MORGANTOWN – Morgantown City Councilman Brian Butcher didn’t hold back Tuesday night when addressing the body’s 4-3 vote to reject the recommendations of the city’s wards and boundaries commission.

“Terribly selfish,” “politically motivated,” “undemocratic,” and “incredibly disappointing” were some of the descriptions he used to define the decision.

As reported, the boundary adjustments recommended by the volunteer commission were significant because the discrepancy in the number of registered voters between some of the districts is significant.

The perfect distribution of registered voters would put 1,980 in each of the seven districts.

Currently, there are 1,332 registered voters in District 4 and 2,453 registered voters in District 6. Totals for other districts are: 1st District (2,243), 2nd (1,707), 3rd (1,612), 5. ° (2,174) and 7th (2,335).

Under the city charter, the commission is mandated to submit its report on or before Oct. 31 of each even-numbered year with a recommended plan and adjustment map to match the number of qualified voters “as closely as practicable” or a recommendation. to not make changes.

The changes proposed by the commission (in collaboration with Morgantown GIS manager Marvin Davis) would have equalized the number of registered voters to less than 200. At 1,904, the first district would have been the low end and the third district would have been the higher, at least 2,100.

But hidden in all those changes was a line adjustment that would have placed 3rd District Councilwoman Louise Michael’s home address in the 4th District.

By law, the council must approve or disapprove the report before its first meeting in December. He postponed a decision when he met on October 2, which brought us to Tuesday.

“I don’t understand why this council would make a decision about the fairness of its districts and boundaries based on the self-interest of a city council member,” Butcher said, adding, “The way this was framed was fair. “It was fair to everyone in the city except one council member, so we rejected it.”

Council members Danielle Trumble and Dave Harshbarger joined Butcher in voting to accept the commission’s report. Mayor Joe Abu-Ghannam, Vice Mayor Jenny Selin, Bill Kawecki and Michael voted to reject it.

This was the same 4-3 split that the council voted in October not to make a charter change that would move city elections before voters.

“I took notes on things because I was told several weeks ago how this was going to go because some vote change had occurred in advance,” Trumble said.

Trumble also mentioned a previous council’s 4-3 vote in 2014 to reject and replace a district and boundary map that would have moved Selin to District 7.

That issue became a highly contentious issue that resulted in a public split within the council. It was cited as an important part of the justification for a petition to remove four members (Selin, Kawecki, Marti Shamberger and Nancy Ganz) that was ultimately dismissed by a three-judge panel.

Both Trumble and Butcher also objected upon learning that Abu-Ghannam, Selin and Kawecki had met with Davis. In addition to a general lesson on how GIS mapping software works, that meeting produced a boundary map variation that would keep Michael in the 3rd District and balance the districts within 10%.

“You’re trying to keep Seneca Center in the 3rd District. That’s what we’re trying to do here. That’s the point of this map and I understand the reasoning behind that, but when you start drawing boundaries around where a certain person lives, that’s when we start having lawsuits again, like we did with that line in Suncrest 10 years ago. Trumble said. “I think we’re really changing the goals here and trying to be vague about why we’re doing it when we all know why we’re doing it.”

Kawecki responded and explained, “This was not some kind of conspiracy.”

Michael’s motivations for opposing the changes are clear. If approved, he could serve his term until June 30, 2027, but would not be able to run for re-election without returning to District 3. Otherwise, he would have to run in District 4 in 2029, potentially against Selin, who has represented to that district since 2007.

The others said their main problem with the proposal was the impact on the historic character of the districts and their neighborhoods.

“District 3, in particular, has always been Wiles Hill and Sunnyside. The Sunnyside line has always been 8th Street,” Kawecki said, explaining that he would change a permitted variation in numbers if “the community and the community boundaries and the identification of the neighborhoods” could be preserved.

He also objected to the statements of his colleagues.

“I take it as an insult. I spend a lot of time trying to do my job and have done so successfully for several years… I have the same resources available to you as you and I am available to you and certainly willing to talk to you. about any of your concerns. You have my email. You have my phone number. “I am available,” he said.

“I don’t appreciate the way you smear our administration. “I don’t appreciate the fact that because you don’t get what you want, you complain about what other people are doing to you.”