By 3-2 the Salisbury City Council this week ordered the City Attorney to draw up a charter amendment that would redraw the current council districts.
It would create a larger majority-minority district with two council members and a second at-large district with three council members.
In addition…the amendment would eliminate the staggered elections with all council members and the Mayor up for four-year terms in 2015.
The Salisbury Daily Times reports that City Attorney Mark Tilghman noted that the proposal would increase the African American population representation on the council.
The city has been under legal threat by the American Civil Liberties Union that called for five separate districts.
Mary Ashanti, president of the Wicomico NAACP, told the council on Monday that her organization does not support the two district solution and instead backs the ACLU five-district proposal.
Meanwhile, Council President Terry Cohen said she believed the five district map would be too disruptive breaking up cohesive neighborhoods.
