New proposed districts will change the makeup of the Board of Supervisors

The makeup of the Franklin County Board of Supervisors is set to see a dramatic change as a result of a new redistricting map imposed on the county by the Iowa Legislative Services Agency.

Following the 2020 Census, Franklin County, like all counties in Iowa, had to submit a new map to the Secretary of State for the redistricting of voting precincts and supervisor districts. A volunteer rezoning board came together once the census results were in and worked to make adjustments to the precinct map in order to account for changes in population.

Currently, supervisor districts are divided into three roughly similar segments of geographic territory. District 1 encompasses four of Franklin County's southeast townships, along with the cities of Hansell and Geneva. District 2 is made up of four central townships and the city of Latimer. District 3 is made up of the seven townships on the north and west border of the county, along with the cities of Sheffield, Alexander, and Popejoy. Mott Township is divided between Districts 1 and 3 while the City of Hampton is divided between Districts 1 and 2.

The proposed map for the next decade suggested only one major change, moving the Lee Township in southern Franklin County from District 2 into District 3, pairing it up with Morgan and Oakland Townships as opposed to Hamilton and Reeve Townships. This change kept the new district map largely the same as the current one and split the population as evenly as possible between the three districts, with Districts 2 and 3 having identical populations and District 1 being 14 people off the other two.

The county's redistricting proposal was finished in December of 2021 and sent to the Secretary of State's office to be examined by the Iowa Legislative Services Agency.

On January 17, the Legislative Services Agency sent back a very different proposal for a new map. One in which District 1 now roughly encompasses the entire southwest half of the county, District 2 is made up of three of Hampton's four precincts, and District 3 fills the remaining northeast portion of the county, along with the remaining Hampton precinct.

Under the new map, current District 3 Supervisor Chris Vanness, who is in the middle of his term, would have to run for re-election as the Supervisor for the new District 1, even though he hasn't actually moved.

Even more impacted by the new map would be current District 2 Supervisor Gary McVicker, as the bulk of the geographic area of his district has effectively been eliminated to be combined with the new District 1.

Of the three supervisors, the one facing the least amount of disruption is District 1 Supervisor Mike Nolte. While Nolte's district would be changed from District 1 to District 3, his term ends this year and he would have to run for re-election anyway.

Beyond disrupting the specific supervisors, the change in the map fundamentally changes the makeup of the board, dedicating one of the three seats to exclusively represent the City of Hampton. This would be a major change for a board that traditionally focuses their attention on rural issues such as county roads and drainage districts. While the county and the city may work together on shared areas of interest, the Supervisors have largely focused on representing Franklin County's rural population.

"The residents of Hampton already have a representative government," said McVicker. "The city takes care of the city."

In fact, to the best of the board's knowledge, it has been two decades since anybody from Hampton has even run for a supervisor's seat.

More frustrating for the supervisors is that they have been put into this situation without a chance at recourse. In theory, the Board of Supervisors would be given an opportunity to send the proposed map back to the Legislative Services Agency and ask for a new one.

In practice, there is not enough time to do that. State law says that county maps must be finalized by February 2, 90 days from when the state legislature finalized their maps. Having not received the Legislative Services Agency's proposal until January 17, the county does not have enough time to schedule and publish notifications for the required public hearings before that February 2 deadline. By the time the county received the new map, it was mathematically impossible for them to send it back.

"They literally sent it to us without any options," said County Auditor Katy Flint.

Meanwhile, the Secretary of State's office has left the county to guess at how they should proceed. Flint says she's been trying to get in touch with somebody at the Secretary of State's office for help in addressing the issues with the new map but has received no communication back. Instead, Flint has had to depend on the speculation of fellow county auditors about what their options are.

"What makes it worse is that they won't respond to us," said Nolte. "It's screwed up."

With few options available to them, the Board of Supervisors must decide to either accept or reject the newly proposed map.

If they reject it, all indications suggest that the state will force the new map onto the county, resulting in an abrupt end to Supervisor Vanness' term and all three supervisor seats going up for election in November.

If the board votes to accept the new map, it has been indicated that they may be allowed to shuffle the district numbers, swapping Districts 1 and 3 so that Vanness can finish his term. Supervisor Nolte will have to run for re-election either way and a new supervisor would need to be elected from within the city of Hampton.

Nevertheless, unless there is a sudden reversal in policy, it seems likely that this well be Supervisor McVicker's final term in office.

McVicker, who is on his eighth year as a supervisor and co-chairs the board, would have to either run against Vanness or move into Hampton in order to be re-elected. Neither of which is an option that appeals to him.

"Some bureaucrat basically threw me out of office without an election," said McVicker. "They made the decision for me. It isn't