I suspect most of you on the council are quite familiar with Tom Baker, who among other responsibilities heads up the Blue Grass Military Affairs Coalition. Tom has been a vocal advocate on behalf of veterans in our community. And I wanted to, during this week of Veterans Day, share a proclamation with Tom and the Blue Grass Military Affairs Coalition. Whereas America was founded on the principles of liberty, opportunity, and justice for all, and whereas America is a nation at war, and whereas thousands of men and women from the Lexington metropolitan area have answered the call to serve in the United States Armed Forces, making great sacrifices while advancing the cause of freedom, and whereas Veterans Day is observed annually on the 11th hour of the 11th day in the 11th month, and whereas on Veterans Day we pay tribute to America's servicemen and women, now therefore I, Jim Newberry, Mayor of the Lexington Fayette County government, do hereby proclaim November 7th through 13th, 2010, as Blue Grass Military Affairs Coalition Veterans Appreciation Week 2010, and I join the coalition in encouraging Lexington citizens to recognize veterans of the United States Armed Forces through participation in public ceremonies, displays of the flag of the United States, and other suitable expressions of appreciation. And Tom, on behalf of the entire community, we are very grateful for the service which our veterans have rendered to our country. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Newberry. You've been very faithful to veterans during your term, and we appreciate it greatly. And this council has been very faithful to veterans and military members for the ten years that I've been doing this here. And I think it's a great honor to be here in Lexington. For your edification, I want to tell you that in the year 2000, I discovered that the city of Lexington, no body, and I mean organization including the city, had honored veterans publicly since 1958. It was a travesty. I had tried for a number of years to get a number of organizations to join with us to help us recognize veterans, and then, of course, we knew that there were problems in the world and things were coming along, those of us veterans, and then all of a sudden, 9-11 happened. We were fortunate that we had started the Veterans Day observance in 2000, I think, just the year before, and it has been going strong since then. And if you would indulge me just a few minutes, I would like to tell you that we've gone from a Veterans Day to a Veterans Week in Lexington, and we want to expand that across the state, and we're working with other organizations across the state to get that done. Many of you know, because you went to the football game Saturday, that it was Military Appreciation Day at the University of Kentucky football game, and that started the week. Thousands and thousands of veterans were recognized for their service, in addition to the military members and National Guard members who were there. Then Sunday, we had the parade downtown here in Lexington that the VA Medical Center here in Lexington takes charge of each year. And then, of course, the Veterans Day celebration here. Starting tomorrow morning, we have the Marine Corps birthday breakfast, 235th anniversary of the Marine Corps. Tomorrow, on a regional basis, at the Bluegrass Army Depot, we will dedicate the new OEF-OIF Living Memorial to commemorate the Kentuckians killed in action since 9-11. A hundred and three headstones will be dedicated tomorrow morning, and we'll have a ceremony. And unfortunately, we believe there will be many more, because the 101st Airborne Division is deployed or deployed in Afghanistan with 20,000 troops, and the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Infantry Division from Fort Knox is about to deploy with 3,500 more troops, and our Kentucky National Guard will be sending about 1,000 more troops before the middle of next summer to the fight. So of the 30,000 in the buildup that the President ordered, Kentucky is sending approximately 25,000 troops. We are going to have a lot of veterans in this area in the future, so these Veterans Days are very important to us. In addition, then, on Thursday, we've been working with the school system at Henry Clay High School. We have six hourly periods throughout the day for social studies students. We'll hear from a panel of students, and then we'll have a panel of OEF, OIF veterans. There'll be four veterans in each class period talking about their experiences, two of whom are wounded warriors, and they'll be able to talk directly to the students about their experiences. At 1.30 p.m., we'll be at Veterans Elementary School. I think Linda's coming to join us there for a Veterans Day program. We have World War II veterans being special guests there, about 500 students. About 150 veterans are expected to be there. I have 3.30, or no, excuse me, 3 o'clock at Veterans Park. We will rededicate the World War II bronze memorial at the entrance to the park for the M60 battle tank and flags are. I think the mayor is going to join us, Linda's going to join us, and everyone else is invited to rededicate that. We will have a lot of World War II veterans there. At 5.30, the Bluegrass Military Affairs conducts its annual Veterans Eat Free dinner at Tapes Creek Christian Church, followed at 7 o'clock by the annual program to honor, recognize, and honor veterans and their families. We will have a wounded warrior coming from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Battalion East, and the command chaplain from Camp Lejeune will be coming to Lexington to make a presentation. It will be a little bit different presentation with the chaplain talking about his experiences with the combat unit, the last infantry combat unit, Marine Corps unit to come out of Iraq with the