Dec. 22—ANDERSON — A conference to settle the federal lawsuit over redrawing the districts of the Anderson City Council failed to reach an agreement.

The council met in special session Thursday to discuss the pending legislation.

The settlement conference took place Wednesday in federal court and have almost five hours of negotiations an agreement could not be reached.

The lawsuit was brought in June by Common Cause Indiana, the Anderson/Madison County NAACP and the Indiana League of Women Voters. It contends that the six districts for seats on the City Council violate the one man, one vote principle.

Rosemary Khoury, attorney for the city council, said council members Ollie H. Dixon, Jon Bell, Jennifer Culp and Lance Stephenson took part in the discussions.

Stephenson said that because of the pending litigation, the council couldn’t discuss the case in public.

Several council members indicated a settlement couldn’t be reached because of a disagreement on the number of residents in each of the six districts.

Khoury said Culp and Stephenson were instrumental in trying to negotiate a settlement.

“They were open to ideas and suggestions,” she said.

Bell said he agreed with comments made by Councilman Ty Bibbs last week that the case presented for the redistricting is weak.

“They’re digging their heels in,” Bell said. “They’re playing hardball.”

Khoury said last week the two districts most impacted by the proposed maps are the 4th and 6th districts.

Dixon said the proposed map has the 4th District picking up the area around Fairview Park; the 6th District would include the Redbud Estates.

“The census was not accurate,” Dixon said. “I think we can reach equal proportions.”

As proposed, the map would have moved Newman out of the 6th District.

Last week, several council members said they wouldn’t support any proposed maps that had Newman and Dixon in the same district.

Follow Ken de la Bastide on Twitter @KendelaBastide, or call 765-640-4863.