# Council Work Session - September 22, 2009 > Auto-transcribed civic record · Council · September 22, 2009 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/1038 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/1038?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2009-09-22 - **Body**: Council - **Last revised**: June 18, 2026 - **Length**: 16,327 words > ⚠️ **Auto-generated content.** Audio from the official Granicus video was auto-transcribed by OpenAI Whisper-1. Structured facts were extracted with GPT-4o; the narrative summary was written by Anthropic Claude Sonnet. Speaker labels and verbatim wording may contain errors. See [methodology](https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/about/methodology) or [report a correction](mailto:editor@lexingtonky.news). --- ## Meeting Overview The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council convened at the Horseshoe location, with Mr. Bobby Clue presiding over the session. The meeting covered five agenda items spanning a range of topics, including budget amendments, new business, the Pay Equity Inversion Ordinance, the Florida Tile Corporate Headquarters, and a LexTran Update. Over the course of the meeting, nine motions and votes were taken, and one item — new business — was approved, while the remaining four agenda items were handled as informational presentations. No public comments were heard during the meeting. ## Attendance The following members were present at the Council meeting on September 22, 2009: - Mr. Bobby Clue - Council Member Crosby - Council Member Blues - Council Member Feigl - Council Member Lane - Council Member Stennett - Council Member Lawless - Council Member Gordon - Council Member Henson - Council Member Myers - Council Member Martin - Council Member Ehlinger **Absent:** Council Member James and Doug Martin were not present at the meeting. No members were recorded as arriving late. ## Votes and Decisions The following motions were considered and voted on during the September 22, 2009 Council meeting: - **Approval of the Summary** [timestamp: 0:02]: The summary was approved unanimously by voice vote. - **Amendment to Item J (New Business)** [timestamp: 0:03]: Council Member Crosby moved to amend item J under new business to include Muldoon Drive and Ruby Lane. The motion passed unanimously. - **Approval of New Business as Amended** [timestamp: 0:08]: Following the amendment, the full new business agenda as amended was approved unanimously. - **Draft Oath of Office Ordinance** [timestamp: 0:10]: Council Member Beard moved, seconded by Council Member Blues, to advance the draft Oath of Office Ordinance to the full council for review. The motion passed unanimously. - **Discontinue Citizen's Advocate Dispute Resolution Training** [timestamp: 0:11]: Council Member Cosby moved, seconded by Council Member Lawless, to discontinue the Citizen's Advocate Dispute Resolution Training. The motion passed unanimously. - **Allow Presentation on Pay Equity Inversion** [timestamp: 0:14]: A voice vote was held to allow a presentation on Pay Equity Inversion to proceed. The motion passed. - **Refer Pay Equity and Inversion Ordinance to Budget and Finance Committee** [timestamp: 0:40]: Council Member Lane moved to refer the Pay Equity and Inversion Ordinance to the Budget and Finance Committee. The motion passed by voice vote. - **Extend Time for LexTran Presentation** [timestamp: 1:09]: A motion to extend time for the LexTran presentation was approved by voice vote. - **Approval of the NDF Fund List** [timestamp: 1:39]: Council Member Myers moved to approve the NDF fund list. The motion passed by voice vote. All nine motions brought before the Council during this meeting passed. Five were approved unanimously and four were approved by voice vote. No roll call votes were recorded, and no motions failed or were tabled. ## Contested Items - **Pay Equity Inversion Ordinance:** Council members engaged in heated discussion regarding the Pay Equity Inversion Ordinance, focusing on the complexities surrounding its implementation. The debate centered on funding challenges associated with the ordinance as well as concerns about potential inequities that could result from its application. The structured data does not specify which individual council members were involved in the exchange or record a final outcome from the discussion. ## Budget amendments [timestamp: 03:00] No budget amendments were discussed during this agenda item. ## New Business [timestamp: 03:31] The Council took up new business, with Council Member Crosby presenting an amendment to include Muldoon Drive and Ruby Lane in a different urban services district. The Council discussed the matter and ultimately approved the amendment. ## Pay Equity Inversion Ordinance [timestamp: 15:00] Bill O'Mara presented to the Council on the Pay Equity Inversion Ordinance, providing an overview of the ordinance's history, its current status, and a number of issues associated with its implementation. The presentation was informational in nature, covering several key areas of concern related to the ordinance: - **History:** O'Mara outlined the background and development of the Pay Equity Inversion Ordinance, providing context for the Council on how the ordinance came to its current form. - **Current Status:** The presentation addressed where the ordinance stands at this time, giving Council members an up-to-date picture of its implementation and standing. - **Funding Concerns:** O'Mara raised potential issues surrounding the funding of the ordinance, indicating that financial considerations remain an area requiring attention. - **Exceptions:** The presentation also touched on potential exceptions to the ordinance, suggesting that certain circumstances or employee categories may present complications for uniform application. No vote or formal action was taken as a result of this agenda item. The discussion served as an informational briefing for Council members, with O'Mara's presentation intended to keep the Council informed on the ordinance's progress and the challenges that may need to be addressed going forward. ## Florida Tile Corporate Headquarters [timestamp: 45:11] The Council received a presentation announcing that Florida Tile will be relocating its corporate headquarters to Lexington. The announcement was delivered by key speakers Bob Quick and Scott Shepherd. According to the presentation, the move will bring **51 full-time jobs** to Lexington, with an **average salary of $47,000**. The announcement was made on behalf of Commerce Lexington, which was involved in facilitating the relocation. This item was informational in nature, and no vote or formal action was taken by the Council. ## LexTran Update [timestamp: 54:23] Rocky Burke presented an update to the Council on LexTran's recent accomplishments and future plans. Burke's presentation covered several areas of progress for the transit system, including: - **Increased ridership** — LexTran has seen growth in the number of riders using its services. - **New routes** — The agency has added new route options for transit users. - **Regional transit plans** — Burke outlined future plans for expanding regional transit service. The item was informational in nature, and no formal action was taken by the Council. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approval of the summary - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Amend item J under new business to include Muldoon Drive and Ruby Lane - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approval of new business as amended - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Move the draft Oath of Office Ordinance forward to the full council for review - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Discontinue the Citizen's Advocate Dispute Resolution Training - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Allow presentation on Pay Equity Inversion - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Refer Pay Equity and Inversion Ordinance to Budget and Finance Committee - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Extend time for LexTran presentation - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approval of the NDF fund list --- ## Full transcript We're about to... Is there a gavel? We don't have one. It's not in here. Thank you. Not sure where it is. Can you ask Susan where it is? On the win- Jeanette, it's note. It's in the office. We have everything. Okay. Let's call the meeting to order as Mr. Bobby Clue arrives at the Horseshoe. Uh, the mayor's out of town today, so, uh, I'll be chairing the meeting. Thank you all. We have on our agenda today a bunch of stuff. Um. Yep. A lot. But first, uh, public comment on issues on the agenda. Is there any public comment related to issues on the agenda? Seems to be not. No public comment. All right. Uh, second, uh, item on our agenda is, um, requested rezonings and the docket approval. Um, no rezonings. What about docket approval? We don't have a- Docket. No docket. Right. No meeting on Thursday, so no docket approval required. Uh, next on our agenda is approval of the summary. Move to approve. Second. There is a motion and a second. Uh, is there discussion regarding the summary? Hearing none, ready to take a vote. Uh, all in favor of approving the summary, please indicate by saying yes. Aye. Is there... Okay. Y'all are so contrarian sometimes. Goodness gracious. Where are, do we, is it... Okay. Have we got the electronic? As soon as As soon as everyone comes in- Oh, s- Yes, ma'am. Oh, is it, is it any- anybody opposed? Sounds like we have a unanimity of opinion. This is great. Good pattern here. Budget amendments, item number four. There are no budget amendments. New business is on pages 18 through 32. Move approval. Second. There is a motion and a second. Uh, Council Member Crosby. Um, thank you. I have a motion, um, as it relates to item, uh, I'm looking at the wrong one. Okay. It's the last item, item J. I move to amend item J under new business on the agenda to include Muldoon Drive and Ruby Lane on the list of properties for, be removed from the partial urban surfaces district number three and placed in urban services district number two. So moved. Second. There's a motion and a second. Is there a discussion? Uh, hearing none. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, no? Motion carries with a bunch of ayes. Okay. Um, now we're back to approval of new business. Is there any other- Discussion. Any other discussion? C- Council Member Blues? Uh, just a question on I. And I'm not sure I, uh, I understand the, uh, the process here, as, as it's explained on page 28 in the, uh, in the packet. Uh, the... Told that the business can cover up to 100% of its startup cost, 50% of the annual rent cost, and an employee assessment fee of up to 4%. And employees, the employees in turn recover the assessment fee through a reduction in the Kentucky income tax liability and local occupational license tax liability. I'm, I'm just wondering, I'm not questioning the, the, you know, the, the recovery for the employees. I just wonder why it has to be a two-step process rather than one. And I see that there is an expert at the podium who answered my question even before I finished asking it. So, Anthony? Well, this is a, um, a new, uh, incentive that was passed by the legislature this year. Um, the, the amount that the locality, the local government is asked to participate in is similar to what we've done before. We've done it for other projects, Pacific Pulmonary, Belcan, uh, several different projects where we've actually participated in providing the incentive opportunity for us to be competitive with other communities. So this particular, um, change, there, there's actually a workshop that, uh, Jenna and I are looking to put together for all of the council members to make sure that there's a clear understanding of how this new incentive will work. This is actually the first project, one of the earlier projects to be approved under this particular incentive. I see Jenna coming close. What'd you have? This is Jenna Greathouse, Commerce, Lexington. For this project, nothing has changed. It's basically the same as the previous programs. What we, what