Call the, uh, work session to order if we could, and I'd like to depart from our normal agenda for a brief, uh, special presentation here on the front end. Um, Mr. Smith, come on over here. Uh, I'm over here today because I want to, uh, issue a special thank you, come on, come on over here, to, um, Mr. James C. Smith, Jim as he is known, for, uh, his quick thinking and self-sacrifice yesterday. As I'm sure many of you have heard, uh, Jim was on duty yesterday on Redding Road in front of Landsdown Elementary when, uh, he noticed a car approaching the intersection he was guarding too rapidly. And it was pretty apparent that, uh, the car was not going to be able to stop in time to, uh, enable a child who was crossing the street to, to cross safely to the other side. Uh, Jim pushed the child out of the wa- out of his way, out of the way of the car, and actually wound up being hit by the, uh, side view mirror on the car, and in effect, put himself in harm's- harm's way to avoid a life-threatening injury to, uh, one of our younger citizens. As I'm sure many of you have, uh, I've had occasion to walk across, uh, school crossings that, that had one of our guards there, and you think at the time how important it is that they do their work well. But I think Jim's bravery and, and courage yesterday was a real tribute to the work that all of our school crossing guards do. And in light of, um, his actions yesterday, I wanted to, um, give him a little special recognition. Now, today is not the first time that Jim has received some special recognition. Um, he's been a crossing guard for the last couple of years and, uh, he gets compliments on a regular basis. Last September, he received a letter of appreciation from the Division of Police, which as you all know, oversee our crossing guards. And I wanted to read that to you because I thought it was ver- very prophetic. It said, "This commander's letter of appreciation is being presented to you, Mr. Smith, for your outstanding work, which led an observer to call us and advising us that you are doing an exceptional job at Bellemeade and Ready. He also advised us that he's lived in this area for over 24 years, and you are by far the best school guard that has been assigned to this location. He appreciates you giving attention to traffic in this area. Your actions speak well of you personally, and as a school guard with the Division of Police. Thank you for a job well done." And Commander Mike Blanton from the traffic section assigned that letter. Um, Jim is here today with several members of his family, including his wife, Betty. We are very pleased to have you here. And, Jim, on behalf of, uh, a very grateful community, I have a plaque here for you. And it says, "The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government hereby names James C. Smith as an outstanding citizen of Lexington, Kentucky in recognition for his quick thinking and self-sacrifice. While on duty as a school cr- crossing guard on February 1st, 2010, at Landsdown Elementary, Mr. Smith put himself in harm's way, allowing himself to be hit by a car to protect a child from serious, potentially life-threatening injury." Presented February 2nd, 2010. Signed by me. Thanks, sir. I wasn't aware, uh, until just now that we are pleased not only to have Jim here with us, but Alyssa, who is the young gal who, uh, he pushed out of the way yesterday is joining us as well. So thank you for being here with us as well. I'd like to say one thing. Uh, I was there. I done the pushing and the moving, but the Lord was with me the whole time. I give him all the credit for being with me. Now, I thank you. I thank you. And I thank my boss, Charlotte, for hiring me and giving me a chance to work with people. Um, I really do like my crossing guard job. People laugh. I say, "What do you do?" "I'm a crossing guard." And they laugh. But I've got a very important job. I'm taking care of the future, and I'm glad to have it. Thank you. I must share with you one thing Mr. Smith, uh, told me a little earlier. We had a chance to visit just before the meeting. I said, "How are you getting along?" He says, "Not too well." And I said, "Well, I'm sorry. I, I didn't think your hip was injured that badly." He said, "Oh," he said, "My hip's just a little sore. It's all this activity that's just..." So let's get a photo if we can, and then we'll, uh... All right. Anybody else want to come take a picture with him? Thank you all very much for joining us. You're welcome to stay as long as you wish. Feel free to, to leave at any time you prefer. So, uh, thank you very, very much for being here. We're ready now to get on about the, uh, regular business of the work session. First item on the agenda this afternoon is public comment on issues that are on today's agenda. Does anyone wish to address the council? Seeing none, we'll proceed. We don't have a docket to approve, but we do have the January 26th summary to approve. Is there a motion? Move approval. Second. Have a motion by Council Member, uh, Crosby and a second by Council Member Myers to approve the summary of January 26th. Uh, Council Member Gordon. Thank you, Mayor. I have one slight technical change . Um, on page eight. ... under council report, under my, uh, council report. Uh, Lieutenant Jack Stultz should say Lieutenant General Jack Stultz. Thank you. That's an important addition from Mr. Stultz point of view as I'm sure it is from all our perspectives. Any other changes? Um, if not, we w- uh, will, um, let the summary be amended as reflected without objection. Any further discussion? All in favor of amending, of approving the summary as now amended, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Oppose no? Motion carries. We don't have any budget amendments. We do have some items of new business for consideration. Move approval. Second. Have a motion by Council Member Gordon and a second by Council Member Blues to approve the new business items. Any discussion? Council Member James. Thank you, Mayor. Um, first of all, I just wanna say on item K, I think this is, um, the, this is the Echo Art program, and I just wanna say that to the administration and those that have organized that, um, it's a phenomenal program and a good start. I hope this is something we can continue to do in the future. Combining, um, environmental quality and arts is a good way to branch out, uh, our, our education as far as, um, the environment. And then I have a question on O, item O. Probably the law department would be the best to answer this, Commissioner Askew. While Commissioner Askew's coming up, let me, uh, tell you that the Echo Art grants were the brainchild of, uh, Commissioner Taylor and some of our folks in the Department of Environmental Quality. And, and, uh, I agree with your assessment. It's clever way of promoting the arts and the environment at the same time and- Yes. ... congratulations on a great idea. Thank you. She's, she's very creative, isn't she? She is. Hey. Hi, there. Um, my question on this is, I'm, I'm wondering, it looks like on item O, tell me if I'm wrong, but it looks like we're going from a civil service to a non-civil service as far as these positions are concerned. Is that correct? I believe that is correct, but I need to check to get more detail on this. If you can give me just a minute, I'll come right back. Okay. And, and my next question if you wanna look at that at the same time is, how, how is this played out in the charter? Um, so, um, I don't know as far as changing something from civil service to non-civil service. We've had, uh, been working on another... I had been working on another issue and we were dealing with this and we, because of the charter specifications, it would not allow it to happen. So I'm want- wanting to make sure that we do check the charter before we- Let me check- ... move this item forward. ... and I'll come right back. