About Mayor Newberry

Mayor Jim Newberry is no stranger to rolling up his sleeves, getting to work, and following through to solve problems. He learned the value of hard work and community growing up in the small Kentucky town of Hiseville. Jim’s father was a farmer, businessman, and state legislator. Jim’s mother was a social studies teacher and taught Sunday school. Like so many Kentuckians, Jim grew up working the tobacco field and tending to the cattle on the family farm.

Jim became Mayor on January 1, 2007 after the citizens elected him by the largest margin in Lexington’s merged government history, becoming the first challenger to beat an incumbent mayor.

Jim ran for Mayor in 2006 because he, like many others in the community, believed Lexington could do better and, at the time, lacked the leadership, vision and direction Lexington needed from its Mayor.

In 2006, Jim ran against the status quo and pledged to bring real change to City Hall in order to move Lexington forward.

Under Mayor Newberry's leadership, that’s exactly what has happened. Incredible progress has been made in making Lexington a better place to live, work and raise a family. He has tackled problems head-on—problems others have ignored for years and in some cases even decades. By focusing on bringing people together to actually get things done, not just talk about it, Lexington is on the right track and his vision for Lexington is becoming a reality.

Mayor Newberry is moving Lexington forward by:

• Working with the private sector and the University of Kentucky to grow Lexington’s economy, creating more than 2.300 jobs, attracting new firms and helping local firms expand despite the worst economic conditions since the 1930s.
• Making government more accountable and transparent, such as implementing board training for citizens who serve as members of boards with personnel and fiscal oversight, expanding the size of the Internal Audit division, and expanding access to information via a redesigned website, live-streaming of meetings and expanding the use of Lexcall 311 to better track complaints from the time they are received until the issue is resolved.
• Improving government efficiency such as reducing the size of the city work force by 200 full-time positions, doing more with less throughout government, and cutting the Garbage Tax by 10 percent.
• Creating Lexington’s first Department of Environmental Quality to help address long-standing environmental issues such as cleaning up our sewer system providing Lexington with unpolluted streams and waterways, expanding the City’s recycling capacity, and efforts to improve air quality and conserve energy, thereby saving tax dollars.
• Improving the quality of life by investing in more bike and pedestrian trails, bike lanes, and expanding support for the arts, all of which make Lexington a more appealing place to live; and
• Making remarkable strides downtown, working with the private sector to create a new home for the Farmer’s Market, improving streetscapes on South Lime, Main and Vine, and moving forward with Newtown Pike Extension, a project that spent decades on the drawing table.

Although this is his first elected position, Jim is not new to public service, having served as an Executive Officer in the Office of Lieutenant Governor Brereton Jones, focusing on agriculture, economic development and health care issues. Later, he served as Acting Secretary of Kentucky’s Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet. During his tenure at the cabinet, Jim successfully mediated a contentious dispute over a pipeline near Lake Cumberland. Jim brought business, environmental and community leaders together to find a common solution. The result of this effort was that 2,700 Kentuckians kept their jobs and the beauty and water quality of Lake Cumberland remained protected.

Jim received both his undergraduate and law school education at the University of Kentucky. Jim has called Lexington home since the first year he came to school at UK as a freshman over 30 years ago.

Upon graduation from UK College of Law, Jim practiced business and banking law and then served as Vice-President and General Manager of Airdrie Stud, one of central Kentucky’s largest thoroughbred farms.

In 1990, Jim co-founded Newberry, Hargrove & Rambicure, where he practiced law until 1998, when he joined Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs. He served as Partner-in-Charge there until he decided to re-enter public service.

He has served on numerous volunteer boards and as Deacon Chair at Calvary Baptist Church. Jim and his wife, Cheryl Ann, have two young sons, Drew and Will.