Kalona?s census challenge stalls redistricting commission

The work of the Washington County Redistricting Commission has been put on hold owing to the city of Kalona?s challenge to the 2010 census figures. Kalona City Administrator Ryan Schlabaugh told the commissioners at their meeting Monday that Kalona?s population is higher by perhaps 175 people than the Census Bureau?s figure of 2,363. Commission chairman Brian Hora said that would markedly change the districts the commission drew. The commissioners agreed to wait until Schlabaugh heard back from the Census Bureau before scheduling their next meeting.

Schlabaugh said the Census Bureau counted 88 vacant residences in the city when it performed the 2010 census. That struck him as incredibly high. He attempted to determine the number of unused water meters at the time of the census and found there were between eight and 12 vacant units in the whole city. To estimate the number of residents who were not counted, Schlabaugh took the average number of people per unit, 2.24, and multiplied it by 78, the difference between the census bureau?s number of vacancies and his number of vacancies. That comes to 174.72.

Schlabaugh said it is possible that the Census Bureau counted the homes of ?snow birds? as vacancies because they were gone at the time of the census. Schlabaugh would like the Census Bureau to send him the addresses of the 88 vacant units so that city staff could check if anyone is living here. However, the Census Bureau will not give him that information.

?They will never give us the physical addresses of the units,? said Schlabaugh. ?They break down the city of Kalona into 32 grids. They will give us the homes within the grid, and we?ll have to figure out where those are. It?s going to be a little bit of work.?

The Census Bureau did not tell Schlabaugh when it would resolve the dispute. Schlabaugh said he expects to hear back from the Census Bureau in the next three months, based on the bureau?s response time after the 2000 census. The City of Kalona formally filed its challenge to the Census Bureau on June 1, the first date it could do so.

The commissioners are charged with separating the county into five districts of roughly equal population. The commissioners? target population for each county is 4,341. The districts may contain 43 more or fewer people than that number. However, if they do, the commission must publish a justification of why they are outside that margin. If 175 people were added to Kalona?s population, the target population per district would shift to 4,376.

Commission member Terry Philips asked if there would also need to be a public hearing if one or more of the districts went outside the population margin. Washington County Deputy Auditor Phyllis Hofer said the commission would need to hold a public hearing whether the districts went outside the margin or not.

Hora mentioned that the commission will have to spend time drawing the district lines in the city of Washington. However, he said the main impediment to progress on the maps is the uncertainty of Kalona?s population.

?We?re going to have a hard time moving forward with Kalona,? said Hora.

Hora recommended that the commission suspend its map-making until Kalona?s population was known, and the other commissioners agreed.

The Washington County Board of Supervisors must approve the new districts before Oct. 15. Supervisor Steve Davis, who was present at the commission?s meeting, said he knows of no circumstance that would allow the supervisors to postpone the adoption of the new map.