Redistricting Marion County

MARION COUNTY — The Marion County Commission is considering a resolution to alter the boundaries of the districts of the county and will vote on the matter on Tuesday, Sept. 2, at 10 a.m. at the commission office.
Legal notices of the proposed redistricting, the meeting and the vote are running now in the Journal-Record.
The legal advertisement also states, “A map indicating the proposed district boundaries is available for inspection at the Marion County Engineers Office on 701 4th Avenue SW, Hamilton, Alabama, and at the Marion County Commission Office at 119 N. Military Street, Hamilton, Alabama.”
Greg Gunnin, commission chairman, explained more about the proposed redistricting. A previous  redistricting was conducted in 2001, and amended in 2013.
Gunnin noted the population and road mileages for the districts have changed considerably since the last redistricting, with everything being consistent with NACOLG, governmental regulations and other guidelines the commission has to follow to allow for the new redistricting at this time.
“It’s just that the road miles have gotten so far out of balance over the years,” he explained. “One district may have 250 miles and another district may have 111 miles.
“What we’re trying to do is get everything closer together for everybody. We will have all the districts within 20 miles of each other, pretty much.”
Gunnin said all of the county commissioners are in favor of the change.
“We’ve worked since we’ve been in office to try to get these district lines changed, and we’ll be voting on it soon,” he said.
“Redistricting can only be done every 10 years. We’ve taken advantage of the opportunity to make these changes, and we’ve gotten everything done and finalized through NACOLG, which has to review everything and make sure the population is right according to the road mileage.
“There are a lot of stipulations you have to go through in redistricting, and so far, we’ve stayed within the boundaries.”