Louisville Public Meetings Beyond Public Buildings

An initiative Louisville voters approved on November 2, 2004 added Section 4-5(d) to the Home Rule Charter. It requires that "all meetings of any public body shall occur in public buildings and public facilities accessible to all members of the public." For this rule, the charter's definition of a public body covers the City Council, every city board and commission, and each task force or committee except one the council exempts in the resolution creating it.

Under Section 2-5(b), the council can start a charter amendment by an ordinance, approved by at least two-thirds of the entire council, that submits the amendment to a vote of the city's registered electors. Ordinance No. 1932, Series 2026, refers Question 2F that way, and the council set its second reading for July 21, 2026. The amendment lets meetings occur in public buildings and public facilities "or in such other location approved by the public body" and accessible to all members of the public. The choice of any other venue rests with the body that meets there: the council for council meetings, and each board, commission, task force or committee for its meetings.

The amended sentence asks two things of a location outside public buildings and public facilities: the approval of the public body and accessibility to all members of the public. The printed ballot title adds the accessibility condition, which city staff proposed as a second-reading amendment and described as "the same requirement as currently exists for public buildings and public facilities."

The ordinance calls the 2004 amendment "well-intentioned" and states that it "has restricted public meetings from being held in other accessible venues and has made it difficult for City Council and other public bodies to have joint meetings in neighboring municipalities." City staff told the council that the other municipalities it surveyed set meeting locations "by ordinance, resolution, or some other means."

The amendment leaves the rules for calling and conducting a meeting as they are. A notice and agenda for every meeting of a public body must be posted, and published on the city website, at least 72 hours ahead, with an exception for the council's emergency special meetings under Section 4-2. Regular and special council meetings stay open to the public, and people attending keep a reasonable opportunity to be heard. A majority of those voting on November 3 decides, and the amendment remains in force until a later charter vote changes it.