Howard County election districts: let's try something new

Much has been written lately about the current County Council redistricting.  Some have suggested adding two at-large members to the Council, as Montgomery County has, who would be elected countywide.

At the same time, there are growing concerns that our school board elections are not always yielding the best candidates.  The current countywide system of electing school board members have brought some...shall we say, interesting... characters to the board lately.  And while we shouldn't change the entire system because once in a while an election puts someone on the board who winds up being possibly a pain in the neck or a jerk (thanks, Brian Meshkin!) we should be aware of the need to elect the best and the brightest.  We also need to be aware of the fact that various areas of the county are represented on the board.

So here's what I think we should do.  And I advocate the charter amendments, legislation, etc. needed to make this happen.

We should divide the county into seven districts of about 40,000 people each.  The rough geographic boundaries of the districts could be:

Oakland Mills, Long Reach, Kings Contrivance, Owen Brown

Hickory Ridge, Wilde Lake, Dorsey's Search, Town Center

Harper's Choice, River Hill, Clarksville

Savage/North Laurel/Jessup/Hanover

Elkridge and eastern Ellicott City

western Ellicott City tthrough West Friendship and Lisbon (following I-70)

Highland and all other parts west (Dayton, Glenwood, Cattail Creek area, etc.)

Go ahead and assail me on these boundaries.  I'm going off of geographic commonalities here.  And all of these loose boundaries do create some socioeconomic diversity, with the possible exception of the two west county districts.

These districts become the Councilmanic districts, as well as School Board election districts.

Keep the staggered elections for School Board Districts.  Elect four in one election cycle (Presidential or Gubernatorial) and three in the other for six year terms, not four.  Keep the Council election cycles as is. 

Keep the three term limit for Council members and limit School Board members to two terms.  So twelve years of total service for either office.

This would be the theoretical sequence of elections: dates used for convenience:

2012: elect Board in Districts 1,2,3

2014: elect Board in Districts 4,5; elect all Council members

2016: elect Board in Districts 6,7

2018: elect Board in Districts 1,2,3; elect all Council

2020: elect Board in Districts 4,5

2022: elect Boardin Districts 6,7; elect all Council

And then the cycle repeats.

So what the hell have I created?

I've created a system where Council and Board members are directly accountable to their local constituencies.

I've reduced the number of residents per representative from almost 60,000 to about 42,000 or 43,000.

I've created a system where on a rotating schedule, Council and Board members would be elected from the same district at the same time, sometimes.  This would allow the debate over the quality of our educational system to constantly develop.

I've probably created a system that everyone who's reading this thinks I've gone completely cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.  Or, have I???

Have at it readers!  There's gotta be something in this plan you like, or don't like. 

 

 

Comments

[b.santos]

donde esta fulton?

[Trevor Greene]

I love your idea. By making school board members locally elected you are making them more responsive to a small group of citizens. If you had an issue with one school, you would know exactly which school board member to air your grievance, rather than having to go to the whole board.

I also like the districts you laid out, with one suggestion for a change. I would lump Harper's Choice with Town Center, Wilde-Lake and Dorsey's Search. I would then lump Hickory Ridge with River Hill and Clarksville.

[Not Lou]

we really must strive to be as narrow minded and parochial as possible... why not 50 councilmen each representing the interests of just 1 little neighborhood and one school board member per school?