After a prolonged period of relative silence on the redistricting issue, tensions—and a significant amount of confusion—around the redistricting process erupted when district 9 council member Mark “Hobbo” Cognevich introduced a potential district plan at the February 11 Plaquemines Parish Government council meeting.
As noted in an article covering this introduction in the previous edition of The Plaquemines Gazette, the district plan introduced by Cognevich is basically the same one that was prepared late last year by council attorney Dannie Garrett, working as a demographer with Strategic Demographics LLC, the company hired by the school board and PPG to handle redistricting. Though there are a “few tweaks” in Cognevich’s district plan, the two are “pretty much the same.”
This came as a surprise to many elected officials, especially district 2 council member Beau Black who has stated that he was “totally against” Cognevich’s plan and was going to work on an alternative district plan that better suited the parish.
Based on statements from Black and Plaquemines school board members, the elected officials who led that effort to create an alternative map were district 2 school board member Daniel Morrill and district 3 school board member Niko Tesvich.
“The point of this whole redistricting process is to create a map that follows the regulations, is fair, and best represents our residents. That’s how it should be viewed,” Tesvich stated, explaining that he and Morrill were going through a “step by step” process to create what they thought would be a district plan that best represents the parish.
According to Tesvich, he had met with multiple elected officials to get their input (both school board and council members), attempted multiple district possibilities, did not include where elected officials live in his consideration of how districts should be formed, and planned on having further public meetings to update residents on the redistricting process.
“But [Cognevich] introducing his plan kind of threw everything into overdrive,” Tesvich stated. “Morrill and I wanted to have elected officials all over Plaquemines have a joint public meeting to discuss redistricting, but I don’t know if that can still happen if a plan is going to be voted on and maybe adopted [on Thursday during the February 24 council meeting].”
It should be noted that the school board has a “special” meeting on Wednesday, February 23 to address the redistricting issue. While school board president and district 1 school board member Darilyn Demolle-Turner said that this meeting was “just to discuss redistricting,” many school board members were under the impression—at first—that the meeting was supposed to be a committee meeting. This is an important distinction as no binding vote on a district plan can be made at a committee meeting, but such a vote can be made during a special meeting.
Both Tesvich and Morrill were concerned that, if it were a special meeting, that some school board members were trying to rush through the redistricting process without seeing any alternatives.
At time of press, no agenda of the special meeting had been published and several school board members stated they didn’t have it either. So, technically, what the special meeting will specifically address is currently unknown.
“We have until June. And if we want to make sure we adopt the same plan as the council, [something we have historically done], then we must wait until after the council adopts a plan as they set the precincts in the parish. I just don’t understand what all the rush is,” Tesvich stated. “I think we had a good process that we should keep pursuing. This is a tenyear commitment. We need everyone’s input to get everyone’s input so it’s the best it can be.”
As noted in the previous article on these district plans, Morrill’s and Tesvich’s differ mainly in how it “anticipates population shifts.”
The plan Cognevich introduced follows census guidelines requiring districts to stay within a five percent deviation above or below the ideal number of 2,561 residents per district. However, it shows Belle Chasse districts with counts higher than the ideal number and south Plaquemines districts with numbers below the ideal count. Meaning, districts that grew in population since 2010 (northern, west bank districts) were barely within the upper limit of the five percent margin of error while smaller districts that shrunk since the last census (southern districts) were barely within the lower limit of that margin of error. Specifically, districts 7 and 8 have barely enough population to be within compliance of redistricting regulations.
In contrast, the Tesvich and Morrill led district plan flips this on its head, drawing Belle Chasse districts with smaller than the ideal numbers and the southern districts with larger numbers. Historically, Belle Chasse districts have grown in population while southern districts have declined.
“There were deficiencies that we saw in [Cognevich’s] plan and we wanted to address them. I don’t think we have a perfect map, but it’s a good one. The biggest thing to keep in mind is that we still have time. It’s only February, we shouldn’t rush,” Morrill stated. “I actually haven’t even seen a final version of [Cognevich’s] plan. I certainly wouldn’t feel comfortable voting for it on Wednesday if the first time I see the final version is that day.”
Both plans keep two majority minority districts and have district 1 extend across the river into the west bank of Plaquemines (a move that is necessary in order to have the district remain within the five percent deviation required by redistricting regulations). Besides the differing sizes of the districts, the major difference between the plans occurs in how district 7 and district 8 are laid out.
Under Morrill’s and Tesvich’s plan, current district 7 council member Carlton LaFrance would end up being in district 8. This means that the district 7 council seat would be up for grabs and LaFrance would have to run against district 8 council member Richie Blink in an election.
While this may not be a big deal for the school board, this could have major political implications for the council. LaFrance and Blink typically find themselves as political allies who vote the same way when addressing controversial issues in council meetings. If Morrill’s and Tesvich’s plan were implemented, the council members who typically vote against LaFrance and Blink (council member Black, district 3 council member Corey Arbourgh, district 4 council member Stuart Guey, and district 6 council member Trudy Newberry) would gain a political advantage.
“We didn’t consider where elected officials live when making this plan. We think it is the one that best fits our parish,” Tesvich stated. “It’s not about politics. It’s about getting this right for our residents.”
However, it may still be viewed as a political move by other elected officials regardless of intent.
Cognevich, while explaining that he plans to move forward with his plan at the next council meeting, raised his own concerns about the current state of the redistricting process.
“Everything we did was legal and wasn’t about politics. If anything, the [elected officials] in Belle Chasse are the ones who are making this political,” Cognevich stated. “I’m still going to move forward with the plan I introduced. It’s a good, legal plan, and I don’t see why I shouldn’t have it voted on now.”