public comments on August 27 that the deliverables from Spitzer and Associates (block-level GIS data) were not publicly available.

It might be incompetence. 

County staff says, "The [block level] data was in an Aug. 2 memorandum from Spitzer to the County Commission." 

The memo, however, does not contain the county-wide block needed by the public to produce their own redistricting maps. Instead, it provides info for "key growth blocks by district."  

Despite repeated public records requests from several citizens, as of September 5, the County and Spitzer had provided block-level population data for only:

1. 6% of the population (23,153 out of an estimated 417,000 Sarasota County residents)
2. 1% of the blocks (92 out of about about 7,500 Sarasota County census blocks) 

Finally on Sept. 6, a public records request for block data from The Sarasota News Leader was responded to. According to the county,  the entire block data spreadsheet is now here.

By the deadline [contract deadline July 31] , just one of the deliverables below -- Part (c) -- was delivered -- two days late, on August 2.

Part (b) was provided to the public late on September 6

Spitzer & Associates has not fulfilled their Task 1 contractual obligations, and the county has been laggard in providing the data necessary for the public to prepare alternate maps. (see below)

If it's not incompetence, they know exactly what they're doing -- withholding information to prevent an informed public response to the maps being presented on September 11.

Image of districts formerly used on BCC web page

===

By the deadline, just one of the deliverables below -- (c) -- was provided:

Copies of Task 1 Deliverables from SC PO #193092.. Vendor: KURT SPITZER AND ASSOCIATES INC...Including:  

(a.) GIS - The 2010 and 2018 population estimates in file geodatabase or shapefile format at the 2010 Census Block level of geography. 

(b.) Spreadsheet - Block-level results will be summarized by commission district and exported to Excel format. 

(c.) Report – A narrative report describing the methodology used to update the 2010 Census data. THIS WAS PROVIDED 

(d.) Map - A “heat map” in PDF format showing 2010-2018 growth by block. It will be shaded semi-transparent with imagery as a base. Commission district boundaries will be shown. A table summarizing the population estimates by BCC District will be included on the map showing the following 2018 information:  

 BCC District number Average (mean) population  Actual population Deviation from the mean Percent deviation White population and Percent white population Black population and Percent black population Hispanic population and Percent Hispanic population Other population and Percent other population.

Redistricting Questions still unanswered

Despite no legal requirement to do so, the Sarasota County Commissioners have been seriously considering performing a redistricting of their 5 districts in advance of the 2020 election. This has raised concern among advocates for Single District Voting -- a measure passed by voters of both parties in all districts last November. Seeing no reason to redistrict, some fear this will enable the Board to select its voters in order to help assure the reelection of its members running in 2020. Sarasota's Board has not had a non-Republican on it in 50 years.

Pat Rounds, a citizen advocate, has sought answers to certain questions raised by this potential maneuver - to no avail. Below is Rounds' email effort to get some answers to questions. 

To date, the exchange has been rather one-sided:

To the Sarasota County Commission and County Administrators: 

In May (as requested by the County Commission), County staff compiled and presented a comprehensive research report at a BoCC meeting assessing the potential need to redistrict before the 2020 Census. See attached (Redistricting--County Staff Research May 2019).  

This County staff report contains criteria identified by the Supreme Court to determine population differences which would justify a redistricting exercise. The Supreme Court stated that "generally the maximum population deviation between the largest and smallest district should be less than 10% to presumably comply with the one person, one vote rule."  Couple this formula with the ESRI/District population table currently posted on the County Commission page at scgov.net .  See attached.  The same ESRI GIS table (2018-2023) was recently sent to the County Commission by Jonathan Lewis, County Administrator. 

When applying the Supreme Court criteria to the ESRI-derived District population figures (below), the 10% maximum deviation threshold is not achieved. The population difference between the largest (D5) and smallest (D2) Districts is 7,610 people--under 10%.  No support for redistricting.

Dist 1-Moran   81,106

Dist 2-Ziegler   79,915

Dist 3-Detert    87,130

Dist 4-Maio      80,685

Dist 5-Hines      87,525

Apparently not satisfied with County research and findings, the Sarasota County Commission is moving forward anyway. The Commission is now searching for an outside expert to lead this exercise and achieve the desired outcome--But at what cost to taxpayers and voter trust? 

On repeated occasions, the County Commission has committed to conducting a public, transparent and inclusive process. Please demonstrate Sarasota County's commitment to full disclosure, and respond to the following public information requests: 

• What is the timeline for this redistricting process?
• What are the criteria for selecting an outside expert/s to facilitate this redistricting exercise?
  • Will a candidate/contractor search be conducted according to County guidelines? Please describe the recruitment and selection process. 
  • Has an expert been selected? If so, please identify your choice/s and the qualifications that justified the selection.
  • Outline the responsibilities of the outside expert/s  (e.g., process steps, methodology and disclosure of results).  
• What is the cost of hiring an outside expert to conduct this research?
• What data source/s will be used to determine the current county-wide and district-level population? How much will it cost to compile this data--- as Sarasota County has used ESRI in the past to calculate population estimates. 
• Please outline the criteria used to determine accurate population figures. 
  • What methodology will be used?
  • What data sets will be compiled to assess current county-level population by District?

