Brookhaven Town Board To Tackle District Voting Lines Debacle

FARMINGVILLE, NY — The Brookhaven Town Board will now be tasked with redrawing the boundary lines for voting across the municipality's six council districts where there has been some controversy about gerrymandering in neighborhoods with people of color.

The move comes after the town's eight-member bipartisan redistricting committee previously charged with redistricting held several votes but could not reach an agreement — with the required six votes — on how the council districts will be withdrawn.

Committee Co-Chair Ali Nazir, a Republican, informed the board this week in writing that the committee agreed to have him meet with Co-Chair Rabia Aziz, a Democrat, to see if there could be an agreement, but the two were unable to compromise and "agreed that any further discussion would be fruitless."

"As a result, we will be unable to complete our mission and submit a proposed Redistricting Plan for Town Board approval," Nazir wrote, adding that the committee's counsel, Vincent Messina, will be sending "all documents relevant to the committee as soon as possible."

Nazir went on to thank the board for the opportunity to work on the committee.

"It is my hope the documents of the committee will be helpful to the Town Board in adopting a Redistricting Plan for the Town of Brookhaven," he concluded.

Aziz told Newsday, “At this point, I don’t see anything that we [Democrats] could have done.”

Nazir's announcement came after a meeting on Monday night in which a Republican map failed 5-3, and two maps supported by Democrats failed 3-5, the outlet reported.

The town must adopt new council district lines by Dec. 15, Newsday reported.

Recent federal census data show's the populations of Council Districts 2 and 6 are out of balance with the other four, meaning that they are not within 5 percent of about 81,000 residents, or about one-sixth of the town's population of 475,000, requiring redistricting, according to the outlet.

Residents and community leaders have complained the redistricting was flawed in that it would divide some neighborhoods and split some minority communities between three or more districts, the outlet reported.

In a statement to Patch, Supervisor Ed Romaine said that because the committee was not able to agree on the proposed lines, "it now falls to the Town Board to make appropriate and necessary revisions to the boundaries of all council districts, consistent with provisions of town, state, and federal statutes."

The town board has a Republican majority of 6-1.

Its members will use the U.S. Census information and election districts determined by the Suffolk County Board of Elections to revise the boundaries, according to Romaine.

The board's goal is to make the new districts convenient, contiguous, and as compact as practical, but also to reduce the number of hamlets that are split between districts of multiple council members and to have "substantially equal populations with the least possible deviation and to contain clear and readily identifiable boundaries."

Romaine thanked the committee for its work, crediting them for performing "important work that produced critical information for this reapportionment process."

"Over the course of more than a dozen public meetings, held in all six council districts and live-streamed for all residents to see, they have made this an open, transparent, and public process," he said. "Numerous residents attended these meetings, voicing their concerns, recommendations, and suggestions, which were covered in the media."

Romaine concluded by thanking the committee, noting the town now has "numerous comments from individuals, civic associations, and other groups which we will endeavor to incorporate into a final map where possible."