(GDN) — It appears changes are coming for Goldsboro’s city council districts. 

Following new population figures in the 2020 Census, the city will have to undertake a decennial redistricting effort.  

Caroline Mackie and Marshall Hurley with Local Redistricting Service gave an initial presentation on the reapportionment effort at last week’s Goldsboro City Council meeting.

Mackie says they will give the city demographic information, but race cannot predominate unnecessarily when drawing the new district maps.

Hurley says the city can plan ahead for districts where the population is expected to grow in coming years.

He also says Local Redistricting Service bases their information strictly on population size.

According to figures from the U.S. Census, District’s 1, 2 and 5 are outside of the 5% deviation permissible for equal sized council districts.

That means the city will likely have to look at adjusting the boundaries for most, if not all, of its districts.

The Goldsboro City Council plans to look at the proposals for the new districts at its retreat in early 2022, with the goal of approving the re-proportioned city council districts in the new year.