MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — After some tense debate, Morgantown City Council has rejected a proposal to move the boundaries of the city’s council wards.
The proposed changes presented in October would have made significant changes to including a move of the Third Ward boundary putting council member Weez Michael’s home address in the Fourth Ward.
Council rejected the proposal on a 4 to 3 vote Wednesday night.
Councilwoman Danielle Trumble explained wards and boundaries are to be reviewed every even-numbered year based on population and registered voter data.
“This is to be done before every city election, as we’ve done for decades and decades, is to equalize the candidate poll, and it also equalizes a signature pool,” Trumble said.
During the October presentation, Second Ward Councilman Bill Kawecki expressed concern about the lines changing the identity of long-established neighborhoods. Kawecki argued for maintaining the integrity of neighborhoods and tied it to a debate over city manager residency requirements under consideration as part of a charter change.
“The representative needs to understand the neighborhood,” Kawecki said. “We’re arguing for that with your city manager and everything else, and I think this needs to follow through too.”
The report from the Ward and Boundary Commission contains a map representation and a table showing the numeric change created by each boundary movement. Councilman Brian Butcher said based on the numeric table provided, the suggested change would be the most equitable.
“When I look at the clear difference in the tables for the number, I think that should take priority over my feelings of where I think a street should divide a neighborhood because I think that’s more important,” Butcher said.
Kawecki told councilors he participated in a meeting with the mayor and deputy mayor with GIS Coordinator Marvin Davis to learn more about the changes. Trumble reminded Kawecki about the months of work put in by the Wards and Boundary Commission to develop being considered and reminded him about a recent lawsuit involving the improper handling of proposed ward boundary changes.
“When you start drawing boundaries around where one certain person lives, that’s when we get into lawsuits like we did with that line in Suncrest 10 years ago,” Trumble said.
Kawecki immediately clarified and said while they were looking at the maps and reviewing the problem, a slightly new map adjustment was made. He explained the map alternative was merely a product of asking questions and working with the map, and there were no intended plans to develop an alternative to be presented to council.
“It was not that we went pursuing a new map,” Kawecki said. “We went trying to understand what we were dealing with, and we did that with three because we did with four; it would have been quorum.”
Mayor Joe Abu Ghannam, Deputy Mayor Jenny Selin, Kawecki, and Michael voted to reject the proposal while Trumble, Dave Harshbarger and Butcher voted to adopt the changes.