colors, along with this wounded warrior. So that's pretty much the schedule, but we have a lot of things going on around town in addition to the major events that I just described, and we thank you for your support. I hope that each of you will find a good place to be. Whether it's a Veterans Day or a Veterans Week event to attend, say thank you to the veterans. All of us who served, who have been overseas, who have put time in away from home and know what it's like to be away and miss our families and so forth, and tell you that with you meeting in open government like this and having peaceful elections is the payoff that we've received for our service. And all of you should be very proud of your elected positions and running a government in a peaceful manner in which we do as well as our elections. And thank you for your service. Thank you. Mr. Curtis. I just had one thing to say and I had to step up. I'm retired from the military as well after 24 years of service. I retired as Command Sergeant Major. Tomorrow, specifically, when you drive down Main Street and you see all the flags at half-mast, that will be in honor of Corporal Brett Land who was killed basically six days ago while serving in Afghanistan as a member of a Fort Campbell unit. So when you drive around town and all over the state tomorrow and see flags at half-staff, you'll realize what they're there for, for another soldier that gave his life for the freedoms that we enjoy every day. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Curtis. And now, beginning with public comment on the issues that are on today's agenda, does anyone wish to address the council? I see none, so we'll proceed. We have a docket to approve. Is there a motion? Second. I have a motion by Councilmember Ellinger and a second by Councilmember Lane. Councilmember Myers. Thank you, Mayor. As I mentioned in the last meeting here, we've got a motion that I need to make to clean up the rest of the removal of folks who don't work for LCCD from our office. So I move to place on the docket for the Thursday, November 11, 2010, council meeting a resolution providing that effective January 1, 2011, no employee or retiree of a partner agency or satellite agency of the LFUCG shall be entitled to participate in any urban county government medical or retirement plan or receive any urban county government employee or retiree benefit, including but not limited to medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, life insurance, 401K contributions and the like, and directing the Division of Human Resources to notify in writing all such agencies within three business days of the passage of this resolution. So moved. I have a motion by Councilmember Myers and a second by Councilmember Blues, which will be in a motion to amend the docket by adding the motion, the resolution just described. Any discussion? Councilmember Gordon. Thank you, Mayor. I have a question, and there is one agency on there which is actually in an odd position, the Sister Cities office, which is an LFUCG program, and do you all have any information about why it was taken off? I think it's included in your motion, isn't it? Or is this a different group? This is actually the, when the council, when the partner agency committee recommended this before and we passed that resolution, subsequent to that passage there has been questions as to whether or not some of the groups should be able to stay in the 401K and different things like that. And when you looked at the minutes from our meeting and the motion that was actually passed, we made it specific to medical insurance only. And so this isn't adding anybody new into that mix, it's just to include those other benefits. The retirement and other. And part of the problem with this, some of the PSAs in the past had this blanket statement in there that the employees of that organization were entitled to any and all benefits of LFUCG employees. And that's what we're trying to clean back up. Okay. I understand that. Can someone speak to the Sister Cities situation, which is a little bit different than the others? Is it the only, no one knows anything about it? I think the question is what's the peculiar nature of the, I guess there's one employee. And it's our program. It's an LFUCG program that we help fund. Do you know whether she is an LFUCG employee? I don't think she is. I don't know that. Unless somebody else is here, maybe what we need to do is find out the particular information. I was just curious, because the others I don't believe are LFUCG programs. Are they independent? Are they not? You can get me the answer later. I mean, if someone can give me the information, I would just appreciate it. Council Member Gordon, I do not believe, my recollection is that Sister Cities was not included on the list, that they were, those included on the list were the, it's not the entire list of partner agencies that are subject to it. It was quasi-governmental. And so any of the ones that are included, they were not fully funded by Irving County government. They just resided in our buildings or used our computer services or telephone services and that sort of thing, or just the health insurance. I think the one Sister Cities employee did get the latter. So if maybe Glenda is shaking her head, maybe someone can get me information to help me. To explain why this one is included. I would really appreciate it. I think we can do that. Ms. George, can you follow up with Council Member Gordon? Thank you. The question on the floor now is to include the motion made by Council Member Myers on the docket. Is there any other discussion specific to that motion? I would move the amendment if possible. And that would be that our HR department notify all ex-employees of any of these agencies that are on our COBRA plan that they will be losing