2. Ordinance 1446 - Ward Boundaries Adjustment - 1st ReadingCity of Kalispell
Charles A. Harball Office of City Attorney
City Attorney 312 First Avenue East
P.O. Box 1997
Kalispell, MT 59903-1997
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor Pamela B. Kennedy
and Kalispell City Council
FROM: Charles Harball, City Attorney
Chris Kukulski, City Manager
DATE: Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Tel 406.758.7708
Fax 406.758.7771
charball@kalispell.com
SUBJECT: Redistricting for 2000 Census — Ordinance 1446
MEETING DATE: Monday, March 3, 2003
BACKGROUND: Every ten years, after the federal census has been finalized, the City is
required to examine its voter wards to determine if they are fairly proportioned. For our
purposes this means that each of the four wards should contain approximately the same
number of people. This task of analyzing the maps and the numbers was assigned to the Tri-
City Planning Office because of the existing resources in that office and their capabilities of
using computer analysis to assist in the job.
The goals that were given to Tri-City were these: 1) to change the boundaries as
little as possible, 2) if a boundary was changed, to make such change as logical and simple as
possible, and 3) to keep the population of each ward within at least 2% of the mean.
Based upon the 2000 Census of Kalispell, each ward would ideally contain 3,702
people. The boundary lines as drawn for Ordinance 1446 would place the population of
each of the wards within 2% of this ideal. In raw numbers this means that the ward with the
largest deviation would only be within 88 people of this number while the ward with the
smallest deviation would be within 24 people of this ideal. Please refer to the memo of Tom
Jentz, attached, for further explanation of the statistical analysis used.
I believe that Ordinance 1446 accomplishes all of the goals of redistricting as there is
minimal changing of boundaries with such changes being simple and logical while keeping
the deviations within 2% of the mean.
Ward Redistricting Memo
February 26, 2003
Page - 2
RECOMMENDATION: That Council pass Ordinance 1446 as written and that it resist
the temptation to try to further simplify or move boundaries based on some other sense of
symmetry or logic. Staff spent many hours, with the aid of computerized maps, moving lines
and testing boundaries. What is learned from this is that moving a single block from one
ward to another creates significant deviations in the statistical outcome. In other words, this
is not as simple as it looks.
FISCAL EFFECTS: None.
Respectfully
City Attorney Chris Kukulski, dty Manager
Office of City Attomey
City of Kalispell
ORDINANCE NO. 1446
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 6-1 OF THE KALISPELL CITY CODE
(ORDINANCE NO. 1341) BY RE-ESTABLISHING THE BOUNDARIES OF THE WARDS OF
THE CITY.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF KALISPELL, MONTANA,
THAT SECTION 6-1 OF THE CITY CODE (ORDINANCE NO. 1341) BE AMENDED AS
FOLLOWS:
SECTION I. The territory embraced within the limits of the City shall be and the same is
hereby divided into four wards, bounded and described as hereinafter set forth.
A) Ward No. 1: Ward No. I shall consist of all that territory within the corporate
City limits of the City of Kalispell Westerly of a line beginning at the Northerly
City limits and the Center line of U.S. Highway 93, thence along the Center line
of U.S. Highway 93 to the Southerly intersection of Utah Street, thence Westerly
along the Southerly line of Utah Street to the Westerly intersection of Fifth
Avenue West, thence southerly along the Westerly line of Fifth Avenue West to
the Northerly intersection of Third Street West, thence Westerly along the
Northerly line of Third Street West to the Westerly corporate limits of the City of
Kalispell.
B) Ward No. 2: Ward No. 2 shall consist of all that territory within the corporate
limits of the City of Kalispell Easterly of a line beginning at the Northerly city
limits and the Center line of US Highway 93 to the Southerly intersection of Utah
Street, thence Westerly along the Southerly line of Utah Street to the Westerly
intersection of Fifth Avenue West, thence Southerly along the Westerly line of
Fifth Avenue West to the BN Railroad Tracks, thence Easterly along the center
line of the BN Railroad Tracks to the Easterly Corporate limits of the City of
Kalispell.
C) Ward No. 3: Ward No. 3 shall consist of all that territory within the corporate
limits of the City of Kalispell lying Southerly of the South boundary of Ward No.
1 and Ward No. 2, above described, and Northerly of a line beginning at the
intersection of the Easterly City limit and the Southerly line of Woodland Park
Addition, thence Westerly along the Southerly boundary of Woodland Park
Addition to the Westerly intersection of Woodland Avenue, thence Southerly
along the Westerly line of Woodland Avenue to the Southerly intersection of
Eight Street East, thence Westerly along the Southerly line of Eighth Street East
to the Westerly intersection of Fifth Avenue West, thence Southerly along Fifth
Avenue West to the intersection of Ninth Street West and Ninth Avenue West,
thence Northerly along Ninth Avenue West to the intersection of Eighth Street
West, thence Westerly along Eighth Street West to the intersection of Tenth
Avenue West, thence Southerly along abandoned Tenth Avenue West to the
intersection of Ninth Street West, thence Southwesterly along and to the end of
Ninth Street West, thence Westerly and Northerly along the corporate limits
boundary to the Southerly right of way boundary of Eighth Street West, thence
Westerly to the Westerly corporate limits of the City of Kalispell.
