District 5 Councilmember Liz Sheehan
Hello neighbors. I’m District 5 Councilmember Liz Sheehan, and I’m excited to welcome you to the first edition of a new ongoing segment in Chevy Chaser-Southsider Magazine, designed to connect our readers with various councilmembers and civic organizations focused on local issues, in order to help enhance transparency and encourage further civic engagement. In an era marked by heightened political divisions and cynicism surrounding government, we see this as an opportunity to empower ourselves and our Lexington-Fayette County neighbors to become part of the conversation and the local decision-making process. While it is understandable and sometimes even necessary to tune out the rhetoric and coverage of partisan policy disagreements coming from our elected officials, our local government affords us a chance to engage with meaningful non-partisan governing.
Lexington-Fayette County has a unique form of government compared to many localities in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Our city and county governments merged to become Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG) in 1974, making us the first Kentucky community to do so. The makeup of our governing body consists of 12 district councilmembers who serve two-year terms, three at-large councilmembers elected by voters across Fayette County who serve four-year terms (the highest vote-getter in this race becomes our vice mayor), and our mayor, who also serves a four-year term. All councilmembers and mayors in Lexington-Fayette County are elected to non-partisan offices. While my colleagues and I each have our own unique perspectives and belief systems, this form of governing has the benefit of allowing us to focus on the issues that matter and form coalitions on an issue-by-issue basis rather than along partisan lines.
Our local government impacts our daily lives in ways that may go unnoticed by many. Whether it be decisions about public parks, waste and recycling, public local road maintenance, zoning, support for social services or public safety, it is your local government that oversees how and to what level these efforts are maintained. We are entrusted with the responsibility of deciding how your tax dollars are spent, in order to create a community we can all enjoy calling home. Due to a variety of factors, our budget is facing increasing strain, and the decisions we make together now will shape our community for years to come.
We encourage you to follow along in future editions while your elected officials and local organizations rotate submitting entries about ongoing projects, upcoming policy initiatives, important local matters, and ways that you can become more involved in the decisions being made on your behalf. I firmly believe that government works best when we are all involved and when we take our seat at the table, and this series will be one small way to help make City Hall more accessible to you, the residents of Lexington-Fayette County.