The Chautauqua County Legislature created a Redistricting Commission to oversee the recasting of county legislature district lines based upon our most recent census. Chautauqua County lost population, which continued our long-term trend.

The ongoing population loss and significant economic changes over the last ten and twenty years presents an opportunity to beneficially streamline and reorganize our county legislature for the coming decade and beyond.

Our County Legislature is presently organized into 19 districts. For the 2020 census, each district will contain approximately 6,700 people if 19 districts are continued.

These 19 districts make little jurisdictional or practical sense. The existing districts slice up larger and more diverse communities such as the Cities of Dunkirk and Jamestown and the Town of Pomfret into many indistinct pieces; and make little sense when combining expansive rural areas of multiple communities.

For example, the Town of Pomfret is split among three legislative districts and the Village of Fredonia within the Town is spilt into two districts. The City of Jamestown is divvied up among five districts; and the City of Dunkirk is divided among two districts. At the opposite end, one current legislative district includes portions of the Towns of Pomfret and Sheridan together with the Towns of Arkwright, Villanova, and Cherry Creek. There is little commonality among those various municipalities.

Maintaining the status quo of 19 districts or marginally reducing the number of districts by two to 17 does not take advantage of this once in a decade opportunity to seriously reorganize our county legislature and improve representation and accountability.

The Redistricting Commission should reduce the number of legislative districts to 11 districts or less.

With 11 districts, for example, each district will have approximately 12,000 residents. Thereby, as seen on the attached map, the City of Dunkirk, and the Town of Pomfret (with the Village of Fredonia) will be effectively encompassed in one district each; and the City of Jamestown will effectively have three districts within and around its boundaries.

Other districts could include common geographic elements and mutual interests. For example, the western Lake Erie district could incorporate communities from Dunkirk to Brocton-Portland to Westfield to Ripley; and the eastern Lake Erie district could include the Towns of Sheridan and Hanover. The Chautauqua Lake district could effectively represent the shared interests of the communities and residents around that lake. The more rural areas could be consolidated into regional rural districts where common economic interests can be best represented, and county issues best addressed.

The Redistricting Commission should not miss this opportunity; nor should the Legislature. We should reorganize ourselves and our county government for a better future.

Michael Bobseine, a Fredonia resident, is a former county legislator.