# Council Work Session - February 16, 2010 > Auto-transcribed civic record · Council · February 16, 2010 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/1227 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/1227?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2010-02-16 - **Body**: Council - **Last revised**: June 18, 2026 - **Length**: 11,066 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 City Council held a meeting presided over by the Mayor, covering a total of 8 agenda items. The Council took 4 votes during the session, including the approval of the February 9th meeting summary and new business items. Three informational presentations were delivered to the Council, covering updates from the Intergovernmental Committee, the Corridors Commission, and Radio Lexington. No public comments were recorded during the meeting. Additional agenda items included Council reports and a discussion regarding the Government Center. ## Attendance All 15 members of the Council were present at the February 16, 2010 meeting. No members were recorded as absent or late. **Present:** - Council Member Beard - Council Member Crosby - Council Member Ehlinger - Council Member Blues - Council Member Feigl - Council Member James - Council Member Lawless - Council Member Myers - Council Member Henson - Council Member Lane - Council Member Ellinger - Council Member Stinnett - Council Member Martin - Council Member McCord - Vice Mayor Gray ## Votes and Decisions Four votes were taken during the February 16, 2010 Council meeting. - **Approval of the February 9th Summary** [timestamp: 0:01]: Council Member Beard moved and Council Member Crosby seconded approval of the February 9th meeting summary. The motion passed on a voice vote. - **Approval of New Business Items** [timestamp: 4:27]: Council Member Ehlinger moved and Council Member Blues seconded approval of the new business items. The motion passed on a voice vote. - **Referral of Yard Sale Permitting Item** [timestamp: 32:14]: Council Member Henson moved and Council Member Feigl seconded a motion to move the yard sale permitting item from the Planning Committee to the Services Committee for review in March. The motion passed on a voice vote. - **Referral of Additional Bond Support for Road Resurfacing to Budget and Finance Committee** [timestamp: 47:47]: Council Member Martin moved and Council Member Beard seconded a motion to refer the matter of additional bond support for road resurfacing to the Budget and Finance Committee. The motion failed on a roll call vote of 3 ayes to 9 nays. Council Members Martin, Beard, and Lane voted in favor of the referral. ## Contested Items Two items generated notable disagreement among Council members during the February 16, 2010 meeting. **Government Center Planning** Council members engaged in a heated discussion over whether to move forward with planning for a new government center. The central tension was whether such planning was appropriate given current economic constraints and ongoing budget cuts. Members were divided on the question of committing resources or attention to a major capital project during a period of fiscal pressure. The structured record does not specify the names of individual members on each side or indicate a formal vote outcome on this item. **Additional Bond Support for Road Resurfacing** [timestamp: not available] A motion to expedite consideration of additional bond support for road resurfacing came to a vote and failed. Council members were split on the urgency of the issue, with some apparently favoring faster action to address road resurfacing needs through bond financing and others opposing the accelerated timeline. The motion's failure means the matter was not advanced on an expedited basis, though the record does not indicate whether the underlying question of bond support remains open for future consideration. Specific vote tallies and the names of members voting on each side are not included in the available data. Both items reflect broader tensions at the meeting between addressing infrastructure and facility needs on one hand and responding cautiously to economic and budgetary pressures on the other. ## Public Comment [timestamp: 00:42] The meeting opened with an invitation for members of the public to come forward and comment on items appearing on the agenda. No members of the public chose to speak, and no comments were offered. The public comment period concluded without any discussion or concerns being raised. ## Approval of February 9th Summary [timestamp: 01:13] The Council took up Agenda Item 2, the approval of the summary from the February 9th meeting. Council Member Beard and Council Member Crosby were the key speakers on this item. No concerns or debate were noted in the record. The Council approved the February 9th meeting summary. ## New Business Items [timestamp: 04:27] The Council took up several new business items during this portion of the meeting. Council Member Ehlinger and Council Member Blues were the key speakers during the discussion of these items. The Council approved the new business items presented during this agenda item. *Note: The available meeting data does not include detailed descriptions of the individual items presented, specific debate points, or concerns raised during this portion of the meeting. For a full account of the discussion, the meeting video or official minutes should be consulted directly at the timestamp noted above.* ## Intergovernmental Committee Presentation [timestamp: 04:59] Council Member James delivered a summary from the Intergovernmental Committee, covering procedures related to council and public comment. The presentation was informational in nature, with no vote or formal action taken as a result. The item served to keep the full Council informed of the committee's work and relevant procedural matters. No additional key speakers were identified in connection with this agenda item beyond Council Member James. ## Corridors Commission Presentation [timestamp: 07:35] Council Member Feigl delivered an update to the Council on behalf of the Corridors Commission, covering two primary topics: landscape plans and illegal signage. The presentation was informational in nature, with Council Member Feigl serving as the sole key speaker reporting on the Commission's recent activity and findings. No vote or formal action was taken as a result of the presentation. Specific details regarding the landscape plans and the scope or locations of illegal signage issues were conveyed as part of the Commission's ongoing reporting to the Council. ## Radio Lexington Presentation [timestamp: 12:01] Pat Dugger presented information to the Council regarding Radio Lexington, a new AM radio station established to serve as a public information resource for both emergency and non-emergency situations. The presentation was informational in nature, providing the Council with an overview of the station and its intended purpose as a communications tool for the community. No vote or formal action was taken as a result of this agenda item. ## Council Reports [timestamp: 23:27] During this agenda item, several council members provided updates on recent and upcoming activities in their respective areas. - **Council Member Blues** offered remarks as part of the general council reports discussion. - **Council Member James** contributed updates during the session. - **Council Member Stinnett** also provided information to the council. The reports covered topics including neighborhood meetings, task force activities, and upcoming events, though specific details of each member's individual report are not available in the meeting record. The item was informational in nature, and no formal action or vote was taken as a result of the discussion. ## Government Center Discussion [timestamp: 27:51] The Council took up Agenda Item 8, a discussion on the proposed government center, focusing on the timing and necessity of moving forward with plans given current economic conditions. Key participants in the discussion included Vice Mayor Gray, Council Member Lawless, and Council Member Crosby. The conversation centered on whether it was appropriate to advance planning efforts for a new government center in light of the prevailing economic climate. Concerns were raised about the feasibility and prudence of committing to a major capital project during a period of economic uncertainty. Speakers debated the timing of next steps, weighing the long-term need for a new facility against the fiscal realities facing the community at the time. The item was informational in nature, and no formal action was taken. The discussion served as an opportunity for Council members to share perspectives on how and when to proceed with government center planning. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approval of the February 9th summary - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approval of new business items - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Move the item of yard sale permitting from planning to services committee for review in March - **Motion** — failed (3-9): Refer the additional bond support for road resurfacing to Budget and Finance Committee --- ## Full transcript Call the meeting to order if we could, please. The, uh, first item on today's agenda is public comment on issues that are on the agenda. Does anyone wish to address the council? Seeing none, we'll proceed. We do not have a docket to approve, but we do have a summary from February 9th to approve. Is there a motion? Move approval. Second. Have a motion by Council Member Beard and a second by Council Member Crosby to approve the February 9th summary. Any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. The motion carries. There are no business, uh, no budget amendments today. There are just, uh, a few short items of new business. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Have a motion by Council Member Ehlinger and a second by Council Member Blues to approve the new business items. Any discussion? Council Member Feigl. Thank you. Um, I have a question on C. Um, it, I don't know who might be able to address this. On any particular item, I'm s- C. C. C, I'm sorry. Uh, it's about air quality issues, and I just wanted to, to get a little bit more information on that. I know that, um, I know that air quality issues is one of the things that they use to, to determine if a c- community is, um, eligible for federal transportation funds. And I just wondered what kind of situation we're in. Are we, are we compliant with air quality standards? Uh, I really wasn't prepared to answer that question specifically. I'd be more than happy to get you that information. Uh, we get a report once a year. They have some monitoring stations around town. Mm-hmm. And I don't believe it's any more frequent, but I believe in the last one-year period, we actually went down a- and, uh, our, or, our air quality improved. Improved, okay. But I'd be more than happy to, uh, get that information from the MPO group and get it to you. Okay, thank you. Any other discussion on the items of new business? Council Member James. Thanks, Mayor. Um, my question's for item B. I have a question of Rama, I guess. He is not here. I know we were trying to have Mr. Nugent available in his absence. Um, if you'll hold on for just a moment, he may be... That's fine. And, and actually, and I will, I mean, you can move forward. I just have a question, and if it could be answered before, um, first reading, it would be helpful. Okay. Um, and my question is, is there, are there any other situations where we, um, deal with, um, fees, um, and, and, and projects the way that B is structured? It looks like it's on a project-by-project basis with fees to be determined. And I don't know how many times we go into something without really knowing how much we're gonna be paying for it ahead of time. It's like pre-approving. I'll see if we can get Mr. Nugent to follow up with you- Thank you. ... prior to the meeting next week. Okay, thank you. Anything further? Then the motion... Council Member Lawless. Uh, that, that was my question also. And I, if they would get me that information too, I'd appreciate it. Thank you. All right. Any further discussion? Seeing none, we'll proceed to vote. Those in favor of approving the new business items, please let it be known by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, no. The motion carries. We're now ready for the presentations, uh, first being from the Intergovernmental Committee. Council Member James. Thanks, Mayor. Um, Inter Gov Summary is included in your packet. We have one item of discussion, and that was, um, referred to committee by Council Member Crosby, and that was the issue of council and public comment. Um, I believe this was referring to matters when it came to, um, council report-out or, uh, public comment on items not on the agenda, specifically what council's ability was to, uh, make motions on that particular item. Um, we had Glenda. We actually had S- Susan Lamb from the Council Clerk's Office talk with us about, she had done some research with other council clerks in the State of Kentucky, I believe, and, um, determined that, uh, she just got a, their views on, on how they dealt with things. We had a, a, in the Ingo- Inter Gov Packet, it had the variance of how they dealt with items. Some committees, or some councils dealt with the item and allowed a motion to come forward. Some closed the meeting, um, ended the meeting and actually... ... um, had it, um, off session, kind of, um, public comment, so after the meeting closed, and they discussed it, um, just a variance so it was hard to get judgment there. Um, but our own law department, Glenda R- George represented our law department, and she had a brief memo included in our packet and presented, and we asked, uh, for her clarification of the existing way, um, to be included in our packet today to bring forward to council. It's not a motion. It's just a clarification of the existing ordinance, or the existing rules, um, the way that we deal with, um, council discussion and how it existed, and you'll see that on page 18 of your packet. Um, so if you have any questions or concerns about that or any motions, um, coming from that, um, memo from the Department of Law, I'd be happy to entertain those. Um, but other than that, that is included for your reference and we ask council members, committee members, parliamentarian, and also the chair, um, to acknowledge the memo from the Department of Law, um, as we move forward with any items to be considered for public comment. That's all that I have. Um, we adjourn the meeting at 1:25. The end. Thanks, Mayor. Thank you. Any questions for Council Member James? All right, we'll move along. The next item is the, uh, presentation from Corridors Commission. Council Member Feigl. Thank you, Mayor. Um, we had our Corridors meeting on February 8th, and unfortunately, we had a big snow storm the night before so we did not have a quorum that- the next day. Um, but we did have a few reports which I'll pass along. Uh, Mr. Joseph Hillenmeyer has volunteered to prepare a, uh, landscape plan for the Richmond Road area between, um, between, um, um, the, the country club and the fire station on both sides. And so that's something that we'll be looking at over the next year or so. Um, we looked at a draft budget, uh, for the funding that we still have left in our account, which, uh, was recently cut, um, by about, uh, 10%, wasn't it? 5%? 5%. We had reports on, uh, the Nicholasville Road plan and the Versailles Road, uh, transportation enhancement plan, and the Newtown Pike Transportation Enhancement Grant. Um, and Commissioner Sh- I mean, excuse me, Paul Scheunegger updated us on the Old Frankfurt Pike stone fence, and that will be started, uh, in the spring. And, uh, Mark Arnold spoke to us about the Newtown Pike flag survey project. I don't know if, uh, if, if that has been something that's come across your, your desk, but we have, um, we've actually put together a plan to do something to Newtown Pike in advance of the World Games, and it will be an art project with, uh, using landscape flags to create a ribbon all along the, the Newtown Pike corridor. And this is s- similar to a project that was done at UK a few years back and, uh, gained national attention, so it's something that will be rather spectacular, but it will be temporary, and I think they're- we're looking at a total of about 250,000 flags, so we need lots of volunteers to help us put those flags in. Um, Mister- uh, Dr. Bill Gillespie, who is from the Kenwood Neighborhood Association, uh, came to speak to us about illegal signs in the public right of way. I think most of you have seen those, you know, m- advertising, uh, mattresses and, uh, eh- you know, a r- a whole range of products. And so the, uh, because we felt like that that was a corridor issue, uh, he came and made this presentation, and so we will be taking up the, the use of illegal signage and taking a look at that ordinance. And Kinsey Gleeson provided the monthly bicycle and pedestrian report, and, uh, we had a report on the monthly litter campaign, so, uh, that was about it. We took no action because we didn't have a quorum, and the meeting was adjourned at 12:15. Thank you. Any questions for Council Member Feigl? Council