By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Board of Reno County Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to put a vote before the public in November of 2021 to expand from three to five members. Ron Sellers thinks more voices are needed in the budget process.
"The County is not growing substantially," said commissioner Ron Sellers. "The tax base is not going to grow substantially. In the future, county commissioners are going to have to make the decisions on what priorities we're going to increase. Thus, if we increase some, we're going to have to decrease some. The budgeting process is going to get more complicated in the future than it has been in the past."
The intent of the commission is, if the voters want five commissioners, to communicate with the Governor that they want to elect those commissioners in November of 2022. There was still an open question as to if that changes the quorum requirements in the intervening months between the passing of the expansion and the voting on the two new commissioners. If so, that would mean that it would take all three current commissioners to constitute a quorum until the new commissioners are elected and seated. It was the opinion of both the county counselor and the county clerk that the quorum would change, but commissioners were still seeking clarification from legal counsel at the state level to make sure. The commissioners let GIS and elections staff decide which voting precincts are in which districts and selected a map.
"I don't think any of the three of us are trying to create any gerrymandering at all," Sellers said. "We're just trying to make five equal population districts out of this."
According to the resolution, Reno County shall be divided into five (5) commissioner districts and apportioned as follows:
A. DISTRICT NO. 1 (Population 12,256)
Cities: Hutchinson Precincts 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 24, 29 and 32
Nickerson Wards 1, 2 and 3
The Highlands
Willowbrook
Townships: Grant and Reno North
B. DISTRICT NO. 2 (Population 12,720)
Cities: Hutchinson Precincts 1-H102, 1-H114, 2, 3 and 30 and
South Hutchinson Precincts 1, 2 and 3; and all of Abbyville, Arlington,
Langdon, Partridge, Plevna, Pretty Prairie, Sylvia and Turon
Townships: Albion Huntsville Roscoe Arlington Langdon Salt Creek Bell Lincoln Sylvia Castleton Loda Troy Center Medford Walnut Enterprise Miami Westminster Grove Plevna Hayes Reno South
C. DISTRICT NO. 3 (Population 12,347)
Cities: Hutchinson 17, 23, 23 Exclave, 27, 28, 28 Exclave, 31 and 33 and all of Buhler
Townships: Clay North Little River Medora
D. DISTRICT NO. 4 (Population 13,630)
Cities: Hutchinson Precincts 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 35
E. DISTRICT NO. 5 (Population 13,558)
Cities: Hutchinson Precincts 16, 22, 25, 26, 26 Exclave, 34, 34 Exclave and 36 and all of Haven Townships: Clay South H101 Ninnescah Yoder Clay South H102A Sumner Haven Valley
Ultimately, it will be up to the voters if they want to have three or five commissioners. Leavenworth County was the last county to have such an expansion in 2019.