The assembly was organized by CivicLex, a local civic education nonprofit, to get more residents involved in tackling city issues.
“There was a lot more community to be found than I expected,” said Kirsten Singer, a member of the assembly. “I thought, with anything that's even a little bit political, there's only divisiveness and arguing, but in the end, we kind of all came together, and that was really cool to see.”
The group came into the process with two topics: how often the city’s charter should be reviewed and council member pay.
“My opinion even changed multiple times today just hearing different people's opinions, because there's so many factors to each of the choices we came up with,” Singer said.
The last couple meetings of the group involved creating and deliberating on the proposals that will be heard by council members.
“A group of six-to-ten residents talking about one of these issues was kind of our most important vehicle, and that's where most of the work happened,” said Kit Anderson, CivicLex Deputy Director and assembly lead. “We would have small groups deliberate draft proposals, present them to the big group, and then get feedback, make amendments and ultimately vote.”
With more than 70% of the vote, the assembly approved three proposals that will be heard by Lexington’s city council.
That includes requiring Lexington’s charter, which works similarly to a local constitution, to be reviewed every eight years by a group of 36 residents selected by a representative lottery. The assembly also added a requirement that the charter be subject to public input.
“If these future charter reviews pass the ballot, then every eight years, ideally, a situation like we just did, that is demographically representative of Lexingtonians, would get to review the charter and make changes,” said Tommy Clasby, another member of the assembly.
The assembly also recommended raising council member pay to $59,987 per year, up from their current salary of around $40,000. They settled on that amount to match the annual wage of an average Lexingtonian, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Clasby described the process of putting those proposals together as “incredibly thorough.”
“We had to fit within the legal parameters that was allowed,” Clasby said. “We couldn't just do whatever. So there were some things that we wanted to do that would likely not pass if challenged in court.”
Those two topics were up for discussion at the start of the assembly. But as it went on, the group also created another proposal recommending that the council create publicly viewable attendance records for council members.
CivicLex founder Richard Young, who helped oversee the proceedings, said many members of the group did not feel comfortable supporting a raise in council member pay without also proposing extra accountability measures.
“I think they want it to be really a sort of signpost for voters when they go to vote, like, ‘Is my council member showing up to the meetings that they're supposed to? Are they responding to constituent services?”’ Young explained.
The group will also be including the minority opinion in the report they send to council, assuring that even people who voted against the final proposals would have some input. Young, from his point of view, said overseeing the assembly affirmed his faith in the democratic process.
“So much in our society right now feels zero-sum. It feels like there's only winners and only losers, and at the end of the day, in any decision, you know, there is a winner, and there's a loser, but it's not zero-sum,” Young said. “We can still get along with the people that we disagree with.”
Now, the group will present their recommendations to Lexington’s city council for consideration. If the council agrees to those recommendations, they will be put on the ballot for residents to vote on later this year.
This feature is part of a three-part series on Lexington’s first civic assembly. The story covering the beginning of the session can be found here, and an interview with assembly lead Kit Anderson can be listened to here.