Member Myers. Thank you, uh, Mayor. Um, Councilman Feigl, on the issue of the, uh, right of way signs, the, the issue of the right of way signs, um, can you take a look at the... Is it Keep, uh, Lexington Beautiful Commission? Is that the new commission that was just created? Uh, I had a, kind of a sidebar with the mayor a couple weeks ago on that. I was wondering if you... Do you interact with them or are they gonna be under Commissioner Taylor? Well, a- as you know, that, that is a relatively new organization, and right now Susan Bush, uh, who works with Commissioner Taylor, uh, comes to our meetings and reports on all of those kinds of issues. So w- there will be communication. Okay, thank you. Is, is Commissioner Taylor back there? She in the corner? She is. Y- you don't have to come forward. I just would ask that, um, between the three of you, between Corridors and Commissioner Taylor and the, the commission, could you look at utilizing that commission in the same way that Louisville uses Operation, um, oh, I can't think of the name of it now. Right- is it Brightside? That Woodhill does? That, that Louisville does? Louisville, yes. We did Operation Brightside- It's Brightside, okay. ... I'm sorry. Operation Brightside, and see if they can kind of take that under their umbrella and come up with some creative ways to adjust the yard signings as well. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Anything further for Council Member Feigl? All right, we'll move ahead. Uh, Pat Dugger is someone known to everyone on the council. Uh, she will be making a presentation next on Radio Lexington. Pat? Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. Like to share some good information with you about a new communications tool that we have called Radio Lexington, and I think this presentation's also in your packet. Um, we are now available to say that we have our own radio station with Lexington. It's on AM 1620. It's a low-band radio, um, and it was funded with, uh, grant dollars from the CSEP program, and then also funds from the Irvin County government. We applied for the, uh, application in the third quarter of 2009 'cause it does take FCC approval. It is an actual regulated license that we have. Um, we put out the bid and chose the vendor in the fourth quarter '09 and had installation in '09, and we're still waiting. They've done one final inspection on one of the transmitters, but we're waiting for the other final inspection on the second transmitter to make sure we're staying within our low-band power so that we don't exceed the limits of the range of the radio station that we're licensed for. S- as I said, it is a low-band AM radio station. It operates on 1620 AM. It will be operating on, um, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. And the programming will be through, uh, my office, Emergency Management, and Government Communications. Um, the current transmitter sites, and the way, a- that works, we actually have a primary transmitter, and it's located downtown here, uh, on the, in the police department or on the top of the police department, and it transmits a signal out to these two locations. One is at Station 18. The other one's at Station 12. And then, those, those locations actually transmit in what you hear on, on 1620. And it's about a three- to five-mile radius. And at the very end, I added one additional slide to my presentation so you could see a little bit of that three- and five-mile radius. Didn't quite have that put together in time for it to be into your packet. This is kind of just a little bit of where it is, the very downtown center. Um, I think this does have a pointer. The very middle, uh, location there, um, is where the, the main site is. It transmits out to the two fire stations. . Okay. This one right here is where the, the low- lower transmission is, and that transmits on a signal out to the two fire station locations. And then, it's these two locations that actually transmit on the 1620. This is a little bit about what it looks like. These are, they're pretty, um, actually small in scale. They're a new design, uh. This is, uh, one of the locations there on Southland Drive, um, kinda what that looks like. And this is what the transmit location looks like out at Old Richland Road at Station 18. You see, they don't really take up much space. They're not really wide, um, pretty efficient with the new type of design that they have for these type of stations. This is a little bit, it's a little skewed trying to fit it into a PowerPoint slide, but this is a little bit of what the radius is. The inner circle is about three-mile radius, and the outside circle is about a five-mile radius. As you can see, one of our goals, because part of this money did come from the Chemical Stockpile Program, and in order to, to help our residents from Madison County when they were, would to be evacuated to Fayette County, we wanted to cover the southern part of I-75. So as they transferred up here, we could give them instructions over the radio. And then, we have pretty much all of New Circle Road covered, um, and oth- another good part of I-75. We just recently learned, um, in our upcoming FY10 budget from the CSEP program that we will be allotted money to buy one additional node, and we'll probably put it out in here so that we have coverage out this way. And then, if we just get one more node up north, we'll have the whole county pretty much covered with this type of radio. The type of emergency content information that'll be, you know, on the radio would be if we had to evacuate an area, if we had to shelter or d- decontaminate information, traffic and road closures, if there's some sort of incident or accident-specific report, um, aid request, and other pertinent public safety information. Um, if we do have an ice storm like we've had in the past, and we had a lot of people without power, it could be another way that we could, you know, get information out to, to people in their homes as well as the traveling public. So, the one good thing about the station, um, it is automatically hooked into a NOA weather radio. So, if there is a National Weather Service, um, warning or alert, it will automatically open up this radio and put out that message on the radio system. So, any tornado watches or warnings will automatically happen the way the system is programmed. We won't have to actively go in there and do that. But since we're not in an emergency status all the time, thank goodness, we will be able to use it for non-emergency contexts, contents. So, we can update traffic conditions. We can put current events that Parks and Recreation or other folks may have. Um, if we wanna get information out about a special event, um, weather conditions just in general, or anything that would be of interest to the motoring public. Again, this is a radio, so we're not gonna do long-term programming, but just things that of interest, maybe reler- refer people to websites or other places where they can get more detailed information. And we've done some information and training with some of the other divisions to let them know, um, some of the constraints and some of the conditions of putting the emergency content information in there and the non-emergency, obviously. We cannot do commercial radio. We cannot advertise. That's one of the things of this type of license and this type of, of system. Some other things to -- certainly for WEG visitor information, for Spotlight Lexington, we need to get things out about the high school basketball tournament, Fourth of July festival, any kind of thing for Lexington programming, event, activity, or service, um, would all be eligible to be used under this system. And that's, uh, k- kind of in a nutshell kind of the, um, the information. Is there any questions that you all might have? Council Member Stennet. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, Pat, who's gonna be responsible for the ongoing programming on a daily basis, and, and who would we call to, if we need to get an announcement out? For emergency information, it'll be my office and the 911 dispatchers and folks. If it's general, um, non-emergency contact, um, government communication specifically, John Bobel and the communications office will be working with folks to, to manage the daily programming of it. So the actual transmit and everything is in government communications? No, it's, it's, actually the, the transmit is actually in the police department, but there's ways you can do that through calling in on the phone and do some other things. Okay. So. And, and, and w- and I know, a lot of us have been pushing for government radio for the last several years, and we've gotten quotes during the council budget lengths, and, uh, that it's gonna cost 250,000 to do this. How much is it gonna cost to maintain this system, a- a- and what upgrades do you see in the future? Well, the maintenance is, is, with any electronics, it's, it's relatively s- small for a radio-type system. Um, again, we're gonna have to, to do another probably 40 to 50,000 to get another node and then a second one, so we're looking at another 100,000 there. And then the primary upgrades will be the software. Um, we're trying to work with the company that installed this to see what the ongoing maintenance costs are gonna be, but we have at least a, a year from the time that they certify it, which they have not done yet. So we have a, a good probably 15 months of everything covered for right now. So we have, we don't have a clue what ongoing maintenance is gonna cost? They ... Not, not an exact dollar number, no. Okay. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Lane. Yeah, I'd, I'd like to, uh, follow up on Council Member Stennett's question. What, what's your budget just for this year, based on the grant you received? Uh, how much do you have to work with? Uh, well, the, the, the grant dollars for this initial thing was 47 ... no, 59,100 is what the grant paid for and then out of Urban County government funds, it was like 47,800. And that's all budgeted. It's already the purchase orders issued. And then we do have roughly $8,000 in the CSEP grant for maintenance of any of our alert notification systems, and they cost share a little bit of the computerized system, a little bit of the outdoor warning system. So it's a cost share that we usually do with them on our alert and earning n- network systems. Um, do, do we have any relationships with any other AM stations so that in a major emergency, that we can, could go live on like one of the commercial stations on a major event? We, um, are in the process. We had that relationship with the primary emergency alert system radio station, but that's been changed. It's now, um, the station at, um, UK, and we're in the process of changing our equipment to make it compatible with them so that as soon as that's in place, we will have that capability. Okay. And when you're on the air and there's no emergencies, what, what do you broadcast at that time? It's just gonna be a loop of information, like right now, there's information promoting the Irving County government's website. There's information about the WEG games. So it's, it's gonna be whatever's pertinent at the time. If Parks is having Friday Flicks, let's say, we could put something on there about that. Um, so whatever would be interesting to the motoring public and the general public about events that are happening. Um, if we do have an event, a, a good example was, um, I guess it was about a year and a half ago now when we had the major, um, gas leak on Harrisburg Road and it was a huge traffic impact. We could easily have put something on the radio about that pretty quickly to let people know that there was a, an issue there. Uh, are we, are we gonna put any signs up on the interstate saying, "For emergency information, you can turn to this radio station" or... We, we do have some of the signs funded. We're working with, um, state DOT right now to get the permissions granted and the, and the easement rights in order to put up a few of those signs. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you very much. Any other questions? Thank you very much. Thank you. O- Now ready for council reports. Um, Council Member Blues. Thank you, Mayor. Just a few announcements. Uh, Monday, February 22nd at 7:00 PM, there will be two, uh, Second District Neighborhood Association meetings. Uh, Oakwood Neighborhood will meet in the Oakwood Park Community Center and the Radcliffe-Marlborough Neighborhood Association will meet in Marlborough Park Community Center. Thank you, Mayor. Thanks. Council Member James. Thanks, Mayor. Um, February is the, um, shortest month of the year, um, and it's also Black History Month. Um, so I just wanted to make a couple of announcements of some things going on. I received a notification from the Parks and Rec office, um, that announced some things that I, that you might be interested in attending. On Thursday, February the 18th, from 6:00 to 8:00 at the William Wells Brown Community Center, that's located at 548 East 6th Street, um, and the New Equestrian View at East End area. Um, there is a program that's titled Know Thyself. It's history of our neighborhood, and our neighborhood is, um, the East End area. And when I talked to Jill Wilson, who's working in partnership with Fay County Public Schools and Partners for Youth about the program, she said she could go on and on and on and found so much interesting rich history, um, from the Kentucky, um- ... Racing Association track that was there before Kingland, um, was even thought of, um, to some of the current folks that are making current history in that area, a lot of exciting things. So if you'd like to attend that event, that's on Thursday, February 18th from 6:00 to 8:00. Um, on Thursday, February 25th, um, there's a Motown 2, a musical play that's gonna be at the Winburn Community Center and that's on, um, that's Thursday from 7:00 to 8:00. Winburn Community Center if you, um, it's located at 1060 Winburn Drive, excuse me. Um, for more information on that, you can contact, um, they, there's not a name here, but the number's 288-2957. Um, that's gonna be musical performances featuring gospel, blues, jazz, and other Motown great songs. Uh, door prizes and refreshments there. And on Friday, February 26th, will be the 15th Annual African American Dedication. Um, this is an event that takes place at the Dunbar Center, which is located at 545 North Upper Street. Um, and they feature folks that are affiliated with the Dunbar Community Center. There's a rich history there, stemming from a school that used to be there, um, and those folks that have stayed active in, um, keeping the Dunbar Center alive there. To learn more information on that, contact, um, those folks at 288-2941. Um, and Mayor, I'd like to thank your, um, the Parks and Rec staff, um, the Department of General Services for hosting these events for Black History Month. Thank you. Thanks. Council Member Stinnett. Thank you, Mayor. Just a couple of follow-up announcements. One, the Building Inspection Task Force did meet last Thursday. We have scheduled our next meeting for March the 11th at 3:00 PM there in the fifth floor conference room on council floor. And also, if anyone has any comments, suggestions or ideas that we need to look at, um, during the task force's, uh, tenure of work, you can email it to bitaskforce@lexingtonky.gov. That's bitaskforce@lexingtonky.gov. And our next meeting will be focusing on safety issues and the ability to enter a property to inspect for safety, as well as enforcement overall from building inspection. Also, uh, the RFP Selection Committee for the Economic Development Consultant Selection met on Friday. Um, I'm gonna be sending an email around to council members that we have narrowed the eight, uh, applicants down to three, uh, which will be interviewed, uh, towards the last week of February. Those three are Market Street, TIP, and Angelo, uh, Consulting. Those are the three which we will be interviewing. If anyone would like to see a copy of their, um, proposal, uh, our council administrator has those in her office. And if you have any questions from a council member standpoint that you'd like to be asked during the interview process, please email me and let me know what those questions are or give those to me. I'll be happy to take them to the process and, and make sure they're asked during the interview process. Thank you, Mayor. Thanks. Vice Mayor Gray. Thank you, Mayor. Just, uh, parenthetically, those, those three firms are all good firms, uh, Council Member Stinnett. From my experience, and good to hear that y'all have already gotten it down to that, those numbers. Um, tomorrow morning, uh, I believe the, I wanted to bring y'all up to date a little bit on the RFP Selection Committee for the, um, uh, Government Center. Tomorrow morning, a meeting is scheduled for that, um, RFP Selection Committee. Now the last meeting, and Kimra, correct me if I'm wrong, the last meeting of that committee was held back in the late summer or early fall, I believe. Early fall. And, and the reason I'm bringing it up today is that since that was the last meeting, at that meeting, we were beginning to hit some of the difficulties or we'd already hit some of the difficulties of the economy. And in that meeting, uh, I