A former Hamilton County commissioner says the decennial redistricting is a prime opportunity for the commission to expand in size so that its members don’t have to serve more than 40,000 residents each.
Two-term District 6 Commissioner Joe Graham, who was defeated in his bid for a third term in 2018 by current Commissioner David Sharpe, says the nine members of the county’s legislative body represent more than twice as many people as any other Tennessee county that operates under the same rules.
The average number of people represented across the state by a county commissioner is 4,354 people, he says.
State law, Graham says, mandates a minimum of nine people on county commissions but allows for as many as 25. Knox County (Knoxville) and Shelby County (Memphis) are exempt from the law because their form of government is different, he says.
Graham spoke to commissioners at their meeting Wednesday after a presentation by the county’s Geographic Information System (GIS) office, which will draw the redistricting maps that will be set over the next few months.