What you need to know about 23 people running for 12 seats on Lexington’s city council

In January, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council could look a lot different.

That’s because all but one district council member, the 10th District’s Amanda Bledsoe, drew a challenger this year.

What hasn’t changed are the topics that dominate the non-partisan races: growth, crime, traffic, and affordable housing, to name a few.

2nd District

The 2nd Council District, which includes most neighborhoods along Georgetown Road and Leestown Road, has seen extensive development along Citation Boulevard and Leestown Road.

The district is represented by Realtor Joseph Smith, who was appointed by Mayor Jim Gray in May 2017 after council member Sasha Love Higgins resigned. She was indicted on five felony charges stemming from her employment as the general manager of a Lexington hotel and later sentenced to 21 days in jail and three years probation.

Smith, 63 a Lexington native who’s been a real-estate agent for more than 30 years, is being challenged by Josh McCurn, the president of the McConnell’s Trace Neighborhood Association.

“I believe in community action and interaction,” said McCurn, 28, an Illinois native who owns an insurance agency. “It’s not just answering a few emails, it’s being known through the community as someone who’s willing to come out and do things.”

Smith said he will use his community experience, including two years on the council and as a former member of the Urban County Planning Commission, to improve traffic and public safety. He hopes the next budget can include money to hire more police officers. He also wants to do a traffic study in the district.

Both candidates say they are for “smart growth.”

This summer, Smith voted to support a controversial amendment that would have potentially allowed limited expansion of the Urban Service Boundary for development. The measure was later defeated.

Shortly after the vote, Smith said he meant to vote no, and changed his vote. But in a recent interview, Smith said he would vote again to support it.

“What I believe in is smart growth,” he said. “We have to look at much land we have, not expand for the sake of expanding, but make sure it makes good monetary sense.”

McCurn and Smith both want more affordable housing, but McCurn said it’s not clear yet if that can be accomplished with infill development.

“I don’t think we should change anything right now,” McCurn said. “In three years, when the issue comes back up, I’d be willing to hear both sides and assess what the needs of Lexington are.”

12th District

Development is a particularly fraught issue in the 12th District, which encompasses most of the rural areas of Fayette County.

Kathy Plomin, a former television executive who also worked for United Way, was first appointed to represent the district in September 2016 to fill the unexpired term of Russ Hensley, who stepped down before the election. Plomin, who’d already filed to run against Hensley, represented the district for a couple of months before easily winning election.

As a councilwoman, Plomin has been a tough defender of land conservation, including the Purchase of Development Rights program and keeping the Urban Service Boundary in place.

“I don’t think we need to jeopardize our horse farms, our farmlands, our natural resources,” by expanding the boundary, she said.

Her challenger, Monteia Mundy Owenby, has accused Plomin of being too slow to bring more basic services to rural neighborhoods and of failing to push for minority members on the Rural Land Management Board, which oversees the PDR program.

“There has never been a minority on the board,” Owenby said.

Plomin opposed two proposed changes to the Rural Land Management Board. First, she was against a proposal that aimed to increase diversity by adding two more members to the board. She also opposed a recommendation to prohibit members of the board from serving simultaneously on the city’s planning commission.

“Somehow that got translated into I oppose diversity. That’s not me,” she said, citing her time as CEO of the United Way of the Bluegrass when she helped start Get On Board, a 14-year-old program to promote diversity on community boards.

Owenby, who lives in a rural area near Raven Run, said she would take a more pragmatic approach to development.

“I love the unique nature of Lexington,” she said. “But we do have to give builders and developers incentives to do redevelopment and do it well.”

Owenby, whose mother is Karen Mundy, a real estate agent and member of the Urban County Planning Commission, said she is waiting on a new study on the Urban Service Boundary by planning staff before deciding if more room for development is needed in Fayette County.

“I want to see the results of the study,” she said. “For now, we have to go with what’s been decided, which is not to move the boundary.”

Plomin said she is aware that internet service is not very good in rural Fayette County, which is why she pushed Spectrum to start a pilot program in Lexington that uses fixed wireless technology to improve connectivity in rural areas.

Not surprisingly, Owenby has been supported by developers and realtors, while Plomin has received numerous donations from horse farm owners and conservation advocates. Plomin also received $500 from the Charter Spectrum Employee PAC, according to the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance.

Here’s a snapshot of the rest of the district races:

1st District

Anita Rowe Franklin has been a passionate advocate against gun violence since the death of her son, who was an innocent bystander in a park shooting. Not surprisingly, she’s pushing public safety in her campaign to unseat incumbent James Brown, who has represented this downtown district since 2015, working on issues such as gentrification in several redeveloped areas. The district includes parts of downtown and the area from Midland Avenue to near Georgetown Street.

3rd District

Renee Jackson Shepard is challenging Jake Gibbs, who has represented the 3rd District since 2015. Both candidates have strong ties to downtown; Gibbs has lived in downtown neighborhoods since moving to Lexington in 1978, and Shepard headed the Downtown Lexington Association. Both candidates opposed moving city government operations to the Herald-Leader building, which is in the district. They both believe that more money should be put into the Affordable Housing Fund to help developers build housing for low-income residents. Gibbs has championed pedestrian and bike accessibility, and works with a non-profit to improve the city’s tree canopy. Shepard said she wants to work to stop aggressive panhandling.

4th District

As the long-time council clerk for the Urban County Council, Susan Lamb knew a lot about city government before being elected to the 4th District seat in 2014. Since then, she’s served on numerous committees and is chairwoman of the General Government and Social Services Committee. Barry Saturday’s main push is for the council to fund universal preschool for the Fayette County Public Schools. Saturday, a teacher turned financial advisor, said he can find the $13.6 million a year such a program would require by pruning wasteful spending at LexTran. The district runs between Tates Creek and Nicholasville roads from the UK Arboretum out to Man o’ War Boulevard.

5th District

University of Kentucky psychology professor Liz Sheehan has run a campaign based on basic well-being for 5th District citizens, such adequate food supplies, affordable housing and a healthy environment. She faces the longest serving council member, Bill Farmer, who has been on council for 17 years during two different stints. Sheehan opposes expanding the Urban Service Boundary, while Farmer voted for a controversial amendment that would have expanded it in limited circumstances. Farmer has also pushed such issues as dedicated funding for public art, which recently passed, and support of the $241 million Lexington Center/Rupp Arena makeover. The district includes much of the Chevy Chase area and neighborhoods between Richmond and Tates Creek roads.

6th District

Angela Evans, a former assistant Attorney General for Kentucky, has been on the council since 2015, working on numerous park and trail projects. She also serves on the Environmental Quality & Public Works, Government & Social Services, and Budget committees. Gabriel Wilburn, an account executive for Lexington-based Software Information Systems, has challenged her as a career politician. He said it’s time to turn attention back to northeast Lexington. The district includes neighborhoods in the Winchester Road area, including Hamburg. Wilburn advocates for building a new community or cultural center to bring the arts and other activities outside of downtown, and favors the same kind of enticements for developers to build more affordable housing as the PDR program gives farmers to not develop their land.

7th District

Preston Worley, an attorney with McBrayer, McGinnis, Leslie, and Kirkland, was appointed to fill the term of Jennifer Scutchfield, who left to take a job with the state. Worley, who supports keeping the current Urban Service Boundary, would like to see improvements to parks and more public art in the district, which includes many neighborhoods off of Richmond Road, including those near Hayes Boulevard. Challenger Chris Logan, a minister and partner in an industrial hemp processing and brokerage business, said his major push will be public safety and economic development. He supports the PDR program, but has said Lexington needs to take a harder look at expanding the Urban Service Boundary. Logan ran unsuccessfully for one of three at-large council seats in 2014.

8th District

Challenger Christian Motley was kicked out of the race after incumbent Fred Brown sued him over the number of valid signatures he submitted to get on the ballot. Motley is now running as a write-in candidate. Brown has worked on public safety and neighborhood revitalization, including a new police center in the Gainesway Shopping Center and improvements to the Tates Creek Aquatic Center. More recently, Brown supported an amendment to expand the Urban Service Boundary in some circumstances. The amendment was defeated. The district includes neighborhoods between Tates Creek and Alumni Drive and New Circle and Man o’ War Boulevard.

9th District

Real estate agent Jennifer Mossotti is in her second stint representing this south Lexington district between Nicholasville and Harrodsburg Roads. She first served from 1997 to 2004, and was again elected in 2014. She’s being challenged by Jacob Glancy, the owner of Jake’s Cigar Store in Nicholasville. Glancy said he entered the race after his car was broken into and he realized how much public safety in Lexington needed to be improved. He also opposes the city’s Purchase of Development Rights program, calling it a “socialistic style program” that takes land out of the free market.

10th District

Amanda May Bledsoe is the only council member without a challenger.

11th District

The neighborhoods surrounding the Versailles Road corridor will elect a new Lexington council woman for the first time in a decade on Nov. 6. Councilwoman Peggy Henson, who was first appointed to serve the 11th Council District in 2008, is not seeking re-election. The 11th District is the only open district council seat. The race pits a former council member Sandy Shafer, who represented the neighboring 10th District for 13 years from 1994 to 2006, against Jennifer Reynolds, a political newcomer and outreach director for the Bluegrass Youth Ballet.

This story was originally published November 1, 2018 at 10:04 AM.