shared that my view was that we should suspend the project. It was not the view of the con- full committee and, um, the next... and we have not had any meetings since then. But I think it's appropriate that, um, that the council knows that these meeting, that this meeting is being held tomorrow and that any, uh, advice or counsel from, from the, uh, from the council would perhaps be welcome. My view at the time and my view today is that, um, even though this project was well-intended when we started considering it, um, two years ago, that today is a fully, fully different economic period. Um, economic button has been reset. A lot of people are struggling. A lot of businesses are struggling. And that continuing this project, a big project like this, of this scale, would send the wrong signals and the, the wrong symbol and signals, would represent the wrong symbol and signals to our community today. Uh, so that's, um, that's where we stand on that. Um, Kimra, you may wanna, um, add to that, um, or Council Member Lawless is also on that committee. Um, if there's anybody else that, or any other comments? Well, I've, I would open it up, Mayor, to whether or not it's appropriate for opening it up to the floor is your call on that. Council Member Lawless. Um- Or you can- Um- ... talk about it during your time. Either way. Huh? You can speak now or you can talk about it during your time. I, I, I'll talk about it during my time. Okay. Anything else? All right. Council Member Henson. Thank you, Mayor. And I would say also in light of our economic situation and there's many, many things that we want to do that I just don't feel like, um, is an appropriate time to be- Um, um, I guess meeting doesn't cost us any money, but I just think it, um ... If the funds are not available, it, it'd look like it would be a waste of time, but that's my opinion on that. Um, I wanted to announce, um, the division three champions for the wheelchair basketball, um, and this w- was a couple weekends ago, um, the Heel On Wheels, which are sponsored by Cardinal Hill Hospital won the Division Three championship, and this is the first Lexington team that has won this, so I, I just thought it would be good to, to mention them and let them know that we're proud of them and con- congratulate them. They're a very competitive team. And I was real sorry that I missed the tournament. Um, thank you. Also, there is going to be a, um, public conversation to speak out on public transportation March 4th, and it's at the main library on Main Street from 6:30 to 8:00 on, um, in the auditorium, but it will allow citizens to speak out, uh, about the public transportation, the services that are provided to them, and what we might do to make that better. I also have a motion, Mayor, that I would like to move, um, the item of yard sale permitting from planning to services committee for review in March at the March meeting. So moved. Do I hear a second? Second. I have a motion by Council Member Hinson, second by Council Member Feigl. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, no? Motion carries. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Lane. Uh, thank you, Mayor. We've, uh, had some pretty difficult weather here in the last few days, and, um, I guess compounding that was the drifting snow added on top of the, the regular snowfall. And I ... Just based on the feedback that I received, um, I feel like our streets and roads people have done a really good job in, in getting the roads, uh, open, the main roads and thoroughfares, so I just wanted to take a moment to say thanks to them for their extra overtime, uh, for a job well done. And then, um, I'd like to maybe follow up on the Vice Mayor's comment there just for a second. Um, I personally would like to see us continue, uh, forward on the, uh, study for the city hall. My, my understanding, I haven't been ... I went at the last meeting, and I haven't been getting, you know, regular correspondence, but I was under the impression that that study was gonna f- figure out what would be the best location to build it and to sort of outline the square footage requirements for the building, but it's not really pulling the trigger on going ahead with the construction. I think that it would be nice to have that information, uh, already done so when the economy does turn up and the recession is over, according to economists that were just at a, a conference here last week, it's just that, you know, the, you know, the re- recovery's gonna be a little slower than normal. They're expecting a 2% to 3% increase in the economy and not a 5% or 6%. So we would have, uh, some of this planning done so then we see revenues returning and we have prosperity here, the businesses are doing better, we'd be in a mode where we could move forward a little bit faster. So I, I do concur with what the Vice Mayor says. We don't have to do it all, but I think the siting and the facilities analysis would be an appropriate thing to do right at this time. That's just another opinion. Thank you. Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Mayor. I'm gonna piggyback a little on what, uh, Council Member Hinson said earlier 'cause I was gonna talk about the 32nd Annual Bluegrass Invitational Wheelchair Tournament that was held there at Seton, um, Center on the 5th through the 7th. There were 20 teams there. The Heels On Wheels basketball team from Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital won the Division Three title for the first time in tournament history. They came out of the losers bracket and they upset the number one team, Moro- Moraine, by a score of 54 to 47 in the championship game. And as she said, it marked the first time the Kentucky team had won the tournament in their own home state, so I think we all need to, I don't know, congratulate them and maybe might wanna bring them down here and, and, and do some kind of proclamation or something 'cause it was a nice win, and I think it's, it speaks well for them. So I can give you this information, or if you'd like to contact them. Thank you. Council Member Lawless. Thank you, Mayor. Um, first of all, I'd like to, um, talk about... I got quite a few calls and emails about the, uh, removal of cars from the, um, snow removal, and I know this is a learning experience for all of us, and we can all look backwards, but I, I would like to, um, make some suggestions and be part of the solution. Um, I know a lot of our streets and roads folks were out there working really hard, um, but I was wondering if we could inform UK about, uh, snow emergencies, because they have the ability to text and email all their students, and a lot of, a lot of them were towed. Also, I, I was across the street at a meeting and left there about 5:00, and by the time I got home- ... uh, so I had an email at like 6:00 that evening that, that, uh, you had declared a snow emergency effective immediately and car... And by that time, I was at home and I wasn't able to, um, email out to my constituents and possibly if we know this is coming ahead of time, we can educate people about, um, you know, it looks bad, we could go into a snow emergency this evening, so here are the rules. And if council members have that information earlier, we could start educating so they don't get, uh, towed. And, um, so just offering that up as a, a solution that might help with some of these things. And again, I know it's a difficult time and a lot of these emergencies come, but, you know, I think that would help a lot. Um, the UK... Uh, the University of Kentucky was holding a meeting this evening with some of the neighborhoods, uh, about a par- a surface parking that they'd like input on before they go forward internally. That has been canceled. Um, the Elizabeth Street Neighborhood Association is meeting at 7:00 PM tonight at the, um, church on the corner of Audubon and Forest. And you might wanna check with Molly Davis to see if that's still on. I don't know if it is or not. Um, ABAWS having their Mardi Gras ball tonight at 7:00 PM if you wanna get out in the snow. Uh, it's $20 at the door at the downtown Hilton and it is still going on. Um, I'd like to speak briefly to the government center. I've been part of that RFP committee and um, the meetings are just time, but what we're meeting about is selecting and paying up to a million dollars for a firm to do site selection and engage public input. And it seems that it will be quite a while before we're able to go forward with that. So I would just like to hear from other council members and, and appreciate, uh, Vice Mayor Gray bringing it up. But, um, I, I brought up that concern at our last meeting is this, this, you know. So, um, and the other thing is I would like to request from, um, the mayor and Krista, I guess Greathouse, um, from Spotlight, Spotlight Lexington to, um, give a report about some of the downtown businesses have expressed great concern that they're not gonna be able to utilize like their sidewalk cafes or, you know, the, the certain vendors will be allowed and others not. And so I'd like... I know I remember some discussion about that. I'd like, if we could just get some clarification so I can give them accurate information maybe at the next work session, if there could be a, a presentation on that. Thank you so much. My recollection is that she, Ms. Greathouse, is preparing a presentation to the council, and I can't recall whether that's next week or the week after, but that's- That'll be fine. Thank you. ... if you have questions. Council Member Crosby. