Municipal Reapportionment

"All wards in the borough shall be numbered and composed of compact and contiguous territory as nearly equal in population as practicable as officially and finally reported in the latest official census."

- Chapter § 601(d) of Title 8 (also referred to as the "Borough Code")

Municipal Reapportionment applies only to voting precincts within Indiana Borough. The results of this decision will not affect any routines operations such as curbside collection of garbage and recycling.

Background:

Indiana Borough Council is elected by district, and therefore must apportion the districts so that each contains approximately the same number of persons pursuant to the most recent United States Census.

Unfortunately, our current ward map and distribution of representation does not adhere to this, nor does it adhere to the basic principle of One Person, One Vote.

To resolve this, Council must adopt an ordinance which alters the wards (districts) and size of Council. In May 2022, an Ad Hoc Committee was formed to study the structures of similar municipalities throughout the Commonwealth. Their research and formal recommendation was presented during the July 2022 Work Session meeting held at Borough Hall.

The slides are available in our document center and accessible here.

Scroll to the bottom of this page for an infographic explaining the process.

Moving Forward:

Legal Process for Maintaining Wards:

Solicitor must draft an ordinances for the map and one for the number of members. These may be passed at the same time.
The draft ordinances will be reviewed by the Administration Committee and (if approved) move to Council for a vote.
Council will review and discuss the ordinances publicly and vote to advertise them publicly.
The map will be advertised for 30 days. (if passed)
Council will vote to adopt the ordinances.

Legal Process for Going At-Large:

The process is similar to adopting new ward maps except there is no need for two ordinances.
The reduction of council to 7 will be included within the same ordinance (at-large councils must be exactly 7 members)

Resources:

News:

3/17/2021: Reapportionment of council seats could come in the future

10/5/2021: Indiana Borough Council Discusses Municipal Reapportionment

10/6/2021: Council mulls ward changes

1/5/2022: Council talks on reapportionment, funds

4/19/2022: Indiana Borough Council Discusses Ward System

4/20/2022: Indiana Council faces Dunkin' lawsuit, remapping its wards

5/4/2022: Panel named to study remapping Indiana wards

7/18/2022: Council ready to discuss borough reapportionment

7/19/2022: Ward Redistricting To Be Discussed Tonight By Borough Council

7/19/2022: Indiana Borough Council Receives Ward Recommendations