Dickson city ward boundaries unchanged following council vote

The Dickson City Council voted to keep the city’s current ward boundaries for elections.

At its meeting July 18, the council voted unanimously to keep the current structure after determining the ward populations are within the acceptable deviations following the 2020 Census. The city’s current ward boundaries were adopted in 2014 after the 2010 Census.

By its charter, the city is divided into four wards and residents elect two council members from each ward for four-year terms in odd years. The terms are staggered so that one councilperson is elected from each ward every two years.

At the June 20 Finance and Management Committee meeting, Mayor Don Weiss Jr. and City Administrator Rydell Wesson presented the council with the 2020 Census data showing the population makeup of the current wards as determined by the Greater Nashville Regional Council.

The GNRC data shows Dickson with a population of 16,063 based on the 2020 Census. Under the U.S. and Tennessee Constitutions’ provisions that voting districts be as equal as possible -- known as the “one-person, one-vote” doctrine – the ideal population for each of the city’s wards would be 4,016. Wesson explained that while there is no statutory limit on the acceptable deviation from the ideal population, federal and state court rulings over the last 58 years have generally established the limit as 10 percent.

Based on the data provided by GNRC, the current populations and deviation from ideal are:

Ward 1 – 4,177 residents, 161 (4.01%) above ideal;

Ward 2 – 3,953 residents, 63 (1.57%) below ideal;

Ward 3 – 3,771 residents, 245 (6.10%) below ideal; and

Ward 4 – 4,162 residents, 146 (3.64%) above ideal.

Weiss told the council because the deviations are within the acceptable range, the city could continue to use the current boundaries or it could ask GNRC planners to draft new ward lines that could bring the wards closer to the ideal population.

After a recent change to the city’s charter, the next municipal election will be Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023. The ballot will include the mayor’s office and the council seats currently held by Betty Lou Alsobrooks in Ward 1, Robby Harmon in Ward 2, Horace Perkins III in Ward 3 and Dwight Haynes in Ward 4.

A map of the current voting wards can be viewed on the city’s website at OFFICIALWARDMAP2014.pdf. The wards are for city elections only and do not apply or correspond to the county’s voting districts.

To be eligible to vote in city elections, citizens must be qualified to vote for members of the Tennessee General Assembly under state law, be a resident of the city for at least 30 days prior to the election and vote in the ward in which they reside. For more information, contact the Dickson County Election Office at (615) 671-1146 or visit dicksoncountyelection.com.