EPHRATA - People have about a week to submit comments before commissioners approve the new district boundaries.

Grant County commissioners plan to approve the final boundaries on Tuesday during their consent agenda. The new boundaries were determined following the 2010 census, and divide the county's about 89,000-person population evenly between the three commissioners.

"Most of the growth is in the Moses Lake area, which isn't too surprising, so (Commissioner) Carolann (Swartz' district) has shrunk a bit in territory," Auditor Dave Firebaugh said. "As Moses Lake keeps growing that's going to keep happening."

Each of the new districts include the area surrounding Moses Lake, Firebaugh said. Swartz' district is the only one in the city limits.

The other changes include moving Ephrata and a connecting section south of the city from Commissioner Cindy Carter's district to Commissioner Richard Stevens' district. Carter also picked up a section south and west of Potholes Reservoir. The section used to be in Swartz' district.

"Ephrata used to be in Cindy's (district), there used to be sort of gooseneck that would come up here and got Ephrata. It was sort of an odd shape," Firebaugh said. "We sort of tried to make (the districts) more uniform shapes."

The districts were created by setting a general shape, and trying to make the populations between the districts even, he said.

Swartz said the other complication to creating the new maps was the precincts can't be split.

The committee creating the new districts split five precincts because they were close to or larger than the 1,500-person limit, Firebaugh said. The change mostly affects the political parties which have officers for each of the precincts.

"Then when we got the legislative districts, they draw lines and they also have to follow precinct lines, so when they went through a precinct then we had to divide that precinct along that line," Firebaugh said.

People can submit comments by e-mail to commissioners@co.grant.wa.us, mail to Grant County Commissioners, PO Box 37, Grant County Courthouse, Ephrata, WA 98823, or by phone at 509-754-2011 ext. 428.