Buda City Council voted Thursday night, Jan. 18 for even-numbered council member seats to be the first to transition to single-member district seats. It also started the timeline for new voting districts in the upcoming November election.

During last November's elections, Buda residents voted to amend the city's charter to transition from the current at-large format to six single-member districts with an at-large mayor.

Council member Place 2 Wiley Hopkins, council member Place 4 Paul Daugereau and council member Place 6 Evan Ture will be the first to switch to districts A, B and C. The single-member district position replacing council member place 2 will carry a one-year term; place 4 a three-year term; and place 6 a two-year term to ensure staggered elections of the seats.

The shift in how districts are led means Buda must redistrict the city prior to the November election.

C. Robert Heath from Bickerstaff Heath Delgado Acosta LLP said during the meeting that Buda would have to create its own city population data since the last U.S. Census data is eight years old.

Council member Lee Urbanovsky, who was against switching to single-member districts, said he is concerned about the how much extrapolation will be necessary to ensure accurate numbers since Buda's population has nearly doubled in size over the past 8 years.

Using geocode utility data points to calculate the number of households per block, Heath said the city will multiply that figure by the average number of people per household to get an estimate of Buda's 2018 population.

From there, the city will have to redraw its new district areas.

Mayor George Haehn said his main concern is increased animosity between East and West Buda. City Attorney George Hyde followed up by saying the city is aiming to make the process as constitutionally sound as possible.

Council and the public should see the first mock-up of the new districts around March, according to Heath. Citizens will have a chance to submit questions, concerns and attend public hearings from April 1 to May 1.

Buda City Council will adopt the new districting plan during its May 15 council meeting.