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, first I just wanted to thank the Fraternal Order of Firefighters and, uh, uh, the fire department for having a, a few of us out, uh, last night for the ceremony to dedicate the monument to the fallen, um, officers. Uh, it was very, very cold and snowy and it wasn't the best conditions, but they had a wonderful turnout. So for the few of us who were there in cold, it, it was a really nice event and they pulled it off without a hitch. And I know that also a lot of other divisions within government were there to help out. So thank you so much because that was not an easy task given the weather conditions. Um, also, uh, Council Member Lawless mentioned the World Equestrian Game update and I was also gonna ask for one, but I was going to see if we could maybe just get a general update. Um, I would like to hear kind of w- where we are on maybe our public safety plans and, um, also some of the downtown issues that are going on. If, so maybe if we could just make it more of a general, um, update. The events coming up and I don't... We haven't had one in some time, so maybe if we could just get a general overview of where we stand on all that, that would be great. And then I guess lastly since it was brought up regarding the government center, I would have to say that since we're not too far out from our new budget, we've not spent the money yet. I, personally, I think that we should not spend the money for the study and we should hold off till the next year. I think as long as we are considering brown-outs at fire stations and a lot of the other budget cuts we've had, um, I just think it would be a little irresponsible to spend that money given the current budget situation on a study when we can maybe look to put it into our budget next year. And really that's not that much further away. So thank you. Uh, Council Member Martin. Thank you, Mayor. And I second Council Member Crosby's, uh, statements about the, uh, uh, Fraternal Order of Firefighters last night. Uh, it was very, very cold, but, uh, it was a very touching ceremony and it was well, well done and well received and, um, it was great to meet the families there as well. So it was, uh, uh, it was a very, uh, very moving, uh, evening. Um, one of the things I wanted to, to, to sort of bring to the council's attention, I understand that, uh, still being a new guy, I guess, that, uh, in years past the, that the council has, uh, voted to put in, I guess, $3 million of bond money into the streets and roads fund and that we have not yet i- ... decided to do that this year. I guess it did not make the, the last cut. But I would, I guess, make a motion that we, uh, take the issue of, uh, uh, um, a, uh, an additional, uh, bond allocation to the Streets and Roads Fund to the Services Committee for consideration. Uh, so moved. Do I hear a second? Well, we don't ... I don't hear a second to the motion. Second. All right. I have a second from Council Member Beard now. Council Member Lane, you raised a question about- Sorry, I didn't have my mic on. I, I thought maybe it'd be better or less of more of a financial issue, the, whether we can afford to spend the money at this time, maybe it should go onto Budget and Finance Committee in lieu of the Services Committee. I, I, I'm happy with that amendment. I think Council Member, uh, Stennet. Actually, Council Member Martin, this issue's already being dealt with. Uh, we dealt with it during the bonding workshop, uh, where we approved the current bonds that have already been issued, and this was one of the three items we placed to review a- April 1, um, along with two other items which will be the trails and the, um, downtown infield redevelopment, landfill, or land bank money. So it's already on the agenda for April 1 to review. Unless your motion is to speed that up, uh, and change the timing, then it's already out there. So ... My motion is to speed it up because we're all having to go through our lists of, of roads to, to, to fix. And those r- those lists are gonna change based on the whether we have the current amount of money or whether we have more money. And so, uh, I think as a, as a timing standpoint, I think it would be, it'd probably be smart for us to, to look at this earlier rather than later, because we're all putting together these lists right now. Uh, but I leave it to the, uh, to the, to the, the decision of the council on this. Thank you, Mayor. Let, let me just share with you, we discussed this issue this morning a little bit, and we are, um, currently planning to bring forward a proposal that we put $3 million into a separate bond issue, probably within the next month, something like that, to go ahead and address that issue. Um, it certainly would be appropriate for it to be considered by the Services Committee, Budget and Finance, some other group, but I, I, I wanted you to at least be aware of that conversation from this morning. Uh, the motion on the floor as it currently stands is to refer the item of the funding for, uh, resurfacing to the Services Committee. Any further discussion on that motion? Council Member James. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I do understand Council Member Martin's sense of urgency with that. I also have a sense of urgency with Infill and Redevelopment. Um, and we discussed this in length at the bond meetings, um, and there was a reason why that we were, that we chose April 1st, and it was upon recommendation of, uh, I think Commissioner Rumpke at that time. Um, I, I will, I will not consider favoring this one at this time, it just, it circumvents everything that we did before, um, and eh, we were to be addressing these items, um, I think there were three items that we were gonna be addressing that we put on hold, um, based on that initial bond discussion. Um, everyone can list their sense of urgency for whatever issue it is, and I think that we need to follow along what we've done before, and I will not support discussing this in committee. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Martin. Uh, Mayor, I think someone had asked for a, a friendly amendment to put it into Budget and Finance, and I agree to that if the second agrees to that as well. Council Member Beard, we hear- Are you Pardon? Question is, would you agree to a friendly amendment to put it into Budget and Finance- ... as opposed to Services Committee? All right. So the motion now is to refer that, the item of, uh- ... additional bond support for road resurfacing to Budget and Finance Committee. Council Member, uh, Lane. Uh, thank you. Since, uh, we already have a schedule for April 1st, um, or the month of April, I think this is, is not really necessary to make this res- resolution. It's already in the committee. It's already scheduled. Uh, I, I would suggest that you might wanna withdraw that motion. Thank you. Any further discussion? All right, um, let's proceed to vote. Those in favor of the motion to refer the additional bonding to, um, committee, please indicate by voting aye electronically. Those opposed, vote nay electronically. appears as though the motion fails by a vote of three to nine. All right. Anything further, Council Member Martin? All right. Uh, Council Member McCord. Thank you, Mayor. Just, uh, again, a thank you to all those who are working during this time of, uh, of severe weather, certainly Streets and Roads and Police and Fire, and, and all those folks at LFUCG who, who work, uh, during, uh, some, some pretty, um, extreme conditions, uh, my appreciation to you for all that you do. Um, eh, to the, to the point about the Government Center, I, I, I think that certainly, uh, holding off, as Council Member Crosby had said, uh, holding off until, uh, next budget cycle and things like that makes sense, but I do want to offer this