(a) It shall be the mandatory duty of the County Council to redistrict New Castle County into council districts after each regular United States decennial census. For the general election in 2002 the County Council shall redistrict the county into 7 council districts, including 1 district comprising all of New Castle County for the election of the President of the county government.
(1) To accomplish the redistricting after the 2000 decennial census, the County Council shall, within 60 days after the official reporting of the 2000 decennial census by the President to Congress, appoint 7 qualified voters of the County who shall comprise a Redistricting Commission. The members of this Redistricting Commission shall be appointed 1 from each of the 7 council districts of the County, including 1 district comprising all of New Castle County, and shall not be employed by the County in any other capacity. No more than 4 of the members shall be affiliated with the same political party. Within 90 days after appointment by County Council, the Redistricting Commission shall file with the Clerk of County Council a report containing the recommended plan for adjusting the council district boundaries to reapportion the county into 6 council districts with the following specifications:
a. Each district shall contain contiguous territory; and
b. Each district shall contain nearly as possible the same number of inhabitants and no district shall deviate in population more than 15% from the average population for all districts, the average to be obtained by dividing the number 6 into the total population of the county according to the last census.
(2) To accomplish the redistricting commencing with the 2010 decennial census, and each decennial census thereafter, the County Council shall, within 60 days after the official reporting of the census by the President to Congress, appoint 13 qualified voters of the County who shall comprise a Redistricting Commission. The members of this Redistricting Commission shall be appointed 1 from each of the 12 council districts of the county and 1 at-large, and shall not be employed by the county in any other capacity. No more than 7 of the members shall be affiliated with the same political party. Within 90 days after appointment by Council Council, the Redistricting Commission shall file with the Clerk of County Council a report containing the recommended plan for adjusting the council district boundaries of districts 1 through 12 to comply with the following specifications:
a. Each district shall contain contiguous territory; and
b. Each district shall contain nearly as possible the same number of inhabitants and no district shall deviate in population more than 15% from the average population for all districts, the average to be obtained by dividing the number 12 into the total population of the county according to the last census.
(b) The report of the Redistricting Commission shall include a map and a description of the councilmanic districts recommended and shall be in the form of a proposed ordinance. Once filed with the Clerk of County Council the report shall be treated as an ordinance introduced by a member of the County Council.
(c) The procedure for the County Council's consideration of the report shall be the same as for other ordinances, provided that a map and a description of the proposed districts shall be published in addition to the other requirements for publication connected with enacting ordinances.
(d) The County Council shall adopt a redistricting ordinance within 60 days after the report of the Redistricting Commission has been filed with the Clerk of County Council. If a redistricting ordinance has not been adopted by the County Council and approved by the County Executive within 60 days of filing the report by the Redistricting Commission, the redistricting plan as submitted by the Redistricting Commission shall become effective as if it had been adopted by County Council and approved by the County Executive. The redistricting ordinance, if 1 has been adopted by the County Council and approved by the County Executive, or the redistricting plan as submitted by the Redistricting Commission shall then determine the boundaries of districts 1 through 6 until the next redistricting in accordance with the provisions of this section, the provisions of § 1164 of this title notwithstanding.
(e) As used in § 1166 of this title, the phrase “odd-numbered federal decennial census” shall refer to the decades whose first digit is an odd number, for example, 2010, 2030, 2050; and the phrase “even-numbered federal decennial census” shall refer to the decades whose first digit is an even number, for example, 2000, 2020, 2040.