we'll see in the future is that for manufacturing projects, the city will have to consider putting in the 1% in order for the manufacturing project to be able to receive the four pur- the total 4%. In the past, we've a- we've done these with regularity depending on what the project was. Um, again, he said Pacific Pulmonary, Extreme Software, Belcan Engineering, Chase, when Chase's operating center was here. So we do this, we've done it for white-collar projects, headquarters, distribution centers, Amazon did it. Um, but what we're gonna see in the future, um, based on the change in the law, is we'll see it now for manufacturing projects down the road. But this is very similar to the ones we've done in the past for headquarters. Very good. Thank you. Thank you. And, and, and, Anthony, you all were saying, uh, that, I think that's a great idea, what you all were talking about- The workshop? ... the workshop to, uh, help inform the council on issues like this, new incentives that, like- Absolutely. ... this one was driven by the state, right? Yes. And we, we actually, we, I know it's on the agenda, but we definitely wanted you to have the opportunity to say welcome, uh, to the new companies who's here in the community. We've got a, an official with the organization who was here today, and they'll have comments today. But it's an exciting opportunity for us to bring good, high-paying jobs. When you talk about corporate headquarters relocating from one community to another, uh, these kinds of incentives are often, uh, necessary to stay competitive with other communities. So we're, we're happy to be able to do this today. Jenna, you had something else to add? No. Okey-doke. All right, thank you all. So any other discussion relating to new business? We have a motion and do we have a second? Yeah, we have a motion and a second. All in favor of adopting, uh, accepting new business, uh, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, no. Uh, as amended, uh, Council Member Ehlinger corrected me. Uh, motion carries. Okay, um, item, uh, item num- uh, Roman numeral six on our agenda is continuing business and presentations. And the first, uh, first issue is Inter-Government Committee. And I don't think Council Member James is here. Does someone have a- I'll second the motion. Okay, Council Member Feigl. Thank you. Yes, ma'am, report on Inter-Government Committee. The Inter-Governmental Committee met on September the 15th, and all the committee members were present, except Doug Martin. Um, Kevin Stennett attended as a non-voting member. Um, rather than read the entire report for you, the minutes of the meeting are in the packet. But we do have two amendments to make to those minutes. Um, one is on page, let's see the pages aren't... Yeah, 34, second paragraph. Um, about a third of the, two thirds of the way down it says, "She is trying to craft." It was supposed to be, "She said," rather than, "She is." And in the next paragraphed, um, the motion made by Council Member Myers, um, should say, "Which are exempt," correcting the not. So that is, yeah, that is the motion to amend those minutes. Motion and a second to accept the minutes as presented by Council Member Feigl, as amended. Thank you, Council Member Ehlinger. Is there any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, no. And two motions came forward from the committee. The first motion was by Council Member Beard and seconded by Council Member Blues, to move the draft Oath of Office Ordinance forward to the full council for review, passed without dissent, so moved. That's a motion and a second, um, with respect to that motion, or the, uh, is there any discussion? Uh, hearing none, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, no. Motion carries. Council Member Feigl. Uh, the second motion passed from the committee was by Council Member Blues to discontinue the Citizen's Advocate Dispute Resolution Training, seconded by Council Member Lawless, and passed without dissent, so moved. Second. Yeah, discussion? Actually- Motion- ... the motion, the motion was made by Council Member Cosby, not me. Which was that? That was made by me. Then we have another amendment. Okay, so we got a motion on that then, and a second. Are we okay? Yeah. Sorry. Any discussion? Yeah, maybe, maybe there's some question of where the motion is. I think there's seven. Oh, thank you. All right, we have a motion and a second. Is there discussion? Hearing none, um, ready for a vote. All in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, no. Motion carries. Thank you, ma'am. Uh, next on our agenda is the inversion process. Presented by Mr. Bill O'Mara. Mr. O'Mara, as he comes down, he has had a full day. First, he had to, early on, deal with, uh, presented water resources, so he did a great job there. Thanks, Bill. Thank you. Uh- And we... Yes, um, Mr. Meyers. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Um, we just got this five minutes ago, and we have an ordinance that says that we need to get this, um, with enough time to be able to read it so that we can understand what we're looking at and it's gonna take a vote of, I think, 10 in order to get this looked at today. So I guess do I need to make a motion to have that vote? Could, could I make a clarifying s- statement? Is that- Commentary. Would, would, would it be worthwhile to hear from Mr. O'Mara as to why he was not able to get it to us beforehand? Would that be worthwhile before we vote? I, the only thing is while, myself, I want a chance to look at this before- Yeah, I understand. ... so that, um, I can come up with good questions and things like that before we hear the presentation. Yeah. But, but sure, I'd like to hear the explanation. Bill, is that okay? Uh, yes, I, I, what I was gonna do in my opening comments was say that there was a memo distributed to council members dated September 3rd from the Department of Law, and I've given you a copy in case, um, y- you have lost it in your mailbox or whatever. Um, and so I can speak from that, but instead, um, yesterday I made a recap of what was in the, um, uh, memo as a PowerPoint. And it was not presented to you last Thursday. I was out ill last week and, um, so you are correct. I did not get it in by last Thursday. I thought that it would be beneficial to have the memo which you'd already received on the 3rd of September recapped this way, but we do not have to do it. So, so this is basically the same information that we had in the memo? Yes. Okay. Thank you. S- so you're gonna withdraw the motion? I didn't make the motion. I didn't make the motion, so- Oh, you didn't make it. Okay, great. So we're okay. All right. We probably need a motion, though. Vice Mayor, we probably still need a motion though just to allow this, because that goes against our council rules, does it not, that we receive stuff, a presentation without the information ahead of time? I move that, I make a motion that we hear this today. Thank you. Second. There's a motion and second. Is there discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, no. Motion carries. Mr. O'Mara. Thank you. Um, I, I just felt like this would be easier to follow, so, um, eh, hopefully this will bear. Uh, but I was asked to, uh, just to recap the Pay Equity Inversion, uh, Inversions Ordinance, uh, number 197 passed in t- passed in 2002. Um, it was passed on, uh, July 24th, 2002, and it established four criteria for what was called Pay Equity or Inversions. Um, that is at the bottom of the memo, the four criteria. And the employee would have to meet all four of these criteria. Um, the employee must have experience greater than a new hire or promoted employee and would have to have continuous employment in the same job class, uh, greater than the new hire or promoted employee. They also must have equal or greater qualifications above the minimum job requirements than the new hire or promoted employee, and the employee must earn less than the new hire or promoted em- employee. And if the employee met all four of those criteria, then if there was su- sufficient funds appropriated, then the Pay Equity Inversion process would be, um, uh, entertained. Uh, one clarification which is on the back of the memo is that the employee inversion does not become eligible for that adjustment until the new hire or promoted employee passes their six-month probation. There was, um, an Employee Extra article explaining the ordinance i- in, um, November of 2005, and this is, uh, part of that, um, Employee Extra and it's a nice flowchart and I think it illustrates, um, that we can make anything complex if we try hard enough. Um, however, in this case, I think it's true, um, this can be, um, become very complex and confusing as you're going through the different stages, uh, of qualifications. Um, Human Resources conducted an organizational-wide analysis to identify employee inversions. What was called Round 1, uh, was completed in October of 2005, and then Round 2 was completed in June of 2006. The funding was put in place, uh, by ordinance in December of 2006. Uh, there were also, uh, some budgeting lines within the budget process of either, uh, organizational-wide or within individual division budgets in the FY02 through the FY06, uh, budget years. Uh, since FY06, uh, divisions have been asked, uh, to provide budget dollars for any new hire which creates an inversion. Uh, Human Resources, after Round 2, has got... has, um, in their process to identify inversions at the time of a new hire or promotion. Um, and they identify the employees impacted and the cost of the inversion is identified and that is before a salary offer is made to the new hire or promotional person. The division must identify their source of funding available to be used to pay for the cost of the inversion for there to be, uh, funds a- appropriated. And, and the impact of this process is the number of new hire inversions has decreased since this process has been put in place. Um, since 2002, which encompasses the '07 through August of this year, uh, the inversions process was delayed, uh, due to both staffing issues in HR and funding issues. Um, the current ordinance that brought up the request for this presentation was presented September 3rd. I believe it received a second reading last Thursday, and it addresses all new hire inversions through 2007, '08, and through August of 2009. Um, each month is, uh, a, a new beginning as far as how much these inversions are created with the activity of either promotion or new hires, but the best guess is it's about, uh, about 4 or $5,000 a month is what we're currently running, uh, in, in inversions through this process. Some of the issues that I thought, uh, were, were being, uh, the reason for, for the request is it does say that you have to meet all four criteria and then it says, "Sufficient funds have to be available." And so that creates a problem when there isn't budgeted funds available in order to finance the inversions and it very much becomes an issue if the place where the new hire occurs and the hiring division is in a restricted fund. Those funds can only be used to support those personnel and those dollars for that program. So if someone in the general fund was inverted, funds from a restricted fund cannot be used to pay for, uh, a promotion or something, uh, that occurs in their division, but affects someone in another fund. And so that has caused what is called exceptions, where the sufficient funds are not available and someone who was inverted due to a promotion in a restricted fund and is sitting in a general fund, uh, did not receive an adjustment, inversion adjustment. Which leads me to the next one, uh, Ordinance 21-26.1 requires a minimum of 7 or 10% increase to a promoted employee and where the promoted employee is currently, say at the top of their current pay rate, they get a 7% promotion. That puts them above someone that is, was hired in at that new pay rate and creates a, quote, "inversion." Um, is that really an inversion? We are, we are required by ordinance to give the person a 7% increase and why is the person, th- the division who has the promotion then required to pay for a disparity in the amount of time experience in that pay grade because of this newly