MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A November 30 deadline looms for the Morgantown Ward and Boundaries Commission to propose districting prior to a city election in April.
The commission is charged with developing wards with equal, or as close to equal as possible, numbers of registered voters.
Those numbers come to the commission based on the voter rolls in the General Election.
For the first time, a demographer has been hired to work with the Commission in the process of drawing boundaries and equalizing the number of registered voters in the wards.
Guy Panrell, a member of the Ward and Boundaries Commission, recently met with demographer Jo Vaughan who operates a consulting business in Poca, W.Va. He said he was interested to see how her recommendations have been received in other municipalities or instances.
“From what I understand she’s done some work in Charleston and they even ended up putting some councilors in the same ward. I asked her if there was any interference from any of their councilors from when they did that. She said no. I just kind of gave her a deer in headlight look and said I’m glad those people respect what she did,” Panrell said on WAJR’s Morgantown AM.
Panrell was part of the Ward and Boundaries Commission two years ago when council voted against the Commission’s proposed boundaries.
If accepted as presented, two councilwomen, Nancy Ganz and Jenny Selin, would have been placed in the same ward requiring them to run against each other in the 2015 city election.
Council ultimately approved boundaries that included changes that kept the two from being in the same ward.
Boundaries hadn’t been re-drawn for 26 years prior to that change.
Selin, who challenged the last recommendation from the commission, explained why she thinks the members could use assistance from a demographer this year.
“In my opinion, the reasons why we would want a demographer is so that we can help professionalize the process, help make sure the Ward and Boundaries Commission would have the information that’s needed and have the comparative information of how it’s done in other places. At some point, I think we’re going to need some changes in our charter,” she explained.
Selin and Ganz were accused of malfeasance for favoring boundary changes that would keep them running against one another in a re-election bid.
A decision from a three judge panel, sought for their removal from office, read “The three judge court cannot find that the respondents’ actions as concerns with the Wards and Boundary Commission proposal and subsequent voting are unlawful or unethical in any way to warrant removal from office.”
Meanwhile, Panrell questioned how a demographer could help in progressing the Commission’s proposal to council later this month.
The city charter requires a plan for recommendation be submitted to council between November 15 and November 30 of each even-numbered year.
“She can’t do anything more than what the city engineer can do with Google earth. As far as I’m concerned, it’s $4,000 we probably don’t need to spend. But, you know, if they [city council] want to spend it, that’s their choice.”
When asked if she has a pre-conceived notion on what the hired demographer would recommend in the upcoming boundaries proposal, Selin said no.
“I just had an interest in it being professionalized and de-politicized. I don’t have an opinion on dramatic a change would be or an expectation of a change to be more dramatic or less dramatic.”
The legal action claiming charter violations by some on council was appealed to the State Supreme Court following the three judge panel ruling that there was no proof “that the acts rise to the level to justify removing from office officials who have been duly elected by the electorate”.
Meanwhile, Panrell is among a few questioning council’s interaction with the hired demographer.
“She (Jo Vaughan) told me two of the councilors called her and asked her to keep her abreast of what was going on. I find that highly irregular. I think that’s a breach of the charter. They shouldn’t be talking with this lady. If they have a question, they should be talking with the representative from their ward. They’re the ones who appoint them. That’s who they should be talking to.”
Selin adamantly denied any inappropriate discussion with Vaughan.
“No, I didn’t not speak to the firm and ask for updates. That would not be appropriate. I did say in public at a city council meeting that I have spoken to Jo Vaughan before, before any request for proposals. But, I have not spoken with her since. I do not anticipate speaking with her except for in public forums.”