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Any further discussion? Um- Is it okay if I table? Can I move to table item O, until we hear back from Commissioner Askew, please? Second. If that would be appropriate. Is there a second on the motion to table? Second. Have a second by Council Member Gordon. That's non-debatable. So all in favor of tabling item O, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Oppose no? Motion carries. That takes us back to, uh, the motion to prove the new business items. W- all of the new business items, except item O, which is now tabled. Any, uh, discussion? All in favor please say aye. Aye. Oppose no? Motion carries. Uh, we're now down to the presentations. The first is from the Budget and Finance Committee, Council Member Stennet. Thank you, Mayor. As normal procedure, we started off with a monthly revenue report through the month of December. This was reported on January the 26th. Just a couple ou- economic trends to note before we go into the revenue numbers. Unemployment was 7.3% through the month of December, uh, which was still the lowest in the State of Kentucky and still relatively flat compared what it was in November at 7.1%. Uh, foreclosures, uh, were down in December, as well as building permits and home sales, which also could be due to the holiday month, uh, and year end of December. Our revenue numbers, again, focusing on the top four, uh, revenue streams, which are employee withholding, net profit, insurance, and franchise fees. The employee withholdings were down 16.8% or $2.27 million through December. Net profit was down 7.9% or 323,000 through December. Insurance, uh, and franchise fees were down significantly percentage wise. Uh, this was due to a timing issue. The insurance was down 600,000, oh, I'm sorry, $60,754. And the franchise fees were down 462,294. Again, those two numbers were due to a timing issue and when we collect both of those, uh, fees. Year to date numbers, uh, include being down 5% through the first six months of the year, or 3.836 million through the big four revenue streams. Um, also wanna note through December we are down 16... I'm sorry, total revenue overall is down 4.5% or 6.19 million. Uh, that's all revenue sources, not just the top four revenues. Total expenditures, on the other hand, are also down 5.62 million or 4.6%. Second item on the agenda was the council personnel lapse. We did go in discussion in regards to our own personnel lapse. Uh, there were some discrepancies found in the positions that were currently filled. First, what was budgeted as being vacant. We also noted that council personnel lapse was part of the $5.7 million, uh, budgeted personnel personnel lapse for all of government, so it did include the council personnel lapse in that 5.7 million. Last item on our agenda, we set the, the topics for our next meeting, which will be in February. Uh, the first item will be the role of council links. Second will be the discussion of the debt management policy, and we'll present the report from the Fiscal Policy Task Force. And Mr. Merle Hackbarth will be here to present that to us once again for discussion. And the third item will be the review of the library budget, uh, will also be on our agenda. Uh, those three will be in addition to our monthly revenue numbers. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Any questions for Council Member Stunt? Very well. Council Member Blues, I think you have a report from the Water Resources Oversight Committee? I do. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, at the January 19th meeting of the Water Resources Oversight Committee, uh, let me give you a few highlights of that meeting. A, uh, regarding the potential site location for the expansion area to a pump station, uh, Council Member Gordon, uh, moved and Council Member Beard seconded a motion to endorse the concept of keeping that pump station within the urban services area and, and to ask the Division of Water Qual- Quality Director to, to move forward with, uh, with an appraisal of the property and negotiation for, uh, for purchase. That motion passed five to one, and we will be hearing more on that issue, uh, at subsequent meetings. Director Martin, uh, updated us on construction projects, two construction projects, uh, within the consent decree. Uh, one is the, uh, is that the South Elkhorn force main, uh, was successfully, uh, tested. And, however, the South Elkhorn Pump Station is 30 to 45 days behind schedule, and Water Quality is meeting with the contractor to get that project back on schedule. Both of these projects need to be completed, uh, by September 16 of this year. In his director's report, Council Member... I'm sorry. Uh, Director Martin, uh, reported that the, uh, that the water bill for January went out with the, uh, water quality management fee in it, uh, that , some individuals in rural areas who do not have water meters, uh, experience some, uh, some problems with, uh, with that. And Water Quality is working with these individuals to clear up the situation. They represent about 600 out of over 100,000 bills. Uh, the incentives program is almost completed, possibly, uh, to be able to accept some grant applications from industrial and commercial properties, uh, by April, and with, uh, the possibility of, of, of awarding, uh, some of those grants in June of this year. Finally, Council Member Stennett, uh, , requested that, for our February meeting, the, uh, Water Quality bring to us a, a process chart for the whole process of demolition of, of houses that are in floodplains, from the purchase, to the demolition, to, uh, maintenance responsibilities and permitted u- uses of, uh, of the cleared land. Those are the highlights of that meeting. And thank you, Mayor. If there are any questions. Any questions for Council Member Blues? See none. So I believe, uh, Mr. Askew is back with some of the information Council Member, um, James requested. Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. Um, the two ordinances that are being amended are being amended to correct typographical errors. All part-time positions are unclassified civil service. And so instead of being in chapter 21, it should have been in chapter 22. So that's a correction. Oh. Okay. And then the second- Okay. ... is the pay grade change, and that was incorrectly, uh, placed in the ordinance. Whoa. So it's basically two- Let me see. ... changes that, uh, rectify a error in those ordinances. Where, where was the initial error? Not, not... You're not saying the error is on this sheet. You're saying the error was on the- It's correcting it, yes. For instance, it had a part-time position, uh, under, uh, chapter 21, which is classified civil service. And they're part-time positions. Okay. And there are only two of them? Yes. Okay. Okay. Okay? Thank you. In light of that information, would a motion to take from the table be- Yes, that's fine. ... appropriate? Uh, I move to, um, remove from the table item O. Do I hear... I have a motion by Council Member James and a second by Council Member Ellinger to remove item O from the table. N- and it's non-debatable. All in favor, please indicate by saying, "Aye." Aye. Opposed, "No." Motion carries. A motion to approve item O. ... is, uh, in order and Council Member Martin has made that motion. Do I hear a second? Do I hear a s- Council Member Thigell has seconded the motion. The motion on the floor now is on the approval of item O. Any discussion? All in favor then of approving item O, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed no, motion carries, and that will be added