promoted person? Um, so that's kind of why that flowchart gets complicated. Um, I just wanted to clarify some terminologies. Uh, the ordinance says "pay equity inversion," but it is a salary adjustment ordinance. It is driven by ordinance, there was a process that was approved by council in November of '05, um, that governs how that process is being handled through human resources. And so I just wanted to clarify, as there was exceptions that I just mentioned, it does not guarantee compensation equity across the organization. It has a, a ordinance-driven process for some salary adjustments. I hope that clarifies. If, if that was informational, that's what I was trying to do. Does that com- Does that complete your- Yes, ma'am. ... presentation? We have- I'm ready to sit down anytime. We have some council members who have questions. Thank you, Bill. Uh, Council Member Lane? Thank you, Madam Chairman. Um, I was, I was wondering, is this policy, this pay equity policy that we have, is it a mandatory policy that's required by state or federal government? The Pay Equity Inversion Ordinance is not required by federal or state. It's a local ordinance that was passed by council. That means that the council could un-pass it? Yes, sir. And take it off the books, uh, and this was passed, I believe, before that I got on the council. I want to make sure my legal counsel agrees. You're right. Okay. I'm right so far. Okay. And I, and I recall that we did vote in a number of funds to try to straighten the problem out, and it seemed to me at the time it was a consensus of council members then that this has not been a good policy for the government, and once we cleaned up the problem that we should try to get rid of this ordinance. Um, if we, uh, were to terminate this ordinance, what other way could we have if there was an inequity in pay? Could an employer, um, come to their supervisor and bring it to HR and have it evaluated? ... uh, and we could do it arbitrarily, or is there another program that we could use in lieu of this program? Well, um, we would probably look for some guidance so that- so that, uh, there would be some consistency in the evaluation of those appeals. Um, there is also an intent to do a- a government-wide compensation review. We have hired a total rewards and compensation manager who is just on board. Um, that person is totally involved in the PeopleSoft Payroll Go Live. Uh, once that is up and going, then one of- one of their primary responsibilities is to start that process. It's a slow and- and, um, involved process. It's not something that you do in 30 or 60 days. It's more like a- a 12 or 18-month study that- that would, uh, be to look at our total compensation. And I- I don't want to use the Mercer word, but that was the last time a total compensation plan evaluation was done for LFUCG, which was in the 1990s. Well, I- I guess what I'm suggesting, this is a very subjef- subjective type of a- a program. If somebody came to be- to interview for a job and they had greater educational level or greater experience level or more direct experience in the job position, and because of their experience or training, they might be qualified for a higher pay than maybe somebody currently in a similar position, but if we hire them at a greater amount, then does that mean we have to go back and adjust the pay for all the other people in that classification? Is that- is that what we're saying here? That's what the Inversion, uh, Pay Equity Ordinance says, if there's sufficient funding. Well, you know, when you add that on top of our, um, you know, pay raises, and I realize that in the last year or so they've been minimal because of the economy, but we have, you know, generally paid, uh, good increases to our employees. And I- I- I, you know, I question whether, uh, you know, we should continue this program. So, I just throw that out for other council members to consider that we might want to reevaluate this and come up with an alternative plan. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? Oh, Mr. Blues, sorry. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Um, I... I think that in ad- in addition to the- to the issue that Council Member Lane brings up is- is the- is- is the, um, the problem of the, you know, the- the- the sufficient funds, which is a kind of a Catch-22. We- we- we put a system in- in- in place, and as you say, it's- it's extremely complicated, so you have to work through a number of- of steps and then you get to the point where, as some employees have noted and have been burned by the fact that, well, there really aren't sufficient funds because you can't move- you can't move money from, let's say, a- a division supported by a dedicated fund to the general fund and- and- and so on. So I think that, uh, I think that Council Member's Lane- Lane's point is a- is- is a good one to the extent that- that- that this is a policy that- that does need review. I don't necessarily think that we should, uh, abandon it, but if we are going to keep it, we have to make it just, and- and- and we shouldn't have a- a- a policy that- that raises expectations and then, uh, and- and- and then, uh, because of the fact that I just mentioned, in- in- in several cases, denies them. So I- I would support a complete review, uh, and reexamination, uh, of this issue because I think that all of us have- have experienced from, uh, employees and employees who are constituents' concerns, uh, concerns about the, uh, uh, the- the- the- the process, which is intended to- to be just, but in some cases turns out not to be very just. And unavoidably, so it- it- it turns out, so... Uh, th- that was a comment, Bill, not- not a question, so... Great. Thank you. Mr. Stennett. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Guys, you know, I'm not a big fan of the inversion process, but- but did support going back and correcting what we had discovered prior to 2006. And I guess my- my big issue going forward is, what are we doing for the overall pay or salary or whatever you wanna call it, um, pay system in- in government? Are we working towards a new system and- and redoing this Mercer system and reason why we're in these positions? Because in some of the specific departments, such as traffic engineering that just came to us, uh, the coroner's office, they're having to go out and find professionals at above rates that we're paying, which would cause inversions in a lot of those positions. What are we doing long term? Because to me, we're just putting Band-Aids by using this inversion process. We- we are living on Band-Aids until a comprehensive compensation review can be completed. Uh, HR hired a person. Um, it did not work out. Uh, we lost a year there. Uh, they have newly hired that compensation manager. They're dedicated to the payroll, uh, go live, which is in November. And then their plate is to be very much embracing what to do to come up with a comprehensive, uh, total rewards system for the Irvin County government. Um, however, it's my understanding, as I said earlier, that's not one or two-month process, that it's probably 12 to 18 months once that job gets started for us to do a market study and the, and the ranking or ratings, I don't know the proper terms, uh, to do a total compensation proposal for the Irvin County government. So, so again, help me understand. Starting in November, it'll be another year to 18 months out before we'd have anything that we could chew on and, and adopt or- Give, give me one more month. Let, let us get through November and payroll has gone live smoothly, and then, yes, I would predict it's 18 months out from then. Okay. Tell me the difference, so, so everyone understands what we're talking about, between a pay equity study and the inversion process. I'm not sure I know the difference. It's... They're used interchangeably. ... No difference. Well, we, we just had, during the budget, for instance, traffic engineering brought us pay equity study that was performed by, uh, human resources to change all the classifications in the system. Okay. I think it's very, that's very different than what we're talking about today on the inversion process. Okay. I'm being told one might be a reclass versus a pay equity adjustment. I, I'm not sure that we are got our definitions all on the same page. Well, that's what I'm trying to ask that 'cause I know the difference and, and I think we're confused in both. Okay. Because I think the trafficking engineering that, that asked for those positions during the budget process has merit, and those positions probably need to pay the, be paid a little bit more, same as the coroner's office 'cause they are a unique set. But however, if we do that there, it creates issues throughout o- other parts of government. I seen Michael come and, uh, kind of give us the difference. Because what we're being told just, uh, as a body is we can't hire the folks we need to hire because if we do, it'll cause an inversion. But I think w- there is a way to do it under the current system. Well, I, I, I think they're correct. It will cause an inversion, and they would have to pay the, for the adjustment per the ordinance if there is funding. Otherwise, there's the exception and you have the new hire that's in there making more than their fellow workers who have been in the job class longer than them. But I'll let Michael see if he can clarify. A- and are we doing any other pay equity studies out there that, that we need to be aware of? Uh, again, council member, I would av- avoid using the term, uh, the pay equity study. What we did is a market analysis where we would go to a variety of the markets and compare the jobs and, uh, what the competitive rate would be. Based upon that market analysis, we would see how our, uh, how we rank against our competition. And based upon that, the natural result of it is a recommendation for a reclassification of those positions to our higher wage grade to accommodate more of a compensation. So it's an iterative process, it's a step by step. And is that every position just within a department or every position in government that has that grade or title? Our goal is to look at every position in government- But we can- ... for the new compensation system. Well, the new one, yes. Yeah. But I'm saying under our current system, how do we afford to give the, the folks, say, in traffic engineering, is that... Some of those positions are unique there. Correct. But some could be in other divisions as well. Correct. So- The next step is a reclass, and reclasses are now on hold. And while we reclass into create new position titles so they could have a unique... Can... Is that afforded in the system, our, our current system? So for instance, if we do have a person who only works in sanitary sewers that specializes in that, can we not create a position so it doesn't cause inversions? You mean to create single incumbents? Absolutely. It c- Okay, so how come we're not doing that and looking at more jobs specific for that department instead of keep going back and, and having these inversions government wide and people are getting s- raises that didn't do anything to get a raise? But, uh, the reality is there, we're not having huge inversions like, uh, we used to have. Uh, the inversions are looking at an average of $2000, $3000 on a monthly basis. They used to average, council member, hundreds of thousands of dollars, as you know. And I'm aware of that. As you know. And I helped put the money in there- I know. ... in, in November of 2006. And we're grateful- But any dollar we're spending- ... and we're grateful for it. ... down that pipe is, is- Right. ... to me wasteful. So- The, uh, the way to, we'd have to look at, start looking at each job. And as, as Bill said, our plate's really pretty full right now trying to get PeopleSoft up and running and with payroll. The goal would be to look at every position in government, as I originally outlined in my compensation plan, and look at every position and say, "Okay, is this really what this job does? And is that an appropriate title for the job? And if not, let's call it what it should be." So- And how are you doing that? I mean, are, are you doing these on a case ba- a- as, as