Reapportionment Advisory Committee

CITY OF NORWALK REAPPORTIONMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE REGULAR MEETING OCTOBER 3, 2024 ATTENDANCE: Kenneth D’Arinzo, Chair; Diane Cece, Scott Goodwin, Diana Paladino Christopher; Brenda Penn-Williams, Susan Remson, Stuart Wells, Khea Gibbs (6:15 p.m.) OTHERS: Elsa Obuchowski I. CALL TO ORDER Mr. D’Arinzo called the meeting to order at 6:03 p.m. II. ROLL CALL Mr. D’Arinzo called the roll. A quorum was present. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES • Public Hearing September 25, 2024 It was noted that there were two paragraphs that were cut off on page 2. The transcript will be checked to amend the minutes. ** MS. CECE MOVED TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES OF THE SEPTEMBER 25, 2024 PUBLIC HEARING AS AMENDED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT. ** MR. GOODWIN SECONDED. ** THE MOTION TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES OF THE SEPTEMBER 25, 2024 PUBLIC HEARING AS AMENDED PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. DISCUSSION a. Approval of final PowerPoint Presentation Mr. D’Arinzo said that there were some members of the public present and one of those present would like to address the Committee. Ms. Obuchowski said that the First Taxing District Board had a meeting recently and would be issuing a five page letter that the Committee Members and Atty. Candela would be receiving tomorrow regarding Mr. Wells’ suggestions. The First Taxing District would prefer to have all the First District residents voting in District A. City of Norwalk Reapportionment Advisory Committee Regular Meeting September 25, 2024 Page 1 Ms. Gibbs joined the meeting at 6:15 p.m. Ms. Cece said that she would prefer to have the issue addressed now before it becomes a major legal issue. Mr. D’Arinzo informed the Committee that Mr. and Ms. Mathur were not available for this meeting and he would prefer to wait until Atty. Candela reviewed the letter and Mr. and Ms. Mathur were available. Discussion followed. Mr. D’Arinzo stated that he would be meeting with Atty. Candela first thing in the morning to discuss the matter. Ms. Penn-Williams said now that lawyers were involved, she would want to move forward. Mr. Wells suggested a few alternatives changes that would involve some of the census blocks in A3. Ms. Obuchowski said they were proposing to move some residents from A3 and A4, which are not part of the First Taxing District. She added that the legal letter did not mention specific addresses. Mr. D’Arinzo said that he would be requesting that the Committee meet on Monday and that hopefully, Mr. and Ms. Mathur would be available to work on the changes and the lawyers will have some legal response and advice. Additional discussion followed. Ms. Cece noted that it was generally easier to pull an item off of the Common Council agenda, so she suggested they include the item on the agenda. While retaining all the residents in District A would be nice, there appears to be questions about what the Charter says and what the State requirements are. Mr. D’Arinzo said that the Council Members have to have time to review the documents and giving them the information on Monday would be too late. Mr. D’Arinzo stated for the record that the Committee has been diligent and worked well on this matter. Ms. Paladino said that since the Committee would be meeting on Monday, she wished to know if they would be able to include the item on the Council agenda. Mr. D’Arinzo explained that he had spoken with Corporation Counsel about this. He said that they could submit the outcome of the September 25th meeting to the Council and the Council would have up to 45 days to approve it. The Council Members would also have access to The First Taxing District letter. Then the Council could send the item back to the Committee or make the changes themselves. Plus there can be another Public Hearing scheduled. Mr. D’Arinzo asked for a consensus on the matter. ** MR. GOODWIN MOVED TO PRESENT THE POWERPOINT PRESENTATION TO THE COUNCIL. ** MS. REMSON SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED WITH FOUR (4) IN FAVOR (D’ARINZO, CECE, GIBBS AND REMSON) AND ONE (1) OPPOSED (PENN-WILLIAMS). City of Norwalk Reapportionment Advisory Committee Regular Meeting September 25, 2024 Page 2  b. Approval of recommendation for Redistricting opportunities after each Census Mr. D’Arinzo then had a document regarding the Redistricting opportunities after each Census for the Committee to approve. Mr. Goodwin asked if they should clarify how far in advance the cycle would happen. Mr. Wells said that the administration should move forward on the reapportionment process as soon as possible after the 2030 census data is released. ** MS. CECE MOVED TO APPROVE THE RECOMMENDATION FOR REDISTRICTING OPPORTUNITIES AFTER EACH CENSUS. ** MR. GOODWIN SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. c. Approval to send PowerPoint and Recommendations to Norwalk Common Council ** MR. D’ARINZO MOVED TO SUBMIT THE SEPTEMBER 25, 2024 POWERPOINT PRESENTATION TO THE NORWALK COMMON COUNCIL. ** MR. GOODWIN SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED WITH FOUR (4) IN FAVOR (D’ARINZO, CECE, GIBBS AND REMSON) AND ONE (1) OPPOSED (PENN-WILLIAMS). ** MR. GOODWIN MOVED TO SUBMIT TO RECOMMENDATIONS FOR REDISTRICTING OPPORTUNITIES AFTER EACH CENSUS. ** THERE WAS A SECOND. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. ADJOURNMENT ** MR. D’ARINZO MOVED TO ADJOURN. ** MR. GOODWIN SECONDED.SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. The meeting adjourned at 6:49 p.m. Respectfully submitted, S. L. Soltes Telesco Secretarial Services City of Norwalk Reapportionment Advisory Committee Regular Meeting September 25, 2024 Page 3