their COBRA. Because that's a really big deal. Do you wish to accept a friendly amendment? Yeah, their health care COBRA. I guess I would rather check with HR or law to see if that's appropriate. I think their health care provider will make that information known to them. Do you wish to make a motion to amend then? Okay, Council Member Lawless has a motion to amend the motion to include a request that all former employees be notified of their potential loss of COBRA benefits. Is there a second to Council Member Lawless's amendment to the amendment? Seeing none, it will die for lack of a second. Council Member Myers, any discussion? Thank you, Mayor. Earlier Council Member Lawless mentioned that she received information that it was not illegal to be a broker or third-party administrator. Right, for us to provide that. If there be a way for you to get any of that information prior to Thursday or before the second reading, I'm interested in hearing from you. I'm interested in receiving that. That's the reason that I voted in support of this is because I was told that we could not do this. And that's why I voted in support of it. Okay, so if you can provide that information and maybe even have someone from the Department of Insurance come and speak with us about that. Thank you, Mayor. Opposed, no. Motion carries. We're now back to discussing the motion to approve the docket as now amended. Any discussion on that? All in favor of approving the docket as amended, please indicate by saying aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Our next agenda item is the approval of the October 26th summary. Is there a motion? I was on the list. Council Member Stennett. Thank you, Mayor. In preparation for Thursday night's bond meeting, there's some housekeeping we need to get on the docket. And obviously we'll discuss it in more detail Thursday night before the first reading. So if we need to amend or make any changes, we can at the meeting, but we need to get it on in order to expedite the sale of bonds. Thank you, Mayor Stennett. I have a motion by Council Member Stennett and a second by Council Member Lane. Any discussion? Council Member Martin and James. Thank you, Mayor. We have talked continuously this year about our deteriorating roads, and Council Member Stennett, I'd like to make a motion to amend your list to add $5 million for repaving funds for this year. There's no list on here. This is saying up to a certain threshold, the reason we need first reading Thursday night. These are recovery bonds from the stimulus plan that will expire December 31st. In order to take advantage of the lower interest rates, we need to get them issued on the street if we choose to do so Thursday night. So it would be more appropriate to do that Thursday night to include in our bond package. I'm happy with that. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member James. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Stennett, is there already an intention to ask for a second reading on Thursday? Can't. We'll need two readings. Any further discussion on Council Member Stennett's motion? Let's move along to the summary. Council Member Wallace. Yes, I'd like to make a motion to add to the docket for Thursday a budget amendment to request $4,500 in capital funds to the Division of Engineering Account Number 316-0303-202-3222-91711 Budget Reference 2008. And this is for improved sidewalk curbs and street striping for a bike lane located in the 3rd District. I have a motion by Council Member Wallace. Second by Council Member Ellinger. Any discussion? All in favor of her motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Council Member Martin. Do you have something to bring forward at this time? I had you indicating as having a desire to speak, but that may be stale. All right. Thank you. Anything further? Item 3, then, is the approval of the October 26th summary. Do I hear a motion? I have a motion by Council Member Beard. Second by Council Member Stennett to approve the October 26th summary. Any discussion? All in favor, say aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. We're ready to discuss budget amendments. Do I hear a motion to approve? I have a motion by Council Member Ellinger. Second by Council Member Stennett to approve the budget amendments. Any discussion? Those in favor, please say aye. Those opposed, no. Motion carries. The new business items are next. Is there a motion to approve them? I have a motion by Council Member Meyers. Second by Council Member Palouze to approve the new business items. Yes. On Item B, the authorization to amend Sections 21-5 and 22-5 of the Code of Ordinances. This is the restructuring of various divisions and departments and abolishing positions. I feel like given that we're about to start a new administration in January, it's premature to be doing this at this time. I'd like to table it. You have a motion to table Item B. I have a second by Council Member James. That motion is non-debatable. We'll proceed to vote. Let's do so electronically. Those in favor of tabling Item B, please indicate by voting aye electronically. Those opposed, vote nay. Council Member Ellinger? My understanding of the motion was indefinite. The motion fails by a vote of two to nine. We're now back to discussion of the new business items. Any discussion? Thank you, Mayor. I know that Council Member Gordon asked for explanations on Item B. I was just curious if you'd received that and maybe you could forward the response to... I actually got it and all Council Members received it from Linda Rumpke, Commissioner Rumpke. One of the interesting things is that none of these are reclassifications. One is to correct an error. These were all approved in the budget, if I understand correctly. It is on your email, Council Members, those explanations. Council