The Odessa City Council voted unanimously during its workshop meeting Tuesday afternoon to redraw the council’s district boundaries using Plan A, despite complaints many Black and Hispanic people didn’t get a chance to participate in the process.
According to a demographer hired by the city, the latest Census figures show that each of the city’s five districts’ boundaries need to be redrawn in order to comply with a law that says they must be within 10% of each other population-wise. Districts 2 and 4 are over-populated by 22 and 24% respectively, while the others are under-populated by 14-16%.
Under Plan A, the overall deviation number drops to 6.33%.
District 1’s Hispanic population will fall from 66% to just under 61% and the Black population will fall from 11% to 9.34%. District 5’s Hispanic population will drop from roughly 77% to just over 75% and the Black population will rise from just under 4% to 4.7%.
NAACP President Gene Collins told the council he has always been invited to participate in the process in years past and he and other members of the Black community were not asked to participate this year. He asked for the opportunity to meet with the demographer so they can study the data and “do what’s best for our community.”
“We’d rather do it now as part of the process that you’re going through, rather than having to file a lawsuit with the Justice Department and bring them into our situation,” Collins said.
Ector County Commissioner Armando Rodriguez also asked for more time for people to chime in. In part, he said he’d like to see more Hispanic council members since Odessa’s population is now 56% Hispanic.
Mayor Javier Joven repeatedly asked Rodriguez if and how the county commissioners involved minorities in their process and District 2 Council member Steve Thompson queried Rodriguez as to whether he went to Odessa College and the Ector County Independent School District board meetings to question their processes.
Rodriguez avoided answering Joven’s question and told Thompson no and he’d just found out about Tuesday’s council meeting.
When asked what his specific issues were with the plan, Rodriguez said he hadn’t seen the maps. He noted a lot of people probably haven’t seen them, likely due to work obligations.
Council member-at-large Denise Swanner, who represented the council during the process, pointed out the process began in September and five public notices went out about the meetings.
“If you felt like I’ve excluded you, I apologize,” Swanner said. “I did what the demographer said and went to the meetings. We posted public hearings and if each of you would like a personal call, I guess you need to get my cell number … and I’d be happy to let you know.”
Swanner said she also wanted to refute allegations that she had a bigger role to play in the drawing of the boundaries than she did.
District 5 Council member Mari Willis bemoaned the fact that no matter how the council voted they wouldn’t be able to please everyone, but said she hoped whatever they did it will be “free of possibilities of negative measures that could and have shown throughout history to be unlawful or unrepresentative or not fair. I hope we are not doing that.”
Throughout the process the city’s attorneys, staff and Swanner worked hard to devise options, Willis said.
In a prepared statement, Willis urged people to participate from here going forward.
“Don’t be afraid by what we say or anybody else says. Don’t be afraid to show up in our meetings. Speak up, because that’s why you have a voice. Speak to your representative and let that voice be known and bring positive workable solutions to the table and by all means show up to vote because your vote is your voice and your voice is your vote,” Willis said.
Without naming names, Willis also chided her colleagues on the council for “belittling” citizens and making them uncomfortable instead of hearing them.
“Let’s be respectful, and let’s be hopeful that we as a body, as a council body, will do the right thing for the right reason, because I’ve heard accusations too, that the lines are being drawn to draw someone in and so that they can run against a certain person,” Willis said. “I hope that’s not true. I hope it’s not true. You said what you heard. I’m saying what I’ve heard. I’ve heard that. Let’s just hope that we serve on a council that will be fair.”
Thompson told Joven that he wanted to apologize, but it “kind of irks” him that Collins and Rodriguez were picking on the council when he heard no one attended the school district’s meetings to discuss their boundaries.
“I think we’ve done everything properly. I applaud Denise for her hard work. I know that’s not fun work,” Thompson said.
District 4 Council member Tom Sprawls noted that while they keep hearing people are disenfranchised, they’ve not heard anyone say there’s anything wrong with the two plans they were considering.
Sprawls also echoed what District 1 Council member Mark Matta said.
“For the most part, when you have a Hispanic population of 56%, it’s virtually impossible to gerrymander that to give anybody any more strength and when you have a Black population of 6% or just a little over 6%, it’s virtually impossible to gerrymander it so those people get additional strength,” Sprawls said. “Look at these people standing up here. There’s three Anglos here. So how unrepresented are you? How disenfranchised are you and when have you ever been timid about calling Ms. White, if she’s your councilwoman simply because she’s white? It probably hasn’t happened so I’m ready to go ahead and vote.”
In other matters, Public Works Director Thomas Kerr updated the council on efforts to rehab the city’s water treatment plant. He told council members equipment and materials have been ordered, the new chemical building foundation is being excavated and Plant 2 is being prepared because it will be used throughout the entire construction project. An old 2,000 gallon diesel tank has been removed and several unused, unnecessary water lines have also been removed. The project is on schedule he said.
In addition, the council agreed to amend a city ordinance so law enforcement officers can issue citations to parents who facilitate underage drinking by renting party buses, limos and recreational vehicles. Joven told the audience the police department noticed this was an issue this year during local proms. A second reading of the amendment will be read during next week’s regular council meeting so it will be in force prior to graduation.
The council also heard about a project to install a traffic signal at Faudree and P Bar Ranch roads for $139,000 and a proposal to extend a maintenance contract with Motorola for $303,000.
