The City of Reno’s redistricting process is near its end. City staff on July 27 will present the final map options transitioning from five to six wards during a community meeting at 6 p.m. Residents can attend in person at City Hall or virtually by Zoom.
The redistricting will eliminate the at-large member of the city council and replace the position with a ward six representative.
This comes as Mayor Hillary Schieve tried to overturn voter-approved redistricting this year at the legislature, which would’ve had her friend and ally Devon Reese able to keep his at-large council seat. Her maneuver was widely criticized and swiftly shot down by legislators.
Six mapped options will now be presented during the July 27 meeting. The scenarios were developed based on community meetings and online submissions. City Council members in May also required that each new ward be geographically contiguous and keep together neighborhoods with common interests.
Washoe County’s Registrar of Voters also requires each precinct within the wards have fewer than 5,000 active registered voters and no precincts are split between wards.
An interactive map with each of the six scenarios is available for residents to view online before the meeting. The city’s website also includes PDF versions of each map with populations and demographic details for each proposed ward.
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.
Reno City Council members must hold two votes on an ordinance to approve the final ward map. The first vote will be Aug. 9 and the second will be Aug. 23. The Registrar of Voters requires the final map be submitted by Sept. 1.
More information on the redistricting process and the community forum are online at Reno.gov/Redistricting.
Correction: The city meeting to review redistricting plans is Thursday, July 27, not the 28th as originally noted.
