LEWISTON — The group rewriting the rules of Androscoggin County government is also redrawing the lines between the county’s districts. The reason is simple. The proposed county charter increases the number of commissioners from three to seven. Since Androscoggin County is currently divided into three districts — one for each commissioner — the lines must also change.
“It gets sticky,” Richard Grandmaison, vice chairman of the county’s charter commission, said.
Each district needs to have roughly the same population. As much as possible, towns need to remain whole. And there needs to be a balance between cities and towns, Grandmaison said.
As it now stands, the county’s three districts are simply drawn. District 3 has the city of Lewiston. District 2 covers Auburn, Mechanic Falls, Minot and Poland. All the rest of the towns — Durham, Greene, Leeds, Lisbon, Livermore, Livermore Falls, Sabattus, Turner and Wales — are in District 1.
The new plan would divide the cities along ward and precinct lines. And only one of the seven districts, the first, would exist without at least a piece of Lewiston or Auburn.
“We had some tugging and pulling,” Richard Gross, the charter group’s chairman, said.
Work was done to make sure that the smaller towns have an opportunity to be well-represented on the County Commission, he said. But in the end, it will be up to each candidate to run an appealing election.
In the new proposal, District 1 will cover the towns of Turner, Livermore, Livermore Falls and Minot. District 2 would include Poland, Mechanic Falls and part of Auburn, most likely Ward 1 and part of Ward 2.
District 3 would be made up the rest of Auburn Ward 2 and Wards 3, 4 and 5. District 4 would cover Durham, Lisbon and the second precinct of Lewiston’s Ward 6. District 5 would cover the first precinct of Ward 6 and the towns of Wales, Sabattus, Greene and Leeds. The rest of Lewiston would be represented in districts 6 and 7.
The lines are not final, Grandmaison said.
“Maybe someone has a better idea than the one we have,” he said.
The public will get a chance to suggest alternatives.
On Jan. 26, the commission plans a public hearing at the county building’s law library. The commission also plans to attend public meetings throughout the county to present its ideas and listen to comments.
A final proposal will go before voters in June for a countywide referendum.
Gross said he feels good about the proposal and the group that authored it.
“It’s been a very compatible group,” he said. Though the proposal could have created arguments, all but one of its votes were unanimous. And that split vote was over the decision to allow commissioners who have been elected at the time of the charter’s passage to keep their seats until their terms end.
“We didn’t want to have seven new people take office at the same time,” Gross said. “They will have a lot to do when they start out.”
If the charter passes, the commission would have to create bylaws and hire a county administrator in early 2014, when the charter would take effect.
dhartill@sunjournal.com
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