By Kathryn Reed

El Dorado County residents are being asked to weigh-in on five proposals that would reconfigure how the supervisorial districts are laid out.

This occurs every 10 years when Census data is released. The point is to have equal number of constituents in each district. This is the law. However, El Dorado County circumvented that requirement in 2000 by sticking with the Lake Tahoe portion of the county being a district unto itself.

“The board was very adamant about keeping communities together, e.g. one part of Cameron Park should not be in a different district than another. Residents in Meeks Bay and Fallen Leaf Lake see themselves as part of the Tahoe basin community, not part of Georgetown, Cool, etc., which is what would happen if District V was split,” Supervisor Norma Santiago wrote to South Tahoe officials. She is Tahoe’s rep on the Board of Supervisors – District V. “Likewise, people from Pollock Pines and Grizzly Flat do not feel that their communities are part of the basin which either both or one or the other is include in the maps as part of District V. In other words, District V would extend to either include Pollock Pines and/or Grizzly Flat. I am not in favor of either splitting the district nor extending its boundaries to include the aforementioned communities.”

With the population totals swaying more heavily toward the West Slope because more people live there and fewer reside in the basin, it’s possible Tahoe will either be part of a larger district or have two supervisors representing it.

South Lake Tahoe City Council members discussed the issue briefly at the May 17 meeting. Though no vote was taken, the members are split with some thinking one person from Tahoe representing the area is better, and others saying two voices would be better.

The county is sponsoring a redistricting meeting May 19 from 6-8pm at Lake Tahoe Airport.

South Tahoe electeds hope to make a formal recommendation to the Board of Supervisors after hearing what is said Thursday night and then voting at a June meeting.

The county is expected to take action in June.