Call the work session to order, if we could please. Is there anyone here who wishes to comment on issues that are on today's agenda? Seeing none, we'll move ahead. We have a docket to approve. Is there a motion? Move approval. Second. Have a motion and second to move approval of the docket for Thursday night's meeting. We have on, uh, item number 20- Mayor? Yes. ... a zone change matter. Mayor? Is there... Uh, Council Member Blues? I move to put number 20 on the docket without a public hearing. Second. Motion is to amend the docket to put item number 20 on with, um, without a public hearing. Any discussion? All in favor of adding item number 20 without a public hearing, please let it be known by saying aye. Aye. Oppose, no. Motion carries. We're now ready to vote on the docket as amended. Council Member Gordon? Uh, I have, um, two motions, and I'm not sure the adding the mayor's report person needs to be now onto the docket, the planning commission. Or should we... We could do that, couldn't we? Uh, yes. Hang on just a moment. So- I think what, uh, typically happens is when the mayor's report is approved, it is carried over to the, to the docket as a group. Council Member Gordon? So, we'll move to put him on when we talk about the mayor's report? Correct. Okay. So, I move, uh, this motion is about the inversions. Uh, I move to place on the docket for Thursday, August 27th, 2009 council meeting, three ordinances correcting pay equity inversions created by the hiring of a new employee from September 2007 through January 2009, February and March 2009, and April through July 2009. So, moved. Second. Have a motion by Council Member Gordon and a second by Council Member Lawless to amend the docket by adding the, uh, three ordinances Council Member Gordon described. Any discussion? All in favor of amending the docket as indicated, please let it be known by saying, "Aye." Opposed, no? Motion carries. Any further discussion on the docket as now amended? Council Member Lane. Yes, sir. I have an addition to the docket and I misplaced it. So, may I, er, come back to you in a minute please, sir? Is this the one involving the, uh, settlement with the sheriff's office for the 2008 taxes? Yes, sir. It is. You just, if you'll pass that down and I'll put it in. All right. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, I'd like to put on the docket, um, approval of the Sheriff's ce- of the Fayette County Sheriff's Settlement for 2008. Uh, this was reviewed by the law department, uh, and the audit of that, um, uh, sheriff's return. Do I hear a second? Council Member Lane has moved and Council Member Hanson has seconded motion to amend the docket by adding an item to approve the settlement from the sheriff's office. Is there any discussion? Those then in favor of that amendment, please indicate by saying, "Aye." Opposed, no? Motion carries. Further discussion on the docket as amended. Seeing none, we'll proceed to vote. All in favor of approving the docket as amended, please indicate by saying, "Aye." Opposed, no? Motion carries. There's no summary to approve. There are some budget amendments. Is there a motion? Move approval. Second. Council Member Gordon has moved the approval of the budget amendments. Council Member Stennet has seconded that motion. Any discussion? Council Member Hanson? I have a motion regarding the budget amendments. Um, I move that budget journal 36078-79, , to the work session agenda be amended to change the amount of the budget journal from 4,161 to 2,766. A porti- portion of this budget journal was presented at the August 11th work session and will receive second reading at Thursday's council meeting. So moved. Second. I have a motion by Council Member Henson and a second by Council Member Beard to amend the budget journal. Any discussion? All in favor, please say, "Aye." Opposed, no? Motion carries. Any ... Um, I don't believe we have a motion to prove the budget amendments on the floor at this time, do we? So is there a motion to approve the budget amendments? So moved. I have a motion by Council Member Myers and a second by Council Member Blues to approve the budget amendments. Any discussion? All in favor, say, "Aye." Opposed, no? Motion carries. Takes us down to the new business items. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Have a motion by Council Member Beard and a second by Council Member Blues to approve the bu- the, uh, items of new business. Is there a discussion? All in favor, please say, "Aye." Opposed, no? Motion carries. We're now down to the presentations. Mr. O'Mara, and don't see Ms. Fister. Yeah. Hello. Um, I- I'm on the agenda today to talk about the, uh, uh, property tax rates for the up coming season, and, um, we, um, passed out a packet of information to everyone, uh, last week. And so I have just brought that with me and am available to try to, uh, um, coordinate responses if you have questions. Any questions for Mr. O'Mara? If there are none, we will move on to the next item. All right. Thank you. Ms. Rowe, Dr. Rowe. It is, uh, always a pleasure to have our friends from the health department here, and Dr. Melinda Rowe wants to visit with us a little bit about, uh, some disease pre- prevention measures. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council. Um, one of the things that, that we've been working on for probably about two, two and a half years now, with public safety, uh, police, legal counsel for Urban County government, as well as board of Health legal counsel, is to strengthen our, um, communicable disease ordinance. We've already got an ordinance on the book and so now what we're doing is to strengthen that. So am I supposed to be pushing anything or y'all do it? I'm technologically challenged. So I have- Ah, I think you'll be fine. Oh, yeah. Um, oh, well. Y'all should have gotten, uh, the PowerPoint. Um, the primary goal of health department is to prevent disease. That's the whole basis and so we do not use restrictive measures, um, you know, on preventing communicable diseases. We're gonna use education, we're gonna use prevention first before we have to go into law enforcement and, and coming up with those sorts of things. So we're gonna go- Obviously voluntary, educational, those kinds of things will be the first thing up. So, what I mean by voluntary, y'all know we're doing a lot of stuff right now. Thank y'all. We're doing a lot of stuff right now, uh, about washing your hands, with the H1N1. School's started back. UK is starting back. The kids get together, um, and, and bugs start spreading. So, we, we want them to wash their hands. We want them to cover, uh, their mouth and nose when they cough and sneeze. And, and that, that goes for the parents and that goes for us big folks, uh, as