departments come to you? Are you saying, "This job, we need to look at this and do a market study, uh, or a reclass?" Or are you doing it on your own, just g- hand picking them? No, we- How, how does this work? Because I feel like some people are being handpicked in this process and some are not getting the attention they need. We haven't done any market analysis probably for the last nine months. Uh, any, uh, on any position? On any positions. W- What about the reclass, though? We haven't done any reclasses. Zero? Zero. And we're not looking to do any? There, as far as we are concerned, we have been told that reclasses are on hold. And, but we're still doing the inversion process, and you're still looking at those- The inversion process is driven by ordinance, yes. Okay. And so a- after November, this will be the top on, on your list? Uh, yeah, on the list. It's definitely on the, uh, total rewards list. Absolutely, sir. Well, I think a new pay system is critical to moving forward, a-and we have to have one post haste. Uh, to be fair to every employee here, too. Um, we just can't keep putting money towards this system. It's not working, and i-it's not performance-based. I agree. Thank you, sir. You're welcome, sir. Council member Feigl. I'm just trying to understand this bill. Would you, uh ... One of the statements you made is that the inversion takes place if there is money in the budget, correct? If there's money, sufficient funds available. A bu- Okay, funds available. Mm-hmm. And if there are no funds available, is this considered in the next budget cycle? No, it's considered an exception, and the in- the inversion or pay equity is not- is not done. So that, once you make that decision to not implement that inversion, then we don't go back to it and try to pick it up later? Th- that's my understanding. Okay. Um, second question is, in this government-wide review on compensation, are we also looking at job responsibilities and, uh, you know, whether they are, whether, to ensure that there's some equitable distribution of the- of the job responsibilities with the titles? I mean, are you looking at- at the job responsibilities along with the compensation? I think the answer is yes. I'm not in my domain here, and- and the analysis has not begun. Uh, going on past experience, uh, the job duties were evaluated for the job, not the person, but the job. Right, okay. Then those were then tried to put into the market as to what is the best descriptor and then look at what are the peer group... I'm not using the right terms. Um, compared to that, to- to try to find out what the market is for that- that set of skills. Okay, I guess what I'm asking, is there going to be any attempt to redefine job responsibilities in the midst of all of this assessment and ... I see, yes. I can answer that, council member. The goal is currently , excuse me. When the Mercer study was done, uh, Mercer convinced, uh, the organization that the best approach was to make very broad classifications. That's one approach to compensation. That is not one I think is, uh, amenable to market analysis. What you've got to have is, uh, position descriptions that are specific for the job, a title that reflects that position, and is also reflective of something that you can compare it to in the marketplace. So those are exactly the three steps in the analysis of every job. Okay, that- that answers my question. So if this is going to be a 12 to 18 month study, is there any way that we can take another look at the inversion process right now that is in place, um, before the end of th- that study? Do you see any way that we can reevaluate this inversion, uh, ordinance before the end of that study? Y- yes, I think the- the equity inversion ordinance can be reviewed and amended or acted upon, uh, now, and not be waiting until the final answer to everything. The- the point, I guess, t- to play both ends on this is, is that it was attempting to address some of the inequities of our current system. I think everyone is, uh, acknowledging that- that as written and the process as adopted, it kinda creates its own problems as well, so is it correcting more than it's creating, is the analysis that I think is pertinent at this point. Okay, thank you. Council member Lane. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to, uh, refer the Pay Equity and Inversion Ordinance 197-2002 into the Budget and Finance Committee. So move. Who needs it, the ... There's a ... Senator G- It- it is in intergovernmental now, we are being told, Mr. Mi- Mr. Lane. Okay, I think it would still be worth referring it in to Budget and Finance, because there's more than personnel at issue here. This is a financial and economic issue for the government. I think it- I think we could look at the economic impact in the Budget and Finance Committee. You have a problem with that, Mr. Chairman, of the committee? No, as long as we're just looking at the monetarily impact, not the policy itself, because that does belong in intergov. It's already there, so. Okay, thank you. So you're making a motion to that effect, then. And there is a second. Did I hear a second? A motion and second to move the economic impact issues associated with, um, this matter to Budget and Finance. Is there a discussion? Hearing none. All in favor, please indicate by saying, "Ay." Ay. All opposed, "No." Motion carries, despite the yes. Go ahead, Mr. Lane. Uh, Mr. Myers. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I just, um ... You know the list that you gave us before of inversions? I- I think we've got 'em all corrected. I just wanna ask, is that list con- entirely corrected and they've received their check, or their money? ... or they s- they have one more reading? Uh, y- the two readings are, were, were accomplished last Thursday. Now, whether we've got them in the paycheck or not, probably not. It may be in the one that's coming up. Okay. But, but all of 'em on the list were taken care of in that second reading? Cor- I'm seeing a head shaking yes. That's correct, but I, I want to make sure- Sorry. ... that everyone understands that that was correcting all new hire inversions. So is there another list? No, there's not, but there's two components, new hire and promotions. And promotions have been handled as they occurred. If there was funding, it was taken care of. If there was not, it was an exception, and filed away, and it was over. So we do not have a listing of, uh, inversions from promotions that were considered exceptions. But the promotions are the ones that it sounded like, when you went to the PowerPoint you were saying that there may be a question as to whether or not it's really an inversion. There could be, but the ordinance as written says, "New hires or promotions." So the word promotion is in the ordinance. Okay. I guess then, is anybody tracking those? I mean, I know you said th- they're, they're done, so there's no way I'm- They got filed away and it's there for us to get you a list of a- of the exceptions. We would have to go through the file in order to find them. Okay. I asked the question already. So they're just kind of in a black hole, never to be seen again. So we've done the new hires. Okay. Will you let us know when those hit their paychecks? Yes. I know all at the same time, right? Yes. Mm-hmm. Okay. Thank you. All right. I'm showing no, no other council members, uh, asking to speak. So Mr., Mr. Bill- Thanks very much. ... thank you so much. All right. Thanks very much. Um, while I'm at s- while... Next on our agenda is a presentation by... is a, a presentation by Bob Quick of Commerce Lexington. And, uh, while Bob's coming up to the podium I'll say that, uh, earlier I went back and I, I, I apol- I apologized to Jenna for not asking you all if we could put this first on the agenda since Bob and Anthony are gonna be introducing a new corporate citizen. And lordy mercy, you know, sitting through one of these meetings- ... he might change his mind. We don't want that to happen. Okay. Thanks Scott. Anthony. Thank you, Vice Mayor. We are excited today to be able to announce that we do have a new company coming to Lexington. Uh, Florida Tile, uh, is moving to Lexington from Lakeland, Florida. They're moving their corporate headquarters here, and we did not wanna miss this opportunity while we knew we had a company official in town, uh, to give them a chance to come before you, and for this community to say, "Welcome," and for all of us to say, "Thank you for bringing the new jobs to Lexington." They're bringing, uh, 51 full-time jobs. Uh, most of the hiring, the vast majority of the hiring coming right here from Lexington. And the average salary being in excess of $47,000 a year. So, uh, I'm excited to be able to bring them before you, and wanted to bring up Mr. Quick, and then Mr. Shepard in that order. Thank you. And I too wanna thank the council on behalf of Commerce Lexington, the business community for your support of this endeavor. We are very excited to welcome Florida Tile's new, uh, US headquarters to Lexington. And this solidifies their presence that they have in this market. They have a manufacturing facility as well in, uh, Lawrenceburg. So in the times that we live and the pressures that we all feel, the fact that we have, uh, continued to be working with our existing companies, but especially now with an outside interest of the high level and the k- the magnitude of Florida Tile, I think, uh, will help our economy significantly. In addition to the 51 jobs, the $2.4 million in payroll to the loc- local economy, they're also investing 1.8 million in fit-up costs to their new corporate headquarters space. The additional economic impact this location provides to Lexington as a whole is not simply limited to the investment by Florida Tile. Because of their significant investments in people and equipment, an estimated 33 indirect and induced jobs and close to $600,000 in payroll will be created as well in Fayette County alone just to serve the company, uh, and its employees. Overall, between the direct, indirect, and induced jobs, 100 total positions and thr- and a $3.2 million in payroll will be created in an eight-county region. So as you break this all down, Fayette County, uh, does significantly well from a, uh, economic standpoint. But again, we talk about how the region works together. There's also a regional, uh, benefit that we gain when companies come to other counties around to us as well. So on behalf of, uh, Commerce Lexington, uh, we wanna thank you very much, uh, for making this day happen, and, uh, for this to, uh, end in such a successful project. Let me go ahead and... And at this point I'd like to introduce, we had, uh, a chance, Jenna and staff, Anthony have had a lot of time to work with these folks, but, uh, we had a chance to have dinner with Scott, uh last night, Scott Shepherd, and, uh, you're a tremendous guy. We've really enjoyed it and as we said, this is just the beginning. Uh, we will be working with you through on out. So Scott, if you wanna make a couple comments, that'd be terrific. Several years ago the, uh, state of Kentucky made a, a... Partnered with Florida Tile to make a major investment in, in the, uh, plant facility out at, uh, Lawrenceburg, Lawrenceburgh. And it basically, uh, I've only been with the company 18 months, but, uh, the stories I hear was... ... had that, uh, investment not been made into that plant through this cons- uh, economic recession, Florida Tile would probably be out of business. That investment took the plant from, uh, it put us on a cutting edge of making tile. So we've, we've, we're gonna s- be less stand. We're gonna stan- be standing when this recession is over. I, I tell you, um, really appreciate the... I've never seen the different levels of government working together like you've got in this state. I mean, you've got the state working. You've got this, the, um, the, the city and, uh, and... What am I leaving out? And, and, and the mayor's office. I mean, I mean, everybody is working together to make this happen. I real, I mean, you should be proud of them. They made this very, they've made it very easy. They've assured us that they're not going to leave us at the altar now. They're