Though a population shift in the county over the past decade did not reach the extent where the state law mandates redrawing commissioner districts, the margin to the deviation limit is so narrow that some adjustments could be an option, a survey by the county showed.

According to County Treasurer Dennis Distad, the population in each of the five current districts is within the domain which the state law does not require redistricting.

Census 2000 shows that the average population for each district is 6,517. The state law states that no districts should vary in population more than 10 percent from that number.

A recent notification by the city saying that it would not redistrict finalized the population of commissioners’ districts.

Comm-issioner Dan Springborg’s third district, consisting of a part of Albert Lea and Albert Lea Township, is the most populous with 7,153 residents, whereas Commissioner Dan Belshan’s second district, the eastern part of the county, has only 5,966.

The deviations from the standard are +9.96 percent for the third district and -8.45 percent for the second district.

The option for the county is to transfer precinct one of Albert Lea Township – currently belonging to the third district – to the second district.

The precinct has 795 residents. The shift would result in reducing the deviation to -2.44 for the second district and +3.74 for the third district. The first, fourth and fifth districts fall within the five percent deviation from the standard without changing boundaries.

Belshan will finish his four-year term this year along with Dave Mullenbach from the fourth district. Both of them plan to seek reelection. The possible redistricting would most affect Springborg, whose term is supposed to end after 2004.

The Minnesota Attorney General interprets that if redistricting would change more than 5 percent of the population in a district, there should be a new election. Losing the 795 township residents means the third district change would exceed this threshold, forcing Springborg to run for reelection this year.

Springborg, a first-term commissioner, said, “I would rather have the township as part of my constituents.”

A concern for the county is if urban sprawl grew, districts including suburban Albert Lea might exceed the 10 percent limit in the near future, which would invite a legal challenge against an election result.

The county will have a public hearing on the issue in the board meeting on May 7 to ask for input from citizens.