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Lexington council approves resolution to begin charter amendments, sends changes to General Assembly
Summary
After a public hearing with no public speakers, Lexington City Council unanimously approved Resolution 2025-14 to begin advertised charter amendments; the changes must next be introduced and approved by the General Assembly as part of the two-step process.
Lexington City Council unanimously approved Resolution 2025-14 on Dec. 18, beginning a two-step process to amend the city charter and send proposed language to the Virginia General Assembly. City Manager (name not stated) told council the vote begins the formal process of advertising the amendments and forwarding proposed changes for state legislative action.
The resolution follows a work session and staff review intended to update the charter after voter-approved changes to school-board elections. City Attorney (name not stated) said the advertised package removes a proposed amendment to Section 40 (related to the chief of police) but retains language in Section 49 (contractual relationships with schools) for council discussion. "Our charter is not, 100% accurate with what we do," the city manager said during the introduction, noting the goal of aligning the document with current practices.
Council members questioned whether striking the contractual language would affect existing consolidation or tuition-funding agreements with Rockbridge County and the consolidated high school. The city attorney said the city typically signed certain agreements in its capacity as the funding source and that removing the provision likely would not invalidate those arrangements. Council also discussed three options for a city-manager residency requirement; the version advertised would permit council to require residency during tenure while retaining discretion to accommodate housing market constraints.
The mayor opened the public hearing and received no public comments before closing the hearing at 7:56 p.m. A council member moved to approve the resolution and another seconded; the mayor then conducted a roll-call vote. Members recorded on the roll call included Mr. Smith, Ms. Straub, Mr. Ziegler, Mr. Betts, Mr. Driscoll and Ms. Alexander. The motion carried unanimously.
Because charter amendments require state action, the next step is introduction of the proposed changes in the General Assembly, where separate legislative approval is required for the charter to be amended.
