City of Columbia announces formation of ward reapportionment committee
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The city of Columbia has announced the formation of the ward reapportionment committee to help move City Council ward boundaries based on new census data.
"Reapportionment can take place every 10 years as new census data is released," City of Columbia Mayor Brian Treece said in a release. "This group’s work will help ensure residents in all of the City’s six wards will have fair representation."
Watch the announcement replay in the player below.
The City of Columbia says 2020 census data shows Columbia saw its district lines grow.
In 2010 Columbia City's population was one hundred and eight thousand 500. In 2020 it increased to one hundred twenty-six thousand two hundred and 54. The data shows that within a 10 year period, Columbia grew by nearly 13 percent.
This increase is causing the city to set new boundaries for the city's six wards. Today, Mayor Brian Treece continued his efforts to map out a redistricting committee to determine how the wards will be drawn up.
Tracy-Greever Rice, a chair member on the committee said, "The way our wards are portioned here in the City of Columbia ensures that communities um of interest and uh neighborhoods and uh geographic areas that hang together are able to vote".
The ward reapportionment committee will make its final report and recommendation to the Council no later than Feb. 15, 2022.
The committee will focus on two areas in Columbia first.
"One of those is in South Columbia and uh another area is toward the northeast of Columbia", Rice said.
Rice says they'll start with getting input from the community to confirm there is equity and quality in the number of potential voters in each district.
The council appointed the following individuals from each ward to participate on the committee, including the chair appointed by Mayor Treece.
Chair - Tracy Greever-Rice
Tracy Greever-Rice is director of the Center for Health Policy at the University of Missouri School of Medicine with her work focusing on demographics, population health and the social determinants of health. Greever-Rice has directed the Missouri Census Data Center since 2011. She also served on the Governor's 2020 Complete County Committee for Missouri in addition to serving as the co-chair of the Boone County Complete Counts Committee where she represented the City during the 2020 Census.
Ward 1 - Erica Ascani
Erica Ascani serves as community engagement coordinator for Local Motion. Ascani has experience using census data to apply for grants and is a member of the City’s Climate and Environment Commission.
Ward 2 - Melissa De Bartolomeo
Melissa De Bartolomeo is a programmer analyst at the Center for Applied Research and Engagement Systems, University of Missouri Extension. De Bartolomeo has a background in customer service, multimedia engineering and software development.
Ward 3 - Kip Kendrick
Kip Kendrick served as Missouri House Representative for District 45 from 2015-2020 and was a past president of the Benton-Stephens Neighborhood Association for seven years. Kendrick currently works as chief of staff for Missouri State Senator Greg Razer.
Ward 4 - Wiley Miller
Wiley Miller currently works as a psychologist in Columbia. Miller previously worked as a faculty member at the University of Missouri.
Ward 5 - Jeanne Mihail
Jeane Mihail is a retired professor from the University of Missouri. During her time at the University, Mihail was professor of plant sciences where her work focused on the gathering and analysis of quantitative data in the College of Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources.
Ward 6 - Terry Smith
Terry Smith is professor of political science and director of the Honors Program at Columbia College. Smith previously served as a member of redistricting commissions in the City of Columbia in 2001 and 2011.
