The City of Reno is beginning its redistricting process to add a sixth ward with a community meeting planned for June 1 at 6 p.m. The meeting will be at City Hall, with a virtual option for those who can’t attend in person.
The redistricting will reapportion the city’s five wards to add a sixth ward. The new structure will eliminate the at-large member of the city council and replace the position with a ward six representative.
Reno City Council members on May 11 set the redistricting principles, which include ensuring the new wards are geographically contiguous and nearly equal in population. Neighborhoods with common interests are to be kept together as well.
Each existing ward will lose about 8,500 individuals to the new ward.
Flow Analytics, an outside consulting group, is working to create the new ward maps. The city brought the company in to serve as a neutral third party in the process.
Any residents, regardless of age, can participate in the redistricting forums or submit comment or their own draft maps through an online public portal that will open following the June 1 meeting.
The city’s redistricting comes six years after the Nevada Legislature in 2017 passed a law requiring a sixth ward to be created by Jan. 1, 2024. That law came into effect after a recommendation by the city’s Charter Committee.
That committee, in 2022, reversed the recommendation and suggested the city work to amend the law to remove the sixth ward requirement.
The city did just that, supporting Senate Bill 12 during the 2023 legislative session. That bill received an icy reception from legislators and public commenters and failed to advance out of committee.
More information on the redistricting process and the community forum are online at Reno.gov/Redistricting.
