County will see district changes

BENTON - Adjusting for population shifts, Scott County Commissioners approved redistricting for the county during their regular meeting Tuesday.

"Based on the 2000 census numbers, basically the districts are going back to the way it was 10 years ago," said County Clerk Rita Milam.

Milam said at this point, none of the townships or voting precincts will need to be changed.

The census listed Scott County's total population at 40,422 with a median between the two districts of 20,211. "The county did gain 1,046 people," Presiding Commissioner Martin Priggel noted - a 2.7 percent increase. "So that is good news."

Census figures showed the county's growth as being in the Blodgett-Kelso-Benton-Scott City area, according to commissioners. Commissioner Walter Bizzell said a good part of the population shift is due to construction in the Pecan Grove subdivision and surrounding area.

With the redistricting in place, the county's First District now consists of the Richland Township, which includes the Airport, Allen, Armory, Broadway, Clayton, Delmar, Northwest, Park, Sunset and Miner precincts; and the Rootwad Township, which contains the Crowder, McMullin and Salcedo precincts. The district's population, according to the census, should be 19,625.

The Richland Township lost 1,157 people, or 5.9 percent of its population compared with the 1990 Census, and the Rootwad Township lost six people.

The Second District consists of the Commerce, Kelso, Sandywoods, Sylvania, Moreland, Morley and Tywappity townships with a total population of 20,797.

The Commerce Township contains Commerce; the Kelso Township includes the Chaffee 1, Chaffee 2, Scott City 1 and Scott City 2 precincts in addition to Kelso; the Sylvanina Township contains Bleda, Perkins, Oran 1 and Oran 2; the Morley Township includes Haywood City and Vanduser along with Morley; the Sandywoods Township contains Blodgett; the Moreland Township has the Benton and New Hamburg precincts within it; and the Tywappity Township has Diehlstadt.

Only the Tywappity Township saw a population decrease: 1 person, or .2 percent of its population, according to census data.

The Moreland and Sandywoods townships, however, saw increases of 648 and 637 people respectively, or a growth of 25.8 percent in the Moreland Township and an increase of 44.8 percent in the Sandywoods Township.

In other Scott County Commission business, commissioners attended a Federal Emergency Management Agency meeting at the Cape Girardeau County courthouse in Jackson following their regular meeting.

Commissioners hope to see Scott County added to the list of counties eligible for FEMA aid for damage sustained during the recent flooding and tornadoes.

"Hopefully we're in so we can get some FEMA money," Commissioner Jamie Burger said.