For the first time since 2011, Oldham County fiscal court has appointed a commission that will reapportion the boundary lines for eight fiscal court magisterial districts and eight constables.
The goal of the commission is to ensure districts are compact, contiguous and that the population of each district should be equal within a statutorily defined deviation.
Fiscal court unanimously approved County Judge-Executive David Voegele’s three appointees for the commission at its May 16 meeting. They are Blaine Anderson, Jane Coble and Adam Forseth.
Anderson, Chairman of the Oldham County Republican Party, is a 17-year resident of Oldham County with an extensive and successful career in the hospitality industry.
Coble is a local realtor who has been selling real estate in the broader Oldham and Louisville area for roughly a decade. She’s a 13-year resident of Oldham County.
Forsyth, a 23-year resident, worked many years as a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) specialist for the Kentuckiana Regional Planning and Development Agency (KIPDA) before ultimately retiring.
“I believe these three individuals will do an excellent job as commissioners,” Voegele said during the meeting. “The idea is to take three professional, educated individuals to try to balance these magisterial districts out.”
Each commissioner will be compensated $50 an hour, or an estimated $500-$1,000 for their work in the process.
In balancing the districts, Voegele said there’s a statutory maximum deviation of seven percent. The commissioners will collaborate with County Clerk Amy Alvey and County Attorney Berry Baxter in an effort to balance the districts as equally as possible.
“Once it gets going, the reapportionment committee will have 60 days to complete it’s job,” Voegele said. “After the committee does its work, it will present the fiscal court the boundaries for the legislative magisterial districts. Then the court will have 60 days to approve or make suggestions for [potential] changes. Every magistrate will have the opportunity to look at the lines that have been suggested and make their own suggestions to the commission.”