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Portland-area regional government Metro is looking at the possibility of redrawing its representative boundaries.

Every ten years, following the completion of the U.S. Census, the Metro Council evaluates the district boundaries for the six Metro districts, which each of the six councilors represent. The council is required to make changes, if necessary, in order to make sure each district has relatively equal populations.

The council takes the entire metro region population and divides it by six, resulting in an average district population of 248,362. Then it takes the population of each district and determines if slight changes to boundaries can create an even population distribution. Each district is supposed to be within 5 percent of the average population.

According to 2010 U.S. Census data, the two biggest deviations from the average population are in district two and district four. District two, which includes Gladstone, Lake Oswego, West Linn, Milwaukie, Oregon City and portions of Southwest Portland, is 7.3 percent below the average population threshold. Conversely, district four, which includes the northern portion of Washington County, was 9.75 percent above the population average.

Metro has made three proposals for redistricting that would help average out each district. The proposals are all . The council is calling upon citizens to comment on the proposals before it makes a final decision at the May 19 council meeting.