City Prepares Court Response
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WATER VALLEY – Water Valley aldermen met in special session Wednesday, Oct. 28, to discuss the city’s response to a federal lawsuit challenging the boundaries of its four aldermanic wards and seeking new elections for ward representatives.
The lawsuit, filed Oct. 16 by Deborah Jackson, an employee of the Water Valley Police Department, alleges that the city has failed to redraw its voting wards following each decennial census since 1980, resulting in substantial population differences that violate constitutional requirements for equal representation.
The complaint asks a federal judge to order new ward boundaries and an immediate election for the city’s four ward aldermen. It does not seek new elections for Mayor Tommy Reynolds or Alderman-at-Large Herbie Rogers.
The board went into executive session to discuss the pending litigation, with City Attorney Daniel Martin explaining beforehand that aldermen would review the lawsuit line by line and work on drafting the city’s formal response.
Martin said the city’s answer would become a public document once filed in federal court.
“Once it gets filed and becomes public record, the newspaper will have it,” Martin said.
Before the closed-door session, Alderman Grant Thompson questioned the implications of the lawsuit and the process of redrawing the city’s voting districts.
“I’m just thinking because, I mean, we’re talking about reorganizing the whole city,” Thompson said.
Reynolds responded that the issue involved establishing constitutionally acceptable ward boundaries rather than reorganizing the municipal government.
“No, you’re not talking about reorganizing the city,” Reynolds said. “You’re talking about having districts that are constitutional within 10 percent deviation.”
Alderman Joe Magnuson asked about public involvement in the process, and Martin confirmed that the public would have a role as the matter proceeds.
According to the lawsuit, Water Valley’s population was 3,380 in the 2020 census. The complaint cites substantial differences among the four wards, with a 73.49-percentage-point spread between the largest and smallest population deviations.
The city’s ward representatives are Magnuson in Ward 1, Demetrius Ingram in Ward 2, Thompson in Ward 3 and Nicole Folson in Ward 4.
The lawsuit has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock in the Northern District of Mississippi.
