6/8/11 – Officials in Beaver Dam are in the process of rearranging the city’s 14 aldermanic wards. Redistricting, as it’s called, is required to be done in conjunction with the ten-year census. That’s what prompted the Dodge County Board to recently eliminate four of its 36 supervisory districts, a process that began years ago. One of those county board supervisory districts being eliminated is in Beaver Dam, and the city will soon be represented by six county board supervisors instead of seven.
Beaver Dam’s Director of Administration John Somers says that has a huge impact on how the city’s voting wards are going to be laid out as seven county board districts used to divide evenly into 14 city voting wards. The city now has to divide six county board districts into 14 aldermanic wards. That means two of Beaver Dam’s county board districts will soon have to include three city voting wards.
Beaver Dam Ward Ten Alderman Don Neuert will lose the majority of his current constituents. While he looks forward to meeting new people, Neuert is worried the change will cause confusion and make it very difficult to get feedback from his constituents during the transition. Beaver Dam has less than 60 days to get their new aldermanic wards in synch with the county’s new supervisory districts. While nothing is set in stone just yet, Somers says any possible changes at this point would be minor.
