LEXINGTON, Ky. — Thirty-six randomly selected residents have concluded Kentucky's first civic assembly, an experiment in citizen-led governance that aims to reshape how Lexington's local government operates through deliberative democracy.

The participants met over seven sessions at Transylvania University to develop policy recommendations for revising Lexington's charter, according to CivicLex, the local nonprofit that organized the effort. On March 29, assembly members issued final recommendations that included a significant pay increase for city council members and new attendance and accountability requirements.

The initiative comes as public trust in government reaches near historic lows nationally, though Americans consistently report higher confidence in local government than federal institutions. Marjan Ehsassi, executive director of the Federation for Innovation in Democracy in North America, said local co-governance models like Lexington's represent a potential solution to rebuilding democratic participation from the ground up.

"People are feeling like, 'I can control my local government. I can control what's happening locally,'" Ehsassi said.

Civic assemblies, rooted in ancient Athenian democracy, have been used worldwide for three decades, particularly in Europe, but have gained slower adoption in the United States. The Lexington assembly is notable for being organized locally and for focusing exclusively on charter review—a comprehensive governance overhaul rather than a single issue.

The 1998 Lexington-Fayette charter has not been amended since its adoption, prompting city council in 2023 to partner with CivicLex on the assembly process. Prior to launching, CivicLex surveyed residents about charter priorities, finding that 72 percent supported regular charter reviews and nearly half questioned the current council pay structure, which sets salaries at approximately $41,000 annually regardless of hours worked.

To ensure representativeness, CivicLex mailed 11,500 letters inviting applications and used random selection to choose 36 participants matching the city's demographic composition by age, race, gender, income and council district. Assembly members were compensated for their participation.

The Lexington assembly reflects a growing national recognition that traditional civic engagement methods are insufficient. Similar initiatives have recently succeeded elsewhere, including a Fort Collins, Colorado assembly whose recommendations for developing a multi-use site featuring a bike park and wildlife rehabilitation center passed voter approval in 2025.