Joel Burgess, and Mark Barrett

The Citizen-Times

A bill to split Asheville into six City County districts has passed the state Senate over protests from city officials and Democratic lawmakers.

The Senate passed the bill sponsored by Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson, on a party-line vote of 33-16, with all Republicans present voting in favor and all Democrats against.

The bill now moves to the House, which like the Senate is controlled by Republicans. The next question to be answered is whether the House will deal with the bill before the end of the current legislative session, which could come as soon as the end of the week.

Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, wrote on his website on Tuesday that the bill "will likely pass the House before the end of the session."

Apodaca told the Senate he introduced the bill "because of concerns raised by citizens in South Asheville ... (who) can't remember the last time they had a representative on City Council."

"Nearly every member of the current council lives in central Asheville or North Asheville," he said. Three councilmen live in North Asheville, two live in West Asheville, one in the River Arts District and one near downtown.

Democrats have pushed to allow city residents to vote the plan up or down, but Apodaca rejected that idea.

"If Asheville were allowed a referendum, I have no doubt that the current council would work to defeat it," he told the Senate. "The current council is satisfied by a system that suits their political interests while denying people who don't live in central Asheville a voice on the council."

Most North Carolina cities Asheville's size have district elections and they are "considered a best practice across the state," he said.

If city residents and officials don't like districts, they can do away with them after the 2020 census, Apodaca said.

Sen. Terry Van Duyn, D-Buncombe, said it would be better to let citizens have a say in their form of government now.

She said she, Mayor Esther Manheimer and the three Democratic House members representing Buncombe County all asked for changes in the bill but Apodaca considered none of them.

"That unwillingness to comprise has left many in Asheville, including myself, feeling like this bill isn’t so much about finding a solution to a problem as it is retribution against the citizens of Asheville for electing the wrong kind of people," she said in an apparent reference to the city's Democratic leanings.

Van Duyn said the way Apodaca has moved the bill through the Senate increases distrust in government.

"We are elected to represent our districts, not rule them, and we are elected to represent all the people in our districts, not just the people who voted for us," she said. "Inviting the stakeholders to the table may slow down the process but it preserves faith in the system. Our approval numbers would indicate that that faith has been severely bruised. This bill undermines public trust in the work we do.

The district plan would take effect with the 2019 elections.

A 2015 Citizen-Times analysis showed that in over a decade there have been no council members from South Asheville, the most conservative part of the city. Apodaca's 48th District includes south Buncombe County and a piece of South Asheville.

Other areas without council members since at least 2005 include downtown, Kenilworth and Southside. A large majority of winning candidates have come from North Asheville.

Council members and Democratic legislators representing parts of the city said whatever change happens it shouldn't be dictated by a single lawmaker and that Asheville residents should have a say in the fate of their elections.

They have asked for a referendum, to amend the bill to a system that combines districts with other elements or to have an independent group draw the district lines. But Apodaca has made no changes.

Van Duyn said afterward she is "hoping for a less hostile environment in the House," Van Duyn said.

If the bill passes, districts will take effect in 2019.

The bill calls for splitting the six council seats into six districts while the mayor remains elected at-large.

Apodaca's office has produced a map that shows a far-western District 1, a western and central District 2 that includes part of downtown, a northern District 3, a northeastern District 4, a central and eastern District 5 that includes the rest of downtown and a southern District 6. The lines put more than half the current council in two districts, with Vice Mayor Gwen Wisler and Cecil Bothwell in District 3 and Brian Haynes, Julie Mayfield and Gordon Smith in District 2

All council members elected in 2017 would serve a two-year term. In 2019, the three council members with the highest votes would serve four-year terms, while the other three would serve two-year terms. Starting in 2021, all terms would be four years.

The vast majority of North Carolina's 533 municipalities — 86 percent — use an at-large electoral system such as Asheville's, according to an analysis by former vice mayor Marc Hunt and the Citizen-Times using data collected by UNC's School of Government.

Purely district-based systems, such as the one that would be imposed by the bill, are rare, and are used by only 3 percent of municipalities.

That changes among cities bigger than 50,000 people. Among those 16 municipalities, three use the at-large system, three use a pure district-based system, and 10 use systems that combine both at-large and district elements. In Apodaca's home county of Henderson, the biggest municipality Hendersonville uses the at-large system, as does Saluda. The four other municipalities use systems that combine district and at-large elements.

Asheville council districts bill among those moving forward

Apodaca wants 6 Asheville City Council districts