News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Alpena County Treasurer Kim Ludlow points to a proposed map of what the districts in Alpena County could look like after the county’s apportionment committee decides on what the best map for the area is. The committee met Tuesday and is considering how many commissioners are needed based on population and workload.

ALPENA — The number of commissioners who represent Alpena County in 2023 remains up in the air, as the county apportionment committee held off on selecting new district maps at its meeting on Tuesday.

Since the federal government released the 2020 census results, states and counties have been amending their current maps to comply with the population changes.

Alpena County Clerk Bonnie Friedrichs and Treasurer Kim Ludlow distributed district maps that show what the shape of the district would be for six, seven, eight, and nine commissioners.

After discussion, the committee seemed to rule out moving to nine commissioners, and a seven-seat board didn’t appeal to some on the committee because of how representation would be split between Alpena Township and Alpena.

The county has had a board of eight commissioners for 30 or so years, Friedrichs said.

“Seven districts were kind of messy because we couldn’t figure out a way to keep a commissioner just in the city without chopping into Alpena Township.” Friedrichs said.

A pair of commissioners would represent a portion of the township and city, which Friedrichs said isn’t ideal because some voters may think that the commissioner may act on behalf of where the most voters are, which in this case would be the city.

Redrawing the map to reflect six districts was appealing to some on the committee, as a pair of commissioners would represent precincts in Alpena, without bleeding into Alpena Township.

Friedrichs said reducing the amount of commissioners works in terms of the map and population, and for accomplishing county business.

She said the county hired a new administrator to handle many of the tasks commissioners were doing themselves, so the workload of the board should decrease in the months and years ahead.

Mary Catherine Hannah was hired in late August for that position and began her job in Alpena last week.

“The new administrator is going to do a lot of the leg-work for them and make a lot of the decisions, so do we really need to maintain eight commissioners?” Friedrichs said.

If the county moves to six districts, the board would remain at eight, until after the 2022 general election and the newly elected commissioners are sworn in at the beginning of 2023.

Friedrichs and Ludlow will continue to tweak the maps and return them to the committee for a meeting on Oct. 7 at 8 a.m. Another meeting is slated for Oct. 11 at 8 a.m., if the committee members need more time to study the proposed plans before selecting an option.