Member Ellinger, do you still wish to speak? Any further discussion of the new business items? All in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Those opposed, no. The motion carries. I think we're now ready for the presentation from Budget and Finance. Council Member Stinnett. Thank you, Mayor. Just to kind of give some preliminary numbers before we get into the Budget and Finance report, we talked about health care earlier. I think it's interesting to note that the Office of Management and Budget at the Federal Government projected U.S. government expenditures will increase 18 percent over the next five years. At the same time, they predicted that Medicare expenditures will increase 44 percent for the same time period. So everywhere in government health care costs are going up. It's important to note that the defined benefit pension plans, there are two states in the country that have the worst defined benefit plans in terms of the shortfall. One being Illinois, the other being Kansas at 54 and 59 percent shortfall. So our 69 percent doesn't look as bad as those two states, but obviously we have a lot of room for improvement, as do they. On our meeting, the first item up for discussion was the economic indicators. Through the month of August, Fed County unemployment did rise from 7.8 to 8.3 through the end of August. That was an increase of about 5.5 percentage points. Also, permits issued, they stayed steady through September at 14.27 as compared to 14.34 in August. New business licenses did decrease from 366 in August to 203 in September. Home sales, another good indicator that we use, did decrease from 539 to 465 homes sold for the month of September. And last but not least, foreclosures. We saw a dramatic decrease in foreclosures from 94 in August to 52 in September, but this is usually due to a timing issue with the court system. There are several in the backlog, so that's not necessarily a positive number. We did see a decrease from 94 to 52. Other unemployment numbers to note, the state unemployment rate is 10.1 percent, and the federal unemployment rate through September is 9.6 percent. Now to the revenue numbers. Again, we focus on the big four categories. The revenue numbers totaling just for the month of September, employment withholdings were down 3.9 percent, net profit for businesses was down 4 percent, insurance revenues were down 38.2 percent, and then franchise fees were down 2.9 for a decrease in September of 3.9 percent down. Year to date for the first quarter this year, the numbers look as follows. Employee withholdings were up 2 percent for the first quarter, which is good news. Net profit in businesses were up 4.6 percent, insurance was up 18.8 percent, but franchise fees were unfortunately down 7.2 percent. Some of those could be due to timing, but overall year to date through September, we're up $1.5 million or 3.2 percent through the month of September this year. That was the first item on our agenda. The second item on our agenda was the Eastern State Hospital discussion. Just to give some background, we currently are holding $65 million worth of general obligation bonds in our bonding package. We currently have $373 million of outstanding bonds here in Fayette County. Of that, $65 million is for Eastern State. Now it's important to note that just accounts against us for our capacity number, not for our premium payment number that we have to budget every year. We don't have a payment on those $65 million that is being held by the state. Some additional background information, we expect to also enter into a ground lease once Eastern State Hospital is finalized and built. This ground lease will be similar to the ones we have for the airport or Lexington Center Corporation. We have two funds that the state will use to pay that ground lease back to us, which will fund the bonds. That's through the general fund surplus account, KRS 48.7, and the budget reserve trust fund account, KRS 48.705, which is budgeted biannually by the state. So we have a couple of funding resources that will back those bonds, and that is an obligation of the state, which should begin as soon as the hospital is completed and occupied. Last but not least, on our budget agenda, we had the rough draft of the debt management policy that was worked on by the Committee of Budget and Finance. We sent a copy to all the council members. You should have received a copy. It will not be coming forward to the full council. We chose to work in conjunction with the administration, both current and the new one, to develop a capital management policy that will coincide with our debt management policy and bring them both forward to the whole council. So once we have both drafts completed, we'll be distributing those and having them for discussion to the whole council. I also want to remind council members, 4 o'clock Thursday we will have the bond workshop like we did last year. It was the first time we've ever had one of those before the budget. I think it was a worthy exercise. And we'll be having our second one this Thursday, the 11th at 4 p.m. in the fifth floor conference room. Also want to give a preview to next month's Budget and Finance Committee meeting. We'll have the actual study of the pension, place and fire pension, for discussion on that agenda. Hopefully we'll have that back from the auditors on that as well. So thank you, Mayor. Thanks. Any questions for council members? All right. Then we're ready to proceed to council reports. Does any member wish to make a report? Council Member Blues. Thank you, Mayor. I have two neighborhood meetings to announce. And the first one is tonight. The Meadowthorpe Neighborhood Association will meet tonight at 7 p.m., the community center in Meadowthorpe Park. This is an important meeting and look forward to seeing a good turnout at that event. And then on Monday, November 15, the Winburn Neighborhood Association will meet at 6.30 p.m. in the Martin Luther King Park Community Center. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member McCord. Thank you, Mayor. Just a couple announcements. Very glad to see that the Clay's Mill Road project has been bid and moving forward. And that's going to be on our docket on Thursday night to move that forward. And I know that folks in and around the district really want to see that underway and moving past the point of no return and look forward to working with the contractor to set up a pre-construction meeting for neighbors and neighborhoods to come and learn. Council Member Martin, Council Member Ellinger, you had such interest during the campaign and so did a number of the folks that you interfaced with. I'll be letting you know so that you can share with them when that pre-construction meeting is and kind of know the time frame of this first section that's underway and where subsequent sections fall. I want to piggyback off of what was said earlier about veterans and Veterans Day. I want to thank every veteran that has served in this and our employees here at LFUCG, our retirees. Thank you very much for the service and sacrifice for the lifestyle that it is because it is a lifestyle. And I want to thank you for allowing us to have the freedoms that we do. And that is meant from the bottom of my heart, no matter when you serve, whether in peace or war, and whether in the National Guard reserves or whatever. It's Veterans Day on Thursday and this is Veterans Week, but I would really challenge all of us in this community to recognize that every day is Veterans Day. And for those that serve, for us to take the time to at least thank them for what they do. Very specifically, though, we've had a young man from our police force that's been serving in Afghanistan that was injured on the battlefield, Chris Eden. And I just got a report back that he's been released from the hospital today and home. And we are very grateful for his service and we appreciate you, Chris, and want to just extend our well wishes to you and your family. Thank you for your service. Council Member Beard. Two things, actually. One, I'd like to move approval of the NDF list for this week. I have a motion by Council Member Beard, second by Council Member Gordon. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. And the second is a capital expenditure funds list of how much? Excuse me, $4,500 for sidewalks and striping for a bike lane in the 3rd District. I'm sorry. Since it's a budget amendment, I thought I had to put it. Okay. Well, if it's done, it's a good check. Thank you, Mayor. I, too, want to start off thanking our voting public. I'm glad the voters did get out this time and take an opportunity to cast their vote. One neighborhood meeting for next Tuesday night is the Eastland Parkway neighborhood meeting at 630 at Christ Center Church. We'll have a special guest with me to address one of the major projects in the district. I won't give any previews, but it'll be a well needed discussion that needs to have about a vacant property. And it'll be good for that neighborhood meeting to have the opportunity to address it. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to also thank all of our veterans and let them know just how important they are to each and every one of us. And I passed out the little buddy poppy and just in recognition for our veterans. I enjoyed the parade on Sunday. But we can do a better job promoting that, because I think that our veterans are very precious to us. And I'm always disappointed in the number of folks that come out. But it's always a pleasure to see so many veterans there. They do a wonderful job. And I just want everyone to know that the old YWCA property is gone. Thank you, Mayor. Well, Urban County Government has many veterans. And we also have many employees who since 2001 have deployed either to Iraq or Afghanistan or who have served in other countries in the world. I think our military has members in 120 countries in the world. So I, too, would like to thank our veterans for all that they have done. And I wanted to, I believe the NDF pass around has gone around, but it is one of them is to provide some funding to relocate temporarily the World War II Memorial, the plaque, which will be relocated temporarily to Veterans Park. So, council members, if you didn't have an opportunity to support that NDF, I think the council administrator will have it. And then since the capital fund project came up, I wonder if, I'm sorry, I'm not sure if that's the right word. I was going to ask our council administrator, it might be through Jerry Southers, to give us an update on how much funding is, how many dollars are still out there from the capital budget, because now it's several years old. And it's been a number of changes in council since that one-time budget went into place. And if you could just give us an update on what's remaining and unspent. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member James. Thank you, Mayor. First, thanks to Martin Luther King Neighborhood Association, the William Wells Brown Neighborhood Association, and North Limestone Neighborhood Association, who joined together to host a pie and buy for me and Sarah last night. It was lovely. Oh, a service berry tree each for us to plant in our yards. And it was just nice for new neighbors to meet one another from those adjoining neighborhood associations. And it was great to hear their thoughts on the past four years of our service. So that was really nice. I wanted to thank them and those that couldn't come. And I've been there and look forward to continuing to work with you as much as I can and transitioning to the new leadership in the district. Martin Luther King Neighborhood Association will meet tonight, the Living Arts and Science Center, for their regular neighborhood meeting at 7 o'clock. And the tree board, I think tomorrow, will be unveiling their new logo. And that meeting is held at the fifth floor conference room and it starts at 1030. So I look forward to seeing the new logo. Thank you. The Goodrich Neighborhood Association, in conjunction with friends from Wolf Run, will be planting native plants and trees in Goodrich Park near the stream on Saturday, November 13th at 10 a.m. So bring your any tool you think might be helpful and join them in this great stream restoration. The regularly scheduled Historic South Hill Neighborhood Association will meet tonight at 6 o'clock at the First United Methodist Church Parsonage Building in the basement. Mintel Neighborhood Association will have their annual meeting tonight at 7 p.m. at Ashland School. On Saturday, November 13th from 7 to 10 p.m., the Community Action Council will sponsor Artists Stand Against Poverty at Arts Place located at 161 North Mill Street. There will be live entertainment, hors d'oeuvres, cash bar, great art. And so please think about coming to that. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. If you want more information, you can go to EndPovertyASAP.com. And also the Columbia Heights Neighborhood Group is having a meeting on Saturday, November 13th. You can walk around, get together tonight at 6.30 at Recon, which is above Charlie Brown's. If anybody in the neighborhood wants to come and meet and greet and hang out, it's not a meeting, just an informal get-together. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. We have a couple of things to say. We are working on a street scape project for next year. And we talked about that a little earlier in a previous meeting. And also they are working on a painting competition with SCAPA to paint a horse in a fold that's going to go on the fire department subject to approvals. But the property over in Southland, so they're very excited about the things they have going on over there. I was a captain in the Army during World War II, and he served on Iwo Jima in the Pacific Theater. And they saw quite a bit of an action over there. My mother was a lieutenant in the Waves, like Vice Mayor Gray's mother was in the Waves as well. And I'd say the ladies in the Waves are a very proud bunch, and they're a great group. And so I just really want to say a warm thank you to our veterans, and they certainly make all this possible. Thank you, Mayor. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Mr. Markham, if you'd run us through the distillery district issues as quickly as you can, please. Okay, I will. I needed to get some clarity as to how the council wishes to proceed with the RFP. And so today I wanted to present what the options were to the council so they can give us direction as to which option they would like us to move forward with. So with that, we'll go into the slide presentation. Background, originally advertised as RFP 17 in April. Original request for proposal was written as a QBS August of 2010. The council voted to reexamine the selection process and re-advertise. The RFP transportation cabinet clarifications with the QBS process, it allows us for the most funding options. Feasibility study, design work, and other services are eligible for federal and state funding. By following the process, the feasibility and design fees are eligible to be used for grant match down the road if those become available. And consultants selected for initial feasibility study and design work can be retained for future design efforts as the project progresses. Fee-based process, it limits our future funding options. Design fees from a firm selected under a fee-based selection process cannot be reimbursed with state or federal dollars. In addition, this money cannot be used as a grant match for later funding. So our recommendation would be that we re-advertise the RFP with the original scope using the QBS future funding options. The QBS selection process, we would establish a new selection committee, a much larger selection committee, more engineers on it. We'll use a point-based evaluation system as part of the process, and we'll have a separate team primarily of engineering people to negotiate the final contract with legal involved as well as someone from my office on that negotiation team. The other options that you have are to advertise a feasibility study using only a fee-based selection process and advertise design after completion of the feasibility study using QBS. Now the downside of that would be that you would lose the continuity of the same design firm and feasibility firm, which there would be data transfer issues and things like that where there would have to be a lot of rework involved in that. You could advertise the feasibility study and design using a fee-based selection process, but the downside to that is the cost of both would be fully absorbed by the LFUCG, and those funds would not be eligible for grant match down the road. So with that, we sort of need a little direction on which way you want us to go. Thank you, Mayor. Let me ask this in the form of a question. Does it give a preference to prior work with the city? Prior similar work. So it doesn't necessarily have to be just with our city. It could be with the city of Louisville, but it has to be similar type work. One of the things that I was most disappointed with that I wrote gave points for prior experience with the particular agency. And in hindsight, it was nearly impossible for another firm to overcome that, because everybody else was within a point or two, but that extra point always put this particular firm over the line. My concern is that whether we're sort of stacking the deck with our original