URBANA – Within a month, members of a special Champaign County redistricting commission will be able to review 25 different maps for redrawing county board districts.

Andrew Levy, a planner for the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission, told the ground-breaking citizen's commission Wednesday that he will have "a few" maps for it to review at its March 2 meeting and as many as 25 for its March 16 session.

The commission – the only one of its kind in Illinois and perhaps in the country – has an April 15 deadline for recommending a new 11-district map to the county board. The board must adopt a new district map this year for use in next year's election.

Wednesday's meeting of the commission was marked by unanimous votes on four separate procedural issues facing the commission, including one pledging so much transparency that the commission has to explain its reasons for adjusting boundaries.

"I'm very pleased that all the commission members came together and agreed on the goals and objectives, the process and especially on the transparency principles," said Rick Winkel, the University of Illinois professor and former Republican state senator from Urbana who is chair of the commission. "And part of the transparency is that whenever we adjust or move, if we are moving boundaries, we have to explain each and every move we make."

Further, members of the public will be able to draw their own county board district map at a terminal at the Brookens Administrative Center, said County Administrator Deb Busey. They first have to call 384-3776 to schedule a two-hour block at the computer, she said.

Those maps can be submitted to the redistricting commission for consideration.

Winkel said he believes the commission can meet the ambitious April 15 deadline, even though Levy finally received Champaign County data from the Census Bureau on Tuesday.

"The commission impresses me that the members are really taking this seriously, and they want to come up with a map that is not based on politics and that the public can see and embrace and understand. I'm very encouraged," he said.

But the most difficult work lies ahead, said Democrat Esther Patt, a former Urbana City Council member who is vice chair of the commission.

"I think from the start everyone has appeared to be in agreement on the process and the procedures. The tough part will be the nitty-gritty of dealing with maps. Until we have the maps in front of us there's nothing to have a controversy about," she said.

If there are disagreements, Patt said, they'll be over issues like dissecting particular townships, villages or communities of interest.

"I think ideally we don't split cities, other than Champaign and Urbana because their populations are larger than one district," Patt said. "I think that where we'll find, I wouldn't call it controversy but we'll find diversity of opinion, is on something like do you split Champaign Township? I cite that as an example because it already is.

"Or you have 22 percent of Rantoul as African-American. How much do you mix urban and rural, or do you try to put that in with the African-American population in north Champaign? Those are the kind of questions we'll have to take a look at, and where we might have a difference of opinion."