PORT ANGELES — Port of Port Angeles commissioners disagree with a Clallam County redistricting committee over boundaries separating the three county voting districts.
Based on 2010 Census figures, boundaries between District Nos. 2 and 3 will shift eastward from west Port Angeles to Valley Creek, closer to the geographic center of Port Angeles.
The new boundary places a larger portion of Port Angeles voters in the same district as small West End communities such as Bogachiel, Clallam Bay, Forks, Neah Bay, Quileute and Sekiu, District 3 Port Commissioner John Calhoun said during a meeting of the commissioners Monday.
“West End has the majority of space and place,” Calhoun said.
“Port Angles has the majority of population.”
Commissioner Jim McEntire — who represents District 1 generally covering Sequim, the Dungeness Valley and Miller Peninsula — agreed, saying he wanted to see boundaries that considered other factors.
“We have three distinct cultural, economic and social zones,” McEntire said.
“We need to come up with strategies to make up the differences.”
Among the many options that the county redistricting committee developed during the eight to 10 meetings it took to come up with the current boundaries, there may have been some options more accommodating to West End needs, he said.
Without the change, Port Angeles will dominate and a diversity of views on the port commission is less likely, he said.
“This turns on legal requirements for even population distribution,” Commissioner George Shoenfeldt said.
“If that’s true, I don’t see any other option than to follow county distributions,” Shoenfeldt said.
Legal requirement?
“Is it a legal requirement to adopt Clallam County commission boundaries?” Calhoun asked Dave Neupert, port attorney.
Neupert said that he believes that is the effect of the law but offered to do some research to find out if there are other options.
“We will be constrained by the statute,” Neupert said.
During the public speaking portion of Monday’s hearing, Carol Johnson, District 2 resident and executive director of the North Olympic Timber Action Committee, suggested finding a different way of giving the people of District 2 a stronger voice.
Johnson suggested working to change the way voting works in elections so that voters may only cast votes for individuals within their own district.
Under the current system, primary voters in a district select the top two candidates for the general election, which is decided countywide.
Further discussion of the redistricting issue will continue at future meetings.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
