Kevin O. Stinnett
Lexington, KY – Kevin O. Stinnett, Urban County Councilmember for the 6th District since 2005, will seek an at‐large seat on the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council during the 2014 election, he announced Tuesday morning.
“After much consideration, I have decided it is time to take another step in my commitment to a better Lexington, and a better community for all Fayette citizens and neighbors,” Stinnett said in a release.
“I am running for an at‐large seat in order to continue my work as a problem‐solver for all of Lexington, to hold the government accountable for how our tax dollars are spent and to give all citizens of Lexington a strong voice on Council,” the release states.
The release cites $15 million in road improvements in the 6th District, a $13 million road surfacing bond across Lexington and his work on the sanitary sewer issues as accomplishments in his soon-to-be decade on council.
Stinnett is eligible to run for one more two-year term to represent the district before he would be term limited, but that would leave him off council with no race he could run for as council’s three at-large seats are four year terms.
There will be two open at-large seats in the 2014 race as Vice Mayor Linda Gorton announced in November she would not run and again and Council Member Chuck Ellinger, II is term-limited having been elected to three four-year terms. The third seat currently belongs to Steve Kay who is in his first term on council filling the slot vacated by Jim Gray upon his successful campaign for mayor.
Vice Mayor, the titular head of council, is decided by the at-large candidate who gets the most votes.
As a five-term councilmember, Stinnett has served with three Mayors and 25 different members of Council. He’s served as the chairperson for the Budget and Finance Committee, lead the committee to write a debt management policy for LFUCG and co‐sponsored the creation of an economic contingency fund.
Stinnett is also the owner of Premier Financial. He currently is Chair of the Environmental Quality Committee and serves on the Board of Directors of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bluegrass, Commerce Lexington Economic Development Committee, Animal Care and Control Board and is the Past President of the Northern Cal Ripken Baseball and Softball Association.