Public hearing set for redistricting

FAIRFIELD — The Jefferson County Supervisors have set a public hearing date of Jan. 3 for new voting districts in the county.

After the state Legislature approved a new state House and Senate district map earlier this year, it has prompted counties to update how they group townships for polling places. The public hearing is set for 9 a.m. at the Jefferson County Courthouse.

Jefferson County Elections Clerk Abbie DeKleine said the county is planning to change which townships share a polling place. The proposed changes include:

Walnut Township will be grouped with Penn Township, as it was 10 years ago.

Lockridge and Lockridge township will be by itself.

Round Prairie Township will be grouped with Center and Cedar townships.

Lockridge township and Round Prairie used to share a polling place, but the new district borders split those two areas so they need to have separate polling places.

Also on Jan. 3, the county will approve a memorandum of understanding with the City of Fairfield pertaining to where certain residents will vote who did not want to be annexed into the city.

In other news, the supervisors discussed the need for a 28E agreement with Cardinal Community School District. The county pays the school district $5,000 a year to have a resource officer, a financial responsibility the county shares with Wapello County because the school districts lies in both counties.

The state auditor has announced that for governmental entities to give money to each other, they need a 28E agreement in place.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com