The census showed the city grew by 645 people over the past 10 years.
CHICOPEE – With the Federal Census figures officially released, the City Council is beginning the work of redistricting wards in the city.
A redistricting subcommittee will meet for the first time at 6:30 p.m., Monday in City Hall to begin to discuss what changes need to be made to realign the nine wards in the city, Council President William A. Zaskey said.
The first meeting is mostly an informational one. Zaskey said he has invited the School Committee as well as the City Council to attend to discuss any concerns or ideas. Public input will also be accepted.
The census data shows the population grew by 645 people over the past 10 years. That was a 1.2 percent increase in residents, leaving the 2010 city population at 55,298, Chicopee Registrar of Voters Janina A. Surdyka said.
Surdyka will serve on the committee as an advisory member with City Clerk Keith W. Rattell, City Engineer Steven J. Frederick and a member each from the Democratic and Republican city committees, she said.
Regulations say each voting precinct cannot be larger than 4,000 people and each ward cannot differ in size by more than 5 percent, she said.
“The ideal situation is each ward is 6,144 people,” she said, adding that could not happen exactly.
While the population has not changed much, there has been a shift in the areas where residents live, she said.
“We are noticing certain areas are growing faster than others,” she said. “Downtown in the city is losing population and it is gaining closer to the South Hadley border and the Burnett Road area.”
Surdyka said she will ask the committee to consider consolidating voting precincts to save on some election costs.
The committee will also discuss trying to make some wards more contiguous. Currently there are some wards which include small sections that don’t match well with the rest of the neighborhood, Zaskey said.
For example part of Ward 6 is located on one side of Westover Air Reserve Base and another part is on the other side of the base, he said.
“We will be looking to see if there is a way to re-align some of them,” Zaskey said.