One plan you're in, the next plan... you're out.
The Pennsylvania Legislative Reapportionment Commission decided that all of Warren County, except for Sheffield, should be part of the 65th Representative District.
When the state's preliminary redistricting plan came out in October, Sheffield and Mead townships and Clarendon Borough were not including in the 65th District with the rest of Warren County.
In December, the final plan had Mead and Clarendon back in the 65th, but Sheffield was still out.
The state Supreme Court ruled against the final plan in January, sending the matter back to the commission. The majority judges cited counties and municipalities that were split unnecessarily.
The state constitution requires that the 50 senatorial and 203 representative districts be "composed of compact and contiguous territory as nearly equal in population as practicable... and unless absolutely necessary no county, city, incorporated town, borough, township or ward shall be divided in forming either a senatorial or representative district."
A Sheffield resident has gone beyond taking a wait-and-see approach and beyond simply complaining that his home municipality was cut away from the rest of the county and lumped in with a district that sprawls through two full counties to the east.
"I'm just a private citizen trying to look out for my fellow residents of Sheffield Township," Curt Bowley said.
If the commission's final plan, or one with the same impact on Sheffield, were approved, Sheffield residents could face a trip of about 41 miles, one way, to their representative's office.
"If the representative in the 67th didn't have a district office let's say in Kane... if you live in Sheffield and want to meet face to face with your representative, you might have to drive to Smethport," Bowley said.
Historically, Sheffield has been part of the 65th for at least 40 years, he said.
Bowley sent a letter to the supreme court and to a member of the reapportionment committee recommending an alternate plan. "I put together a letter and mailed it down to the supreme court," he said.
He didn't stop at justifying his idea of keeping Sheffield in with the rest of the county using the geographical and historical reasoning. He backed up the plan with suggested changes and the appropriate population data. " "My letter showed which townships and municipalities would have to be moved around," Bowley said.
The plan follows the suggestions in the state constitution.
In the commission's plan, the 65th District, held by Rep. Kathy Rapp, would have taken on parts of Crawford and Erie counties.
Adding Sheffield to that new 65th would not cause it to be outside of the population parameters, Bowley said. The total population of the district, according to census data, would be 64,383.
The change would require other changes to the east, however, to make up for the move.
Bowley's plan would not only make Warren County whole in one district, it would bring all of Potter County into another district.
In the 67th District, Galeton, West Branch and Pike townships in Potter County would be reunited with the rest of that county bringing the population of the 67th to 60,907.
Those townships would be pulled out of the 68th. Two Bradford County townships would be added to the 68th to make that population work at 61,096.
In the 110th District, three Susquehanna County townships would replace the two Bradford County townships bringing the population of the district to 60,742.
Removing those Susquehanna townships from the 111th would leave it with a population of 61,068.
Bowley has contacted the Sheffield Township Supervisors and Warren County Commissioner with his plan in attempts to rally support to keep the county together in the 65th.
"My goal is for the reapportionment commission has to take a look at the whole state to address the concerns of the supreme court," Bowley said. And to look out for the residents of Sheffield Township.
