MORGANTOWN — Morgantown City Councilor Brian Butcher didn’t hold back Tuesday evening when addressing the body’s 4-3 vote to reject the recommendations of the city’s ward and boundary commission.
“Terribly self-interested,” “politically motivated,” “anti-democratic” and “incredibly disappointing,” were among the descriptions he used to define the decision.
As has been reported, the boundary adjustments recommended by the volunteer commission were significant because the discrepancy in the number of registered voters between some of the wards is significant.
The perfect distribution of registered voters would put 1,980 in each of the seven wards.
Currently, there are 1,332 registered voters in the 4th Ward and 2,453 registered voters in the 6th Ward. The other ward totals are: 1st Ward (2,243), 2nd (1,707), 3rd (1,612), 5th (2,174) and 7th (2,335).
Per the city’s charter, the commission is mandated to file its report on or before Oct. 31 of each even-numbered year with either a recommended plan and map of adjustment to equalize the number of qualified voters “as nearly as practicable” or a recommendation to make no changes.
The changes proposed by the commission – working with Morgantown GIS Manager Marvin Davis – would have equalized the number of registered voters to within 200. At 1,904, the 1st Ward would have been the low end and the 3rd Ward would have been the top, at 2,100.
But tucked away in all those changes was a line adjustment that would have placed 3rd Ward Councilor Louise Michael’s home address in the 4th Ward.
By law, council must approve or disapprove the report before its first meeting in December. It postponed a decision when it met on Oct. 2, bringing us to Tuesday.
“I don’t understand why this council would make a decision about the equity of its wards and boundaries based on one city council member’s self interests,” Butcher said, adding “The way this was drawn out was equitable. It was equitable to everyone in the city except for a council member, so therefore we rejected it.”
Councilors Danielle Trumble and Dave Harshbarger joined Butcher in voting to accept the commission’s report. Mayor Joe Abu-Ghannam, Deputy Mayor Jenny Selin, Bill Kawecki and Michael voted to reject it.
This was the same 4-3 split by which council voted in October to not to place a charter change moving the city’s election before the voters.
“I did make notes about things because I was told several weeks ago how this was going to go because some vote shifting had happened ahead of time,” Trumble said
Trumble also brought up a previous council’s 4-3 vote in 2014 to reject and replace a ward and boundary map that would have moved Selin into the 7th Ward.
That issue turned into a highly contentious affair that resulted in a public divide within council. It was cited as a major part of the justification for a petition to remove four members – Selin, Kawecki, Marti Shamberger and Nancy Ganz – which was ultimately dismissed by a three-judge panel.
Both Trumble and Butcher also took exception to learning Michael, Selin and Kawecki had met with Davis. In addition to a general lesson on how the GIS mapping software functions, that meeting produced a variation of the boundary map that would keep Michael in the 3rd Ward and balance the wards to within 10%.
“You’re trying to keep Seneca Center in 3rd Ward. That’s what we’re trying to do here. That’s what the point of this map is to do and I understand the reasoning behind that, but when you start drawing boundaries around where one certain person lives, that’s when we get into lawsuits again, like we did with that line in Suncrest 10 years ago,” Trumble said. “I think we’re really moving the goalposts on this one and trying to be vague about why we’re doing it when we all know why we’re doing it.”
Kawecki pushed back, explaining, “This was not some sort of conspiracy.”
Michael’s motivations for opposing the changes are clear. If passed, she could serve out her term through June 30, 2027, but couldn’t run for reelection without moving back into the 3rd Ward. Otherwise, she’d be left to run in the 4th Ward in 2029, potentially against Selin, who’s represented that ward since 2007.
The others said their major problem with the proposal was impacts to the historic character of the wards and their neighborhoods.
“The 3rd Ward, in particular, has always been Wiles Hill and Sunnyside. The Sunnyside line has always been 8th Street,” Kawecki said, explaining he would trade an allowable variance in the numbers if “community and community boundaries and the identification of neighborhoods” could be preserved.
He also took exception to the remarks offered by his colleagues.
“I take that as an insult. I spend a lot of time trying to do my job and I’ve done it successfully for a number of years … I have the same resources available to me as you have to you and I am available to you and certainly willing to talk to you about any of your concerns. You have my email. You have my telephone number. I’m available,” he said.
“I don’t appreciate the way you defame our administration. I don’t appreciate the fact that because you don’t get what you want, you’re there complaining about what other people are doing to you.”
