One of the hot topics of last summer and fall was the push that the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government was making toward a new City Hall.
After the collapse of consideration on the CentrePointe block, focus shifted to the Central Library building and its parking garage as the primary site. Although the 5 story structure seems to not be adequately arranged, those in the know feel that, with a few modifications, it could work.
Shortly after this plan became known, the Lexington-Herald Leader announced a shift in the location of their printing daily publication from Lexington to Louisville. That, coupled with a further reduction in staff, led to the possibility of finding a smaller office space and placing their prime location well up on the list of candidates.
Some of us believe that the H-L building may a lack of square footage, but there is quite enough room surrounding the building for additions and leaving sufficient parking. It really would make quite a statement on civic pride with a renovated (narrowed) Midland Avenue, its Town Branch Trail and the Thoroughbred Park directly in front and a backdrop of the highly treed Bell Court neighborhood. Even the small street connecting a new back door to the neighborhood is named in honor of a former mayor, John Skain (1908-1912).
Whichever of the two sites is chosen, the "new" City Hall will not be in a newly built civic building which has been the dream of the merged government for more than four decades. Financial woes and the struggle to balance urban, suburban and rural priorities have always seemed to push the extravagance of a new building just a little more down the list of necessities.
As always, in discussions on City Hall, the subject of sufficient space for the essential functions of government should be at the forefront. One of my recent discussions led to remembrances of our early "part-time" council members. I say "part-time" since they were limited to $6,000 (in 1972) and I was earning just under that in an unskilled position. I don't think that anybody could do the job and have a family on that salary alone. Those first council members shared office space and did most of their own research. A tough part time job.
Thing is, back then the Fayette County population was a whopping 174,323+ and each council member represented approximately 14,527 residents on average. Their constituents were in somewhat compact districts except for district 12, which was (and still is) primarily our rural farmland. If memory serves, the population of district 12 (14,272) influenced the number and size of the remaining districts.
Today's district representative still receives a part-time salary (approx. $31,8000), has an office, a full-time legislative aide, a full calendar and a constituency of over 26,200 (an 80%+ increase). The individual districts have over time, become less compact and considerably more diverse and not just culturally.
A number of districts have become elongated, one to the point of representing folks living in a 1930's subdivision just south of the UK stadium AND folks living in a development on the Jessamine County line. Our "mostly rural" 12th district is now approximately evenly split between suburban housing and the farming community.
Over 40 years, our community involvement has increased along with the population. Neighborhood associations and home-owners groups are more common. Today's council members need to keep touch with nearly all of these groups, either personally or through their aides. They also need to be aware of groups forming within their districts.
By contrast, Louisville, and its more recently formed Metro Government, has 26 council members serving approximately 29,000 constituents. Jefferson County has 113 square miles more than Fayette and nearly twice the population. They also lack the distinct ring of rich horse farm property on the outer fringe. It would not appear that they will have the need to drastically revamp their council districts any time soon.
This year is also the time to begin discussions on the community's comprehensive plan and there are a series of upcoming "On the Table" meetings on the calendar. A usual topic is the possibility of expanding the Urban Services Area, further cutting into the farmland ring of ours, and its effect of the 12th council district. One solution being floated around is the division of the 12th district into 2 or more parts. Given the aforementioned role of the rural area in influencing district size, will any resulting divisions consider having a balance of urban and rural constituency while maintaining to be primarily rural?
The U.S. Census Bureau will soon call on all communities to begin redefining their census tracts and block groups for the decennial population count in 2020. That count will be the basis for a required redistricting in 2022.
How we make plans for building our community and its quality of life, consider the possibility of an expanded Council and prepare to move into a "new" City Hall all look to be inter-related. Now is a good time to begin planning for those questions.
Thoughts?
By contrast, Louisville, and its more recently formed Metro Government, has 26 council members serving approximately 29,000 constituents. Jefferson County has 113 square miles more than Fayette and nearly twice the population. They also lack the distinct ring of rich horse farm property on the outer fringe. It would not appear that they will have the need to drastically revamp their council districts any time soon.
This year is also the time to begin discussions on the community's comprehensive plan and there are a series of upcoming "On the Table" meetings on the calendar. A usual topic is the possibility of expanding the Urban Services Area, further cutting into the farmland ring of ours, and its effect of the 12th council district. One solution being floated around is the division of the 12th district into 2 or more parts. Given the aforementioned role of the rural area in influencing district size, will any resulting divisions consider having a balance of urban and rural constituency while maintaining to be primarily rural?
The U.S. Census Bureau will soon call on all communities to begin redefining their census tracts and block groups for the decennial population count in 2020. That count will be the basis for a required redistricting in 2022.
How we make plans for building our community and its quality of life, consider the possibility of an expanded Council and prepare to move into a "new" City Hall all look to be inter-related. Now is a good time to begin planning for those questions.
Thoughts?
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