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Fairfield was required to redraw its district lines to conform to the 2010 Census and the state’s new House of Representative districts by June 1 under state law. A six-member bipartisan Redistricting Committee had met 20 times since March 2012 but has not voted on a new plan at the committee level.
Republican RTM Moderator Jeffrey Steele decided that with no tie-breaking mechanism in the Town Charter and with Monday as the last monthly meeting before the deadline, the full 50-member RTM would make the decision. Republicans outnumber Democrats on the RTM, 28-22.
Town Attorney Stanton Lesser, a Democratic appointee, said this violated the Town Charter. The charter states that the RTM must vote on a plan “proposed by” the six-member committee. Lesser argued that this meant that the committee needed to approve the plan with a majority vote.
“The purpose of this charter provision is to allow the RTM to be redistricted in a way that is fair to members of both political parties or, put another way, it prevents the majority from imposing its will on the minority in an unfair way,” Lesser said in his report to the RTM.
Steele, however, said, “The language is vague.” He said Monday he consulted with other attorneys who agreed that the plan needed to come from some members of the committee—in this case, the three Republican members or the three Democratic members—but that the full RTM has the final say.
“I believe there has to be action taken, and if that action begins with a discussion by the body, so be it,” Steele said.
Lesser warned that if the move does violate the Town Charter, the decision could open the town up for a lawsuit. It could also potentially invalidate any decisions made by the new RTM, if a court decides that the process to draw the districts was incorrect.
Steele asked both parties to submit plans to the Town Clerk last week. The Republicans’ proposal reduced the number of voting districts from 10 to eight, which they had advocated for in the Redistricting Committee. The Democrats, who favored staying with a 10-district system, did not submit a proposal in protest.
Democrats made two attempts to block the vote. Member Chris Brogan initially moved to appeal Steele’s decision to bring the plan to a vote. The full RTM upheld Steele’s decision by a 28-21 vote along party lines.
Fellow Democrat Ann Stamler then proposed amending the agenda to remove the words “vote on” from the item, which would turn Monday’s meeting into just a discussion. That amendment also failed through a party-line vote. The RTM then approved the Republican-endorsed plan, again voting along party lines.
Republicans outnumber Democrats in five of the eight districts created Monday night. In four districts, the difference between the parties is less than 4 percent of the total number of registered voters in the district, and two have differences of about 100 voters. Unaffiliated voters outnumber both parties in all eight districts.
The change in number of districts means there will be fewer polling places in Fairfield this November, as each district has its own voting center. The RTM itself will shrink from 50 members to 40, as each district will keep its five representatives on the legislative board.
You can see a high-resolution map of the new districts on the town website. A street-by-street breakdown is also available.
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