CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The chairman of the House of Delegates' redistricting committee expects the redrawn House to have more than the current 58 delegate districts, but fewer than the 100 single-member districts that several interest groups are advocating.

Delegate Brent Boggs, who heads the House Select Committee on Redistricting, said Wednesday that the delegates themselves must determine to what extent they break up the 11 multi-member House districts, or the 11 two-delegate districts, or whether there should be size limits for multi-member districts.

"We certainly didn't put those parameters on anyone," the Braxton County Democrat said. "They need to listen to their constituents and communities."

The largest current House district is Kanawha County's 30th District, with seven members.

Boggs said that while there are advocates for single-member districts, or at least smaller multi-member districts, he has also heard from constituents who want to avoid having their communities divided into multiple districts.

The 30-member select committee met for the first time Wednesday, and Boggs said the panel may not meet again until the start of a special session on redistricting, tentatively expected to begin Aug. 1.

Boggs said he has asked delegates to begin submitting their draft proposals for redrawing the state House and U.S. House districts, and said the committee could call a meeting between now and Aug. 1, if necessary.

"A lot of it's going to depend on what draft proposals come in," he said.

Once the special session starts, Boggs said he would like to see the Legislature complete its work redrawing House, Senate and congressional district lines without recessing.

"My preference would be to stay until we're done," he said.

The districts must be redrawn every 10 years, to correspond with changes in population around the state as determined by the U.S. Census.

During Wednesday's meeting, committee members heard presentations on congressional redistricting from National Conference of State Legislatures policy analyst Morgan Cullen and from state Legislative Manager Aaron Allred.

Cullen said West Virginia's relatively homogeneous population makes congressional redistricting simpler than in many states, where communities of interest -- including those with large minority populations -- must be preserved.

Allred noted that the state constitution mandates that congressional districts be as compact as possible -- which is a difficult proposition, given the unique outline of the state.

"One of the challenges in West Virginia, with the two panhandles, is could you ever draw a compact district?" he said.  

Reach Phil Kabler at ph...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1220.