The Jersey City redistricting meeting of the Board of Ward Commissioners will be held Saturday morning at City Hall with a virtual option available.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“With Sunday and the holiday, we just couldn’t get the legal notice published in time for a Thursday evening meeting, and it was already a little late in the day for Friday, so Saturday morning was probably the earliest we could day,” said Hudson County Board of Elections Clerk Michael Harper.
The ward commissioners were set to host a hybrid meeting on Friday evening, but ended up having to reschedule when the Zoom capacity was set to just 100 people.
While they voted to have the meeting at council chambers at City Hall Thursday evening, Harper told HCV after the meeting that may not be feasible due to New Jersey’s 48-hour notice requirement for public meetings.
At the time, it appeared the meeting would be in person only, but the public notice for Saturday indicates it will indeed be a hybrid session.
“The Jersey City Ward Commission hosts the 2022 re-districting meeting 9:30 am Saturday, January 22. 2022 via a ‘hybrid’ platform of both online and in person, at City Hall Council Chambers, 280 Grove Street,” the notice says.
“All participants must register to speak online or in person at the meeting. To register online signup at: jcnj.org/speakersignup. To view the meeting visit: jcnj.org/wardmeeting.”
Harper also noted last week that they would need an extension from the state since the commissioners were expected to vote by Sunday before submitting the new maps to the Secretary of State’s Office by January 21st, but Gov. Phil Murphy (D) has granted a statewide extension of one week.
Therefore, Harper anticipates the board voting on Saturday and submitting the maps to the state by next Monday or Tuesday.
The ward maps began being circulated on Wednesday of last week and includes Society Hill and the area designated for the Bayfront moving to Ward B, as well as Liberty State Park and the Liberty Science Center/SciTech Scity heading to Ward A.
Ward E also cedes different sections of land to Wards C, D, and F, as HCV first reported.
Municipal redistricting, commonly referred to as “re-warding,” occurs every 10 years after the U.S. Census and is performed by the Board of Ward Commissioners, as opposed to any governing body on the local level.
