(a) In accordance with section 4.03 of the Charter of the Urban County Government and KRS 67A.023, following the official publication of each decennial census by the United States Bureau of the Census for the area embraced by Lexington-Fayette County, the council shall, if necessary, redistrict the twelve (12) council districts.
(b) By February 1 of each year in which the decennial census is to be published, the vice-mayor shall appoint a redistricting committee to make a recommendation to the council concerning the revision of district boundary lines.
(c) The redistricting committee shall consist of fifteen (15) members, with nine (9) members constituting a quorum. Each councilmember shall select one (1) member of the committee, with the vice-mayor's selection acting as the chairperson. The committee shall cease to exist upon presentation of its recommended revision of district boundary lines to the urban county council.
(d) The urban county government shall provide staff as needed to assist the committee. The council administrator shall serve as the official custodian of the records of the committee and shall be responsible for maintaining said records for a period of twenty (20) years after the committee makes its final recommendation to the urban county council.
(e) Members of the redistricting committee shall have the following qualifications:
(1) Each member shall reside in the council district of the councilmember making the selection, for those members selected by district councilmembers, or shall be a resident of Lexington-Fayette County, for those members selected by at-large councilmembers;
(2) Each member shall have been registered to vote for at least the past five (5) years;
(3) Each member shall have voted in at least three (3) of the last five (5) general elections preceding appointment;
(4) Each member shall attest that he or she will not run for district councilmember for three (3) years after appointment; and
(5) Neither councilmembers nor council staff may serve as members of the committee.
Each councilmember shall ensure his or her selection possesses the qualifications provided herein, and should be mindful and inclusive of Lexington's diverse community when selecting the membership of the committee.
(f) The commission shall:
(1) Conduct an open and transparent process enabling full public consideration of and comment on the drawing of district lines;
(2) Perform in a manner that is impartial and that reinforces public confidence in the integrity of the redistricting process; and
(3) Draw district lines according to the redistricting criteria specified in the Charter and subsections (g) and (h).
(g) The committee shall abide by the following requirements, which shall be considered equally, in making its recommendations for the revision of district boundary lines:
(1) Districts shall have population equality, based on the census data, as near as reasonably practicable, with a deviation of no more than ten (10) percent;
(2) Districts shall be compact and contiguous;
(3) Existing voting precincts shall be the basic unit for aggregating new council district boundary lines;
(4) Existing voting precincts shall not be split or precinct boundaries changed;
(5) Each district shall be composed of closely arranged precincts which are concentrated into a limited area;
(6) Each district shall be composed of adjoining precincts sharing common boundaries; and
(7) The geographic integrity of any local neighborhood or local community of interest shall be respected in a manner that minimizes their division to the extent possible without violating the requirements of any of the preceding subsections. A community of interest is a contiguous population that shares common social and economic interests that should be included within a single district for purposes of its effective and fair representation.
(h) The committee shall consider the following guidelines in making its recommendations for the revision of district boundary lines:
(1) Districts should accommodate relative rates of future growth such that districts in growth areas have a population in the lower range of the ideal population;
(2) Arterial highways and other corridors should be considered in defining district boundaries.
(i) The committee shall submit its recommendation concerning the revision of district boundary lines to the council no later than the last working day in September of the year in which the committee begins its work. Any ordinance revising district boundary lines shall be approved by the date candidates for councilmember may begin to file for office for the next general election. While candidates shall run in the newly revised districts, councilmembers shall continue to serve in the same districts for the entirety of their existing terms, with newly elected councilmembers serving in the newly revised districts upon being sworn into office.
(j) Prior to the appointment of a redistricting committee, the council administrator shall provide a schedule for the upcoming redistricting process, including, but not limited to, the following:
(1) The month the committee shall hold its first meeting;
(2) The month Census data is anticipated to be released;
(3) The date the committee must submit its revision of the district boundary lines to the council;
(4) The date candidates for councilmember may begin to file for office, which shall serve as the date by which the urban county council should approve district boundary lines;
(5) The date of the primary election in which candidates would run using the newly revised district boundary lines;
(6) The date of the general election in which candidates would run using the newly revised district boundary lines;
(7) The date newly elected councilmembers will be sworn into office which shall serve as the date councilmembers would begin serving in the newly revised districts.
(Ord. No. 160-2012, § 1, 12-6-12; Ord. No. 146-2022 , § 1, 12-6-22)