Metro East Sun

Rep. Avery Bourne (R-Litchfield) discussed suggestions from witnesses at the House Redistricting Committee hearing April 7 in Lake County.

Witnesses at the hearing were Mana A Mana Family Resource Center director Celeste Flores and Damaris Lorta, A Safe Place's chief development officer. Both witnesses asked the committee's expectation in engaging the community in the process and how the committee could provide transparency.

"Do you think a compliance report would help with how this meeting is being used?" Bourne said. "What recommendations do you have to make these meetings transparent? that's certainly something that I'm interested in. The more people involved, [the] easier for the public."

Providing tools to people that they can use to access updates, information and share their ideas and feedback about redistricting are what Flores and Lorta imparted to Bourne. The representative also gathered more information about the interest of the community in Lake County.

She learned from Flores that Lake County has diverse communities, including Latinos, which are currently not represented. Bourne was also told that "some communities should be kept together. If split, they could be diluted."

Redistricting is conducted every 10 years following a census to adjust district boundaries to determine the House and Senate constituents. Illinoisans are strongly encouraged to participate in the remapping discussions.