Maps show possible new districts for expanded Thurston County, Port of Olympia boards
Two potential redistricting maps with two additional districts will be reviewed by Thurston County and Port of Olympia commissioners.
On Friday, a redistricting committee — made up of Thurston County Commissioner Carolina Mejia, Port Commissioner Bob Iyall and County Auditor Mary Hall — decided to send two of three draft options forward for review. The committee has been meeting to plan the districts ahead of the November election, when county voters will decide whether to expand each commission from three to five members.
The two maps that will be reviewed both include a large District 5 that spans southwest and south-central Thurston County including Rochester, Tenino, Bucoda, Rainier and parts of Tumwater. Where the maps primarily differ is on District 4.
One option, labeled B, shows a smaller District 4 encompassing an area south of Lacey that includes Hicks Lake, Long Lake and Pattison Lake. The other option, labeled C, extends the same area up between Olympia and Lacey and towards Johnson Point.
Option A was not moved forward. That option had a District 5 that included the area south of Lacey and extended south to include Tenino, Bucoda and Rainier. It also had a District 4 made up of southwest Thurston County and parts of Tumwater.
Both commissions approved resolutions earlier this summer to ask voters to approve five-commissioner governing boards for the two entities in November. If approved, the county and port will redraw their districts and voters will elect two additional members to each commission in 2023.
State law allows non-charter counties, such as Thurston, to ask voters to approve a larger elected board if they have a population between 300,000 and 400,000
The commissions collaboratively started this process after the Washington state Office of Financial Management released population numbers in June that showed Thurston County had reached a population of 300,500.
Why are the new districts shaped like this?
According to state law and previous agreements, each district must contain a fifth of the county population and be drawn in a way that won’t unseat a current commissioner.
The latter requirement means District 2 must be a long district running from Lacey to Yelm and the southern county border. That’s because County Commissioner Gary Edwards resides near Lawrence Lake while Port Commissioner Iyall resides near the Nisqually Reach.
Additionally, the districts must be geographically contiguous areas and population data may not be used to favor or disfavor any racial group or political party.
On Friday, County Manager Ramiro Chavez said the committee had received comments from some south county residents who said they hoped for a large, rural district.
“Option B achieves that,” Chavez said. “So, we achieve that heavily urbanized district and this very rural character district.”
Tenino Mayor Wayne Fournier said that he and the mayors of Rainier and Bucoda preferred to be in the same district, and some Rochester residents have expressed the same interest as well.
“I kind of joke that there’s an east west line in the county,” Fournier said. “Below it our vacant land is full of cows and above it the vacant land is full of golf courses. We want to keep that spirit and that culture represented and so it does seem to me there’s a significant interest in having a southwest district.”
While the public and other elected officials could attend and speak at the meeting, only the commissioners on the redistricting committee had a say on moving the two options forward.
Staff devised the taller District 4 in Option C so that district could have rural areas, Chavez said.
“I think that probably balances District 1 and District 4,” Chavez said. “If you see across, every single district, at least on this (map), will have a rural component.”
However, Port Commissioner Amy Evans Harding said she felt balancing the districts as Chavez described diluted community interests.
“In my opinion, more balance is not how we create communities of interest in compact districts,” Evans Harding said. “We lose that, which is not the intent. … When redistricting it’s really about keeping things tight.”
Mejia said she leaned toward Option C because it gives the proposed District 4 an urban growth area that it would not have in Option B. She said that would give the District 4 commissioner the chance to weigh in on issues related to such areas.
Port Commissioner Iyall said he believes Option C better met the criteria of having compact and contiguous districts.
Next, Chavez said the Port and County commissions will review the two options at upcoming meetings.
Chavez previously said he plans to bring an ordinance establishing the new districts to the board of county commissioners by the end of the year. He expects the Port commission to do the same.