well. And then if you're sick, stay home, don't go to work, don't go to school because you're gonna just spread it around, uh, and, and that, uh, work ethic, sometimes you would much rather for them to, uh, stay at home than to give you what they've got. So, uh, when we talk about isolation, we're usually talking about an ill person staying at home. When we talk about a quarantine, we're talking about somebody's still well, but they've been exposed to somebody sick. So it may be a household member, somebody that's a close contact. And y'all know what it's like when you're raising kids and they would get sick and, and you would come down with, uh, what they had. Uh, or nieces, nephews, uh, for me, it was my niece. So, um, the other thing that we talk about is what we call social distancing, especially with all the stuff going on with the H1N1, and we started out calling that swine flu, but that new H1N1. Uh, voluntary dismissal. Uh, y'all know that if we get into a really big, um, uh, outbreak, because right now what we got circulating is a baseline level of the H1N1, because seasonal flu has not started yet. That usually starts October, November, December. So, let's say we get H1N1 and we have seasonal flu both going at the same time, and we got a lot of folks sick. Uh, the school system may need to close simply because so many staff would be sick, so many kids would be sick, and that they couldn't keep it open. Uh, back in April, May when this bug first came out, we didn't really know how the H1N1 was gonna act. Uh, they, they, they were kind of feeling their way, and at first CDC had talked about closing schools if they had one case. Well, over time, they've seen that the H1N1 has really acted more like seasonal flu, so they're treating it like seasonal flu. But let's say we get into a lot of that, and let's say we got a, a totally, um, the bugs started getting more severe or whatever. Y'all know we're serious if we have to cancel a football game or a basketball game. Y'all know that's serious. Okay? So, it's that, when you talk about social distancing, you cancel large gatherings of people so that people don't have the opportunity to spread it. Uh, you might even say on church, uh, don't do the, the common communal chalice and, uh, those kinds of things when you're doing that with church. Disease reporting. Physicians, labs, hospitals send data to the health department. Now, when we look at mandatory, there are laws and regulations for food safety. Y'all know that, that sometimes you'll get questions about, uh, food safety, um, restaurants in your district, that kind of thing. Communicable... And you'll see about food recalls, you'll see those come out periodically. Communicable disease reporting. There are certain diseases that must re- be reported to the health department, and any of y'all that want it, I've got a list. There's some that have to be reported within 24 hours, some within 48, some within a week. So there are different diseases that are, are mandated to be reported to the health department so we can look into them, see where it got started and stop the spread of that disease. Um, social distancing again. You may have to close schools or other large gatherings. May have to confine... Isolation, let's say somebody's admitted to the hospital and they are concerned about the disease that they got and that it might be communicable, they might put them in respiratory isolation or put you in an isolation room. And sometimes if you've ever been to visit friends, you may have seen a notice on the door about, you know, do not enter without talking to the nurses' station or something like that, and it'll say that they're under isolation. And then again, under the quarantine, we're asking somebody who's been exposed, they still feel well, but they've been exposed and they've got a high risk of getting the disease, we're asking them, uh, to not go to work and, and, and to stay home. If a person does not follow prescribed treatment, so we've had before, um, including the isolation and the quarantine and they're not taking their medicines, let's say we have had tuberculosis cases before, where we, we work with them to take... We have a thing called directly observed therapy and we work with them to make sure they're taking their medicine, because if they stop, we do not want to get into a drug-resistant, uh, strain of the bug. So we want them to take it and we want them to take it till it's all gone. So if we've got somebody that is not taking their medicine and they've repeatedly refused despite all sorts of social supports and those kinds of things, uh, we may need to have them in a very controlled environment till they've taken all that medicine. So we have actually had to take, uh, tuberculosis patients before and, and go and have them put into jail till they finish their course of therapy, 'cause again, we didn't want to get into multiple drug resistance. Uh, you might need a court order to do that. In some situations you gotta take action immediately and sometimes it is gonna take a while to find a judge and get that court order. So, the health department may need law enforcement assistance and the example given here is a patient shows up at the hospital with symptoms of a highly contagious communicable disease. The patient should be isolated from the public. They refuse the test. They threaten to leave the hospital, and we may need law enforcement to help detain them until th- until the court proceedings can occur. So, right now, the Lexington police need an additional supporting authority to detain that person who's suspected of having a communicable disease, and it may be necessary to compel that person to be examined or treated or remain in isolation or quarantine, again, until the course of the disease has concluded or the incubation period has passed. So to help control that spread of disease, we're asking for a, a code revision to, um, ordinance 11. And it is, again, a joint effort of the Board of Health, the legal council for, uh, Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government and Public Safety. ... now, what, basically, what are the changes that we've got the legal, big old folks here. I wouldn't dare try to practice law. So we've got those folks here, um, that can, can get into very specific questions, but basically, uh, continue the continuity of health department operations, it w-... extend the authority of the commissioner. Uh, we have a, an on-call system, and in our on-call system, we have what we call an Officer of the Day. So, like, if I were not in town, uh, we'd have Dr. Rice Leach, who w- was the State Health Officer at one point in time, and Dr. Leach works with us in primary care, so he would be on call if I'm not here or