caveat, um, because it's very easy to lose sight of the fact that this building that we are in, the reason why we even had this to begin with is because this building hemorrhages about 50 to $60,000 a month in energy inefficiencies. So the taxpayers actually are losing money on a daily basis, and part of the reason why I made the motion to put the RFP committee together to move forward was because, uh, it was, it seemed like a wise move to start looking at what were our options and why- ... where those things could be and, and, uh, not just an either/or proposition. So while I agree that given s- the, the economic times that we're in, uh, it certainly makes sense to, to not, uh, engage that money. Uh, we are losing, and taxpayers do lose in this facility, uh, a considerable amount of money, and that is what started this process to begin with. And I just want folks to, to certainly remember that. Thank you, Mayor. Councilmember Lane. Uh, thank you, Mayor. I just had a follow-up question on the snow removal. Do we have some type of an agreement with the University of Kentucky, uh, to remove snow off of their campus, or... How does that work? Do we, do we get reimbursed for it? That, that's the kind of questions I have. Mr. Webb. Uh, Councilmember Lane, we, we don't ha- we don't remove any snow for, for the University of Kentucky. We do, at times, provide them salt, which they reimburse us for. Okay, thank you. That's... I guess that's all I'll need to know. If, if, uh, if I could while I'm up here, too, uh, the appreciation for the Streets and Roads folks, we certainly appreciate your comments, but I do wanna share that it's not all Streets and Roads. It looks like a Streets and Roads effort, but there is a group of folks from Sanitary Sewers that are a regular part of our efforts to keep the roads clear of snow and ice. And we have also, uh, with this last event, uh, I think it's during the last two weeks, it's been four weekends in a row now, uh, with this last two events, uh, we have had four people, uh, from, uh, the Parks department have come over, two of 'em were experienced in snow removal, had come from Streets and Roads, have really done a very nice job for us. It allows us to keep every piece of equipment that we have on the road whenever we have people on vacation or down. And I also wanted to recognize Fleet Services that comes in when we come in. You know, when you're running those trucks for 24 hours a day, they break down, and those folks are putting in a lot of hours too, keeping our trucks on the road. So just wanted to make sure we thank all those folks. Thank you. Does any other member wish to report? All right, I've got, uh, just two or three kinda quick things. And since we're talking about, uh, snow removal, let me address the snow emergency order. Um, as I suspect everyone is aware, we lifted that, rescinded that this morning, effective at 11 o'clock. What we try to do is, um, get the word out as early as possible. Last evening, we f- made the announcement in time for the 6:00 PM news. And in addition to that, there is a four-hour window between the time at which we make the announcement and before any enforcement begins. So it was not effective immediately. It was effective, um, at 10 o'clock last night, and the announcement was made at 6:00. So if you hear about an announcement in the future and you've got somebody you want to contact, uh, I would encourage you to do so. We can contact UK and ask them to, uh, advise their students. There are three different levels of snow emergency declarations. The first, stage one, which is what we implemented yesterday, prohibits parking on snow emergency routes. Stage two prohibits parking not only on snow emergency routes, but on other streets, um, that are designated. And then a stage three, uh, order would prohibit travel on certain streets. I'm not aware of our ever having gotten to the point at which a stage three, uh, declaration was issued. I have not done one. We have done s- two or three snow, uh, stage one snow, uh, uh, declarations over the course of the last three years, and, um, that's what we did yesterday, was limiting parking on the snow emergency routes. So that's, uh, an update on that. Um, generally, uh, uh, changing the subject to the City Hall discussion, I generally agree with Councilmember Lane's observations about the benefit of having some information about that project before we go forward. But it's certainly within the purview of the council to decide whether we do it sooner or later. One thing that is frequently not recalled in these discussions is if we stay put, we can't do so at no cost. There is about a $30 million dollar upgrade in this facility that has been identified for us previously. If anybody wants the details about that, we can make that information available. But as you consider what to do, part of the equation is, do you wanna spend $30 million on this building, or do you want to, uh, to deal with some immediate issues? Not the least of which are the garages, which are, uh, a part of the mix. And, um, so as you, as you evaluate that, keep in mind that the cost of doing nothing, um, in the way of a new building is not zero. It is a substantial piece of change. Uh, last, uh, let me, uh, just make everyone aware that we will have another in our series of Mayor's Night Out, uh, on Thursday night the 18th from 5:00 to 7:00 at Northeast Christian Church, uh, over, um, off Starshoot Parkway. It's 990 Starshoot Parkway in room 108. Uh, we'll start at 5:00, plan to wrap up around, uh, 7:00 or so, and no appointment is necessary. So- That's all I have. Council Member James. Um, thank you mayor for, um, explaining the snow emergency, um, information. Just two, um, quick points, um, of clarification from me, other council members, and anybody watching, I- I have had phone calls from folks that, um, did not- did not realize they needed to move their vehicles, so I just want to know, um, or clarify, how does one know that they're parked on a snow emergency route? Um, and what are the alternative methods of notification that were used, um, in case somebody wasn't watching the channel or the six o'clock news? The first, uh, question you raise is how do they know? Um, there are signs posted on all the snow emergency routes indicating that either parking or travel may be prohibited during snow emergencies, and so if, uh, people are driving down the road, that's what those signs are about and- and that's why they are there. In terms of alternative means of notification of folks, the ordinance provides that these orders can only be issued between 6:00 AM and 11:00 PM, so you can't issue them in the dead of night. And- and Star, the idea there is to try to give people as much notice as possible. Traditionally, we have notified all the media outlets. Um, my experience has been that they give it pretty high visibility. It was, um, uh, either the lead story or close to the lead story on, uh, TV and- and, uh, radio last night, on the websites, uh, last night as well. Um, we have a, you know, a fairly extensive list of media outlets that we notify on situations like this. But that's not to say that if you think of other communication outlets that, uh, we might employ such as UK's fairly new email notification system, um, we'll be glad to try to incorporate those as well. Okay. Um, and I, and I'll brainstorm just a little bit 'cause as I'm thinking about it, I know most people actually across, um, a lot of, uh, television screens, it was saying "Don't travel unless you," you know, "unless it's an emergency," or something like that, so a lot of people weren't even in their vehicles or even thinking about going to their vehicles, so I don't know if there's some alternative kind of... I don't know if we can contact neighborhood associations by email or something that we could do adjunct to everything that you're already doing. Um, just, I don't know, I guess if we could all put on our thinking caps and figure out ways to reach more people, um, who, and maybe we'll get some feedback from the people whose cars were towed, uh, what the best way to have reached them- Yeah. ... would- would have been. And- and one other thing I sh- should make you aware of, it's my understanding that about 150 individuals were personally notified by the police officers in the area by knocking on doors- Okay, that's good. ... immediately adjacent, um, so that they might go ahead and move their cars. It wasn't, uh, it wasn't a situation where, uh, the- the tow trucks just started lining up, so we tried to knock on doors where we could and identify owners where we could. Do you know how many cars were towed? 