WHEELING - Brooke County would lose one of its two representatives in the West Virginia House of Delegates if a proposed plan for redistricting is passed by state lawmakers.
Delegate Tim Ennis, D-Brooke, said each delegate has a certain amount of state funding directed to their area, and he noted the Northern Panhandle would likely feel the financial effect from losing a delegate.
"Look at the Market Street Bridge project I worked so hard on," he said. "It won't even be in my district anymore."
The House is still working on its overall map for redrawing the district lines that determine representation, but local delegates believe a plan for realigning Districts 1-5 in the Northern Panhandle likely will be approved.
The new map will be based on 2010 Census data, which sets West Virginia's population at about 1.85 million. Each of the 100 members of the West Virginia House of Delegates would need to represent about 18,500 people, with an allowed variance of plus or minus 5 percent.
Swartzmiller, a member of the House Redistricting Committee, said the 1st District would increase slightly in size and move further south into Brooke County under the proposed plan. The 1st District is presently represented by Swartzmiller and Delegate Ronnie Jones, D-Hancock, and would retain two delegates with the new district map.
The plan calls for a new 2nd District to include the part of Brooke County not included in the 1st District and only the West Liberty area of Ohio County.
The 2nd District currently is represented by Ennis and Roy Givens, D-Brooke, though the new district would have just one delegate.
Ohio County has a population of 44,400 and is the one area in the Northern Panhandle that is under-represented with two delegates, according to Swartzmiller.
A concern expressed by residents in the Elm Grove and Triadelphia areas is that they felt like outsiders being represented by the 2nd District and wanted to be included in the 3rd District along with most of Ohio County. The proposed plan would place these residents in the 3rd District, according to Swartzmiller.
Delegates Erikka Storch, R-Ohio, and Ryan Ferns, D-Ohio, represent the 3rd District, and the district would continue to have two delegates.
The 4th, 5th and 6th Districts are expected to remain largely unchanged, according to Swartzmiller. Delegates Scott Varner and Mike Ferro, both D-Marshall, represent the 4th District; Delegate David Pethtel, D-Wetzel, represents the 5th District; and Delegate William R. "Roger" Romine, R-Tyler, represents the 6th District.
Storch, also a member of the House Redistricting Committee, agreed with Swartzmiller that the plan is the one likely to be voted on by lawmakers.
"It's definitely sad we (the Northern Panhandle delegation) would lose a delegate," she said. "I feel we work together well. We all represent the Northern Panhandle as a whole. But we're showing a 9,000-person drop in population, while other areas of the state had growth. ... It's unfortunate, but it makes sense."
Ennis said the plan he favored would have shifted all the delegate districts.