Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor
Looking finally to equalize populations of its five wards, the City of Glens Falls has redrawn the map. If approved by the Common Council, the public will get the chance to vote on it.
Ward 4, which previously had just 1,883 residents, less than half the 3,884 in Ward 2, will get much larger in the proposed new map, while Wards 2 and 3 will see substantial decreases.
Now the wards will have populations roughly within 10 percent of each other.
Ward 4 in the new map extends from Broad Street and Hudson Avenue north to Horicon Avenue and Crandall Park.
The redistricting committee, led by retired City Clerk Bob Curtis, will present its plans in a public hearing on Tuesday, June 14, at 7:25 p.m., prior to the Common Council meeting at 7:30.
Both will also be streamed on YouTube.
Details: CityofGlensFalls.com.
“The City of Glens Falls has never done a redraw on the Ward Boundaries since the City’s incorporation,” Chip McTiernan, special assistant to the Mayor, tells The Chronicle. “It had been kicked down the road for many years and needed to be addressed.”
Because each Common Council member’s vote carries equal weight, the population disparity has long been seen as problematic and perhaps outright illegal.
The Warren County Board of Supervisors weights the votes of Glens Falls supervisors by the population of each ward.
Mayor Bill Collins said the state standard on representing district populations is a variance of no more than 10 percent.
The proposed new configuration ranges from 2,768 residents in Ward 4 to 3,228 in Ward 1.
The mayor said that when he was still a Councilman, Glens Falls resident and attorney John Caffry sent a letter calling for redistricting of the wards — and that triggered him to take it on as mayor.
Mayor Collins said the committee was explicitly instructed to be “not political.”
He said the new lines keep current elected Council members and County Supervisors in their existing wards.
Mayor Collins’s own residence would shift from Ward 2 to Ward 1. He’s unaffected electorally because he’s elected by the entire city.
To take effect, the committee’s proposal must be approved by the Common Council and then be approved in a public referendum vote on Election Day, Nov. 8.
Mayor Collins and Council members each named one person to serve on the Redistricting Task Force.
Mayor Collins appointed the Chairman, Robert ‘Bob’ Curtis, who retired as City Clerk in 2021. Vice Chair Mary DeSantis was appointed by councilman-at-large Jim Clark. Members are Janet DiManno, named by Ed Donohue of Ward 1; Nancy Kelley, named by Bob Landry of Ward 2, Connie Bosse, named by Diana Palmer of Ward 3, Robin Barkenhagen, named by Ben Lapham of Ward 4; and Lee Braggs, named by Mary Gooden of Ward 5.
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