History of Commission Districts in San Juan County, Utah
By Gail Johnson, former San Juan County Clerk
Serving 9 years 1983-1991
Because history gives context and
perspective to current situations, the history of commission districting in San
Juan County bears repeating. And perhaps I know this history best because of my
personal involvement. It is not my intention to fuel anymore contention. Just give some history.
San Juan County was the first county in Utah
to have district county commission seats.
That was in 1984. Up until that time, all counties in the state had
a 3-member commission, each member elected at-large with two seats being four-year
terms and one seat being a two-year term.
The
U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a legal action against San Juan County
in November 1983, stating that the at-large commission violated the federal
Voting Rights Act even though the county was in compliance with state law. I was county clerk at the time and was a
defendant in the action along with county commissioners Calvin Black, Ken
Bailey, and Bob Low. These men have since
passed away. I attended the meetings with the DOJ attorney as well as
participated in the county's efforts to comply.
Contrary to some beliefs, the Navajo Nation was not party to this
legal action. The Tribe did however, participate in the
process of establishing the original commission districts.
Neither the federal judge nor the
DOJ determined the boundaries for these commission districts. It was left to the county to do that with instruction
by the DOJ that communities and cultural areas were to be kept intact as much
as possible while balancing the populations.
The intent was not to dilute the vote of any group of people and
thus diminish their voice in the county.
The DOJ had to give final approval of the commission districts to ensure
they were in line with the decree signed by the federal judge.
The county held many meetings to get
input from residents -- from Spanish
Valley to Navajo Mountain to Aneth. An
informal county-wide opinion survey was taken to get public input. From February through September of 1984, 13 districting
proposals were presented by different
organizations and reviewed thoroughly by interested stake holders. This included UNDC (Utah Navajo Development
Council) and the Navajo Nation. Eventually,
issues were resolved and a final plan was agreed upon by the various groups,
and it was accepted by the DOJ. The plan
was also approved by county voters in the 1984 November general election. Of the 20 voting precincts, Navajo Mountain
was the only precinct opposed to the plan -- 53 "Yes" and 88 "No". Commissioners were then elected from
districts beginning with the 1986 general election.
This original districting plan put
the western portion of the Utah Navajo reservation with the western and
northern portions of the county as Commission District No. 1. Commission District No. 2 included the
Blanding area and White Mesa. Commission District No. 3 included the central
and eastern portions of the Utah Navajo reservation. These three districts kept community and
cultural areas intact while evenly distributing the population as much as
possible as required by the DOJ.
Prior to this 1983 legal action, the
DOJ had brought similar actions against neighboring counties in New Mexico and
Arizona. Also, subsequent to this action
(May, 1987), Utah law was changed to provide for this new form of county
government. This allowed for San Juan
County to be in compliance with state law as well.
I remember the commissioners were
concerned about the western part of the Navajo reservation (Oljato area &
Navajo Mtn.) being in a different commission district than the rest of the
reservation. They discussed it with
Willie Greyeyes, then UNDC board chairman.
A UNDC resolution signed by Mr. Greyeyes (Sept. 6, 1984) endorsed the new
plan: "...The Board of Directors of the Utah Navajo
Development Council, after a thorough review of the alternatives and after
hearing extensive input from the local Utah Navajo communities, herewith
endorses the redistricting plan previously known as Proposal #8... and The UNDC
Board of Directors is convinced that placing the Navajo Mountain and Oljato
precincts in District #1 with the northern part of the County will prove to be
in the best overall interests of both the county and its Navajo
citizens..." The Oljato
Chapter passed a similar resolution on September 22, 1984.
Proposal #8 placed Cedar Point in
District 2 (central district) and White Mesa in District 1 (northern
district). Commission minutes of Sept.
10, 1984 state: "Willie
Greyeyes, Louis Tapaha, and Worthy Glover representing UNDC met with the
Commission to present a resolution adopted by UNDC regarding commission
districting. The resolution adopts a
proposal for districting which includes Navajo Mountain and Oljato in District
#1 and includes Cedar Point in District #2...The Commission felt that the Cedar
Point area should be placed in District #1.