to our docket. Getting back on our agenda now, the next item is the, uh, presentation by Mr. Van Pelt about the Courthouse Area Design Review Board. Billy? Thank you, Mayor. This report is a report that's required by the ordinance to give the council as well as the planning commission an update on the activity of the courthouse design overlay zone review board. And I won't read this verbatim, but the, the ordinance was established in 2001. It's roughly 23 acres in the core of downtown. Uh, this board meets on a quarterly basis and our 2010, um, that should be 2010. That's our adopted meeting schedule for this year. This is the makeup of the board and, uh, the LFUCG employees that staff the board. Uh, the, um, designations of each of the board members are called out in the ordinance. To date this year, or in 2009, there were 10 board approvals and 11 staff approvals, and 34 board approvals to date with 21 staff approvals. The board designates to staff the authorization for all covered activities within with the exception of the following: demolition, new construction on vacant lots, additions to existing structures, where the proposed activity exceeds 20% of the existing floor area, changes to doors, windows, signage, and changes to facades. And that's to facilitate, um, projects in the downtown area. So if a l- a property owner has a more minor project, they can keep moving forward with their project. And here I've just, uh, highlighted some of the projects that have been approved by the board over the last several years, and I'm sure some of these look familiar to you throughout downtown. And the approvals, um, might be anything as simple as an awning and a, a replacement of the doors as in this case, or a painting of a facade, or something a little more dramatic as is the case with this project where there was no evidence of a, the original facade and the building was, was not in good shape and went u- underwent an extensive re- renovation. And I'll just briefly go through here. Uh, this was a first floor renovation with an awning. Um, ah, we're seeing a lot of, um, new restaurants and bars in the area around Cheapside and this is just one example, and I'm happy to report at our board meeting next week, there's another building right across from this restaurant at 310 West Short. Um, we have another restaurant that's gonna be going in in that area. Uh, here, uh, the, the Dudley's project, uh, as you know, they're moving from Maxwell and this was a stucco facade that was added in the '70s and that's, has since been removed and the new storefront has gone on and the, the inside is much further along than the outside, and it's really looking good. The, the outdoor space, which was a big part of the old Dudley's location is gonna be, um, reconstructed here on the rooftop that's behind this building here as you see. And then here I think, uh, there's been quite a bit of energy on Mill Street between, um, Main and Short, these three buildings, with before and after shots of what's happened here, which I think are three really good projects. The Cheapside patio, perhaps one of the most visible corners downtown has, has been completed recently and over the last year we've been looking at the design guidelines as, as they are today, the boundaries of the zone, downtown zoning and responding to the historic building survey. Um, I'm working with, uh, Chris King and Betty Kerr and Harold Tate on, you know, where we go from here. And, um, we're, we're, I think at this point we're focusing mainly on the business owning, the, the B2, the B2A, and the B2B zoning and how do we achieve, um, what we want to achieve within those zones and respond to the historic building survey. And that's it. Are there any questions? Yes, ma'am. Counci- Counci- Council Member Gorton. I'm sorry, Council Member Wallace. Thank you, Mayor. That's okay, people get us mixed up all the time. Um, that was a joke. Okay. Um, on this, you, you talked about, uh, expanding the overlay area. Um, and I, I think that would be a really wonderful move forward for our community. Um, we adopted as a plan for, um, the adopting the master, downtown master plan as a kind of... And I would like to see our downtown overlay, courthouse overlay review area expanded dramatically. Um, and I was wondering if you could talk about that some. Well, we're, we're just in the, um, the beginning stages of that discussion with the individuals that I mentioned earlier. And I think what we need to do is continue to work on, um, the items that were listed on the screen and come back to you with a more formal proposal a- and in the planning committee and talk about it in detail. Do you have any idea, like, how far? I don't. I don't. I think there's a concern, while on the surface it may seem like expanding the overlay might be, uh, an option, I think we also have to look at, um, what it would take to implement an expansion of the overlay and, and staffing and enforcement. So I think that if we can accomplish the, the goals, um, in terms of recognizing and preserving buildings that were called out in the historic building survey and we can change our business owning and achieve those, uh, those, those, uh, goals, then I think that might be an easier way to approach, um, that than expanding the overlay. I think that's gonna be a much bigger move and I think it's gonna, that's gonna be, take a lot of time if that's the direction that this group or the planning committee decides to go in. But in the short term, I think we should focus on what can we do now to ha- to respond to this as quickly as possible. Is there anything that would be helpful from council to help with this response? Uh, not at this time. Once again, uh, we don't have anything in writing for you. Okay. And I think that it would be premature for me to discuss it until we have a formal proposal from our work group. Um, one of the things I noticed as I went through your... And thank you for all your hard work with not only this, but PDR, but, um, one of the things that I noticed that was missing on approved projects was the Center Point, um, project. Do you have any updates on that or... I do not. Okay. Have there been any, um... They haven't applied for building permit yet or? Y- you know, I'm not... That would be a question for Mr. Crow. Okay. Okay, thank you. You're welcome. Council member Feigl. Thank you, Mayor. Thanks so much for your presentation. I just wanted to, to kind of add some information to the discussion here, may or may not be relevant. Um, I, I just wasn't sure if you had occasion to look at street trees as a part of the, the package when a renovation is going on. But just to let you know that the Corridors Committee is now working with the urban, urban forestry and also with Parks to develop, um, regulations and specifications for, um, how the street trees are ch- selected and how they're planted. And so I just wanted to pass that information along to you in, in the event that you, um, had to deal with any type of landscaping, because this also relates to, um, shrubbery and that type of thing too. So if you have to deal with any landscaping issues, these specifications we're hoping to make, um, county-wide. Thank you. Thank you. Council member Gordon. Thank you Mayor. Thank you very much, Billy. I had a couple of map questions. Sure. Um, can you remind me on the map, um, about how the boundary was drawn? 