Should Santa Fe City Council district boundaries be redrawn to keep all incumbent councilors inside the same territory they now represent? If not, which councilors should get shuffled?

Those are among the questions that Santa Fe's governing body will answer as it decides how to update council districts this summer.

Last month, a consultant drafted four options, then later added other proposals that built on those concepts. Officials are scheduled to make a final choice during a special City Council meeting Aug. 1.

Councilor Miguel Chavez, who represents a southwest-side district, is concerned that some proposals supported by other councilors would drastically change his situation.

A map recommended for approval by the Finance Committee on Tuesday, for example, would move Chavez's home from the District 3 territory that he has represented for three terms and put him into District 1. Under that plan, all other councilors would remain in the districts they currently represent.

"If we are going to respect one councilor, we should respect them all," Chavez said.

Councilor Carmichael Dominguez, the other representative from District 3, says his support for the plan favored by the Finance Committee isn't about whether Chavez gets to stay in the district or whether he's drawn out of it. Dominguez prefers the plan because it's the most statistically correct under redistricting rules, he said.

By law, each district should have an equal population, based on the latest census numbers. Boundaries are also supposed to create contiguous, compact districts that respect communities of interest and avoid diluting minority voting strength.

According to calculations by consultant Brian Sanderoff, the city Finance Committee's recommended plan A-1 comes closest to meeting the equal-population criterion. The other plans, Sanderoff notes, still come within a legal standard for equal population, but districts differ by as much as 5 percent from being perfectly equal.

Data from the 2010 census shows the current configuration of council districts is heavily weighted for District 3, which has nearly 30 percent more residents than it should. Conversely, the north-side District 1 has about 17 percent fewer residents than it should. That means the southwest-side district has to lose territory and the north-side district must gain it, among other changes to the citywide maps.

Chavez said during a special City Council meeting in June that he preferred plan C, a scheme that would boot two incumbents from their districts. The plan would move Councilor Rebecca Wurzburger from District 2 to District 3 and would relocate Dominguez to District 4.

Wurzburger said she's yet to make up her mind about which plan she will support, and she's not necessarily opposed to plans that would put her home in different territory. She plans to meet with her colleagues about their perspectives in the coming weeks, she said.

"We need to be looking at the macro issues of equity," Wurzburger said. "In a hierarchy of objectives we need to meet by redistricting, keeping current councilors in their current districts is much lower on my list than other priorities."

Whatever plan officials choose is likely to have a bearing on the next municipal election, scheduled for March 6, 2012. Seats occupied by Chavez and Councilors Rosemary Romero, Matthew Ortiz and Patti Bushee are up for grabs. Ortiz has said he won't seek re-election, while Chavez has hinted that he will.

Romero noted in an earlier public meeting that her home has only been in District 2 since the city's last redistricting in 2000, when officials drew new boundaries that moved it out of District 3.

Public participation in the redistricting debate has been underwhelming. A series of four public meetings held last month drew fewer than 10 attendees, including members of the League of Women Voters, who each attended more than one meeting. Public hearings before the City Council and its committees also have been poorly attended.

Meanwhile, Albuquerque plans to hold its city council election in October without redistricting. A state district judge ruled this week that officials could wait until after the election before redrawing boundaries with new census data.

Major battles are also expected as the state Legislature convenes to redraw boundaries for legislative and congressional districts. The consultant doing the work for the city of Santa Fe has that job as well.

Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com.

IF YOU GO

What: City Council special meeting to vote on redistricting plans

When: 6 p.m. Aug. 1

Where: City Council chambers

For more information: All proposed maps, along with a map of the current district plan, are posted on the city website, www.santafenm.gov/. Click on the "Redistricting" link on the left side of the homepage.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the map approved by the Finance Committee would put the home of Miguel Chavez in District 2. Plan A-1 would put his home in District 1.