Fulton to swap ward boundaries

Changes in Fulton's population reported in the 2010 Census soon will be reflected in a corresponding shift in the city's ward boundaries.

During Tuesday night's regular meeting, the city council was presented with a proposed plan to tweak the ward lines so that the wards are better-balanced and fall within federal guidelines.

"Every 10 years when the census comes out, federal case law requires us to make sure the wards remain proportional," said Matt Harline, assistant director of administration. "As long as no ward is 10 percent more or less (than the remaining wards) it's considered legal."

"We need to get everybody pretty well even," Mayor LeRoy Benton agreed. "Most of the changes were in the downtown area. When you look at this year versus last year, there really isn't a big change."