The Lexington City Council has taken final action on new boundaries for the 12 districts. Council adopted the redistricting map without any formal comments.
But, earlier in the afternoon Tuesday, members did discuss the changes. 11th District Representative Jennifer Reynolds said some continuity between neighborhoods may be jeopardized.
“Pretend a different council member was in my position. I’m mostly concerned about maintaining neighborhoods together and now the 11th district is a completely different district,” said Reynolds.
With that said, Reynolds noted she looks forward to meeting new residents and businesses in the redrawn district.
An independent panel drew the new lines. In all, close to 50,000 people are moving to a different Council district. Veteran Council Member Richard Moloney believes it’s best to leave the independent panel’s suggestions in place and not make any modifications. “We’re not getting into the politics for this redistricting. We’re letting the citizens of Fayette County, who we appointed to be on there, to make those decisions for us,” said Moloney.
During a committee of the whole meeting, council members discussed the possibility of waiting and taking up the redistricting map after the Christmas break. But that brought concerns that it would shrink the time for potential candidates to consider the changes before deciding whether to seek a Council seat.