(1/2022) On Tuesday, December 21st, the Frederick County Council approved, by a 7-0 vote, the Redistricting Commission’s recommendations concerning our Council Districts. This is a requirement that has been mandated in our Charter, Section 214, and adopted by the citizens of Frederick County.
The Commission was charged with reviewing the Frederick County Councilman districts to ensure that they are compact, contiguous, substantially equal in population, and have common interests as a result of geography, occupation, history, or existing political boundaries. They met six times between June 2021 and October 2021, investigated and reviewed the 2020 Census numbers, received public comment, and prepared a final report.
This report proposed a new Council District map that moved two precincts from District 2 - Precinct 08-001- Libertytown with a population size of 2,600, and Precinct 19-001 - Unionville/Linganore Grange Hall with a population of 1,830, into my district, District 5. Their proposal was transmitted to the County Council for further discussion.
The really miraculous part of this entire process is that the nine-member Redistricting Commission, that we established with three Republicans, three Democrats and thee independents, voted unanimously to recommend the new map to the Council. Then after review and a public hearing, the Council voted unanimously with four Democrats and three Republicans in favor of the new map and included it in the ordinance. This was a wonderful collaboration of all parties to come to an accord that provides a fair and equitable map of the Council districts with a fair representation of the citizens of Frederick County.
If you have seen the news lately around America, redistricting has become a very dirty and political process. In Frederick County, we successfully put our partisan wishes aside and worked for the voters. This shows that serious people can successfully go about the public’s work and obtain success.
To the new residents of Council District 5, I am honored to represent you and to serve you at Winchester Hall. Should you ever have any concerns, issues, or problems with Frederick County Government please feel free to reach out to me. You can call my office at 301-600-1034, or email me at MBlue@FrederickCountyMD.gov.
As we welcome 2022, I want to take this opportunity to wish you all the best for a happy and healthy new year!