Thank you in advance for your timely response to this request.   

Pat Rounds

Sarasota, 34235

District One

===========

After receiving no response, Rounds submitted her questions to Donn S. Patchen, head of county communications, in June. She is still waiting for a complete response.

Mr. Patchen,

This information request was submitted ten days ago and should require little, if any research.  The original email is below this message. 

There has been no official acknowledgement of the initial request (including from the Commissioner for District One). Is this typical?  

The County Commission has committed to conducting a public, transparent and inclusive redistricting process. The information requested is pertinent to understanding how this exercise is being implemented. Please demonstrate Sarasota County's promise of full disclosure, and respond to the following public information requests: 

• What is the timeline for this redistricting process?
• What are the criteria for selecting an outside expert/s to facilitate this redistricting exercise?
  • Will a candidate/contractor search be conducted according to County guidelines? Please describe the recruitment and selection process. 
  • Has an expert been selected? If so, please identify your choice/s and the qualifications that justified the selection.
  • Outline the responsibilities of the outside expert/s  (e.g., process steps, methodology and disclosure of results).  
• What is the cost of hiring an outside expert to conduct this research?
• What data source/s will be used to determine the current county-wide and district-level population? How much will it cost to compile this data--- as Sarasota County has used ESRI in the past to calculate population estimates. 
• Please outline the criteria used to determine accurate population figures. 
  • What methodology will be used?
  • What data sets will be compiled to assess current county-level population by District?

Thank you.

Pat Rounds

District One

Sarasota 34235

=========

July 5 Discussion

TUNE IN Friday, July 5, 6:00 PM to http://kdwradio.com 

Listen online or on the air at WKDW 97.5 FM radio for a hard-hitting program with North Port City Commissioner Jill Luke and Gabriel Hament on the proposed 2019 Sarasota County redistricting—and more!

Board to discuss redistricting Tuesday May 7

From Kindra Muntz:

PLEASE ATTEND

The Sarasota County Commissioners are moving ahead with steps toward redistricting the county in 2019!

WHAT:  County Commission Meeting

WHEN: Tuesday, May 7, 9:00 AM

WHERE: Commission Chambers at the Robert L. Anderson Center, 4000 South Tamiami Trail, Venice.

You may have seen the guest column in the Herald- Tribune yesterday or one in the Venice Gondolier (also May 1) or in the Englewood Sun and North Port Sun last weekend.

Here’s the one from the H-T yesterday:  

The County Commissioners will hear the report on proposed redistricting from County Administrator Jonathan Lewis at the coming BOCC meeting May 7^th.

See item 24B on the agenda:

Please attend on Tuesday May 7 if you can and encourage others to do so as well:  We want the Commissioners to know we are paying attention and want a balanced redistricting process, if redistricting must occur this year!  The President of the Sarasota League of Women Voters so aptly made the case in the attached Letter to the Editor of the Herald-Tribune April 16. 

More information here.

Thanks for your support.

Please call if any questions.

Kindra

Kindra Muntz

Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections

https://singlememberdistricts.com/

http://www.keepdemocracysafe.org/act-now

941-266-8278

Sarasota Administrator to look at redistricting ahead of 2020 election

Subscribe to the SNL

Courtesy of the Sarasota News Leader

Before County Commission decides whether to pursue redistricting prior to having 2020 Census results available, board seeks considerable research

April 11, 2019 by Rachel Brown Hackney, Editor & Publisher

Office of the County Attorney and county administrator to check on population data that could be utilized legally and timeline board would have to pursue

Commissioner Nancy Detert. File photo

Before the Sarasota County Commission potentially launches an initiative to redraw its district boundaries, board members this week asked the Office of the County Attorney and County Administrator Jonathan Lewis to provide the answers to a number of questions.

Among the issues raised by Commissioner Nancy Detert’s proposal for redistricting, commissioners want to know what data legally could be used for such a process. Commissioner Christian Ziegler noted, for example, that he believed the American Community Survey undertaken by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2015 provides an estimate of the county’s population.

Additionally, Ziegler said during the board’s April 9 meeting, the commissioners will need to know the timeline they would have to follow with redistricting to enable Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Ron Turner and his staff to comply with state regulations in preparing for the 2020 elections.

The commissioners, by consensus, made the staff research a formal assignment. Lewis said he expected to have the information ready in May.

