The City of St. Charles is divided into five districts, or wards, for the purpose of electing aldermen to the City Council. As a result of the 2010 census, the City of St. Charles is required to review its ward boundaries and make changes to balance population. The wards must also be compact.

The 2010 census showed population growth in the west and northwest portions of St. Charles. The wards needed to be adjusted to reduce disparity in population. In addition, the prior map had some irregular boundaries that needed to be corrected.

In order to complete the task, Mayor DeWitte and the City Council established a “Redistricting Task Force” of three aldermen to work with city staff and legal counsel to redraw the wards. Aldermen Jim Martin, Cliff Carrignan, and Bill Turner were appointed to this task force.

The task force held its first meeting on Monday, October 24th. At this meeting, the task force received guidance from legal counsel and discussed a series of proposed changes. A second meeting was held on Monday, December 5th, to review a proposed map. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Redistricting Task Force recommended that a draft map be forwarded to the City Council for its consideration.

The Government Operations Committee is slated to review the proposed map at the February 6, 2012 meeting. City Council approval could take place as early as February 20th.

You can view the city’s current ward map here.

You can view a version of the recommended map here.

You can view population totals for the proposed map here.

You can view voting age population totals for the proposed map here.

In performing the task of redrawing the map, the task force followed certain legal requirements, including balancing population (i.e. deviation of no more than 1%). The group also considered typical neighborhood boundaries as well as commonly recognized geographic barriers in the community (e.g., Main Street and the Fox River).

The City will accept public comments on the proposed map at the February 6th meeting. Interested parties can also e-mail questions or comments to cao@stcharlesil.gov