'Cause I know when you look at the map, this little part west of Mill Street is added and I kind of forget how, how the boundary was drawn. Well, that was before my time- Oh. ... with, with the government, but I have a feeling, um, a- and looking at the history, we have a chronology that I can, can provide to you, uh, after this presentation. But it's my understanding that they, they looked at the core of downtown and they looked at buildings of architectural historical importance, and if you think about that corner of Mill and Short, there are a group of historic buildings that are surrounded by a parking lot, so that ex- that would explain how it sort of drags, the boundary jumps across that intersection. And then do you know, I mean, not realizing that you weren't involved in drawing the boundary, but then the, the portions along, uh, Upper, there are two corners there on Vine that were not included and was, I mean, was that... Do you have any history on that or? Well, I would guess that this, when the, the design guidelines and the ordinance were put forth, there were, there was opportunity for public comment and I would say that, and the owners of those properties would have had the opportunity to come forward in front of that council to say, "We don't wish to be included in the overlay," and the lines were drawn. Mm-hmm. But that's, that's a- I guess. Okay, I appreciate that, and then I just... This isn't really a question and it's not really- You, you- ... you, it's a comment, but I think at some point, it would be good for us to stop calling this the old Fayette County Courthouse and call it the Lexington History Museum, which it is. So that's just a general comment. ... um, so that on maps and materials, people can identify where the Lexington History Museum is. So anyway, thanks for all your- Thank you. ... work. Council Member Crosby. Hello. Do you ever have, after you've approved something, um, and you see, s-... say they make a few changes to, to a building, and then you see no significant improvements being made. Um, I won't name anything specifically, but you see nothing done after you've approved something and it doesn't fit in with, say, um, the scheme of what you are doing, uh, in this area, do you ever go back and reevaluate, uh, properties after a certain time period or do you just let it go? Well, I think that, that the owner, the applicant has a year from the date of the authorization permit, first and foremost, but it sounds like you're speaking from a project that's been approved and they've done some work, but aside from that, things aren't moving forward. Is that... Am I correct in understanding your- Yeah. I was just curious what that process- Sure. ... would be. Well, um, for instance, if, if we approved a project and the, the project was constructed according to the approval, but for some reason things hadn't happened and we'd... for... there's a project on Main Street, for instance, that was approved, uh, where we approved some facade changes, a window's replaced, the facade was painted, and the owner had hoped to open a restaurant. So he's made some changes to that property, but the restaurant hasn't opened yet. Um, we can't... you know, that's not, that's not something that we, um, can enforce. We can't im-... you know, force him to open the restaurant, but, you know, our... eh, that example on Main Streets is next to, uh, um, a law office that was highlighted at the beginning of the presentation and the, um, the pushing, um, or the, the, um, the cause for us to move forward quickly on that application was that there were windows that were missing in the, in the upper floors of that building. We wanted to get the building weathertight as quickly as possible and we approved those changes and new windows were installed and, um, the building is weathertight at this point and that was the main concern of the board when the project was approved. I'm not talking about any one project specific. Sure. I'm just asking if you have s-... if y- if they make one... if, if you have a project that moves forward, it could be any, any project within this area. Okay. If they make one little change then they've have... they have, um, met the requirements of doing something within that year time, so... Oh, okay. I see, I see what you're asking and, um, I'll quote the ordinance and, and if, um, if I'm understanding what you're asking, after the authorization permit is issued, uh, the property owner shall obtain permits when required and commence work on all work authorized by the authorization permit within one year from the iss-... issuance of authorization. So I would have to defer to our attorney, the board attorney, as to what this would consist of on a project-by-project basis. If it's a small project, it may consist of a number of things. If, if it's a large project and there are multiple permits or, or other legal documents or, uh, permits involving other government agencies, then if, if a project's moving forward in that way, then that may constitute moving forward. So I think it's... has to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and it's not a one-size-fits-all. Thank you. You're welcome. Council Member Lawless. Um, yes, just real quickly, I know that there was a program where, um, buildings with historic value could donate the façade to the city and that there were great tax benefits for everybody and it allowed for preservation of certain buildings. Do you... is that program still in place and do you have information on that, that you could get to me? I, I can get that information for you. Okay. Uh, the two- 'Cause it seemed like a real win-win. I know that, that the LFUCG holds the façade easement on the Wellington Arms. Right, and- That's an example. ... I think the First Federal Building is that what it's called, on the corner of Short and Mill or Market or what... I'll get, I'll get the information to your office. That'd be great. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Any further questions for Mr. Van Pelt? Council Member... or Vice Mayor Gray? Uh, Billy, just out of curiosity, the block formerly known as Center Point, you still show an outline of the remains, I guess, is the best way to put it. Why, why do you do that? Do you mean the, the, the parcel? The buildings that are no longer, the buildings that have been clear-cut, gone. I understand your question. And are down. Yeah, why are they still... I'm just curious, on the GIS. The parcels, the parcel lines are there. Um, it's my understanding as the project moves forward that a consolidation plat would have to be recorded as part of the project. It's un-... it's my understanding that a consolidation plat has been prepared and that it's in the queue. I guess, um, uh, w-... the curiosity also extends to, uh... I think it's -- in terms of precedent and being able to look back, acknowledging that this once existed would be valuable since, I mean, if you look at this, at least 25% of the intended property desi- that properties, buildings designed to be preserved, or at least heavily considered, highly considered for preservation are now gone. So in terms of public policy, holding onto this for the future would also be valuable, so I was hoping that that might be part of the purpose. I know that the Division of Historic Preservation documented those buildings as part of this project. Okey-dokey. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Anything further from Mr. Van Pelt? All right, thank you very much. Thank you. Uh, before we go into council reports, uh, I just wanted to make, um, the council aware that I've been advised by Commissioner Askew that we probably should have a -- a closed session right after our work session today. It's something that has just materialized this afternoon, so, uh, please anticipate that. And we're ready for council reports. Uh, Council Member Gordon. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, I have two things. Uh, first is, um, I know that I have received and possibly other council members have received quite a few calls and f- uh, emails about potholes . They're, uh, pretty bad ones out there. And I just wanted to, uh, Pat Tatum reminded me to ask people to be sure and call 3-1-1 and give them a -- an address or an exact location and they're gonna start filling potholes. Um, and then secondly, um, Council Member Blues mentioned the, uh, incentives committee that's been working for the water quality fee. And, um, our work group did have its last meeting on Friday, so the incentives program is finished and we have the application packets for class A properties, um, which are the, um, residential, the neighborhood associations and the homeowner associations and class B commercial and business. And so, um, those applications will be, uh, going out and people will be able to apply this spring for the incentive grants to do their water quality projects. And I just thought it was important for you all to know who served on the work group. Andy Haymaker, who represented development chaired it, and Bob Wiseman served from UK, Kelly Breeding from Fayette County Public Schools, Knox Vanogel in, from the Fayette Alliance, Emma Tibbs from Fayette County Neighborhood Council, Patrick Brewer from Lexmark represented large commercial properties and Sandy Levy, uh, property owner in the Southland Drive area represented that segment and myself representing council. And it was a really good work group and we have a lot of thanks that we need to give to Commissioner Taylor and to Charlie Martin and his staff. They were outstanding in bringing us back revisions, corrections, ideas week after week. And this, I think we started in August. I've sort of blocked out when our work began, but I just wanted to thank Commissioner Taylor and her shop for all the support and help that you gave us. And I think that the product that the citizens will see coming out is very user friendly and will allow the city to award these good incentives to get our projects completed. Thank you. Thanks. Council Member Crosby. I'm sorry, uh, Council Member Stennet. Uh, my screen skipped for whatever reason. We'll catch you in a minute. Thank you. You're welcome. Go ahead. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, just a couple things. One, um, speaking of work groups and task force, uh, if my colleagues, if you're a chair of a work group or task force, if you could please let, uh, Miss Williams and our council office know when your meetings are, so it can be published on the council, uh, scheduled meetings. Uh, there's been a couple work groups and task forces that have not been doing that and in an effort to be more transparent and also allow everyone here to attend those meetings, if you could please make sure they're on our weekly agenda and let Miss Williams know before the Thursday printing of these, uh, uh, council schedules, that would be very helpful. And speaking of which, the Building Inspection Task Force will be meeting again next Thursday at 3:00 PM on the fifth floor conference room. Our topic this time will be zoning law enforcement. So, uh, if you'd like to have a voice in that or have a say, uh, in how we're gonna move forward with that issue, please feel free to attend next Thursday, uh, afternoon. And also as a follow-up to our services committee meeting, um, uh, as I understand, I wanna thank Commissioner Mike Webb, uh, Star Street Parkway is now being plowed, so I wanna thank that and, uh, who says government doesn't move fast? So thank you- ... Commissioner Webb for looking into that, in all seriousness. I appreciate your due diligence and, uh, efforts to get that corrected going forward. And speaking of which, Mayor, we have, uh, a lot of families who have chosen not to shovel their sidewalks. It's been a big issue with kids getting on school buses and falling down, things like that. Are we actively, uh, enforcing those complaints, uh, right now? And i- i- it is an ordinance within 24 hours of the final snowfall that residents do shovel their sidewalks? Do we have any updates on that? We are actively enforcing that? To the best of my knowledge. I, um -- And, and residents should call 311, and not police? Correct. 'Cause I know the police are getting those calls as well. Correct. That's okay. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Blues. Thank you, Mayor. Two, uh, two announcements. The Woodward Heights Neighborhood Association will meet at 6:00 PM tonight at the Community Action Building at Moreno and, and West High Street. Um, high on that agenda will be a discussion of the potential expansion of the Altec Distillery and, and, and Brewery at, at Cross Street. So, I hope there'll be a good turnout for, uh, for that discussion. And then on Monday, February 8th, the McConnell's Trace Greenway Committee will meet. That's at 7:00 PM at the Harmony House on White Oak Drive. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Now, Council Member Crosby. Thank you, Mayor. Um, to follow up on what Council Member Gorton was saying earlier regarding potholes. I know that there are areas where it's really bad, but I was actually gonna commend Streets and Road because this morning on my run, they were already out, um, uh, patching up a lot of those potholes, and, and said hello to me when I was out. So I wanted to, uh, thank them for getting out so quickly and, and covering a lot of the areas across town. Also, um, I was wanting to announce, um, uh, Girls on the Run is looking for coaches to participate in some of our schools with the after, um, school program that works with, um, girls on, uh, being running coaches. Uh, it's across many schools throughout Fayette County, and if anybody's interested in being a coach or a running buddy with these young girls, um, they would love to have you. So you can contact my office at 258-3214, and we can get you hooked up with the right people for that. And then lastly, Andover Hills Neighborhood Association is meeting Thursday night at 7:00 PM at Crossroads Christian Church. Thank you. Thanks. Council Member, uh, Feigl. Thank you, Mayor. Um, just wanted to, to, uh, share that they're, they were, um, repairing potholes in the Fifth District this morning. I think that's where Casey was doing her run. So, we're, we're delighted that they're out in the Fifth District today. I also wanted to announce that, uh, tomorrow, February 3rd at 5:00, we will be having our next parks funding work group, uh, at the pre- at the parks conference room, uh, and that's off South Broadway. I don't remember the name of the street, but it's right behind the Campbell House. And it is open to the public, and in light of the recent budget cuts, I think this, uh, committee is becoming more and more important in terms of trying to be creative about how we fund our parks master plan. So, if you are interested in our park system in Fayette County, please, uh, you're welcome to come to the meeting. Thank you. Council Member Lawless. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I have several announcements. Um, first of all, Hannah's on Lime is having her first annual Februa- February from the Heart. 