The impetus for the discussion, as Detert noted in late February, is the November 2018 passage of a Sarasota County Charter amendment implementing a Single-Member District process. That calls for a voter to cast a ballot in the primary and general election just for a commission candidate in the district within which the voter and the candidate live. Previously, every registered county voter has been able to cast a ballot for a candidate in each commission contest in a general election.

Detert said she had reviewed figures for the five districts drawn and approved by the County Commission in 2012, after the 2010 Census. She told her colleagues on April 9 that she found the districts “are totally out of balance.” Detert added, “It didn’t make any difference before, ’cause you just had to live in your district …”

“We have the right to change our own boundaries,” Detert pointed out. “It’s our right and responsibility. We don’t have to wait for the next Census.”

She fears, she said, that if the board does not undertake redistricting prior to the November 2020 General Election, losers in County Commission races could bring suit, contending that the districts had population imbalances.

These are the results of the Nov. 6, 2018 vote on the Single-Member Districts Charter amendment. Image courtesy Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Office

She had spoken with Supervisor of Elections Turner, Detert added. “He’s totally willing to be as cooperative as he possibly can.” In fact, she noted, he had offered to make one of his staff available to assist the board in redrawing district lines.

He also told her, Detert said, that the redistricting would not cause a problem for his staff in terms of precincts, because the Supervisor of Elections (SOE) Office adjusts precincts “all the time.”

Detert further proposed that the commissioners “make this the most open, transparent and, frankly, televised exercise that the county’s ever been through.”

Software is available to help the board members undertake the modification of the district boundaries themselves, she noted.

Further, by ensuring public involvement in the process, and openness of the meetings, she continued, the effort could prove to be an educational one for county residents. “I think that people’s civics have gotten a little fuzzy over the past years. … People don’t understand that government has some rules … and timelines.”

Additionally, Detert said, “I think we all need to work on restoring the average person’s faith in their own government.

Detert asked County Attorney Frederick “Rick” Elbrecht to read the appropriate section of the Florida Constitution that covers local government redistricting.

Elbrecht referenced Florida Statute 124.01, which says, “The board of county commissioners shall from time to time, fix the boundaries of the [board’s] districts so as to keep them as nearly equal in proportion to population as possible …”

This is Section 124.01 of the Florida Statutes. Image courtesy Florida Legislatue

Additionally, Elbrecht said, the Sarasota County Charter calls for the redistricting process to include a public hearing, after proper notice and copies of the proposed district maps have been made available for people to review. The commission has “a deal of discretion” in the process, he added, “as long as it’s done reasonably and in a non-discriminatory manner.”

Commissioners’ concerns aired

Ziegler was the first commissioner to respond with questions, though he said, “I like the idea of being fully transparent and engaging the public …”

When Ziegler asked Detert what data she had relied on to determine the districts are out of balance, she replied that she had asked the Supervisor of Elections Office for the voter registration figures for the districts. However, she said she believed those numbers also reflect the population of each district.

In response to a request from The Sarasota News Leader following the April 9 discussion, Rachel Denton, communications and voter outreach manager for the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Office, provided the following current figures for each County Commission district. The numbers include voters whose addresses are withheld for confidential reasons, she said, as well as those whose addresses are a matter of public record:

• County Commission District 1: 56,198.
• County Commission District 2: 60,695.
• County Commission District 3: 64,574.
• County Commission District 4: 63,295.
• County Commission District 5: 73,007.

These are the County Commission districts with population figures current as of April 2011. Image courtesy Sarasota County

A graphic shows the current County Commission districts. Image courtesy Sarasota County government

During the discussion, Detert referenced population figures Lewis had provided for a recent community meeting, illustrating the growth of the city of North Port. When she asked Lewis about those, he explained that they were provided by the University of Florida’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research (BEBR). However, he added, the BEBR numbers are not sufficiently detailed to help staff determine district population counts.

A document the BEBR released in April 2018 estimated the Sarasota County population at 417,442, with a projection that it could climb as high as 447,600 by 2020 — or even drop to 413,200.

After Ziegler suggested on April 9 that the potential might exist of using the 2015 Census Bureau information, Chair Charles Hines noted that a lot of areas of the county have grown considerably since then. “I think we need a lot more research …”

County Attorney Elbrecht pointed out that the state statute calls for use of population numbers, not voter registration figures.

Ziegler also asked how long the redistricting process would take.

Referencing the state law, Elbrecht explained that the new boundaries would have to be in place before the end of this year. The statute says, “[T]hat changes made in the boundaries of county commissioner districts pursuant to this section shall be made only in odd-numbered years.”

Chair Hines asked how long a person would have to reside in a district before the person legally could seek a County Commission seat.

Chair Charles Hines. File photo

After reviewing the County Charter, Elbrecht said that Section 6.7 requires an individual to have been a resident of the district six months before qualifying to run for the County Commission district seat.

