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County Council redistricting may have hit a snag

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Nov. 18, 2011 - With less than a week left before the deadline, the commission charged with drawing new districts for the St. Louis County Council may have hit an impasse.

The 14-person panel cancelled the meeting set for Thursday; that meeting was to replace a cancelled session set for last Tuesday.

Now, the commission has tentatively rescheduled a public session for 6:30 p.m. next Tuesday in the council chambers in Clayton. But the notice states that meeting will be cancelled as well, if a new map is not presented.

The cancellations signal that Republican and Democratic commission leaders have failed to compromise on the slight differences between the proposed Republican and Democratic maps for the county's seven council districts.

The commission has an equal number of Democratic and Republican members. After the first public hearing last month, leaders had predicted a likely agreement.

The deadline for agreeing on a new map for the seven council seats is Thanksgiving.

To reach a deal, one map must be supported by a majority plus one -- in other words, nine members of the commission. If such an agreement isn't reached, the task will get tossed to judges.

The major disagreement appears to involve the politically swing 5th District, in near southwest St. Louis County. The Democratic map makes few significant changes, but the Republican proposal seeks to move some GOP-leaning territory into the 5th.