10% of the receipts are gonna go to the Red Cross, uh, for support of the, uh, Red Cross, um, response to Haiti. And I think that's extraordinarily generous given what those businesses on South Limestone have been through these last few months. I guess, it's always no- it's always nice to give some money that's in worse shape than you are. So, hats off to them. Um, I'd also like to give a shout-out to, um, um, Lowell's and, and Bob Morris an- Rob Morris and Debra Hensley. They did a matching, um, grant for Haiti and they've raised quite a lot of money in the community. So, thanks for that. Um, the Ellsworth Neighborhood Association is having their monthly meeting tonight at 7:00 PM at Woodland Christian Church. Um, they're also gonna be talking about the, uh, several things, the Fusion Project and the Art in Motion. Uh, there's gonna be an Art in Motion competition. And you can go to www.art-in-motion.us. Um, and I believe that's about all I have. Um, if anybody out there in the Third District, or close by would like to be on an email list fr- from my office, it's dglawless@lfucg.com, and we'll put you on the email update list. And if you didn't get that, you can go to the council website and click on my name and send it to my office and, uh, we try to give you, give your contact information. We try to send out notices about these kinds of things. So thank you very much. Council Member Lane. Uh, thank you, Mayor. I have a question for Commissioner Esque. Uh, I apologize that I'm sort of calling you up without giving you any notice on this, but there was a, uh, document, uh, in our new business from Susan Lamb where we're donating historic items to the Lexington History Museum. And in her letter, she's not here, I can't ask her, but in her letter she says, "A donation agreement is, is attached." And I don't see a donation agreement and I was... A couple of questions I had is, you know, will the museum be responsible for insuring these items and do they agree to maintain them, you know, from, you know, the elements and moisture and that kind of thing? And if the museum should close, do we have the right to get those items back after, uh, some type of provision? I don't know what's in there, but, uh, I thought perhaps that would be worth just addressing a couple of those issues. I have not seen the agreement. Okay. Uh, but those are- I see. I see there's a lamp coming in. Those are all items that should be included in the agreement. Okay. I didn't hear everything that you said from the time I stepped- Oh, that's all right. ... out of the room. Well, well, let me restate it. It's just in your letter to the mayor. It said, "A donation agreement attached." And I didn't see a donation agreement that specified, you know, what the obligations of the museum were and if we could ever get any of those materials back if they should close or decide to- Mm-hmm. ... not operate anymore. You know, just a couple of questions. It's not a big issue, but it wasn't... I didn't see it in the packet, I just wanted to ask about it. Yes, the donation agreement was approved by the law department. Keith looked over it and, uh, or Mike Sanery , I believe, and, um, was approved and there are provisions set in there if anything happens to the history museum, it all comes back to us, so we won't lose the artifacts or anything. Okay. So, yes. And is, is it insured? I know some of this is maybe not that valuable, it's more of a memorabilia, but there are some, uh, oil paintings and furniture that are- Mm-hmm. ... 150, 160 years old and things like that, so they're, will they be responsible for the insuring that too or? Actually, uh, we are still maintaining the insurance on those items. We are? Okay. The items that are insurable, yes. All right. And we have done that. Mm-hmm. We have in the past. Okay. Thank you very much, that answers my question. Sure. Sure. Vice Mayor Gray. Thank you, Mayor. Um, several council members had suggested the, um, I think Council Member Meyers had asked for a Committee of the Whole meeting, um, and looking at the schedule and doing really triage on our schedule looking forward, it looks like the best time for a Committee of the Whole meeting would be, um, February 23rd. Several issues on the... or several items really we probably should work through, including first on the agenda will be the, um, inter-government recommendations, inter-government committee recommendations on, um, standing committees. Best time that I can find is the February 23rd around 10 o'clock in the morning. Uh, w- would ya talk to Council Member Meyers about that? Um, thank you, Mayor. What I thought we'd do is reschedule partner agencies for an hour before that, if the committee's amenable to that. The reason this meeting's important is because, um, we had a meeting and the agenda's set and you'll remember the council voted unanimously to take that meeting and move the agenda to, um, I think it was the mayor's budget, uh, reduction plan, I think is what it was. So this issue was already on the, on the agenda and on the calendar, so yes, it is important that we get this done as soon as possible. So I would be in favor of that February meeting and we'll just move our outside, or our partner agency meeting an hour earlier. It's on the agenda. I think, um, since we already have an existing meeting scheduled, we may need a motion as Council Member Stennet suggested to move the partner agency meeting to 9:00 so the Council of the Whole can meet at 10:00. So moved. Do I hear a second? Second. I have a motion by Council Member Meyers and a second by Council Member Gordon to amend the previously adopted schedule of meetings to reflect the partner agency committee meeting will be at 9:00 on the 23rd, so a Committee of the Whole committee meeting, or Committee of the Whole meeting can be held that day at 10:00 AM. Any discussion? Uh, Council Member Gordon? Yes, I just... Vice Mayor, could you just say one more time what the agenda will be? Right now what's on the agenda is the standing committee qu- issue. Oh, okay. Any... Council Member Lawless. I, I think the rules change probably would be on there too. The... if we could. Okay. And the council budget, I don't know if we need to address that at that time or another. I, I think that's the reason that we're gonna give it plenty of time is, uh, I sus- I suspect that there are gonna be agenda items that are gonna emerge between now and then. Thank you. That we need to take care of. Any further discussion on the motion to amend the schedule? Council Member Lane. Just a clarification, the waste reduction meeting, that is not a part of the, of this meeting, we're not consolidating that at all with this? No, it's not that waste. W-A-S-T-E. So does anybody else have that- A little humor. Does anybody have a waste reduction meeting at 5:00 on Thursday? No? Okay, never mind then. All right, the motion is to amend the schedule as specified, any further discussion? All in favor say aye. Ay. Opposed no, the motion carries. Vice Mayor Gray. That's good, thank you, Mayor. Council Member Martin. Thank you, Mayor. The Palomar Hills Association will meet next Monday night at, uh, February 8th at 7:00 PM in their clubhouse and all residents are welcome, and the Beaumont, uh, Residential Association will meet next Tuesday night, February 8th at 6:30 PM and I believe that's gonna be in the clubhouse of Beaumont Farms Apartments. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member James. Thank you, Mayor. Um, first of all, I wanna say compliment whoever put together the Kids at City Hall. I think it -- the site is, um, it's really innovative and fun, and I've begged my children to get on. I don't think they have yet, but, um, I played on it a couple of times. The, the games are fun. Everything's fun on there, so check it out if you haven't yet. And anybody interested, go to lexingtonkentucky.gov. Click on, um, the little, uh, colorful doodad that says, I think, Kids at City Hall, um, and just introduce your children to the, the government process. It's, it's really fun and very creative. Um, also, today, in Partner Agency Committee, we discussed, um, we were discussing our role moving forward as a committee. Um, and one of the things that we feel like we need to have happen is to have a, a formal presentation of the needs assessment, the social services needs assessment, the planning. This would, um, traditionally be presented out at the Planning Committee. Um, and over the past year, year and a half, however long it's been since that needs assessment's been done, um, the Planning Committee has been overbooked. Um, or not overbooked, but booked to the point of where they needed to call special meetings to deal with planning issues, and we haven't been able to deal with the social services issues, but we need this moving forward. Um, so I've agreed to bring forward a motion that would, um, put into the Intergovernmental Committee, um, the, uh, presentation, um, and any updates of the social services needs assessment. Do we- Second. ... have a motion by Council Member James and a second by Council Member Gordon to transfer the social service needs, uh, assessment disc- presentation from Planning to Intergovernmental- Yes, please. ... Committee. