New Changes to Speed Up Council Meetings

Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Center. Source: City of Lexington.

In Tuesday’s General Government and Planning Committee, Council will hear proposed changes to the approval process for how certain Council and Administration projects are approved in Council meetings.

Currently, donations to LFUCG from outside groups, many contracts and purchase order changes, Council Capital Project Fund projects and more must be approved as an individual resolutions that receives two readings and is voted on by the full Council. This slows down the approval and funding of various projects, and lengthens Thursday Council Meetings by requiring the Council Clerk to read each purchase resolution individually at an auction-like pace. It’s always impressive!

New proposals from a Consent Decree Task Force would streamline the approval process in two ways:

• Council Capital Projects would be recorded as Budget Adjustments rather than Budget Amendments. Budget Adjustments do not need a vote for approval.

• Donations, purchase orders, and certain contracts would be bundled in one package within Communications from the Mayor. Communications from the Mayor already include similar purchases as a bundle that need Council approval via a vote. All Communications from the Mayor are published in Council Meeting dockets that are available to the public.

The goal is to make approval of these items faster, and save time in Council Meetings by not requiring each order to be read individually.

You can view the full presentation starting on page 77 of this packet.

The General Government and Planning Committee will meet on Tuesday, April 16th at 1pm in Council Chambers. You can attend in-person or watch live on LexTV.