Easley City Council Approves Redistricting Map

Easley City Council voted Monday night to approve the first reading of an ordinance to redraw the city's six voting wards.

Earlier this year the city began working on redistricting the six voting wards in Easley because of an imbalance in population growth in recent years.

In July the council voted to approve the redistricting criteria recommended by Director of the South Carolina Office of Research and Statistics Bobby Bowers.

The seven recommended criteria for redistricting were:

1. Adherence to the court-ordered constitutional requirement of one person-one vote.
2. Adherence to the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
3. To ensure the districts are contiguous.
4. Respect to community interests.
5. Attempt to maintain constituent consistency.
6. Avoid splitting voting precincts.
7. Solicit public inquiries.

In August the new map was posted on the city's website for public review.

"We've talked about this, we've had it on our website," Mayor Larry Bagwell said. "It's still on the website for people to go see."

City Council will vote on a second reading of the redistricting map during the next meeting on Oct. 10. 

Council also voted Monday night to approve a resolution to award a construction contract to Saddle Brook Construction for $110,000 to replace the Pinewood Drive bridge.

"SCDOT rated this bridge the lowest rating they could," said City Administrator Jonathan "Fox" Simons.

Simons said the city-owned bridge is old and has been damaged by years of storm water damage.

"We could not put our garbage trucks or our fire trucks — I'm not sure about ambulances — they cannot go over the bridge safely."

Three companies responded to the city's Request For Proposal and Saddle Brook Construction bid the lowest for the project.