going to make sure that, you know, that everything flows through and I really appreciate that. Uh, you don't get that in a lot of communities. Uh, we're excited about moving the, the corporate headquarters closer to the plant. We, the, the, uh, I don't know if you know any history about Florida Tile, but it was m- uh, started in the '50s in Lakeland, Florida. It was sold in 1989, went through several ownerships. And about four years ago, uh, one of the largest, uh, manuf- tile manufacturers in the world, the Paneri Group, bought Florida Tile so that they could get a, a, their foothold in the US market. And they brought the technology into Florida Tile so that it ne- it didn't go out of business. Uh, they believe and, and I think they're, they're right on track. They've been successful across the w- in the world. You need to get the corporate headquarters close to the manufacturing because that's, that's where it's all happening. You've got to be changing as, as you need, a- as, as the economy is changing. And so we're excited about that. Uh, we're, we were disappointed that we're not having more of the, the existing employees, uh, move to Kentucky, but they, they decided that that's not what they can do at this time. So, but we're pressing on. Uh, we've already hired, you know, uh, we're hiring new people already and they're training, flying back and forth to, to Lakeland, uh, training. Uh, we're getting them up to speed. So we're excited. I wanna, I, I, again, I thank you so much for the welcome. I mean, everybody's been so nice and, and welcomed us to, to this community and we look forward to it. And, uh, you know, coming from Memphis, uh, uh, I, I, it's nice to know that you got Coach Cal here too. Thank you very much for this time that we've had before you. I didn't know if, if any one of you wanted to have comments, but we know Mr. Sheppard does have a flight that he has to catch and so we wanted to certainly take advantage of this opportunity while he was here. There are maybe some questions. So thanks a lot, uh, Anthony. Councilmember, Councilmember Gordon. Just one- Just one question, are you going to trade in your blue and orange for blue and white? Oh, well, you don't have to say it in public. I'm okay with that, but it will be a family decision. My, my daughters went- Cool. ... to University of Memphis and, uh, but Cal, you know, let me tell you- Boy. ... he, he's the best. He's just a very personable person and I, I, I congratulate you on getting him to, to, uh, Kentucky. Mr. Lane, then Mr. Martin. Uh, I would just, uh, like to welcome, uh, Florida Tile to, uh, headquarters to Lexington. I think you made a great decision. This is a terrific city. And also, I'd like to say that I have, uh, Florida Tile products in my home here and they're very good. And, uh, I think you've got a great product too. Thank you. Councilmember Martin. Thank you. And I too, I wanna welcome Florida Tile here. It's a, a, it's a great community and, uh, a lot of folks, uh, really enjoy the, the family nature of things here and the, and the, the green spirit we have here in Lexington. And, and, and Anthony, I just wanna know, is, is, uh, Coach Cal gonna bring, be bringing any other companies with him from Memphis? Thank you. Thanks, Doug. Councilmember Feigl. Uh, I also would like to welcome Florida Tile, but also wanted to let you know that your feedback on the process that you went through with our city and Commerce Lexington and all of the, uh, the other entities involved is, is excellent feedback. And I'm just so happy to hear that it was a great experience for you. Welcome to Kentucky. You bet. Thanks, Councilmember Feigl. And yeah, thanks to Bob, Janet, the whole, the whole team, Anthony, Kimberly. Yep, thank you all so much. And yesterday, and Councilmember Ellinger said that yesterday was Bob's birthday. So happy birthday, Bob. It's a great presentation. Yeah, great. You bet. Thank you all so much for being with us today. Scott, have a good trip. Okay, next on our... I think, uh, we got Rocky. Is Rocky next? LexTran update, Mr. Rocky Burke. Thank you, uh, Vice Mayor Gray, members of council. Uh, the reason I'm here today, uh, I guess last time I was here was probably back in May, we were going through the, uh, LexTran budget and, uh, there was a lot of, uh, questions at that time. So we felt, uh, we being our staff and our board felt it'd be a good idea after y'all's summer break to come back to you and talk to you about the accomplishments that we've, uh- ... that we've had over the last, uh, four years, since the tax referendum passed. So there's a lotta slides in your packet, and I'll kinda jet through these things pretty quick and hopefully be able to answer some questions. So, uh, hang on. Here we go. Um, this was a collaborative effort between, uh, like I say, my staff and, and our board, so, uh, so a lot of this stuff, uh, obviously comes from, from both sections, if you will. Um, if you take nothing else from this presentation, I hope that the one thing you take away is that we've had very, very, very significant ridership in the last four years. So that's the bottom line is our s- for our success was the ridership. And some of the keys to this success is our funding, grants, planning. And under the planning area, you know, we've got the Citizens Advisory Task Force, which I'll cover in a few minutes. Two comprehensive operational analysis have been done, and then just a strategic planning process from our board of directors. A little bit about the infrastructure for our success. Obviously, it, it hinges on some things, the capital purchases, uh, our capital construction program, customer service, which are our amenities, uh, the shelters, paratransit service, and new routes. Um, and then for us to continue our success, uh, kind of the roadmap, we've got to continue to foster these community relationships, continue to seek additional funding, and begin the regional planning process for possibly a regional transit organization. This is a s- a slide that I, I brought just from the, uh, budget presentation. The one that you all have in your pocket is not correct. This is the corrected one. The numbers didn't add up. I was looking at, at that. So, uh, this is the correct one, so if you, you're adding those things up, uh, you'll find that this is th- this is the correct one. But any rate, it just shows our, our operating, uh, expenses, revenues, and it shows the capital and where the money's coming from. So if you have any questions about that later, but it, again, it was covered in the budget presentation several months ago. Um, I just wanted to show this slide to show you that over the course of the last several years, property tax revenues continued to increase, um, which is good for us. We started in 2006 with a little over $12 million, and this past year, it was up to 15 million. Um, this is something else that I know is important to, to most folks here in Lexington, and that's the passenger revenue, which obviously equates to increased passengers. We haven't raised, uh, the, uh, regular fare from a dollar, uh, for many, many years. I guess it's been almost nine years since we've had a fare increase. So you can see that the revenue's gone up significantly, from a low of 99,000 in '06 to 133,000 in 2009. Um, and then this is just a, uh, a, uh, a bar chart to show you the, uh, increase in ridership, uh, which equates to that revenue I just shared with you. So it's a steady increase from 2.9 in '04/'05 up to this past year, w- you know, record year for us of 6.1 million passengers. Um, so now I'm kinda doing a little bit of, uh, uh, history, I guess, uh, just to kinda bring you up to speed. Um, uh, this is probably the 10th time that someone from LexTrans has been before the council since 2005. I know in my short tenure here of 18 months, this is my fourth time to be here to give you s- some updates on what's going on. Um, back during the tax referent- referemen- referendum days, uh, uh, there were, uh, several presentations made to Commerce Lexington, uh, the BUILD organization, various community civic organizations to include the Rotary Lions Club, Bluegrass Ad, Lexington Area MPO, many businesses and neighborhood associations and senior citizens. So the point of this is we're trying to get out in the community and make sure people know what we're doing. And we always welcome suggestions, and we're willing to, to go out and spread the word. Uh, so I'm gonna take you, count you through a short timeline. In 2005, we began the strategic planning process. Uh, the LexTrans board, uh, established five priorities, and they were to stabilize funding, uh, develop service adjustments based upon this funding, uh, of course enhance the public relations, improve o- operational effectiveness, and focus on cu- customer service. Uh, at that same time, many of you have talked about the Citizens Advisory Task Force. It was created by the LexTrans board of directors, and there are some of the people that, uh, or those are the people that served on the committee at the time. And you can read through there. You can see, uh, uh, some council members, current council members. Um, also in 2005, we did the first comprehensive analysis of the bus system. Uh, and then what I wanna do is just take you through some of the recommendations that the task force came up with. I know there have been some suggestions, "Whatever happened to those recommendations?" So I quickly wanted to, to share with you what was done. Uh, the first one was, uh, they wanted us to look at subway routing for our main lines and have 15-minute frequency. Uh, the things that we have done toward that was increase the frequency to 30 minutes, uh, in May of 2006. And, uh, the current, uh, uh, plan right now with the last comprehensive analysis we did is to actually look at a couple of our routes going to the 15-minute frequencies. Uh, the next one was a peer system review. We actually did that. We can see who we all went out to. For example, we went to Lansing, Michigan; Des Moines, Iowa; Wichita, Kansas; Savannah and Knoxville and Durham, North Carolina. And the majority of those operated on 30, 45, and 60 minute frequencies. You don't see any 15 minutes up there, but, uh, that's not to say that we won't be doing that. Uh, crosstown connectors. Um, b- a lot of people are tired of coming, always having to go to the transit center to catch their bus. So we did add some crosstown service. We've got the, uh, Versailles Road, Harrisburg Road, Nicholasville Road connecting at Turfland and Fayette Mall, or connecting, uh, Turfland Mall to Fayette Mall. I'm sorry. The other one was, uh, establish some neighborhood collector routes. Uh, we established both the north side and south side connectors. Uh, the north side, uh, connector has been so positive that we're actually going to make that a permanent route now. Right now, it's one of those deals where you actually call in and ask for service. Uh, the next one is, uh, downtown circulator, you know, that's kind of the buzz around the town now is the new trolleys that we're, we're buying. We have two of them on, on site, so, uh... That will start, uh, as late as maybe November, December, or possibly we wait until the, the spring to, to do the circulator. Uh, rebranding, um, there's a lot of folks felt that the Lex- LexTran name was, uh, kind of old and had some negative connotations. Um, the one thing we did do is we added LexTran On The Move to improve, uh, we dropped the to improved On The Move and quite honestly, there's a lot of discussion right now about, uh, looking to do something other than LexTran. So, if you have any suggestions, uh, send them my way. Uh, multiple transfer stations, um, what we've done there is we've created the, uh, Nicholasville Road transfers at Fayette Mall. You can see all the routes that run through the Fayette Mall and transfer there, Tate's Creek, Nicholasville, Versailles. And then also at the Walmart, , we, we transferred the Tate- Tate's Creek route, Nicholasville, and Southside. There was also a recommendation to create park and ride lots and, uh, we have, uh, one at the current time and it is at the, uh, Walmart at, uh, Man-O-War and Nicholasville Road. And