D) Ward No. 4: Ward No. 4 shall consist of all that territory within the corporate
City limits of the City of Kalispell lying Southerly of the South boundary of
Ward No. 3.
SECTION lI. As there are additions made to the corporate limits of the City of Kalispell, the
aforesaid boundary lines of the respective wards shall be extended in a Northerly,
Easterly or Westerly direction, as the case may be, along the center line of the
nearest extended street running Northerly, Easterly, or Westerly, as the case may
be, to the City limits.
SECTION III. This Ordinance shall be effective thirty (30) days from and after the date of its
final passage and approval.
PASSED AND APPROVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL AND SIGNED BY THE MAYOR THIS
17TH DAY OF MARCH, 2003.
Pamela B. Kennedy
Mayor
ATTEST:
Theresa White
City Clerk
Tri-City Planning Office
17 Second Street East Suite 211
Kalispell Montana 59901
Phone: (406) 751-1850
Fax: (406) 751-1858
tricityAcenturytel. net
www.tricityplanning-mt.com
MEMORANDUM
TO: CHARLIE HARBALL, CITY ATTORNEY
FROM: TOM JENTZ, DIRECTOR -<00-
DATE: FEBRUARY 13, 2003
RE: CITY ELECTION WARD — REDISTRICTING MAP
This office has reviewed the existing election wards for the City of Kalispell and has
prepared a suggested re -districting map (attached) to bring the wards into balance with
the 2000 census. The results of our study are summarized in the table below. The focus
of the study was to ascertain the existing population of each ward based on the 2000
census and then to re -draw or modify each ward such that nearly equal populations could
be re-established in each ward. This was done with the intent of using obvious geographic
features whenever possible for boundaries with a goal of providing the least amount of
change necessary to accomplish the task. The population of the City was determined to be
14,807 based on recent annexations of developed land. Therefore the ideal ward size
would be 3,702. The table below shows that we were able to come within 2% of that figure
for each ward.
Redistricting Proposal
Kalispell Wards
Current and Proposed Populations
2000 Census
Current Ward
boundaries
Yr. 2000 pop.
Proposed Ward
boundaries
Yr. 2000 Pop.
Pop. Difference
from Ideal Ward
size of 3,702
Ward 1
3,678
3,678
- 24 1%
Ward 2
3,915
3,614
- 88 2%
Ward 3
3,123
3,730
28 1%
Ward 4
4,091
3,784
82 2%
Total Pop.
14,807
14,807
0
Providing Community Planning Assistance To:
• City of Columbia Falls • City of Kalispell • City of Whitefish
Kalispell city Attorney
Re: Ward Re -Districting Proposal - Draft
February 13, 2003
Page 2 of 2
Methodology
A digital map of the Flathead County 2000 Census Tracts with Block group and block
number designations was obtained from the Montana State Library, (NRIS). The
associated database was also downloaded and each block was attributed with the year
2000 population data. Municipal annexations since 2000 were incorporated into the
study with the 2000 census data affixed to them as well. A paper map was created and
each block's population was entered into an Excel spreadsheet and totaled by ward
number. The year 2000 population for Kalispell was 14,223. Based on annexations, this
office determined that the population had increased 584 people to 14,807 by February
2003. Thus the ideal population ward size would be 3,702. It was then our focus to begin
modifying the borders of the existing wards to bring each ward to within 2% of the ideal
ward size, using obvious land use features as boundaries with an intent to disrupt the
existing boundaries as little as possible. The results by ward are as follows:
Ward 1 No changes
Ward 2 Reduce the population of this ward by using the RR tracks as
the southern boundary for the entire ward.
Ward 3 Increase the populations of ward 3 by moving the northern
boundary as it abuts ward 2 to the RR tracks and increase the
southern boundary uniformly one block south to 8th and 9th
Streets.
Ward 4 Reduce this ward by moving the northern boundary one block
south so that 8 and 9th Streets become the new boundary.
Conclusion:
At your request, we can provide you with a suitable final version of the map for recording
purposes. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact this office.
TRJ/sm
LETTERS/ 2003/ KALISPELL WARD REDIST
Proposed Ward Boundaries
City of Kalispell - February 2003
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Census 2000 Block data was used to calculate population within each of the wards,
and to relocate ward boundaries as to evenly distribute the total population of the
city of Kalispell between the four wards.
Date:2 iwm