scope, and do we have a problem with the original scope? Obviously one of the most important things really is the qualifications of the firm or the team that's coming to the table. The qualifications on similar work is very important to us to make sure we get the best team on the job. Is this similar Kentucky work or similar city? It's similar project work. So if they did this work in Louisville, Indianapolis, Lexington, any of those places, they get value for the level of work that they have completed that is similar to what our project looks like. Is it similar trail work? It's environmental work, it's state transportation work, highway work, because all those components make up this. So in your opinion, based on the QBS, how many firms would be qualified for that? Well, that really remains to be seen. But at the table, that team can be made up of anyone, so they can pull from any city they want to to try to gain the level of experience required there. So by teaming up with another company, they can fulfill the point system that's asked for in the RFP? That's correct. How long do they have to put that together? They have to put it together in a couple of weeks, and that's how long they have to do it. Now, if they come to us in that process and say, we feel like we could put together a more competitive team, we just need a little more time, then obviously that would be in our best interest to get as many as we could so we could extend the date. How do you notify folks about the bids? We notify them online through our general contractor database that we have and through our professional services database, and then we also notify the people who apply last time. Well, we'll look. Most of those are already on our list, but we will cross-reference that. But most of them were notified through our electronic economic engine site because they're all registered there. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Mayor. I would make a motion here to accept Purchasing's recommendation to re-advertise the RFP with the original scope using the QBS selection process. So moved. I have a motion by Council Member Blues, second by Council Member Beard to accept Purchasing's recommendation. Any discussion? Thank you. Brian, it's my understanding that the distinction between the previous process and this process is what I understood you to say, that it's going to include more engineers. Yes. Selection committee member. Three engineers. We're going to ask for three council members, a member from KYTC, commissioner of public works, and then a mayor's office representative on that committee. Okay. And before, what was the representation? It was downtown development authority had a rep, the arts community had a rep, and then someone from our office. Well, I think another important piece of this that I didn't hear you say, but I think is there, is that a very deliberate part of the process is price negotiation. Yeah, and that's one of the negotiation team will be much more extensive this time. We've already talked to Mike and Marwan about providing three of their engineers. We'll have Dave Barbary involved. I will be involved or someone from my office, the project manager, and we also look to ask KYTC to help us with those numbers once we get to where we feel like we're to the bare dollar to compare those against some similar projects. You're going to go through the QBS model, which is qualifications based, and do your interviews. Then you're going to select a firm, nominate a firm with a backup firm. Then you're going to go into commercial negotiations. I said price negotiations, but commercial negotiations is the technical language I think that we're talking about, right? The idea is that you negotiate with the highest ranked firm at that point. You don't pit them against each other. But you do have a commercial negotiation phase of the process. And that is an important distinction from the previous, right? Yes. Just the composition of the committee and the technical experience of the committee members and other experiences that you just described, but also the commercial transaction piece of this. Well, procedurally the changes that we're going to have is the committee will do a ranking short list for the top three, and then they will do point totals for that. Everyone's going to sign a non-conflict of interest. Everyone's going to sign an ex parte disclosure form. Then there will be a committee final ranking form that's signed by all the committee members. And a selection criteria point system will be used for the short list and the final selection. Thank you. Council Member Martin. Thank you, Mayor. And following up Vice Mayor Gray's comments, the commercial negotiations, I sort of make a living doing commercial negotiations. So what do you have to bargain with? You just have to come back to the council and re-bid it, or can you go to the second bidder? You can't. And so if they don't give a price that, does this come through purchasing or does this come through the council? Who determines when it goes to the second or third bidder? Well, if the negotiation team cannot reach a final agreement price, then they would go to number two at that point. So the negotiating team decides that this is too high. And we would thoroughly document each step of that. So they do have the ability to leave the table and to go on to something else. And we would also welcome you if you'd like to participate in that negotiation. I would be happy to. Any further discussion on the motion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. That's all I have. Is there any public comment on issues not on the agenda? Seeing none, a motion to. Second. I have a motion by Council Member Erlanger and a second by Council Member Gordon to adjourn. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you.