Deschutes County Commissioners will be meeting this week to talk about drawing boundaries for commission districts. (Bulletin file)

Deschutes County voters decided in 2024 they wanted a five-member county commission, instead of three. Now there’s a new decision.

The sitting commissioners are working on a plan for creating five commission districts, instead of five commissioners all elected at large. This week, they will be working on the details of who will set the boundaries for the districts and how they will set them.

Commissioners will then vote on it.

The concept is that the people on the committee will work within some guidelines: Districts are to be contiguous, use existing precinct lines, not unreasonably divide communities, consider growth patterns and so on. And yes, the districts are not supposed to be drawn to favor any party or elected official.

Redistricting sometimes becomes a mess. No matter how the boundaries are drawn, someone may feel aggrieved and take the matter to court.

All the negotiations need to be done in public. No private conversations. No deals behind closed doors. That is the plan for developing the redistricting plan. It needs to stay that way and be fair to all voters and candidates.