the chief operating officer. So basically, uh, we're just saying we're b- doing it beyond just the Commissioner of Health just in case. Now, I would get back as soon as I could obviously, but they might need to do something before I can make it back. And then, revise to allow the, uh, police to aid any member of the health department in the arrest, detainment, isolation or quarantining of a person subject to or violation of a written order issued by the Board of Health, the Commissioner of Health, the Health Officer, Officer of the Day, pertaining to the prevention of that disease. And then, violation of communicable disease, written order issued by the Board of Health and ordinances, uh, be revised to compel a person suspected of having, uh, the disease to be examined. So basically, um, if you look at the, the very last page, um, having the authority to issue that order and having the ability to work with police and them having the support that they feel they need to help, uh, detain that person, and I'll give you, for example, when I was in Louisville, uh, we had a gentleman who came into the emergency room, and the emergency room called me 'cause he was coughing up blood, a- and they were concerned about tuberculosis, and he wanted to leave, and they were really concerned about him going out and, you know, obviously infecting the community, so we were able to, to work with the police and detain him at least until we were able to get some tests done to, to show that he was not communicable. So sometimes those things, um, th- that you do, but let me hush with that. Uh, like I say, I've got a list of different diseases like tuberculosis, syphilis, gonorrhea, um, anthrax. Y'all have heard smallpox. I mean, we, you know, we know if we had a case of smallpox today, it would be a case of bioterrorism until proven otherwise, because we got rid of it back in the '70s and '80s, and we don't do the smallpox vaccinations, um, anymore, but we know it, if those kind of cases showed up nowadays, um, it would come from, uh, the smallpox that was left in the United States and Russia after th- during the Cold War. So, um, what about any questions you guys have got? 'Cause I know you got a busy agenda. Coun- Council Member Myers. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Dr. Roe, for coming in today. Could you do one thing for us? This might sound funny, but can you demonstrate how we're supposed to cover our mouth when we cough? Um, I- I'll ex- And explain- ... yeah. What, if you cough or sneeze, and obviously a lot of times you don't have a tissue or a handkerchief right there with you, okay? So a lot of times they'll say that the cr-... it's, it's hard to say, "Sneeze or cough into your elbow." It's the crook of your elbow like this. Right. So, so if you, if you cough or sneeze... Now, obviously if somebody's got a Kleenex right there with them and they can... but, but the thing is to, to do the wash your hands too, because when you get that on your hands, and then sometimes you're touching your eyes or your nose, and then sometimes you're touching doorknobs, and like with the flu bug, typically it can live two to eight hours on a surface, um, after it has been deposited there, either from somebody who's got it on their hands and they opened that door, or, uh, somebody sneezed, uh, on that area, but it's into the crook of the elbow. Okay. Thank you very much. Yes, ma'am. Oh. Other questions for Dr. Roe? And then for the washer hands, uh, the Happy Birthday song, Old MacDonald Had a Farm, uh, whatever, but we try to get the kids, well, and the adults too, to do it at least long enough, it's not just... and done, and then you can use the alcohol sanitizers. The, those hand rubs seems to be, seem to be pretty effective, uh, too, at getting the bugs. Council Member Gordon. Thank you. Uh, Commissioner, um, I actually had someone call me, uh, what's today's... Tuesday, two days ago, 'cause they've been reading and seeing all the news about the H1N1, and they were concerned because they have a wedding scheduled in their family, um, at the first part of November, and they said they were getting so scared about all the news coverage that they wondered if they should change it. And I said, "Well, I, I mean, let's hear what you would say," 'cause it'll be a gathering of, you know, a couple hundred people probably. We, we, again, we knew that the H1N1 was kind of at a baseline level over the summer, and we were watching the Southern hemisphere, and, and of course it, it traveled down there. We had it back in April, May, but we had kind of some baseline level. Um, again, it's acting like seasonal flu. It hasn't been any more severe than seasonal flu, and if they wouldn't cancel their wedding for seasonal flu, um, I wouldn't cancel it for H1N1. But by the same token, we're gonna watch the virus and see if it changes. And so if we start getting, uh, more severe cases, that's not... and then, and then the difference with the H1N1 is, um, those of us who were born before 1957, 1958, uh, seem to have somewhere down the line been exposed to something similar to, uh, not the eh- exact H1N1, because that's brand new, but a similar bug to the H1N1, somewhere between the 1918 and the 1957 flu epidemics, and so we seem to have some partial immunity. So the H1N1 tends to be hitting the younger people, especially, uh, those in, again, in school. We knew once school started back, it's been roughly two weeks, tomorrow will be two weeks, uh, that the kids would have had time to trade stuff back and forth. So, uh, like I say, if they wouldn't close for seasonal, I wouldn't, wouldn't close for H1N1, but you gotta stay vigilant because we don't know if it's gonna change. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. And don't send me the bill if something else. Anything further? Uh, I would just make the observation that, um, all indications at this point, I think it's fair to say are that we're gonna have a real problem with H1N1 nationally. It remains to be seen what exactly will happen here, but this is a pretty legitimate threat. And, um, while I think all of us would just as soon the necessity of considering these kinds of provisions under the circumstances, it's pretty important that we deal with these issues now, and I appreciate your bringing them to our attention. As the, um, information becomes available about how that disease is, is going forward, we may well want you to come back and give us some updates from time to time. Not only will that be helpful for the public to hear through the, um, facilities at GTV3, but it will also be useful for us as an organization as we try to figure out how to continue our operations in the event of, uh, substantial absenteeism associated with