The ordinance recommendations were produced by a 36-member civic assembly, a representative group of residents charged with reviewing the city's charter earlier this year.
The first of their three recommendations would raise council compensation, an issue that surfaced recently as a number of incumbents opted not to seek another term — citing pay as a factor.
CivicLex executive director Richard Young said the assembly had several reasons in mind when they agreed to the recommendation.
"Assembly members cited a need to broaden the type of people who can run for local office, making it more possible to not have to have an outside job, and they wanted elections to be more competitive," he said.
The question that would be put to voters: Should council pay be raised from $40,000 a year to $59,987 — or the average annual wage in Lexington.
The other recommendations would set up an accountability mechanism for council members and set a recurring review of the city charter every eight years. Initially, the recommendations came in the form of a single package, but the council opted to split them into three for separate votes.
"You have one that's pay, one's accountability, one's going to be a future assembly, so I think they are different," Councilman Chuck Ellinger argued. "They are a package, but they certainly are independent in what they do."
That allowed for a record of which council members voted not to put the pay raise issue on the ballot. Ultimately two were "no" votes — James Brown and Amy Beasley. The other recommendations moved forward with unanimous support.