we're considering other places right now. Um, appearance of bus stops and transfer stations, back in 2005, I guess, uh, we only had somewhere in the neighborhood of, of 30, uh, shelters. Um, I'll cover that a little bit later, but essentially, we've got almost 60 shelters in place now. Um, we've also been partnering with LexArts and Arts in Motion. You know, we have two, uh, Arts in Motion, uh, transfer, or, uh, bus, bus shelters, that being on Versailles Road, that's the bottle stop and the new one at 3rd and Elm, which is the sculpture. Uh, we've partnered with LexArts on lots of things. If you were down at the transit center, been by there, you'll see some n- really nice backlit boxes. We've wrapped some of our poles down there and doing a lot of things with Jim Clark and his organization. Uh, the last one was smart technology, um, you know, we've been in the dark ages as far as it's concerned there, but, uh, with the, uh, reinvestment money that President Obama gave us, the $5.4 million, we've, we're buying some new fareboxes, uh, automated vehicle locator systems and a whole lot of other IT projects are underway. Um, and also in 2005, we restored Sunday service, we've expanded our routes, reestablished night service, increased frequencies, frequency hours on selected routes. Um, also extended service to the, uh, uh, Nicholasville Road, Fayette Mall and Walmart. Uh, our customer service hours, uh, we stay open now on Saturdays. Uh, did a lot of strategic planning, uh, put a vision and mission statement together, created a business plan for, uh, 2007 through 2010 and, uh, done some extensive, uh, recruiting and, and training programs. Um, 2006, put a vision statement together, you can read that, I'm not gonna read to you, but, uh, but that's what we, or, or it's our vision and mission. Uh, also in '06, um, we went to 30-minute service on most of our routes. Um, I'm sorry, that was in January, and then in May, on all routes we went 30-minute service. Uh, in August, we created the new LexConnex. That's, uh, essentially the service where you, uh, we don't have a fixed route in that area, but, uh, you call in and request service and we'll pick you up. Um, just some organi- organizational structure issues from '04 to '06. Uh, the system was rebuilt with 36% additional miles. We went, uh, from 1.1 to 1.5 and a huge increase in employees, um, 56 to 113 and those were mostly bus operators, hired some more mechanics and some operation supervisors. Uh, some of the capital purchases, we've been buying buses since '06, it looks like, uh, uh, nine new buses were bought in '06, uh, taking it from 42 to 54 buses with 28% increase. In '07, moving along, uh, more strategic goals, uh, improve communities' awareness of LexTran and its benefits to the community, ensure prudent stewardship of res- resources. Um, we are trying to complete the construction and renovation of the administrative and operations facility up at Louden, improve the overall safety and security of the system, uh, enhance organizational development focus, and secure adequate funding. Uh, also, there's a technology bullet there, uh, to improve productivity and customer service, and, of course, we added, uh, goal number eight to make sure we're prepared for the World Equestrian Games. In '07, uh, capital construction planning took place, uh, again, for the administration building, uh, rehabbing the maintenance facility, and we just completed lots of repairs and, and, uh, remodeling to the Downtown Transit Center and this was all at a cost of about $7.5 million, which we don't have all of that yet, um, and we're s- seeking funds for that. Uh, in '07, we also, uh, had significant capital purchase. We bought 17 new buses. Again, the fleet grew from 54 to 71, and that's essentially where we stand today. I think we have 73 buses now counting the two new trolleys we just purchased. And now it comes, uh, in 2008, about the time I showed up, um, we had record ridership in '08, uh, on our fixed routes. We, uh, put in many shelters, like I said, we've got close to 60 shelters in place right now and with plans and money for another 30 more to go up around the city. Uh, the renovation, uh, uh, began, we, we built the new bus wash facility up on Louden, we completed the renovations to the Downtown Transit Center, uh, we began the extensive detailed, uh, Downtown Circulator planning, and then we just completed a comprehensive operational analysis. Uh, shelters, uh, we've prioritized the locations for shelters. You can see, uh, uh, some renditions of the, the two, uh, Arts in Motions, that's the bottle stop at the top and the, uh, the, uh, sculpture stop, uh, at the, uh, Third and Elm. Um, again, 2005, we had 19, I think the previous shads- shads- slide shows 30, but it was 19, and now we've had 57 shelters in place or in progress and we have plans for 30 more, as I stated. So, in 2008, um, again, the first phase of the- the big, uh, capital construction program, the Field Wash Facility was completed. Uh, the Transit Center renovation's done. And there's just a pictorial of the r- really nice mural that we had, uh, had done on the side of the Wash Building, and that was one of the projects we had with, uh, Plex Arts. We involved the community to help us paint that as well. It's kinda neat. Um, again, in 2008, this was the Downtown Circulator Steering Committee. You know, we didn't wanna undertake this project of the, uh, with just, uh, you know, our, uh, our thoughts and ideas, so we, uh, have asked all those folks up there you see, they're members of the Steering Committee, to help us plan the Downtown, uh, Circulator. And, uh, I know since I've been here, we've probably met three times. We've got a meeting scheduled for late October to hopefully, um, nail down the final plans for the Circulator. Um, and essentially, this is some of the, some of the things that we're considering, so that you're aware, you know, we will, we'll be using five trolleys. Two of them will be brand new hybrids, one brand new diesel, and then we have two used trolleys that we purchased from a Capital Metro in Austin, Texas. The plan is to offer it free for the first six months, just, you know, hopefully increase ridership. And the operation area will be, one route will be the Main and Vine between Triangle and Thoroughbred Parks, and then the other one will be, uh, Upper Limestone, which will connect UK and Transy. And of course, uh, we've, you know, certainly before the World Equestrian Games, uh, I would like to see it certainly by the opening of Keeneland in the spring, but depending on what the Steering Committee ask me to do, um, at this meeting in October, we could even possibly do it earlier than that. Um, regional commuter service, uh, this was something that was really discussed, uh, hot and heavy last summer when gas was $4 a gallon. We explored many partnerships with particularly Jessamine County, Scott County, Clark County, Woodford County. Um, right now, uh, we're- we're not doing anything, but, uh, but there's some- some beginnings of- of some discussions about creating some sort of regional transit system, uh, with these counties. In addition, uh, as a- as a offshoot of what we tried last summer, there is cooperation with Bluegrass Ultra Transit, it's a small rural provider out of Danville and Frankfort, and they actually have a bus that comes in to- to, uh, Lexington every day. And there's also a bus that comes from, uh, Winchester every day into Lexington. Uh, Park 'N Ride locations were something that we really worked hard on. As I said, we only have the one. Uh, I'm sorry, Vice Mayor. Rocky, excuse me. I've been advised that I need to do the unpopular job of telling you, you've kind of run out of time, but- Yep. ... we- we wanna give some more time. How much more time you need? Uh, it's probably no more than two minutes. I'm- I'm almost done. Okay, great. There's a mo- there's motion to- We have to do it formally, Rocky. Yeah, of course. Yeah, sorry. Okay. I- I move... Do you think you can finish in five minutes? Absolutely. Not a- I move to give him five more minutes to finish his presentation. Motion second, all in favor, please say, "Aye." Aye. All right, keep going, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Quickly, uh, as I said, uh, Park 'N Ride locations, we have the one at Nickelsville Road in Man-O-War. Fairly successful, we're working real hard to do some good things with it. We've got one at Newtown Pike and Boley Road, Coldstream, uh, Research Park, and then the NPO is working really close with us to, uh, try to locate some other, other locations. There's some- some issues possibly with using some of the Kroger stores around town. Uh, Paratransit Service, uh, you know, we renewed the contract with American Red Cross. It's a three-year contract, $8.2 million, performance-based contract. They purchased some new vans. Uh, just wanted to show you the passengers and- and vehicles service hours. You know, they went from, in 2005, the 33 vehicles up to 45. You can see the passengers have increased dramatically over the years. Um, we just finished the comprehensive analysis, which will take us through a design for the bus system for the next five years. We, uh, had many stakeholder interviews helping us with that. Recommendations are currently being considered. Um, and just a kind of a snapshot of the rider profile. 78% of people that ride our bus are 18 to 49. 44% ride every day, and 38 are using it to get to work. 25% are student fares. Some of the COA recommendations, uh, more frequency, as I said, 15 minutes possibly, realign the less productive routes, more cross-town connectors, and we're looking at Newt- New Circle, Man-O-War, and Alumni Drive for that. Um, additional express service, you can see where, Alumni, Hamburg, Richmond, Harrisburg. And then, uh, again, uh, we always talk about coming downtown, you know, twice an hour. We're looking at actually maybe redoing the- the- the pulses to every 15 minutes and again creating a regional transit authority. Uh, you know, we got $5.4 million from President Obama. Those are some of the things we're spending the money on, shelters and mostly IT technology and some buses. Questions? Thank you for allowing me to finish. Questions by council members. Council Member Lane, am I ri- is that, am I looking at this correctly? Council Member Blues, sorry. Thank you, Vice Mayor, uh- I was right? Oh, okay. Council- Me? Council Member Lane is up first. I'm sorry. I'm d- Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I- I just had one quick question on passenger revenue, which is your third or fourth chart. Could you, uh- Yes, sir. It doesn't say what that means. Is that dollars, uh, or is that number of passengers or- Is that the two point... Sorry. The one down, uh, percent of the property tax revenue says passenger revenue. It says 140,000, 120,000. Yeah, that's it right there. Yes, sir. Uh, is that for the whole year? Nikki, you wanna help me with that? This is Nikki Falconberry. Okay. She's my, uh, direct- budget director. Yes, that is the, um, passenger fares, the dollar fare that, uh, people pay. At the fare box. At the fare box. All right. 