The council held a work session Tuesday to kick off the possibility of realigning council districts to balance them in terms of population.

Four of the six council members represent specific districts. Jennifer Robinson represents District A, which is roughly Cary’s northwest quadrant; Don Frantz is in District B, toward the northeast; Jack Smith has the District C seat for residents in the southeast; Gale Adcock holds the position for District D in southwest Cary.

Julie Robison and Erv Portman serve the entire town at-large, as does Mayor Harold Weinbrecht.

“The primary rationale is that one district is out of kilter and such a violation of voting-rights policy,” Town Manager Bill Coleman said.

“Our interest is in maintaining a fair electoral process as defined by the Supreme Court.”

As of Aug. 1, Cary staff estimates the town’s population was 131,501. Ideally, each district would have an equal number of 32,875 residents. Federal law allows for a maximum total deviation of 10 percent from the ideal, using a sum of the districts farthest over and farthest under.

Currently, District A has 47,243 residents, 43.7 percent more than ideal and District D has 25,331 residents, or 22.9 percent fewer than ideal. Those percentages total a whopping 66.6 percent deviation from the ideal.

Jeff Ulma, town’s planning director, said that the law requires the town to redistrict after every decennial census but that redistricting may occur more frequently.

Cary’s districts are drawn based on voting precincts, Ulma said.

Primary aims will be to have nearly equal numbers of residents in each sector while keeping major neighborhoods in the same district, using existing boundaries as a starting point and considering Cary’s projected growth.

As the council began to study maps and spreadsheets, Robinson asked her colleagues to consider keeping fast-growing District A well under the ideal, even if it meant at least temporarily going over the 10 percent deviation.

“Give me three months and we’ll have another thousand people probably,” Robinson said.

The council considered a variety of configurations that would shift a variety of precincts among the districts.

Though Robinson and Frantz wanted to settle on an arrangement during the work session, Adcock wanted more time to consider the proposals.

“I can’t look at this and process it as quick as you can,” Adcock said.

Staff is expected to provide council with maps and data for three scenarios based on the discussion as well as a proposed redistricting policy within the next several days.

Coleman recommended that the council consider adopting a policy of examining redistricting following each mayoral election if districts are out of balance.

Contact Adam Arnold at 460-2609 or aarnold@nando.com.