Attorney: Redistricting Village May Not Be Necessary

The village attorney said changing the boundaries of Oak Lawn’s six municipal districts might not be necessary because each district’s population has remained essentially the same over the last decade.

Attorney Patrick Connelly presented his recommendations to the at Tuesday’s meeting. Redrawing of the electoral boundaries, including congressional, state, county and municipal electoral districts, is required every 10 years as determined by the results of the decennial census.

Connelly—an attorney for Querrey and Harrow, the village’s legal counsel--said that based on case law and Illinois statutes the current layout of the village’s districts is within legal standings.

“Redistricting is not mandatory at this time for the village because the numbers in no one district shot up or dropped by a great percentage over the last 10 years,” Connelly said.

The largest district in terms of population is Dist. 5 (Trustee Carol Quinlan) with 9,685; Dist. 4 (Trustee Tom Duhig) is the smallest, with a population of 9,150.

The other districts are as follows:

• Dist. 1 (Trustee Cindy Trautsch) – 9,427
• Dist. 2 (Trustee Olejniczak) – 9,407
• Dist. 3 (Trustee Bob Streit) – 9,498
• Dist. 6 (Trustee Tom Phelan) – 9,523

“The general case on [population] is 10 percent,” Connelly said. “Clearly all the districts are within 10 percent.”

The village board has to option to accept or not accept legal counsel’s recommendation that redrawing the district lines is not mandatory under state statutes based on population numbers.

Any redistricting would have to be completed by Oct. 19, 30 days prior to first day for filing petitions for the next municipal primary scheduled for Feb. 26, 2013.

Connelly said the purpose of his presentation was to bring it to the village board’s attention and “get some dialogue going.”

Village Clerk Jane Quinlan said after Tuesday’s village board meeting that redistricting could cost the village between $15,000 and $20,000. No vote was taken Tuesday whether or not to accept the village attorney’s recommendations.

“It would be up to the board if they want to change the boundaries,” she said.