Concord City Council Approves New Voting Ward Maps

CONCORD, NH — With only one person making public comments and not a lot of debate either, the Concord City Council approved redistricting changes to the city’s 10 voting wards.

The changes were made based on new population numbers released by the Census from 2020 earlier this year.

During three meetings across two weeks, a committee of at-large councilors, a few political activists, a former Speaker of the House, a ward moderator, and others eyed some of the new data. Sam Durfee, a city planner, used software to create some of the maps and make changes as members mentioned them.

They made some minor changes, at first, including ensuring the Ward 9 voting location, the city’s new community center was moved from Ward 8 to Ward 9. Some alterations were made to shift a few neighborhoods in the Borough Road, Manor Road, Fisherville Road, and Abbott Road area of the city. From there, it got a bit complicated — with major changes made to Wards 2, 3, and 5, due to a drop in population in Ward 5 and growth in Wards 2 and 3, due partially to the construction of a new women’s prison in Ward 3.

For specific map changes around the city, read this overview: Concord Ward Redistricting, Columbus Day Public Hearings Monday

The changes shifted Ward 5 north, absorbing a large chunk of Ward 3, around Penacook Lake, while Ward 2 shifted west, absorbing the western third of Ward 3.

“A lot of this was designed to bring population down from Wards 1, 2, 3; they gained the most in the city,” Durfee said. “And try to bring some of that population back into (Wards) 5, 4, and 7.”

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Mayor Jim Bouley said the new maps met the specific goals that were needed — including ensuring that all the voting locations were in the wards where people lived and there was no more or less than 5 percent deviation from the size of around 4,400 residents per ward.

Erle Pierce of Ward 2, who saw his district change drastically, asked about some of the homes that were separated between River Road and the Contoocook River that appeared to be in Ward 1 instead of Ward 2.

Durfee said it was because of the Census block lines and there were cuts that could not be made.

“That population is too great (to shift),” Durfee said.

“So, Brent gets the docks and I don’t,” Pierce said to laughter in the chambers.

Roy Schweiker, the only member of the public to attend any of the redistricting meetings, was also the only person to speak during the public hearing phase of the action. He called the maps, “a reasonably good product.”

Bouley asked, to laughter afterward, “Can you repeat that?”

“But I’m still disappointed,” Schweiker said. “There are a few things that I think are an issue.”

Schweiker said the planning department should have had a rough idea where new structures were built, knowing the Census data was coming, so it could have been worked on during the summer. He also raised the issue of the prisoners being in Ward 3. Schweiker said it made the votes in Ward 3 twice as valuable as everyone else’s votes. The city, he said, should work to find a way to split the prison into multiple wards. Schweiker also said there might come a day when prisoners can vote — something that has been promoted by certain political minds.

“They could elect whoever they want for a councilor,” Schweiker said. “They could vote for someone who wanted to defund the police department or whatever.”

Schweiker also said Berlin, which has a large federal prison, had eliminated its wards and went to a system with all at-large, citywide councilors, which might be an option for Concord. He added “communities of interest” needed more work, too, like having a single downtown ward, possibly based on the downtown snow removal map. Elementary school populations, too, could be another model.

“You cannot do the one for the next 10 years right now,” Schweiker said. “But what you can do is you get an idea of how this could be affected and then, update it … you could be coming into this, 10 years from now, with a better idea of what would be more logical wards, based on communities of interest rather than, historically, just shoving the lines around.”

He added, “It was a miracle you were able to get a good product but I think you can get a better product if you start tomorrow … which would give people a chance to be thinking, soon.”

Bouley asked if Schweiker supported changing the charter from 10 wards or to something different. Schweiker said he had not thought about that but, when he first moved to the city, there were only eight wards. He suggested there could be 14 wards.

Nathan Fennessey, an at-large councilor, asked Schweiker if he realized his two suggestions to the redistricting committee were considered and implemented. Schweiker said, “I noticed you did both of the things I suggested at the last meeting but I wouldn’t try and take credit for it,” to laughter in the chamber.

During the voting phase, Fennessey thanked everyone involved in the process as well as the comments the committee received at the three meetings, calling it important public input. A lot of attendees, he said, took it seriously.

“It may not be perfect,” Fennessey said, “and I know Mr. Schweiker thinks it’s not perfect, which is fine. But there is only so much you can do. It was a math problem … a pretty hard math problem.”

Byron Champlin, another at-large councilor, also thanked everyone for their work, calling it some of the most important work the council had done. But, he added, he was disappointed redistricting did not get a lot of public or media attention. It really was a difficult math problem, he said, making everything work with the allowed boundaries, like roads, rivers, and populations.

“It was a really interesting exercise,” Champlin said.

Bouley said it was his third redistricting for the city and he, too, thanked everyone for their time getting the new wards done.

Pierce asked about the communication component and City Clerk Janice Bonenfant said all voters who were affected by the new wards would be notified by mail. Fennessey added, too, that there would be new voting locations, too, so residents would need to be on the lookout for the notification.

Bouley also thanked the city’s school districts for allowing their buildings to be used for voting locations.

The maps were approved by voice vote.

They will now be sent to the Legislature for their redistricting process.

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