The Johnson County Board of Supervisors approved the next step in redistricting supervisor seats after a state law required the county to use district instead of at-large representation earlier this year.
The supervisors discussed a request by Johnson County Auditor Julie Persons during their work session meeting on Aug. 27.
The supervisors are required to redistrict the county into five equal population districts after a state law, Senate File 75 went into effect on April 10. The law requires counties housing an Iowa Board of Regents controlled university to elect county supervisors in a district model that requires equal population districts.
Currently, Johnson County supervisors are elected in an at-large model, meaning they are elected by a majority of county residents rather than a specific district.
The proposed plan for redistricting the counties was to move six people after properties have moved from unincorporated to incorporated areas.
Persons asked for permission to submit everything to the Secretary of State, then to the Legislative Service Agency of Iowa who will draw the maps on behalf of the county.
The agency will have drawn the redistricting maps for the counties by December 31, 2025. However, the auditors’ office hopes that all maps will be released at once and before the deadline. When those maps come back, the board of supervisors will then need to formally accept them before they can be put into effect.
Persons said the only reason they would reject the map is if they have the population count wrong. Persons will then draw which district will be a two-year term and a four-year term at a board of supervisors meeting.
Johnson County is currently bound to 2020 census numbers, and those numbers were affected by COVID-19 in 2020. Supervisor Rod Sullivan remarked how interesting the next re-districting will be, with Persons in agreement.
“I think that 2030 is going to be a big change and at that point we will have to re-precinct just because of the way Johnson County’s population moves, and at that same point we will also have to redistrict so it will be a giant project for the office,” Persons said.