119 was the last number I heard citywide. Okay. Thank you, mayor. Um, Council Member Lane. Uh, just another, uh, follow-up comment. Um, it might be helpful if we put on the website some type of a listing of the streets that are in the s- you know, the snow emergency area, so if- if you send an alert out and somebody's unsure, they might be able to go on the website and get that. Uh, in other major cities, the snow streets are well known 'cause they have snow a lot more frequently than we do, and that might be a help. Uh, the- the only thing I was gonna mention out of, this is addressed back to the vice mayor, but, uh, I think it would be helpful if you would, um, maybe... I'm not, I can't make that RFP meeting tomorrow 'cause I plan to be out of town, but I think it'd be helpful maybe you send a short memo to the council members with, uh, sort of describing the services that would be required for the siting and the facility ana- analysis. And then, uh, will we have cost then, or are these- We've got- ... is this to review the RFP or the RFPs are actually being responded to? No, we've got cost now. Okay, well, then it'd be nice- Yeah. ... to have the cost to look at too. Thank you. Council Member Myers. Thank you, Mayor. I just, I have one question about, um, the new building. Has it been determined already that there's only two options and that's either staying put or building a new building, are there still, is there still an opportunity to look at other options? There's still an opportunity to look at other options. I think the, um, the primary focus has been those two options, but, you know, clearly until such time as we, uh, enter into some contractual obligation, those other options are available for our consideration. Okay. And how are... I guess I'll talk later about, or ask the question later about how those other options are introduced without creating difficulties for us in that process. I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I guess later on I'll ask, um, maybe in a different setting, what the- what the process would be for putting those other opportunities out there without creating a problem with the- with- Yeah. Doing so. Well, you may-- you may recall that probably a couple years or so ago, we had a firm evaluate not- Right. ... only the prospects of building a new building and staying in the existing one, but looking at some other variations of how we might deal with our space needs in the downtown area. Uh, that information is available, if you'd like to go back and, and revisit that. And I believe you all gave some consideration in, in your task force on the front end of some of the other options. And so there may be some information that, uh, could be made available from the task force to look into. Okay. Thank you. And, and comment, comment on it, uh, quickly, uh, Council Member Myers, you know, there's a lot of calories, a lot of time has been put into this, but we really started this in another almost prehistoric era compared to our economy that we're going through today. And to initiate a project of this size and scope, from my experience, is an, an enormous undertaking. It already has been a significant undertaking. And at, at this point in time, the, if looking across the landscape, and no business would initiate this kind of an undertaking in today's economy. And that's really what has formed my point of view on this, that our business wouldn't consider moving offices today. I don't know of any that would. Now, do we need to think about and consider and examine maintenance and costs associated with this building? Of course we do. That's an everyday activity in any maintenance function, in any maintenance shop. Um, this is a project that I had a lot of interest in, but part of leadership is adjusting and adapting and changing when we need to. And that's simply my point of view on it, and as the mayor said, you know, it's, clearly it's the council's, um, decision on this, and this is why we brought it up today. Thank you. Oh, Council Member Hinson. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to add that regardless of what we do, if we build a new government center, take an existing building and renovate it or whatever, I just think that we need to include maintenance costs into our budget, and I think that's something that, um, we have failed to do in the past, as far as, you know, if... Yes, this building's ancient, but, um, I just think maintenance costs should be expected in, you know, if it's a truck or, uh, any type of equipment or any, any property that we own. So thank you. Council Member Wallace. Thank you, Mayor. Just real quickly, I just got a text message that the Elizabeth Street Neighborhood Association meeting scheduled for tonight is canceled, so if anybody was out there planning to go, please don't. Thank you. Council Member Beard. Thank you, Mayor. Um, something you said, and I think the, the assumption is made that downtown is the only place that a government center would go. Is that kind of a given, or, uh, can we use free association and think about other spots? Well, again, I go back to the answer I gave Council Member Miers a few moments ago, until such time as we enter into some kind of contractual obligation that binds us, otherwise I, I suppose all options are on the table. In the past, when the idea of moving urban county government offices from downtown has been raised, and, and that issue's come up several times, my sense of it is, has been that the, uh, overwhelming, uh, majority of, uh, folks on the council have been inclined to stay in the downtown area. But, um, to the degree that option needs to be revisited at some point along the way, we can do that. Well, it, you know, there might be some bargains out there that, uh, wouldn't necessarily, uh, apply in the downtown area. Uh, it is something we probably should explore to some extent anyway. Thank you. Council Member Lane. Yeah, I apologize, Mayor, for talking so much today, but I just wanted to comment, I, I do agree with the vice-mayor that, you know, we're not proposing to build a new building at this particular time with the economy being where it is, but I think the issue of do we build downtown, do we go to the Lexington Mall or the, you know, one of the malls around here, take an old building and redo it or whatever, remodel the building we're in, I think those are issues, first decide where to site the building, and, um, and so we know where we're heading and, and then have an idea what our facility requirements are. This is just basic planning, it doesn't have anything to do with pulling the trigger and actually building a building, and that, that's why I was encouraged maybe to go ahead and do this research and so, so we have a general foundation with an idea of where we're gonna be headed when the economy does turn around. I just wanted to clarify my earlier comment. Thank you. Council Member Crosby. I would just say that, um, back when we went through this process, we weren't cutting over $12 million from our budget at that time. And like Council Member McCord said, this, we're not taking away from the fact that it's good to plan and that this should be a priority, but let's make it a priority in the, um, next budget process. Um, we've had to cut across the board, and this just may be one of those cuts that we need to make during this fiscal year, but we can take it up next year if we deem that it's that big of a priority. We'll just have to tighten up and find the money for next year's budget, I think, so thank you. Council Member Stennet. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanna remind my colleagues that we approved the million dollar bond to do this pro- process right now, so unless one of us plans on bringing forward a motion to rescind the bond and recall it, which I know Commissioner Rempke would have some issues with that, um, we have to spend the money. So, uh, there, there's not a savings opportunity unless we rescind the bond, because we're paying bond interest every day we don't spend it. So, uh, we've already approved this current piece of the pie. As Council Member Lane said, it's just site selection and, uh, formalizing a design, so, um, motion to rescind a bond, I don't know if we've ever done it, but, uh, it's out there. That's... Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. All right. Uh, that concludes the mayor's report. Does anyone wish to address the council on matters not on the, today's agenda? Seeing none, a motion to adjourn is in order. So moved. I have a motion by Council Member Blues and a second by Council Member Wallace. All in favor, please say aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries.