The Flathead County Commission voted last week to approve new district boundaries for the three commissioners, in an effort to more evenly distribute the county’s population.
On Jan. 17, the commissioners voted 3-0 to approve the redistricting. This process happens every 10 years and coincides with new U.S. Census numbers. The 2010 Census placed Flathead County’s population at 90,928, up 22 percent from a decade ago.
According to Deputy County Attorney Tara Fugina, the county is dependent on the state for official Census numbers, which adds time to the entire process.
In Flathead County, the county commission is comprised of three members, each representing a section of land and population within the county’s boundaries. Through the redistricting, commissioners worked to shift some of the population from District 3, currently represented by Commissioner Dale Lauman, to District 1, represented by Commissioner Jim Dupont.
There was also an effort to shift more land to District 3 without adding much population, which meant moving the northern boundary line to Tally Lake Road.
To give District 1 a higher population count, the commission agreed to move its southern boundary line south at Pioneer Road on U.S. Highway 2 to West Reserve Drive and back north up U.S. Highway 93.
The eastern boundary line for District 3 runs down Highway 93 to Montana Highway 82 and along the county line through Flathead Lake. District 3 still includes Somers.
With the new boundaries, District 1 will contain 30,423 people within 2,418 square miles; District 2, represented by Commissioner Pam Holmquist, will contain 30,601 people within 1,751 square miles and District 3 will contain 29,904 people within 1,084 square miles.
The previous population counts were 28,419 people in District 1; 25,948 in District 2; and 36,060 in District 3.
According to officials at the Flathead County Election Department, there are no plans for their office to send out notices about the redistricting to voters.
Though the commission voted to change the districts, the official paperwork has yet to come from the Flathead County Attorney’s Office. Fugina said her office is waiting on the official metes and boundaries for the new districts, and then a district judge will sign the document.
“It would have been hugely disappointing had we proposed districts and created the metes and boundaries and they had been changed,” Fugina said.
The state also has plans for redistricting the legislative and voting districts based on the 2010 Census data. For more information, visit www.ceic.mt.gov/2010_Web/redistricting.asp.
For maps of the Flathead County commissioners’ districts, contact the county geographic and information systems services at 758-5540.