Lexington City Council held a work session last Thursday to discuss several proposed amendments to the city charter ahead of a public hearing scheduled for this week’s Council meeting.
The proposal to amend the city charter stemmed from a desire to update the section regarding the school board to reflect the fact that the city recently changed from an appointed school board to an elected one. The language of that section will be amended to reflect the change, as well as the changes to the terms of the board members from three years to four years with elections coinciding with the elections for city council and mayor.
Among the other proposed amendments are changes to the section regarding the city manager, specifically around whether the manager is required to be a resident of the city.
The current section doesn’t require that they live in the city at the time of their appointment to the position, but does state that “during the tenure of office [he or she] shall reside within the city.” The proposed amendment would amend that sentence of the section to read, “council may require the manager to reside within the city during the tenure or office on such terms as council shall establish.”
The amendment would give council discretion over whether the city manager would be required to live in the city at all, or whether they would be granted a grace period during which they could find a residence within the city, or possibly if they could be allowed to reside elsewhere within the county.
Amendments are also being proposed to the section regarding the city attorney. The current language has the attorney being appointed for a four-year term, and the amendment would change the appointment to “an indefinite term.” The proposed amendments also include editing language requiring the city attorney to represent the city in “all civil proceedings” and to prosecute violations of the city ordinances to simply state that the attorney “may” be required to do those things.
Other proposed amendments include adding language to reflect that the Lexington General District and Juvenile and Domestic Relations courts have been consolidated with Rockbridge County’s courts, removing a requirement that ordinances be required to be displayed at “two other public locations throughout the city” in addition to being posted at “one of the public entrances to city hall,” and removing language requiring the approval of city council for the school board to enter into “contractual relationships … regarding the performance of any part of or all of the functions or purposes of the school board … when such contractual relations are not specifically prohibited by the Constitution and general laws of the Commonwealth.”
City Council will hold a public hearing on a resolution to make the proposed amendments during Thursday’s regular business meeting.
Once the amendments are approved by Council, they will be sent to the office of Del. Terry Austin, who will introduce a bill to make the amendments in the next session of General Assembly. The bill will need to pass both houses of the state legislature and be signed by the governor before the amendments will go into effect.