Mr. Greyeyes had no objection to putting Cedar Point in District
#1. The Commission also felt that the
residents of Navajo Mountain and Oljato should be consulted about this
proposal. Mr. Greyeyes stated that he is
confident that Navajo Mountain and Oljato will support this proposal and vote
for it. Mr. Greyeyes stated that he has
had contact with the people of Navajo Mountain and they are in favor of this
proposal...."
Two weeks later in commission
meeting, a motion was passed modifying Proposal #8: "taking
Cedar Point out of District #2 and putting it in District #1 to preserve
community interest, and taking White Mesa out of District #1 and putting it in
District #2 to preserve community interest. These changes would change the
deviation to 7.8% from 4.9%." Prior to this motion, the minutes state that
Ron Faich and Donna Chavez, representing the Navajo Tribe, met with the
commission and presented a resolution from the Navajo Tribal Advisory Council
requesting the adoption of Proposal #8. After
some discussion, "Mr. Faich and Ms. Chavez stated that the
deviation difference would be fine as long as the community interest is not
split. Ms. Chavez further stated that
she is ready to recommend the changes ...Also present were Herb Clah and Worthy
Glover representing UNDC. The representatives
present stated that the Navajo Tribe and the UNDC are recommending the above
changes which will be called modified proposal #8 and are also asking that it
be adopted by the Commission and placed on the November election ballot. The representatives from the Navajo tribe
replaced proposal #8 attached to the resolution submitted by the Tribal
Advisory Council with modified proposal #8.
The representatives from UNDC also replaced proposal #8 attached to the
resolution...with modified proposal #8...The commission stated that they feel
that the modified proposal #8 best serves the community interest for each
district..."
This is how and why
commission districts began in San Juan County. I was a witness to it. These historical facts are documented
in county records and federal court records.
Under the direction of the DOJ,
the county did everything required to comply with the Voting Rights
Act. There was no political or racial
gerrymandering. If that were the case,
then the DOJ and the federal judge were party to it.
In a letter to me from Herb Clah, UNDC Executive Director (Oct 5, 1984) he said, "...We
appreciate the willingness of the San Juan County Commission to work
cooperatively with UNDC and the Navajo Tribe in resolving this issue. Even though there have been some
misunderstandings along the way, we feel that the efforts to communicate and
resolve differences have been worthwhile."
The road
to consensus got bumpy quite often, but consensus was achieved. Strong differences were resolved respectfully
and professionally.
In the
October 24, 2011 commission meeting, Commissioners Phil Lyman and Kenneth
Maryboy agreed to form a redistricting committee to look at the 2010 census
data to recommend any changes to
the commission districts. Commissioner
Bruce Adams was not present. That
committee reported on November 14, 2011.
Two rural areas east of Monticello (Cedar Point and Ucolo) were moved
from District 1 to District 2 to put populations back into balance. Thus not
disrupting a lot of residents and preserving community interests as had been
done previously. Commissioner Kenneth
Maryboy opposed this action preferring a complete redistricting of the county
using census blocks rather than voting precincts.
The Navajo Nation filed suit against
San Juan County two months later in January 2012 alleging that the county commission
districts were unconstitutional.
Again, documents show that the
original San Juan County commission districts were created to comply with a
federal court order. These districts
were created to give more opportunity to American Indian residents for
political participation in county government.
These districts were created with the assistance and endorsement of the
Navajo leadership.
It is unfortunate that misinformation by some
has lead to divisiveness IN this county and misperceptions OF
this county. Historically the average
county resident, American Indian and non-American Indian, gets along well with
other county residents on a day-to-day person-to-person basis regardless of
race or politics. There isn't
perfection, but in general there is respect.
There is cooperation. There is
personal service. There are
friendships. There are shared
grandchildren. And, there are good
people. Gail Dalton Johnson, Sept. 2019
News in the West
