Wards 6, 7 and 8 are divided unevenly based on the most recent federal census.
CHICOPEE – Even though just 645 more people moved into the city in the last decade, the population in some of the nine wards is unevenly divided so borders must be changed.
About 20 people, mostly city councilors and members of the School Committee, met for the first time this week to discuss how to redistrict the city to ensure there is an even number of residents in each ward.
“We have to adjust the population of Wards 6, 7 and 8,” Registrar of Voters Janina A. Surdyka said. “Ward 8 is too small and 6 and 7 are too big.”
Since the 2010 census showed there are a total of 55,298 people living in the city, ideally each ward should have 6,144 people. While that is impossible, state officials set the minimum size of a ward at 5,837 and the maximum size of the ward at 6,451, she said.
Ward 8 now has 5,720 people, Ward 7 has 6,493 and Ward 6 has 6,574. The remaining six wards range in size from 5,964 to 6,266, she said.
Surdyka also proposed reducing the number of precincts in each ward to two, which could save a little money at election time and also require fewer voting machines, which would give the city a spare in case another is not working. Some wards have as many as four precincts.
“I am in favor of going with two precincts. We will have extra equipment if equipment breaks down,” Ward 9 City Councilor Ronald R. Belair said.
But City Clerk Keith W. Rattell recommended the council wait before taking any formal votes and offered to analyze election costs to see how much money it would save.
“There are things to consider. If you have bigger precincts you can have larger lines to vote,” he said.
City councilors also said they were a little concerned about the recommendations they saw from the state that would change nearly all wards, especially since just three need to be modified.
“I think we should just look at the three wards that are out-of-whack,” City Councilor James K. Tillotson said.
But Francis C. Lapointe, a former state representative for Chicopee and past chief of staff to Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette, said he has gone through redistricting before and told the group that every line that is moved creates a domino effect that affects other ward sizes.
He said the lines will have to be tweaked little-by-little until most are satisfied that the wards are even and make sense.
One proposal several members said they liked is one that would take a small area near Westover Air Reserve Base away from Ward 6 and place it in Ward 9. Currently most of Ward 6 is located on one side of the base and a small area is on the other side.