The city of Roanoke will be reviewing its charter and ward district boundaries beginning this summer, with recommendations to be presented to City Council by the end of the year.
As part of its home rule charter, the city is required to review the charter at least every six years after the first charter was adopted in 2008. A charter review commission consisting of one council member from each ward and one community member from each ward is being put together.
“[The commission] will go over that with a fine-tooth comb, basically,” Roanoke Mayor Scooter Gierisch said. “And then once that is done, the council can act on [the recommendations]. But until then, we can have to sit back and wait for that process to evolve.”
According to the charter, each ward is expected to have a population within 10% of each other to maintain a balanced ratio. The commission will use the latest census numbers to determine whether redistricting will be necessary, Gierisch said.
