What: Port of Ridgefield Board of Commissioners to discuss redistricting plan and whether to change to at-large elections.
When: 3 p.m., Wednesday
Where: Port office, 111 W. Division St., Ridgefield
Information: 360-887-3873.
The Port of Ridgefield is examining whether to change the way voters within its 57-square-mile boundaries choose the three commissioners who represent them on everything from property taxes to business recruitment.
The port’s Board of Commissioners on Wednesday is expected to discuss the pros and cons of eliminating the port’s three separate commissioner districts, where voters in each district select a candidate to represent their specific collection of neighborhoods on the board.
Instead, the port would go to districtwide elections where voters would choose among at-large candidates from anywhere inside the port’s boundaries to serve on the three-member board.
Such a change would require simple majority approval from voters within the port’s boundaries, which encompass more than 14,600 people and 36,480 acres.
Port Commissioner Joe Melroy, who asked port administrators to investigate the merits of going to districtwide elections, said there’s no formal proposal on the table to put the issue to voters. But it’s worth discussing what such a move would entail, he said, especially since the port’s work to adjust district boundaries to reflect population changes is under way.
Those adjustments are required every 10 years following new U.S. Census Bureau data.
Melroy said he has questions: How much will it cost the port to modify its commissioner districts to reflect population changes? Would it cost less to adopt districtwide elections? Should the port continue to maintain separate commissioner districts when each comprises a relatively small area?
“It’s just something to look at,” Melroy said, emphasizing there’s no controversy or hidden political objectives at play.
David Valiant, project analyst for the Washington State Redistricting Commission, said the port could put the districtwide system to a vote in this year’s November general election. The deadline to decide to send the issue before voters is Aug. 16, the date of the 2011 primary election, he said.
The earliest the Port of Ridgefield could start using districtwide voting rather than separate commissioner districts is 2013, Valiant said, since port commission elections are held in odd-numbered years.
But that’s only if the port decides to put the issue to voters, and it subsequently passes.
In any case, port voters this year will continue to choose candidates under the current commissioner district system. The only seat on the port commission that’s open this year is Position 1, and incumbent Commissioner Bruce Wiseman is running for re-election unopposed.
Of the 75 ports in Washington, most have commissioner districts and only three elect their commissioners entirely on an at-large basis — Seattle, Tacoma and Shelton — according to research that Randy Mueller, director of business development for the Port of Ridgefield, conducted for the port.
“Reasons for eliminating commissioner districts generally revolve around increasing the potential candidate pool and opening up commission races to more persons,” Mueller wrote. “Reasons to keep commissioner districts have centered around the point that those districts ensure balanced representation on the port commission from the entire district, and avoiding the possibility of a narrow special interest voting bloc taking over the entire commission,” he wrote.
Even if the port asks voters to change to districtwide elections, Valiant said, it still must adjust its district boundaries to reflect changes in population.
After all, Valiant said, there’s no guarantee port voters would agree to the proposed change.
Port Commissioner Scott Hughes said he’s waiting for the commission’s public meeting Wednesday to dig into the details of the issue, adding that he just wants to “hear the pluses and minuses of things.”
