Civic Assembly Mandate
What are the Assembly Mandates and why are they being asked?
There are two central questions for Lexington’s first Civic Assembly, each covering a different topic in the Urban County Charter. Assembly Mandates are a standard practice when hosting an assembly. It’s helps the assembly members understand the focus and scope of the assembly and be transparent about what the process is trying to solve.
Question 1: Council Compensation
The question: What changes should Lexington’s Urban County Charter make to council member compensation to improve representation, trust, and participation in local government?
Why is this being asked?
Lexington’s Urban County Councilmembers are currently compensated at about $40,000 per year. When the Charter was adopted in 1974, it said that compensation levels for council members should be capped at $6,000 per year. These have increased over time through laws that tie pay to the consumer price index. That indexing mechanism exists in ordinance, not in the Charter itself.
This has recently become an issue discussed in the public. Several council members have chosen not to run for re-election, and some have pointed to pay and perception of the role as being “part-time” as factors.
In fact, the Charter does not specify that Council positions are full-time or part-time, only the cap for how much they are compensated.
This is exactly the type of question that is challenging for Council itself to answer — they would be setting their own pay. This is why it is being brought to the assembly.
What can be recommended
Recommendations might address any or all of the following:
Whether the Charter should specify a higher or lower pay amount or range for Council members
Whether the Charter should establish a process for setting or adjusting pay over time
Whether the Charter should define the Council role as part-time or full-time
Any or all of the above
What is outside the scope
Recommendations should be limited to the topic of Council compensation.
Recommendations must be legally possible under Kentucky state law. CivicLex will make sure you have information about legal boundaries before you deliberate.
Question 2: Charter Review
The question: How should Lexington's Urban County Charter be reviewed over time to ensure it stays current and relevant?
Why is this being asked?
The Charter has no requirement to be reviewed on any schedule. The last time it was formally reviewed or updated was 1998 — nearly 30 years ago.
The Charter does already include one relevant mechanism: Section 14.04 authorizes Council to establish a Charter Revision Commission — a group of at least 20 citizens that holds hearings and makes recommendations to Council about amendments. But this is optional. Council can create one, but nothing requires them to. The Charter says nothing about how Commission members are selected, how often a Commission should meet, or whether the public must be involved.
Previous attempts to review the Charter have been contentious, partly because there was no agreed process for doing it. Establishing a clear, regular review process in the Charter itself could make future reviews less political and more routine.
What can be recommended
Your recommendations can address any or all of the following:
Whether the Charter should require a formal review on a regular schedule, and if so how often
Whether the existing optional Charter Revision Commission should be made mandatory
If so, how Commission members should be selected, whether public participation should be required as part of any review process, and what that should look like
Whether any alternative review processes should be included in the Charter
What happens to recommendations that come out of a review
Anything else you believe would help keep the Charter current and relevant.
What is outside the scope
Recommendations should focus on the question of Charter review frequency and process.
Changes to the substance of the Charter are outside this mandate, though assembly members may note topics they think a future review should consider.
Recommendations must also be legally possible under Kentucky state law — CivicLex will brief you on any relevant legal boundaries before you deliberate.
What the assembly will produce
By the end of the assembly, members will produce two written recommendations, or sets of recommendations. The recommendations should clearly state:
What the Charter should say about Council member compensation and why
What the Charter should say about Charter review and why
The recommendations do not need to be unanimous, but should reflect the genuine, considered views of the group after learning and deliberating together. If the group is divided, that should be noted and justifications on all sides of the disagreement should be described.
What happens next
Assembly recommendations will be formally reported to Lexington's Urban County Council on April 28, 2026.
Council has committed to publicly receiving and formally responding to your recommendations.
From there, Council can vote to place any proposed Charter changes on the 2026 ballot, where all Lexington residents would vote on them.
Who organized this Assembly?
This Civic Assembly was organized by CivicLex, a nonprofit focused on civic health in Lexington. CivicLex has no position on what the right answers to these questions are. Its role is to make sure assembly members have the information, time, and support needed to deliberate well and reach their own conclusions.
The Assembly is fully funded by CivicLex — no city government funds were used.