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, no? Motion carries. Thank you. Um, another thing is I wanna just, uh, read a little excerpt in honor of, um, February 7th, which is National Black HIV and AIDS Awareness Day. This is the 10th anniversary this year of this. Just a little, um, doodad here of facts. The HIV/AIDS epidemic in African American communities is a continuing public health crisis for the United States. At the end of 2006, there were an estimated 1.1 million people living with HIV infection, of almost half were Black or African American. While Blacks represent approximately 12%, versus the 46% of those, um, totally infected, Blacks represent only 12% of the US population, they continue to account for the higher proportional of cases, um, at all stages of HIV and AIDS. So this, um, the African American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, which is February 7th, is very important. Um, unfortunately in our communities, and this is nationally, um, things don't really get the help they need until it affects majority communities. We've gotta change that. We have to change it. Um, so what can we do? We can encourage everyone, African American or white or Hispanic or other, um, races to learn about HIV. Educate yourself, your friends, and your family. Get tested. Um, speak out against stigma, homophobia, racism, and other forms of discrimination, and donate time or money or whatever in kind that you can do to any local HIV/AIDS organizations, especially within African American communities. We've gotta get rid of that disparity, and it's gonna take all of us to do that. So I wanted to encourage you to look up for any of your things going on locally that you can participate in, and talk to your constituency about it. Uh, make sure that they have the resources and find out what those resources are. People call us for a lot of different issues, and if you can have this on your list, I think it would be helpful for the entire community. Um, also, in my last minute, I just wanted to ask, um, Council Member Gordon, you mentioned the incentive programs. Um, I, I'm wondering if those were, were those public meetings? And what's the process of those? Is it from the work group those things can be implemented and they don't need to come forward to full council in order for those incentives to be passed by this council? I think that the council will see every, I'm looking at Commissioner Taylor, every grant that's to be awarded. We'll have to vote on them. But the criteria, is that what you all were talking about in your work group? Um, it was criteria, application process, and that sort of thing. There was a lot of public input. Um- So was it publicly calendar-advertised meet- I never saw any meetings advertised. I... It was out of Water Quality, and I don't think it was on our regular schedule. So sh- Commissioner Taylor is here if... But everything that comes forward will have to have council approval. Well, I'm not talking about the actual product. I was talking about the criteria for discerning, so the work that you all were doing. Does that, does it not require more of a public process for the setting of the criteria? Well, my understanding was when we set up the meetings, we did advertise that, although we did not have it on the government website. The notes were on there. But we'd had a lot of representation at each meeting. Uh, CommerceLex, uh, Cane- Friends of Cane Run, uh, the Fayette County Public Schools, UK. It's a fairly well attended meeting, and we met for several weeks over the course of a couple of months. And what... The, the goal of that was to develop the incentives program for both the class A and B properties. So as you know, we're, as we collect the fee, we've just begun to do that. We will have funding available for, uh, projects that will incent the projects in the community. So, um, we looked at some other cities that had some criteria and sort of developed our own. So we have a draft. ... for both, um, class A and class B programs, a ranking system, but it's all at this point in the draft. It's been, I guess, the last meeting we had was last week, and the final version w- are gonna be published for people to see and they can apply. Any grant that goes through, certainly the council is gonna approve that. So, um, it was my understanding that we were ... W- it's an internal process that we were developing. Okay. Wha- wha- what is it that you, that I'm not ... I guess, I just ... I ... I ... The fact that it wasn't on our calendar, um, just made me wonder i- if it were supposed to be a public meeting, if this deals with a public tax, that sort of thing. So I'm just wondering, the setting up, I don't know, exactly know what they did because I didn't know anything about the meetings. So I don't even know what the agenda was as far as setting ... Was it setting criteria? And- Really, it was developing the program. Okay. Because as you know, when we passed the Water Quality Management Fee, we in, we ... As a city, it was very innovative for us to decide to go with the incentives program as opposed to a credit program. I remember. You probably remember all that. I remember those discussions. The incentives program didn't have a function or form at that point. We knew we had money, we knew we wanted to incent behaviors and changes that would give us better water quality, but we had to create a program to give people a way to apply, bring forth their projects, have those projects rated- Right. ... and award funds. So that's, that's kinda the work of the group, was to completely develop the, the function. Similar to the EcoArt grants, we did almost the same thing in a mini version. We had to develop ... We wanted to give grants, but we didn't necessarily have a process. Right. So that's really what that group was about. Yeah. And they developed, um, two processes for A and B, a little bit different. Uh, one's the commercial area and other's residential. Yeah. Do ... If you ... And you may remember, but w- I was part of the stormwater fee group. Mm-hmm. And this was, um, the incentive and credit program was one of the main reasons that I pulled from that group. Um, so it's ... I find it very disheartening that it, it kinda moved forward in, in kind of a, a ... I'll, I'll call it clandestine, but I'm sure that others that were involved in it, won't, won't feel like it's that way. But it, it has the, it gives me that feeling of a, it was a clandestine kind of thing and could've been more inclusive. But I don't ... I mean, I, I understand what you're saying, explaining what happened. But I think the programming piece of anything is the most critical point of any program that we have, so, um- Well, I apologize for that. We, we thought that it was fairly open proces- ... We included everyone that had ever attended any Water Quality Management Fee meeting. We had, you know, sign-in sheets. Several hundred emails