this. So, thanks for the information today, and we'll look forward to hearing from you again as things evolve. Well, thank y'all for your time. And, and, um, like I say, we'd much rather be talking about this now than me to have to come in 'cause we got an emergency that's developed, so thank you. Thanks. All right, that takes us down to, uh, council reports. So, if any member wishes to make a report, we'll, um, start. I don't s- Here we go. Council member McCord. Thank you, Mayor. Just briefly, at 5:30, the, uh, uh, Second Sunday meeting for Lexington will take place in the top floor of the Phoenix Building. And as, as we've talked about over the last little bit, uh, Second Sunday is the second Sunday of October, October 11th, a day where across the state of Kentucky, uh, communities will co- close roads and go out and exercise. And, uh, Mayor, I just wanna let you know that this little idea that we had that germinated at our bike summit in 2007, uh, as of today is in 98 counties. Great. So, just to, uh, let you know that Lexington is the gold standard and that we are, are working, uh, diligently, uh, on this, uh, this effort. Thank you. I suspect you'll cross the magic 100 threshold here shortly. Congratulations. Anyone else? Council member Lawless. Thank you, Mayor. Um, first of all, I want to send out a big thank you to the UK FUSION, um, project. UK students did community work all around the 3rd District, and I believe also at the Carnegie Center. I spent the day yesterday riding around trying to catch them, but, uh, traffic was pretty much a nightmare, so I didn't get to all of them, but they worked really, really hard. They did work at, uh, the Elizabeth Street Park, they worked, uh, s- handing out flyers in the Elsewhere neighborhood, uh, the community garden in Columbia Heights and a, and a multitude of other things. So, thank you very much, and, um, it was much appreciated and, um, helped our neighborhood. So, the, um, other thing I wanna again remind people, uh, to look at the, uh, lfucg.com website where the, uh, South Limestone streetscape updates and traffic updates are, um, and to support those businesses. Many of them are having a pretty hard time financially, and, um, it would be greatly appreciated if you would support them. Also wanna applaud the Elizabeth Street Neighborhood Association that's getting back up and running. If you wanna... if you live in that area from Waller to about Dantzler Court, I guess, and Nicholasville Road, uh, to the railroad track, please contact my office and, um, we'll be glad to get you on the list and put you in touch with the right people. Uh, there's a Columbia Heights Neighborhood Association meeting tonight at 7:00 PM. And I wanna also thank our governor for listening to the public outcry about the utility poles, um, on Newtownpike and answering those, um, concerns to the community. I think it's gonna be a great addition to the Newtownpike project and will impact our community for decades. So, thank you, Governor Beshear. That's all. Thank you, Mayor. Council member Gordon. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, given Commissioner Rose' presentation, I know that, uh, this had come with, uh, an ordinance I think that's needed if we're to be prepared. So, with that, I move... And, and I think everyone should have a copy of it. Um, I move to amend sections 11-15, 18, 11-20, 11-21, and 11-29 of the Code of Ordinances LFUCG to provide the Commissioner of Health, health officer, and officer of the day the authority to issue and enforce orders and amend section 11-15 of the Code of Ordinances to provide the Division of Police the authority to aid any member of the Health Department regarding enforcement, and I move to place this on the docket. Second. Uh, we have a motion by Council Member Gordon, I think a second by Council Member Blues to add- Mm-hmm. ... um, the ordinance Council Member Gordon just referred to the docket for this Thursday evening's council meeting. Is there any discussion? All in favor of, uh, adding that item to the docket, please indicate by saying, "Aye." Aye. Oppose, no. Motion carries. Thank you. That's all, thank you. Council Member Blues. Thank you, Mayor. I move approval of the NDF Fund for 8/20/'09. Second. That's good. Any discussion? All in favor, please vote aye. Aye. Oppose, no. Motion carries. Anything further, Council Member Blues? No. Thank you, Mayor. Very well. All right. That's Council Member Ellinger. Uh, Mayor, I think it's important that we sometimes recognize and, um, heroes. And I was reading today in the paper, and I saw where, um, Ms. Gordon's son jumped in front of s-... jumped on top of somebody and really did something special, and really, um, did something that I think it should be recognized. And I hope that he's doing well, and I hope that, um, your family and everybody's doing well. But it, it was really something special that your son did representing the, the military and I'm really proud of him. And I, I hope you are and that everybody is 'cause it really was something special. Thank you very much. Any further reports? All right. Uh, I have, uh, two or three, uh, quick items. First of all, on Monday, August 31st from 5:00 until 7:00 at First Baptist Church, Bragtown, we will be having our Mayor's Night Out. If you have anybody who, uh, has an issue that they'd like to take up with, uh, uh, folks in our administration, I hope you'll encourage them to attend. That's Monday, August 31st, 5:00 till 7:00 at First Baptist Church, Bragtown. Also, you may recall at our last council meeting, there was a question about one particular contract. Um, we decided that in the interim, between the first and second reading, we would try to get some additional information from purchasing. Uh, Brian Marcum is here today to the degree you have any questions about that, uh, today, we'll be glad to try to address them. I know we talked about this a little bit last week, but it was right at the end of the work session, and I think everybody was understandably, uh, needing to move on to other things. So, are there any questions about that particular contract, sanitary sewer contract? All right. Thank you very much, Brian. Uh, last, we previously circulated to you a, um, series of proposed appointments to the boards and commissions, and, um, uh, I put those forward for your consideration and approval, I would hope. I, I would address the issue that Council Member Linda Gordon raised about the appointment to the Transit Authority Board. I think a fair characterization of your email, Council Member Gordon, was you were concerned about gender diversity. Uh, I share that concern. That's a very legitimate concern. In fact, in June, as I recall, we brought forward, um, a, a female appointment at that time. Council Member Hinson raised the issue that there was, uh, substantial concern over, um, providing service to individuals with disabilities, and as a consequence of that, I withdrew the appointment so that I might submit an appointment to reflect an advocate for the disabilities. I have one appointment. Those are two great points. Uh, it doesn't make any difference with me particularly which one we pursue first, but, um, um, you know, you both raise legitimate points. And whichever way the council wants to go with that, I'm fine with it. So, we've got, fortunately, some good potential appointees here. So, with that said, uh, a motion to approve the mayor's report or so much as you wish would be in order. So moved. Second. Have a motion by Council Member Myers and a second by Council Member Stennet to approve the mayor's report discussion. Council Member Gordon. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I do appreciate, uh, the situation. Um, there is already a member on the LexTran board who works almost 100% with disabled people. Uh, there is also, I know there was a concern about someone being on the board f-... who had financial expertise. There is an accountant on the board already. So, um, my feeling is that those areas are at least somewhat covered. And the other point I'd like to make is that, um, I, I really appreciate Council Member Henson's concern because I think it's important to have someone on there who, um, is familiar with the challenges of disabled people. There is someone already on there who works, uh, almost 100% in that field. Um, however, when people go on any of our boards and commissions, I would expect that they, um, look at every issue objectively, and they should not 100% be advocating for any position because we're asking them to serve on a board broadly. I know that you did bring forward a woman. I think it's a mistake for us as a council to approve boards which end up very skewed... ... as far as diversity is concerned. Um, so with that, um, I would like to move to remove the LexTran board nominee from the mayor's report, and ask that you bring us a female member of our community of 300,000 people. I have a motion to amend by deleting the, uh, Transit Authority appointment. I- do I hear a second? Second. I have a second by Council Member Blues. Any discussion? Count- Council Member Myers. Thank you, Mayor. Um, excuse me. I certainly respect, um, Council Member Gordon's concerns and her position on this issue with this particular board, but, um, I really believe that, that Mc- Mr. Crissman, um, is uniquely qualified to sit on this board, and, um, I, I just hope that the council would leave the recommendation as the mayor has it now. I think that, that this community will be well served to have Mr. Crissman on this board. I don't discount needing, um, women or females on the boards, um, as well as other minorities and other, other, uh, types of diversity, but, but I do think that Mr. Crissman is uniquely qualified for this particular board and I hope that you would leave him here. Thank you. Any other discussion? Th- the motion before the council now is to amend the mayor's report by deleting the appointment to the Transit Authority. Uh, council member- Thank you, Mayor. Uh, Council Member Crosby, then Council Member Martin. Council Member Crosby? All right, Council Member Martin. I yield to Council Member Crosby. Go ahead. All right, thank you. I, I, I, I, um, eh, eh, take to heart, uh, Council Member Gordon's viewpoints on this and, um, uh, al- although I, I know this individual and, and he is an excellent, uh, candidate for this. And, uh, there are many ways that we can bring diversity into our boards. Uh, I'd like to try to do this without sort of yanking somebody who's already in the process, but try to get, uh, a, a, uh, a wide range of, of representation on our, on our boards and agencies. Uh, Mr. Crissman is, is, uh, an individual of the highest caliber and, um, and I'd, I'd like to try to do this in a way where we wouldn't substitute someone who, who, who definitely would be a, an asset to that. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Crosby. Um, I agree with all the comments that have been made a- about this particular, uh, board appointment, and, um, the caliber of this person as well as, uh, what he brings uniquely to the board. I was just curious as to what the break-up of the board is regarding ... I don't know if somebody, p- perhaps Shay might know, sorry, or anybody back there, what the break-up is, if it's, if we're discussing the make-up of a board specifically with this, do we ... I men, I would, I have, there's no females on the board. Okay. You're ... Or, and thank you. Ms. Harchek, and- I just sent her an email to answer that for you. Oh, great. Thank you so much. And here she comes. Well, I didn't get that email yet, so I'll, I'll do what I can. There are no females on that board currently. Um, we do have, um, some diversity in the, the me- the men that serve on that board. Does that help answer the question? And do we only have one position open right now, or there'll be- That's what she said. In- They, they said there's one female. There, no she said there's no females. There's just one open position. One, just one position open in- There's one vacancy. One vacancy? This time. And when do we anticipate ... I don't know when they rotate off. The next vacancy is a year from now. Okay, thank you. Mm-hmm. Any further discussion? All right, let's, uh, vote electronically on this one. Madam Clerk, if you could set the, uh, voting machine. Those in favor- Same as before? Yes. The motion is to amend the mayor's report by deleting the reference to, um, the Transit Authority appointment. So those in favor of deleting the nominee to the Transit Authority Board, please indicate by voting yes. Those in favor of leaving the report as is, please vote no. Uh, my read is the vote, uh, the motion fails by a vote of eight to three. We're now ready to discuss the, um, motion ... Mayor. Original motion on- Mayor. I hear somebody, yes. It's me. Before you move on, I just want to make sure I have the vote correct. Council Member Lane, I don't show you voting? No, I'm sorry. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Then in that case, the, uh, motion to amend fails by a vote of 10 to 3. And, and I will, I will tell you, I am concerned about the gender issue, and we will try to address that on a going forward basis, not just on this board, but on all boards. Vice Mayor Gray. Yeah, I, I was ... This is really just a footnote to this conversation. Um, we tend to think of diversity in the context of male and female, and, and race only, and it's really hard to have the conversation about, that we had in Madison, that Rebekah Ryan moderated or facilitated regarding the creative class, and all of the dimensions associated with that without looking at diversity fully, and more comprehensively. And if there's a takeaway, in my view, from this conversation, it is, how do we look at, and how do we examine this process, recognizing mayor and the administration that it is real tough to find people, recognize that, but that the matrix, or the examination of this iss- issue ... ... running it deeply, um, is more than what we're looking at, it seems like, or having a conversation about today. Thank you. All right, we're back to the original motion, which is to approve the mayor's report. Council Member Gordon. Um, I just wanted to add one thing, because the vice-mayor likes the word matrix, and I think it's a good word. Um, it's unfortunate, I, I think that when these, um, nominations come to us, and I, I actually know this nominee and think highly of him, but we're, we are the final say on these boards and commissions. And it only just so happens that I happened to learn about the situation. And so, as many of you know, um, the situation of diversity on boards is not a new one. And I think that when we continue to uphold the old system, um, it never gets bet- better. And that's why I brought this into the public light. Um, I, I would be appalled if any board or commission didn't have both males and females on it. I think, in a community our size, that's ridiculous. It's, we have plenty of good talent out there. So, I, I brought this to light because I truly believe in that. I believe in all kinds of diversity. With that said, Mayor, I would like to know if, when you all bring us recommendations, we can, at that time, see the makeup of that board. When a nominee comes forward, we need to know the makeup of that board. Because if this nominee kicks over the board into a situation where everybody is like everybody else, I would like to know that. I thi- and I know that you believe in this, and I think it's a simple matter of matrix, Vice-Mayor. Um, I, I, I'm not a radical on this. I'm a believer in diversity, and you have to work really hard to get diversity. And I know that you can have a way to bring that forward to us, so we're comfortable that our boards and commissions have a wide range of folks on them. Well, let's talk about the matrix for an issue for a moment. That's, that's what I was gonna say as well, Mayor. Uh- I, I think we're all on the same page. Yeah. I just wanna know exactly what information. Because, if we're, it, we can certainly provide you with a list of names. If you want to know their race, we probably have that. Um, we, most names are fairly evident, but gender may be another item on the list that needs to be there. Um, geographic location, occupation, uh, sexual orientation. Uh, I could go down a list of probably 20 different characterization, uh, characteristics that go into, um, trying to find people that balance the people that are already on the board. How do you- And I, I'll be glad to provide you with whatever information you can, within reason. But I guess I'm, I'm curious to know exactly what it is you want, if it's anything more than a list of the names of people presently serving. Well, I guess my question would be, then, when you look at a nominee for a board or a commission, how do you know that you are impacting the diversity of the, of the board or do, do you? I mean, I, I'm looking at- Well, some, some things are fairly evident. Right. I mean, gender and race are pretty easily observed. Once you get past that, there are a whole range of factors. You know, if you've got a board that is, uh, full of lawyers, for instance, maybe you need an accountant to provide a little financial reality to the, to the mix. Uh, if you, as Mr. Martin can attest- ... um, if, if, um, you have everybody where the board members, the existing board members live on the north side of town, maybe you need to find one that lives on the south side of town. And then there's always the issue of, well, who has some level of interests in a particular area that the board's about to address. It goes on and on, and finally you gotta find, figure out whether or not you know anybody who satisfies all those characteristics and is willing to serve. Mm-hmm. Or, in some instances, is, satisfies all the characteristics, is willing to serve, and can get all their paperwork in on time, so we can get to report to you in time to be processed- Mm-hmm. ... in accordance with any one of a number of guidelines. So, I just tell you all that to say it is more of an art than a science. Um, to the degree that, that, you know, maybe there's a committee of the council that can take a look at, at the current board structure, who's serving, where we need to have more diversity, what factors, what characteristics need to be considered in determining diversity. Appropriate area for inquiry. Mm-hmm. But we're trying to, trying to maintain what diversity exists and expand it where we can, as a general proposition, but we're not perfect. We're not gonna score points every time we send, send a application forward. May I, uh- Um- ... make a, uh, Vice-Mayor? I think this is another healthy conversation, and it's always, and it's not always what's on the surface. That is the conversation. Um, this, this question, it's not so much, and I would agree with the Mayor, it's not so much about filling out a matrix as it is about ensuring that there are differing points of view that are wrapped around a table. And, you know, one attribute that wasn't, that we haven't mentioned yet, for example, is age and young people. I had a friend who recommended a young person to the, um, DDA Board, and it was like, "Oh, you know, we really don't need a young person on the DDA Board." But if there's any place probably we do need somebody young, it's on the DDA Board, the Downtown Development Authority, for those who are in our television audience. And the reason that I'm bringing up, bringing this up is, it was Dan Roland who recommended Alex Brooks, a young artist in town. And as we examine these questions and these issues that we're all trying to address in meaningful ways, all of which, one way or another, as Andrea, Council Member Andrea Jones has said, at the end of the day, take us to the economy and jobs and opportunities. What we are saying is that maybe just perhaps having a conversation about it beyond these chambers in a meaningful way to examine these issues would be healthy and worthwhile. Thank you. I was actually going to make a comment about a recommendation you had made to the, uh, Board of Architectural Review, I believe, uh, Nathan Billings, who is a young professional. And so I was actually going to say, there's an example of where we did take a recommendation of, uh, I was gonna say the age, um, demographic as well. So obviously there's gonna be times where we're not gonna necessarily agree on the exact appointee, but what I was going to say is, that was a good example of getting some, um, diversity on a board that did not have a young professional. And so at any time when council members know of, um, an individual they think would be good on a board, we always are interested in hearing. We, of course, cannot guarantee that every single time we're gonna make that appointment, but there are, there is a need for names. Absolutely. Vice Mayor Gray. Mm-hmm. As a final footnote, there, y- you know, on the surface, people, the pushback on the Downtown Development Authority, for example, was, "Well, what in the world would a young artist have, how in the world would a young artist in Lexington have a contribution for an org- to an organization that is, a lot of it is about buildings?" And that takes us to the whole conversation about point of view and the way in which those other, others' points of view can contribute in unexpected ways. So, thank you. I'd be happy to have that conversation offline 'cause I'm not familiar with that particular recommendation. Just using, I'm just using it as one example- Yeah, I'm just not familiar with that. ... in a way that would illustrate an unconventional, unexpected, uh, person with characteristics that we wouldn't always think of. And that's why thinking about these roles and examining them in a new light might be beneficial. All right. Any further discussion? Uh, Council Member McCourt. Uh, I, there's a list actually on- Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't know if it's on the screen. I apologize. On the floor, yeah. Um, Council Member Henson. Thank you, Mayor. I, I just wanted to explain a little bit as to why I was so, um, so strongly supporting this appointee, and it would be because I've known him for 20 years and I know that he's very, um, very strong person, very knowledgeable in a lot of areas. He will ask questions, he will be very effective, and he will, um, represent individuals with disabilities in the way that they deserve. And it was obvious to me when we went through the budget process with LexTran that they did not have good representation. Um, so, and, and I'm just very passionate about this. They're probably 90% or more of the ridership for LexTran and Wheels, and they deserve to be represented. Um, that was all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Lane. Uh, well, first of all, I'd like to agree with Council Member Gorton. I think diversity is real important on the boards, but I also think that experience and educational background, temperament, and to a certain extent, age is also relevant. The only, the only point I wanted to make is I look over these board nominations very carefully, and for those of you who've been on the council for a- a while, you know that I, uh, look at these very carefully 'cause I've kicked a bunch of them off in the past. I, in my judgment, the nominees in this particular batch, and, and consistently from the Mayor, have been exceptional people with, you know, good educational background, training, reputation, and all that. And I, I think that being able to recruit high-quality people on the boards, uh, is r- absolutely critical so that, um, we know there are people there that are looking over these operations and trying to make them efficient and, and the best interest of our community. So, uh, I'd just say I like what you're doing, Mayor. Thank-- thank you. Council Member, uh, McCourt. Thank you, Mayor. I, I don't necessarily like to, to do what we're doing, which is getting away from what actually this council does, which is make a motion. And so, Council Member Gordon, I appreciate that, uh, this all started from a motion. Uh, and I think, Vice Mayor, you said something about beyond these chambers. And I think if, if, uh, if this body wants to do something, then somebody needs to make a motion to that effect. Um, but I couldn't stop myself from saying this. Um, a lot of folks talk about what they do in their real jobs up here. And Vice Mayor, we've, we've, I hear you talk a lot about your experience around the country. In my job, I speak to organizations and companies and, and institutions, uh, about all of this diversity issue. Uh, I speak about it, and what's interesting is, is that you can't define it. And what's happened in our culture is, is that we've tried to become a, a salad bar society. And we try and put everything of like kind together and niche it to death. Uh, and I tell audiences all the time, if you don't believe that we're actually trying to niche ourselves, uh, to death, then next time you go out to dinner, look inside your sugar bowl. Remember when you used to see sugar? And occasionally now, you know, back then there was a cube. You got this rainbow color in there now. It's a very expensive way to keep up with all of our sweetening needs. The bottom line to it is, is that we need to become a salad bar society, where you put things of a lot of different kinds together to solve problems. And what my point is, in all of this is, when we start trying to split hairs as to, "Well, this isn't representative, and this isn't," and someone else is gonna get left out of the deal. What I would say to my colleagues and to the folks watching is, what we need is an inventory of talent, and we need an inventory of interests. So that this mayor, or whoever sits in that seat, and the council members up here have someone to work from. And instead of trying to, uh, to, to look for what's missing or, or look for what would be really good in this situation, what we should be doing is saying, "Are these a qualified candidate?" And I think what was said earlier, uh, and, and I don't know who said it, but I think it's very important for this council to hear that one of the things we, we can actually do is look at these boards and what is needed, what are the types of skill sets. And I appreciate Council Member Henson saying this is something that you feel very strongly about. Um, and we all know where you stand on, on this issue. You know, and, and here's a situation where we need, we need someone in there that can, can advocate this cause or understand the mechanics of, of that population. So I would just say that if, if it's the will of this council, then rather than doing kind of what we're doing up here and just all talking about how we individually feel, let's make a motion to go beyond these chambers, put something together, decide what we need to be looking for, and, and also to make a clarion call to, uh, to the constituency and say, "Uh, who is out there that wants to serve and what is your background and where do you fit?" So that we now have, uh, the ability to, to funnel people in, and quality people, uh, over the course of time. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Lawless. Thank you. Um, I, I couldn't resist, um, the issue of age and your, um, comment about Nathan Billings, who I actually have had the opportunity to do some work with and admire greatly. But there are other young people other than young professionals. And the creative class is not defined by young people in suits. And while they, I wouldn't want to exclude someone who's a young professional, I think we also need to look outside that box to, um, young and old, people who maybe don't fit that coat and tie mold. Thank you. Council Member Beard. Thank you, Mayor. Um, we're somewhat in the middle of a slippery slope as far as I'm concerned, because, um, you know, what do you look for first? Do you look for qualification, and then try to fit the, uh, diversity to that individual or individuals? Or do you look at, uh, the diversity first and then find out if if, uh, the candidates have the qualifications? Um, I perceive, and maybe the, uh, wrongly so, and someone can correct me, um, with some of the problems that have cropped up in the past few months concerning our boards, uh, that it it will be increasingly difficult to, um, to recruit people to be on the boards. Some people just wouldn't like the, the, uh, the agitation, to say the least. Um, you know, I personally think qualification comes first because there's a job that needs to be done. Then beyond that, you do your best to, uh, balance the, uh, uh, diversity question. But we, we've mentioned so many different things that, uh, that go into that, uh, that formula that, uh, it's, uh, almost impossible to find a qualified person that's gonna fit into every niche, uh, that, that you need, especially if you only got one opening. And, uh, you gotta wait another year for another opening. It'll, uh, it'll take forever to get that balance. It's, uh, um, it's daunting. I will say that, Mayor. Thank you. I would second that comment. I will tell you, it, it is a daunting task. And they're valid points that have been raised today. Um, we'll look forward to working with you to try to improve it going forward. Any further discussion? I think we're ready to vote on approving the mayor's report. And I do wanna clarify one thing. There was an addendum of Mr. Wilson on the planning commission. And, and Council Member Meyers, I believe that was included in your motion. Yes, I was. And, Mr. Stinnett? Okay. So those in favor of approving the mayor's report including the addendum, uh, please indicate by saying, "Aye." Aye. Oppose, no. Motion carries. All right. Uh, that takes us down now to public comment on issues not on the agenda. Um, Mr. S-, uh, I don't have, has anyone signed up? All right, Mr. Sams, if you'd step to the, uh, podium. You'll have three minutes, please. Name's David Sams. I live at 2853 Winter Garden, and I heard some discussion on the rollback on the taxes on garbage. And I understand that, you know, we may have overpaid through the past, and I would like to know where the money was spent, if it was spent without, of the outside of the urban services area, anywhere that we should not be spending our money. And I don't think that we probably should be buying buildings and then putting other departments in it, out of that urban service, in that urban service fund, because we are collecting that for just one purpose, for the urban service. When you use it for other things besides what you collect it for, that should be illegal. And also, if you're gonna roll back the tax, first we should do something for those people who does that kind of work. Now, many, many times, solid waste workers has came down here begging and pleading with this government for many, many years. There's a lot of health is- issues out there, cancers, uh, kidney problems. A lo- I've lost a lot of friends in just a, a short time, and they died at a young age, and they die young, and they also die right after they retire. But does anyone care? Has any of the council suggested maybe we should get UK University involved? One wants to be the top industry in, in leading health issues. Do a study. We got a surplus. We can afford it, but is it a waste of our money if we spend it on these guys? I don't think so. Got a lot of friends down there. Since I've retired, I've watched a few of them die at a very young age, and I think it's time that we stop and think about what we doing before we give a lot of money back and these issue problems of, of these guys' health is still out there, and no one's checked into it. We lobbied this government, and we got a motion passed to send to Frankfort for hazardous duty retirement, but is that democracy when, uh, the leagues, the city is paid by the urban county government lobbying against you? And the urban county government don't step up and say, "Wait a minute, we sent them up there. We, we, we need to explain. This ain't gonna cost the other counties, it's only urban county government." Nope, that's not what happened. We get it, we get it passed, and then we stop right at the final vote, because they won't even call it out of committee. Mr., Mr. Sams, your time has expired. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Does anyone else wish to address the council? Yes, sir. If I could speak. If you'd step to the podium. Mm-hmm. And, uh, give us your name and address, please. Yeah, thank you very much for the opportunity to speak. Uh, I'll just take just a couple seconds. Uh, my name is Richard Lawrence with Leak Eliminators, and you gave me the opportunity to address the council meeting on Thursday, August 13th, 2009. Uh, my point at that meeting is that we were not awarded, uh, a recommended for a contract, which is under SSA2 and 3, Contract 4. Uh, even though I'm a local contractor and our bid was $200,000 lower than the next lowest bid. I took your advice and have met with Bryan Market- Markham in Purchasing, and supplied him with additional information. Uh, also, the Sewer Department has requested additional references on projects similar to this one that we have recently completed. I'm optimistic that we will be awarded the project. My employees and I hope to continue to have the opportunity to serve the residents of Fayette County by improving your sewer system. Thank you, Council. Thank you, Mr. Lawrence. Does anyone else wish to address the council? Do I hear a motion we adjourn? Second. Have a motion by Council Member Myers, second by Council Member Gordon that we adjourn. All in favor, please say, "Aye." Aye. Oppose, no. Motion carries. Thank you.