'Cause I, I was a little surprised at, you know, just dividing that out. That's about, um, 25 hundred dollars a week, which would just be 25 hundred riders at a dollar. Um, I thought you would have a much higher count than that for some reason. T- typically, honestly, fare box return around th- the, um, nation for, for bus service runs between 10 and 20%, depending on what it is. All right. And I think we're at 11 when you look at fare box revenue. Yes, we have the senior, the senior rate, and, and disabled rate is 50 cents, and then we have th- the children's rate of 80 cents, so it's, it's all, um- Mixed in together. Uh, w- do you have, actually have a total passenger count number in there somewhere? Is that one of them numbers towards the rear? Yeah, tot- total ridership for 2007, 2008, was 6.1 million. Now, that's not necessarily 6.1 million different people. That's many people riding many, many times. It's every time the door opens and someone gets on the bus, that's a trip, and that's what that 6.1 represents. Is that actual people, or is that miles that they travel? Is that a- That's actual, it's actual trips that they're taking. Okay. So that would be, um, uh ... Well, somehow I know that the revenue doesn't seem to jive with the number of passengers. I guess that's what's throwing me off. That's why I was asking. Okay, thank you very much. Yes, sir. Now, Council Member Blues. Rocky, thank you very much for that presentation. And, and also, thank you for, uh, you know, for, for listening to, to, to, to people, uh, in the neighborhoods and along the routes. Council members, uh, uh, about a month or so ago, LexTran proposed to change some of the, of the routing in, uh, in, in the St. Martin's neighborhood, and, uh, many of the, of the neighbors, uh, uh, did not think that was a very good idea. There was a neighborhood association meeting. Uh, LexTran participated. Mr. Riggins was, was there, and another representative from, from LexTran. A number of, of, of, uh, residents in the neighborhood spoke, uh, about their dependence on, uh, on LexTran, their needs for the bus service, the, the, the distance they had to walk to various bus stops. And within, uh, within I think 12 hours, uh, because you, you li- you listened to what the public had to say, uh, you decided not to change the route. That it was, that it was working very well for the, for the, for the people in the neighborhood. So, I really appreciate your, uh, your willingness to listen and your responsiveness. Uh, that really was being a good and, and helpful neighbor, and I know that the, uh, that the neighborhood appreciated it. So, I'm, I'm glad you have done that. Uh, I do have a question, and that is, as your, as, as your ridership increases, I'm not always certain that the, that the public per- per- per- perception, uh, uh, increases with it or, or expands with it, because I s- I continue to get, get calls, had one two days ago, and I'm sure that other, uh, council members do too, and, and you know what the call is. "Why am I seeing all these empty buses going by?" Uh, and it's, uh, yeah, and, and of course, also the companion complaint is that the buses are too big, uh, for, for the number of riders that are, uh, that are in them. And, and I think the evidence is, obviously, that the, that the ridership is, is, is increasing. I know the, the reasons why the, as, as, as you folks have explained it, why the, why the, why the larger buses are being used and so forth and so on. I wonder if, i- if you have, uh, plans to get, y- you know, better communication with the, the public, and that's essentially the non-riding public. We have more people don't ride the buses than, than, than do, but they really need to appreciate, I think, better the essential service that, uh, uh, for public transportation that you, that you provide. And I wonder if you have, have, have thought about ways to, uh, you know, to better publicize and, and, and communicate with the public, uh, what, what an essential service you do provide and the extent to which it's depended upon by so many of our residents. Yeah, it's been a big concern of mine, and, and I will tell you that, uh, one of the, the, uh, adjustments that we made, we, we loo- took a look at our advertising budget this, this, this current year that we're in, and we're actually, uh, take some- taking some money from some of the advertising that we were going to do, and actually we're hiring an, uh, outreach coordinator that, uh, will actually do just what you're talking about. Her, her or his position will be to, to get out in the community and, and spread the word what we're doing, uh, seek input, all these neighborhood associations. Like I said, it's very clear to us that, that, you know, we have riders that will, will continue to ride f- with us, but we need to, to make sure that we get into the neighborhoods and figure out why people aren't, aren't riding the bus and, and find out what they want from us. So yes, that's one of the adjustments that we're making, is an outreach coordinator. Appreciate that. Thank you. Council Member Stanet, then Henson. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Rocky, welcome again, as always. Um, going back to what Council Member Lane asked about the, the revenue, um, your ridership doubled in the last three or four years, but the revenue hasn't. Wh- why, why would that be? Well, you know, i- it could be a lot of reasons. You know, one of the things I was thinking about when, when Council Member Lane was asking the question, um, we sell a lot of passes. It's a 30-day pass and that represents the majority of our, of our riders, that people have passes. So you can take a 30-day pass and, uh- You know what that really means? ... and, and we pay $30 for it, and you can ride as often as you want. So when we look at, at the number of times that door opens and closes, it doesn't necessarily mean someone's- I was gonna say- ... paying a fare every time that they get on. Um, but, uh, so I, I don't know whether that adequately answered your question or not, but, you know, we... One of the things that we're getting ready to do with, with this, uh, economic stimulus money that we've got is purchase some electronic registering fare boxes, so we'll better be able to track who's getting on the bus, where are they getting on the bus, what kind of fare are they paying, and all those things. So hopefully a year from now, I can answer that question a little better. Right now, it's, it's simply based upon the fare box revenue and pass sales, and we have a formula that the Federal Transit Administration's told us to use, and we use that, and that's how we, we get our ridership numbers. Quite frankly- Okay. That's what I'm saying. ... I... You know, I understand. It's almost a... Sometimes it seems like smoke and mirrors the way we do it, but, but that's the best that we have right now. So you're using a formula, eh, to determine actual ridership, not counting one, two that got- Right. Because we have no way of doing that. That's correct. Okay. Yeah. We, we simply count the revenue that comes in every day out of our fare boxes, use the formula the FTA asks us to use, since we don't have that type of fare box, and then that's how we track ridership. Okay. 'Cause tha- I think that's an important point. Has that changed though, since 2004, that calcu- on that formula, has it always been the same? Um, I believe it has, but I can certainly, uh, double check that for you and let you know, but I think it's, it's probably- Just- ... been the same. ... it looks like ridership's doubled, but th- the fares haven't. And I... Do you have a number on your pass fare, how much that generates for the passes, the 30 days? We, we do track that, and I can certainly send that to you. That's the other 89% of your revenues or, uh, of the actual fare revenue? The 11% off the boxes, the other 89 is the passes? The 11% is a combination of everything, of our revenues. So as- So that- Passenger revenue, tha- that 11% that we're talking about is what comes outta the fare box and it is the pass sales that we have. Okay, so the 133,000 for 2009 includes the pass? Yes, sir. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm getting a... It's only, it's only, it's only... You wanna come up to the podium? I'm sorry. Yeah. I just wanna understand for the people- See, I understand and I, and I- ... up there 'cause it takes a while of a, like you said, a smoke and mirror negative picture- Right. Sorry, we w... Dave and I were just discussing that the passenger revenue on this page is just the straight fare box, where people- Right. Okay. ... put cash in there. That's what I thought. It doesn't include passes and it doesn't include tokens. So, and it wouldn't include, um, UK students. Do you know how much all that, the other adds up to be, revenue-wise? Do you have those numbers by chance? You don't have to... If you don't have them- I have them. ... today, you can get them. That's- I have it. Yeah. Okay. Rocky, you mentioned we went from 54 buses in your fleet to 71. How many actually run daily? We have, uh... I think the peak pullout is probably, right now, given the new service changes that we've got, we're probably at 55 buses. And how, how much is that up from, say, four or five years ago? 'Cause I think at one point I saw we were only running 35 in 2004. So, I mean, that seems to be a pretty good jump, if you're saying... Do you have something? Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Um, uh, Council Member Stanet, typically what, what you see is a 20% spare ratio. So back in the day, in 2005, if we were running 32 buses, um, i- if we had 32 buses, that probably meant that we had, what? Um, 26 buses probably- Well, no, we had 35 on the road, I think is what was reported to the National Transportation Database. If it was 35, then, and, and then we probably had, uh, you know, a, another, um, seven buses in the fleet. Right. And, uh, and today, like I say, we've got 72, and we're, we're out there with, you know, uh, 55 buses. Uh- And, so I assume that those extra are just backups, mechanically? Back up spares, exactly. And, and of course, uh, you know, given the age of some of our buses, we need those. Yes, sir. Good. Any future plans for a new, um, transit center? You know, it's, uh... Right now, uh, I think there are some, some very long range plans, and it's not something that necessarily that LexTran is, is looking at doing right now, but, but I know there's been some discussions with, with other folks in the community about, about that. Um, you know, we're in a prime location where we're, where we're at, so I think there are some, some things that, uh, we could... So long as we stay in the downtown area, we're happy to move. We've also always talked about an additional transit center, in addition to the one that we have downtown. Uh, for example, there's already some discussions talking about, you know, the new, uh, campus out at, uh, on Newtown Pike, possibly using that as some sort of a, a layover transfer center of some sort. So we're always looking at, at options, and, and through the COA, that was discussed as well. And, um, last, the grid system, uh, I know you mentioned it briefly from the Citizens Advisory Group recommended. Uh, how close are we to e- to really to getting into some type of system like that, so you don't have to always come? Is that dependent upon having additional transfer assists, uh, areas, or can we create that without having a new transit center? Y- you pretty much have to have other transfer stations to do that. You have to have 15-minute frequency to make that sort of thing happen. Uh, we're s- as I said, some of that cross-town connector stuff that you saw us talking about, we're slowly getting to that point where we might, may be able to do that, but it's, it's, uh... We're taking baby steps to get there right now, just because of the cost associated with adding the extra buses to make that happen. 'Cause you mentioned in your presentation that that would be enacted upon demand, but I think the demand would be a lot higher if people knew, "Hey, there is a bus close to me. I can get on it and be where I need to be in 15 minutes." That's, that's pretty- Right. And, and a lot of this, this, these ones that we discussed, and it was in the presentation, are because what we found out during the... ... these surveys that we did, where people want to go, so that's the reason we're adding s- adding more of that right now. Thank you for your update, appreciate it. Yes, sir. Council Member Hanson, then Council Member Gordon. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Hi, Rocky. I think y- you all have done a great job. There's a, a lot of changes that have come about over the years that, and I, I mean, our service used to be really, really bad. So I appreciate it a lot. Are the circulators and the trolleys already... I couldn't r-... And it says the timeline for 2008? We, we have, uh, we've actually, uh, we have two of them on site right now, and the other three will be delivered to us sometime in November. The trolleys? The trolleys, yes, ma'am. When will they be up and running? Well, you know- How long will it take? ... we're gonna have the stakeholder meeting at sometime in late October, and based upon that, we'll probably have a better idea. But, but I've always said prior to, obviously, the World Equestrian Games, my target's always been spec-... Probably for the Keeneland meet in the spring. Oh, good. But we could possibly do something even sooner. You know, for example, we're doing a, a few little things with them right now. We had the, uh, the gallery hop with the, um, Lexarts last Friday night, and we actually ran one of the trolleys, uh, on Vine and Main. Good. We had about 60 people took advantage of that. It was free, and, uh, so we just kinda teasin' the public what it looked like to come out and ride. Are, are you all helping out the UK football games for home games? Yes, ma'am. We, we did this, this past weekend was the first one we had, uh, uh, about 2,600 passengers- Okay. ... actually rode the bus. It was outstanding. That's a real good way to go, huh? Um, wha-... The paratransit service. Yes, ma'am? I have to... I know that you had said you were working on the services, the customer service and things like that. I have, just so you'll know, personally experienced very good, or better phone service. Good. Okay. Glad to hear that. And I, I just wanted to make sure that that's something you're gonna continue to work on. Yes, ma'am. It is, and, and, and, and Red Cross is working hard at it too, because as I said, we have a performance-based contract for those folks, so- Okay. ... so the fewer complaints they have, the more they get paid. Okay. Yes, ma'am. Well, thank you very much. Yeah. Council Member Gordon. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you very much, Rocky. I really appreciate you and your staff, who have worked so hard on all of this. And I think over the last, I know over the last 11 years, I've seen great improvements, and I wanted to ask two things. Will you... I think it was your third slide or so, the fiscal year 2010 revenue that you said was inaccurate. Will you get us a copy of the accurate one- Yes, ma'am, I will. ... that you showed? Yes, ma'am. And then, um, on the, in the timeline 2005, the advisory group recommendation for neighborhood collectors? Yes, ma'am. Um, are those the collectors that will, that run between, like, for instance, if people live between Tates Creek Road and Nicholasville Road, I'll use that as an example, uh, would those be, uh, routes that would come through the neighborhood to connect the two corridors? Is that- Yes, ma'am. And, and what we did to, to kinda start that service was the, the South Side Circulator and the North Side Circulator. And what we did, we had very few stops in the south part of Lexington and the north part, and what we did, we set up a system whereby if someone lived in one of those neighborhoods and wanted a ride, they would call us and tell us what time they would like to be picked up and where they would like to go. So, so long it was in that corridor, if you will, we would go into the neighborhood and pick those folks up and take 'em to, you know, one of the other stops or, or, or a destination along, along that stop. So in addition to doing that, you know, back in '05, we're looking to expand that service with this new 2010 program. So again, that's one of those things that, you know, if we could get in to talk to the neighborhood associations and figure out what people really want- Mm-hmm. ... you know, we could, could do more of that. Mm-hmm. Well, I think that I've talked with you about this, but I think that's a real key to getting people on the buses who don't have to ride the buses. Yeah. 'Cause that'll make it more convenient for people to use mass transportation when they otherwise might choose not to 'cause they have a car or something. I think a lot of people want to do that, and when it's convenient enough that they can catch something where they only walk, you know, a few blocks as opposed to a three-quarters of a mile, I think we'll get a lot more riders. So I'm looking forward to that too. Yes, ma'am. So thanks again. Thank you. Okay. Looks like nobody else signed up to, for, uh, questions, so Rocky- And I will get you all- ... I will follow up with you. ... the information that you've requested. Is it... Got a answer for Mr. Lane? Is that- I have the answer for Council Member Stennet. Okay. Uh, the, uh, budgeted amount for, um, the passenger revenues, which includes the, all the farebox, uh, tokens, passes, and everything is about 1.5 million. And d- do you, uh, soon you have it going back a couple years how that's increased? Um, it's, um, it's increased daily. I don't have it with me right now, but, um, it in-... It's increased over the last few years about 4% per year. Very good. Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much. Thanks, Rocky. Thank y'all so much. And next on our agenda are council reports. Counselor? Are you... Did you punch it? Yeah. Okay. Council Member Gordon. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I have two, um- ... items. Just a reminder to council members that on Tuesday, September 29th is the quarterly Planning Commission, Planning Committee Joint Workshop. And so again, that is September 29th from 9:00 to 11:00 AM at the Central Library here downtown. And then even though next week I'll be reporting out for the planning committee today, I did wanna put this out, um, so that it's timely. Um, we had a number of people who did not have an opportunity to speak at today's planning committee meeting. So the planning committee has decided to call a special meeting. This is to continue, um, to hear from citizens on the Student Housing Task Force Report, and so we'll hear from those folks who signed up and didn't get to speak. And it's, the special meeting will be October 5th from 1:00 to 3:00 PM here in the council chamber. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Gordon. Council Member Lawless, then Council Member Blues. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Um, first of all, I wanna say that I've heard from several people in neighborhoods around UK and people who attended the football game on Saturday, and they said it was the best ever home football game. And that, um, code enforcement and, um, the clear unit Officer Gaines, uh, the waste management, um, and the police did a really great job. UK, um, police did a great job moving traffic. And then also a big thank you to the sororities and fraternities at UK that, uh, went out on Sunday and cleaned up the neighborhoods around, around UK. So, um, I, it was really nice to hear from different neighborhoods. I haven't heard from them all, called around and, but, uh, people were saying it was the best, uh, home game they had ever experienced. Um, so kudos. Uh, I also wanna reiterate that the Student Housing Task Force and the moratorium on, and issues about large additions being the vinyl box issue are two very separate things. And, um, still working on the moratorium issue and finding solutions to that problem. So I just wanted to make clear, that clear to folks watching out there, and, um, thank you very much. Council Member Blues. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I have, uh, three announcements for Monday, September 28 of, of neighborhood meetings. First of all, the Radcliffe Marlboro neighborhood will hold, uh, their monthly meeting at 7:00 PM in the community center in Marlboro Park. At the same time, 7:00 PM on the 28th, the Oakwood Neighborhood Association will, will meet at the Community Center in Oakwood Park. And then the McConnell's Trace Greenway Committee will meet a- again, 7:00 PM at the Harmony House Model Home on, uh, can't remember the, the, the name of the street at the moment, but I, but I, I think all the members of the committee will. So those three meetings on Monday the 28th. The next day, uh, September 28th, Tuesday, the, the, uh, I'm sorry, Tuesday, September 29th, the, uh, Federal Med- Medical Center on Leestown Road will host a career and recruitment fair for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. This, uh, uh, this, this fair will, will be from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM at the, at the Federal Medical Center at 3301 Leestown Road. And this will be for a number of jobs at the, uh, at, at, at the Lexington facility, but also at facilities th- throughout the, uh, throughout the Federal Bureau of Prison system. This is real opportunity for, uh, Lexingtonians who are, who are unemployed, who, who, or who may be underemployed to, uh, uh, to learn about, about, about employment opportunities and career opportunities in the, uh, in the Federal Bureau of Prison system. So I hope that, uh, that, uh, we'll have a good turnout. Uh, I, I think this will be an im- an important event in our community. Once again, that's, uh, that's September 29 from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM at the Federal Medical Center on Leestown Road. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Council Member Feigel. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Um, at six o'clock tonight, uh, the Newtown Pike stakeholders w- meeting will be held at Heritage Hall in Ballroom Three. At seven o'clock is the Kenwick Neighborhood Association meeting at the Kenwick Community Center, and they will vote on their parks concept plan tonight. On September 30th will be the Kentucky Fall Classic Horse Show at the Covered Arena at the Horse Park. And October the fi- fourth is the Ashland Park Neighborhood Association from 4:00 to 7:00. It is a picnic and it's potluck. Thank you. Councilmember Stennet, then Councilmember Crosby. Thank you, Vice Mayor, I just have a couple of issues. One, uh, I see our chair of services leaving. I hope he can, uh ... I'd like to put the issue of this multi-way stop at Ogden and Starshoot Parkway into services and it -- and if it can be heard in two weeks at our next meeting. Thank you, sir. So a motion and a second to, um, put that- Multi-way stop request at Ogden and Starshoot Parkway. Okay, everybody got it. And it ... And the reason why I asked the urgency, it's already met one of the main warrants, and that's the collision data that signifies a, a multi-way stop would be, um, appropriate at that intersection. Because it's already met its ... and just in the last three months, uh, it's a critical area that, that needs to be addressed immediately, so ... Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, no? Motion carries. And then, uh, next week at the budget and finance meeting, we'll take up the business occupational license fee. Uh, for any of those, uh, uh, in the public or watching today want ... that would like to speak about it, against it, for it, or, or request changes, we'll entertain that during the next budget and finance meeting. I know there are several officials, referees in town, realtors that may wanna comment on some proposed changes to it, so that would be the, uh, uh, perfect time to come and, uh, speak at the budget and finance meeting, one o'clock next Tuesday here in the chambers. Then also, last but not least, the Eastern Parkway meeting is not tonight. It'll be actually next Tuesday night, uh, the 29th, at Christ Center Church at 6:30 PM. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Councilmember Crosby. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I just wanted to remind everybody that this Saturday morning is the Race for the Cure, Downtown Lexington. This is a great race for walkers and runners, and, um, it's not too late to register, so if you haven't done that yet, I'd encourage everybody to come out. Thank you. Councilman Myers. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I move approval of the NDF, uh, fund list. Second. Ocean in approve? Or motion in a second to approve the NDF list, uh, is there any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, no? Motion carries. There is no mayor's report today. Is there anyone with public ... Anyone today with public comment? There is no public here. Gee whiz. Well, it's been delightful. Is it time for a motion to adjourn? Move to adjourn. I don't mean it's been delightful that there's no public . Forgive me for that. Motion to adjourn. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, no? Mo- we are adjourned.