Think of it as "jury duty for public policy."
In 2026, local nonpartisan civics group CivicLex is going to convene a group of 30 randomly-selected Lexingtonians, matched to city demographics, who will do a deep dive into Lexington's foundational document.
"They're going to take a look at the charter, which is essentially the constitution for Lexington's local government," CivicLex's Adrian Bryant says. "It sort of sets the rules for how many people are on council, what council does, what the mayor does, what kind of the top-level mayor administration positions there are."
And they'll be asked just one question: "What changes should be made to the charter to improve representation, trust, and participation in local government?"
What will come out of the discussions are recommendations for how to amend the charter.
Bryant says it's a public engagement experiment that's been tried not just in the U.S., but around the globe.
CivicLex won't be steering the group's focus or advocating for or against the recommendations. All they're asking for is serious discussion on city council about the proposals that come out of the group.