“There’s no guarantee that we have to work around [a commissioner’s] house,” Detert said.

Ziegler emphasized that the board members were not trying to contravene the will of the voters who approved the Single-Member District Charter amendment in November 2018. What the commission is trying to do, he said, is “fill] in those gaps” that were not detailed in the amendment language. “We’re in kind of an awkward limbo, if you will. … This is basically an effort to clearlylay out what the ground rules are and how this is going to work …”

“Well put,” Hines replied.

When Detert proposed a motion calling for redrawing the district maps, Ziegler asked, “Are we ready to make that statement today?”

Hines agreed with Ziegler again. “The assumption is the [population] numbers are out of whack,” Hines said. However, he continued, that determination needs to be made before the commission embarks on redistricting.

“It seems it would be hard to go too much further,” County Administrator Lewis added, without knowing the legal precedents regarding data that could be used for redistricting between the decennial Census counts and the timeline that would have to be followed.

“I think you got enough to get started,” Hines told Lewis.

Detert: Redistrict before 2020 Census

Sarasota  CountyVoting Districts

Courtesy of the Sarasota News Leader

Detert proposes redrawing of County Commission districts before 2020 Census results available

February 28, 2019 by Rachel Brown Hackney, Editor & Publisher

She cites population disparity in context of passage of Single-Member District Charter amendment, which will affect 2020 elections of commissioners

Commissioner Nancy Detert. Rachel Hackney photo

The last time the Sarasota County Commission adjusted the boundaries of the five districts of its members was in June 2011, in response to the findings of the 2010 U.S. Census.

This week, Commissioner Nancy Detert suggested that the board not wait until the data come in from the 2020 Census to modify the districts again. Her reason? The Single-Member District Charter amendment that won approval of voters on Nov. 6, 2018.

Beginning with the 2020 County Commission elections — which will occur before the next Census figures are final — a voter will be able to cast ballots only for County Commission candidates who live in the same district within which the voter resides. The process will be the same for primaries as for the general election.

Previously, in a General Election, any voter could cast a ballot for a commission candidate in each district race, regardless of where the voter or the candidate lived.

Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections (SAFE) conducted a citizen-initiated petition drive to gain enough voter signatures to place the proposed Charter amendment on the Nov. 6, 2018 General Election Ballot. The Single-Member District measure won approval of 59.84% of the voters who marked the question on their ballots, Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Office records show.

Detert, Commissioner Michael Moran and Chair Charles Hines all were elected in November 2016 to four-year terms. Hines must step down in 2020 because of term limits. However, Detert and Moran will be eligible to run again. Detert, who lives in Venice, represents District 3; Moran, who lives in Sarasota, represents District 1.

These are the results of the Nov. 6, 2018 vote on the Single-Member Districts Charter amendment. Image courtesy Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Office

On Feb. 26, Detert told her colleagues, “We should probably look at redistricting our own districts, just because of the balance in population. There’s a pretty noticeable disparity.”

Even though redistricting will occur in the state after the next Census has been completed, she continued, “I don’t think that we legally need to wait … It’s just something that I feel we need to do, just so that we all serve as close to an equal [number] of people as we can.”

Hines then asked County Attorney Stephen DeMarsh about the authority the Sarasota County Charter gives the board in regard to redistricting.

“The commission can redistrict whenever it wants,” DeMarsh replied, though it must do so in response to U.S. Census results.

Hines then asked that staff look into how long the process would take, as well as the expense and “the best time to do it.”

In response to a Sarasota News Leader question, county Media Relations Officer Drew Winchester wrote in a Feb. 28 email that the last time the County Commission approved redistricting was on June 8, 2011. The board conducted the second of two required public hearings that day.

These are the County Commission districts with population figures current as of April 2011. Image courtesy Sarasota County

This is the graphic the County Commission considered in June 2011 for the revision of its district boundaries before it redrew them. Image courtesy Sarasota County

Winchester provided a map of the population of each of the five districts in April 2011.

He was not able to give the News Leader current population data for the districts prior to the News Leader’s publication deadline this week.

However, on Feb. 5, in response to a News Leader question, Rachel Denton, communications and voter outreach manage for the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Office, provided the following figures for the number of voters in each commission district:

• County Commission District 1: 57,353.
• County Commission District 2: 61,755.
• County Commission District 3: 66,030.
• County Commission District 4: 64,238.
• County Commission District 5: 73,769.

A graphic shows the five County Commission districts in effect since June 2011. Image courtesy Sarasota County Government

In framing her question on Feb. 26, Detert joked, “Just in case the staff had some free time …”

She brought up the topic of redistricting after a nearly two-hour workshop on overcrowding at the county jail. (See the related story in this issue.)