PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County Districting Commission has scheduled three public hearings to get citizen input on five proposals for new boundaries for the three county commissioner districts.
Hearings will be held June 14 at the Forks City Council Chambers, 500 E. Division St., June 15 at the Sequim unit of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula at 400 W. Fir St. and June 16 at the commissioners board room (160) at the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.
All three hearings will begin at 7 p.m.
Using 2010 Census data, Districting Masters Gene Unger and Don Corson have developed five scenarios with color-coded maps for the new boundaries.
The two boundaries move east in each of the five proposals.
The county charter requires the most populous district cannot exceed the size of the least populous district by more than 5 percent.
The charter requires that the boundaries be changed, if necessary, every 10 years when new Census numbers become available. Boundaries are supposed to run from north to south.
Unger and Corson, who are working under an $8,500 contract with the county, developed a scoring system to analyze their proposals.
The criteria were based on:
■ Equal population.
■ North-south boundaries.
■ Geographically compact and continuous.
■ Whole voting precincts.
Under the highest-scoring option — Proposal C — the line between District No. 2 and 3 shifts from west Port Angeles to Valley Creek in the heart of Port Angeles.
The line between Districts No. 1 and 2 would shift from McDonald Creek in Agnew to Boyce Road near Carlsborg in that proposal.
The new lines will take effect in 2012.
Only residents within a commissioner’s own district can vote for that commissioner in the primary. Commissioners are elected countywide in the general election.
Clallam County grew by 6,879 people between 2000 and 2010, from 64,525 to 71,404, with the largest growth in the Sequim area.
District No. 1 Commissioner Steve Tharinger has announced he is not running for re-election this year.
He recently completed his freshman session as a 24th District state representative for Clallam and Jefferson counties and part of Grays Harbor County.
He worked the jobs simultaneously, participating in nearly all of the twice-weekly county meetings by speaker phone.
Citing time constraints, Tharinger announced in April that he will not seek another term as county commissioner. His third term expires at the end of the year.
Two challengers have announced intentions to run for Tharinger’s seat.
They are Jim McEntire, a Sequim Republican and a Port of Port Angeles commissioner, and Linda Barnfather, a Sequim Democrat and a legislative assistant for Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim.
Filing week for the Nov. 8 general election began Monday.
________
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com