went out. Yeah. We invited people. And then- Yeah. ... in the end, we had- Yeah. Yeah, we had a, a, a lot of people there from a lot of different groups. Yeah. But we can give you, um, the, uh, the notes from every meeting. No, that's okay. I don't need 'em. Thank you, though. Okay. Thanks, Ma'am. Ma'am, if I might comment. Every division in our government has internal policy meetings and if we ... Thi- this was an internal mechanism to develop something to support the ordinance, so I guess maybe it would be good to know if we're supposed to advertise every single group within every division, because our divisions are doing things every day that involve policymaking. I mean, I don't think ... I, I guess, I would like to know from law - ... if, if it's our intent to publicize every single work group within every division every week. It's a question for you to ponder. I mean- I think that's more of a council question, not necessarily a law question. Well, it was not a council-related meeting. I was asked to serve, you know, because they wanted someone from council. So, but it would be good to figure out, figure that out. Oh, Jeanette knows. Jeannette, s- I can answer partially that, historically, the schedule of meetings has been just something for council members as, um ... Historically, it's just been memory for council members to remember meetings that they would need to attend. So that's why not every meeting is on our schedule of meetings. Usually, um, council members will ask for me to put it on the schedule of meetings if it's something that more than three council members may be attending. That's how it's usually on our schedule of meetings, unless it is something that has come through, um, work session and has been approved as a work group task force, things of that nature. When it's like that, then yes, we do go ahead and put it on the schedule of meetings because it is considered a public meeting. But other than that, it's just been historically a remembrance to council m- members for their meetings. Tha- thank you. Commissioner Askew, do you- What Jeannette just said is, is accurate as far as the open meetings law goes. It would have to be a, uh, a meeting of a public agency which is defined as the legislative body or a committee work group task force, whatever that's been formally established by this group. Uh, if there's another group that's been established by the council, it could be considered a committee. But it sounds as if what Commissioner Taylor's talking about would not be something that would be required to be advertised under the open meetings law, which is maybe a ... Could be a different issue, whether you want to advertise it, nevertheless. All right. Thank you. Council member Myers. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to follow up where Councilwoman James left off on the, on the National AIDS Day. I know it's probably not gonna win any, any, uh, awards, but- She gave a long list of things that we can do to help mitigate AIDS and HIV. Two things that, that, uh, were left off that could be added to that would be abstinence until marriage and the abso- abstaining from illgo- illegal drug use. And I just wanted to put that out there that those are two other ways that we can also fight that spread of that disease. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Crosby. I forgot to mention during my report, and I stepped out with a staff member regarding some research, and I'm not sure if anybody, um, uh, y- gave condolences from the council to Dr. William Marsberry's family. I know we have two members of the Sanders Brown Center on Aging on our council, but, um, uh, Dr. Marsberry, as everybody here probably knows, is a physici- was a physician at the University of Kentucky who, um, really revolutionized the research done for Alzheimer's disease and, um, uh, personally, I didn't get to see him for that, but, uh, he, I had the opportunity to see him and he was truly a delightful man and just such a, a, a nice person and, and, um, truly will be missed in our community and I know also at the university and I'm sure board members could probably, or the two board members who worked with him quite a bit could probably say more, but, um, he was just a tremendous man and I know he will be greatly missed within our community. Thank you. That's all I had. Thank you. Does any other council member wish to report? I see none, so we'll move along. I have, uh, no report today and that takes us down to public comment on issues not on the agenda. I only have one individual who's indicated a desire to speak and that's Chen Xing Wang. Mr. Wang, if you would, uh, step to the podium, give us your address. You'll have three minutes. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, I'm here to call attention to the, uh, Chi- 2010 Chinese New Year celebration to be hold in the Lexington Opera House on Saturday, February 6th. And it's the largest gathering of the Chinese-American community and, uh, you know, Chinese New Year is also the most important holiday of the year for Chinese people. And so, I think it's fair that we have such a celebration. And, uh, our organization, the Kentucky Chinese American Association, has been doing this for the fifth year. And so we're proud of doing, doing that and leading the community in such celebration. And, uh, that 7:00, uh, that 5:00, there's a lot of pre-show activities. People will be able to come to do, uh, crafts and try Chinese food. We also have live demonstrations of, uh, Chinese painting, Chinese calligraphy and all those activities as well. And the celebration, uh, has a performance featuring a, a whole line of, um, uh, dances and songs, Chinese music, uh, Beijing opera, martial arts and, uh, it's going to be hosted by our, by our own artistic director, Sheo Pan. And, uh, we'd like to thank the council for the support and also to especially thank Mr. Gray for helping us, uh, hosting last week's, uh, celebration in, uh, the library. And, uh, I want you to know is that, uh, the event kept getting very popular and we have hundreds and hundreds of people on the waiting list for tickets and Nexis has, uh, added, uh, a show for us on February 7th at 1:00 and so if anybody don't have a ticket yet, they can go to that show, and the pre-show as well. I invite all the councilmen to go there and the mayor as well. You have a, invitation in your office, I think. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Wang. We appreciate you being here today. Anyone else? Um, I think a motion to go into closed session for purposes of discussing a matter of pending litigation would be in order. So moved. Council Member Lawless. I move that we go into closed session pursuant to KRS 61.8101C for the purpose of discussing pending and proposed litigation. So moved. Second. Second. We have a motion by Council Member Lawless and a second by Council Member Crosby. Any discussion? All in favor say, "Aye." Aye. Opposed, no. The motion carries. Thank you. Our snow plan is, is on, on our website and, uh, your, uh, you know, everyone that has access to a computer can, can pull that up and, and review that. One thing too, as, as we respond to our, uh, our police and, and our fire, uh, personnel, is they respond to, uh, the needs of, of the community. And if, uh, if we have an area that's, uh, has, is having, uh, uh, an accident es- and we, we respond to those areas, even though they may or may not be on the snow plan. So, uh, my sug- uh, uh, su- suggestion to the folks in the city if, if you, if there are problems, get either through, uh, our, uh, LexCall or, uh, through our, uh, best, best through LexCall to, uh, get specific areas that, that are not being addressed on, on the snow plan 'cause we do respond.