We have our agenda that we'll start with, and the first thing on our agenda is public comment on issues which are on the agenda. Is there anyone who wishes to make public comment? I don't see a big rush to the podium, and do you know, was there anyone signed up? No one signed up? Okay, we'll move right along. We do have a summary on pages 1 and 2 from the January 25th meeting. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Council Member Kevin Stennett, move, approve, and Council Member Henson, seconded. Any questions about the summary? If not, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? we'll move on to number three review of the docket and this is a little different in your packet today the new business items are listed first reading of ordinances and first reading of resolutions we will do those and then we'll go back and do the second reading so first reading of ordinances Are there any items you wish to refer to committee, remove, or ask questions about, Council members? Please log in if you have a question. First reading of ordinances. There are two. On new business, numbers 6 and 7 on first reading of ordinances. Any questions? Any comments? Any removals? No? Let's move on to first reading. Okay. We have first. Were you going on? Okay. Okay. Okay. Council Member Crosby, did you have first reading of ordinance number six and number seven? Do you want to remove something, ask a question, or refer it? Yes, I was just wanting to ask a question on number seven if there's information on this. I see. We have a police representative and human resources here. if someone could please come to answer a question. Ms. Leslie Jarvis, Acting Director of Human Resources. I'm sorry, I had it highlighted in another area of my notes, so I didn't think we were there yet. I apologize. It's okay. So did you have a question about this? Yeah. Okay. So those will be permanently removed. there'll be now lieutenants. Are we going to add more positions? I know that the current chief is not using captains, but they're more commander roles. So is this just to clean that up? Yes, to take away the captain positions because we're eliminating that classification. Okay, that answers my question. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Okay, this is first reading of ordinances. Council Member Martin. Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor. Actually, Leslie, I had a follow-up question on that item as well. How long have those positions been vacant? I believe they're due to retirements. Is that correct? Okay, so they're currently due to retirements. Okay, so we're not like sort of reconstituting something from 20 years ago? No. Okay. And I guess my second question is, items such as this, are they, and I don't know whether to direct this to you or to the Vice Mayor, does that go to the Public Safety Committee? I mean, I thought that these things get, we set up these various committees to have these go out, or do we have to specifically send those out? This is a time during the agenda where you could ask for this item to be removed from the docket and sent to committee, if that's your desire. So nothing's going to committee automatically then? We have to send it there by motion? These are put on here on new business by the administration, and they're not required to start it in committee. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Yes. Anything else with first reading of ordinances? Let's move then to first reading of resolutions. We're still on page, I'm looking at page three on our docket where it's embedded in the agenda. And I'd like to call on Council Member Stennett. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I had a couple questions. One on number 18. I know I was part of this RFP committee that selected this company, My main question is not about the selection, but why are we splitting it over two budget years? It seems like we're just moving on. I understand money is tight for this budget, but if you think it's tight now, obviously it's going to be tighter for next budget. I think I know the answer, but I think everyone needs to understand why we're splitting it up over two budget cycles. The method for paying for it is going to be the same. We were just trying to project what the cost would be to get us through the remainder of this budget or this fiscal year, the $39,000, and then keeping that company for the other next fiscal year what the cost would be. But we intend to pay for it through the same mechanism for both the remainder of this fiscal year and for the next fiscal year. Is this just because we don't have the full amount today in this current budget? No. It was just showing what it would cost us to make it through the end of this fiscal year. So we anticipate keeping this company past July, even though we'll well have already put out our RFPs and everything for the health insurance and benefits prior to that? We're going to keep their services for at least one year, I think it was? One year and then renew every year. So the goal would be to keep them at least two or three years to get firmly established in what we're trying to do. This contract is just for one year? Yes. I just want everyone to be clear on that. The option to renew. Okay. Thank you. And then on 21, you know, I've seen a lot of change orders in six years coming to the council. But, you know, there's a time when, you know, you get tired of seeing the same kind of change orders. And this is the Streetscape project. And on this project, there are ADA things that were not included in the original bid. And light poles, for instance. I don't know how we can misjudge the number of light poles when you're bidding a project. But this is a 10% increase. So you want to give me an idea of did the scope of the project change? Did we not bid it properly and put the RFP out? How do we get those kind of discrepancies? The light pole issue came about on the bases. The original plan was going to try to attempt to use some of the additional bases and re-level them. Once we got in there, we found that that was not feasible, and we ended up having to replace all of them. Also, on some of the poles were on some intersections. We had to go around the corner a little bit further where that other light pole interfered with it. And the ADA ramp was just they missed one, missed a couple of them. And who missed that? That's what I'm trying to understand. It would be the architect and the initial design. So our initial design missed some of this opportunity. And did engineering also manage the project? Who designed the number of lights or who said we could use the pole base of the architect? Yes. And that was in consultation with KU that the attempt was going to be to try to do that. When we actually got out looking at grades and levels, we were unable to. I mean, because there's just a lot of things were missed, it looks like. I mean, either our process is flawed going into the project. I'm not sure if the architect has an explanation as to why these things were missed, but, you know, a 10% change order in this project is pretty substantial. Have you talked to them, and was that just their oversight, my bad? It was. One of the things that's actually fairly significant in here is those last group of change orders, starting with CO1 to CO6, the last items on the page. Those were all caused by things that we found underground that we're just not anticipating. And as you can see, there's some fairly hefty stuff in there. Well, a rain garden trench grading, that wasn't including the original? What we did there was that was designed for the city to originally procure those materials and supply them, and we just shifted it and had the contractor procure them. So I guess, once again, the gist of it is the architect missed half of this information on the original design. Or their numbers were off, especially on the underground stuff. You'll notice there's also a very large increase in cabling. Oh, yeah. I mean, I didn't go through all of them. I mean, I could say I'd ask you about every one, but I'm not going to do that. All of these changes were field verified as they were going in. There was always an inspector on the job checking units daily. But this wasn't a design bid project? No. No. It's a unitized contract. Okay. And who was the architect on it? KKG. Okay. Thank you. Council Member Lawless. When was this put out for bid? I believe the contract was awarded in May of 2010. In May of 2010. Because my question about this is that, like the light poles, et cetera, I know that that was an issue that came up before May, and it wasn't KKG's. The light pole issue, we had a light pole issue on the limestone project. And on Main and Vine. Yeah, and this is part of the Main and Vine. These were both going concurrently. But that was known well before May. The issue was on the limestone project was the design of the base itself. On that project, every light pole base had to be replaced. And it was a – Kentucky Utilities changed the specs about three times. Well, as I recall, the change occurred on Main and Vine occurred because they are state highways, and so a different type of pole and lighting, traffic light, et cetera, had to be used to meet federal highway and state highway guidelines. Now, these are streetlights we're talking about here. Okay. Okay. And that – so all the changes are about – I mean, And there was also well known the issue of how many streetlights and how many feet apart they had to be during the limestone and the other parts of Main and Vine. Yes, ma'am. And that was known before May. It wasn't a KKG. Right. The additional ones on here, we knew how many were existing and how many we were replacing. These came about where we were ending at corners, where we went around the corner a little further in order to come up with a better tie-in point to the existing in areas where we were not working, and we encountered a couple more light poles that had to be replaced there. That's where those numbers came from. Okay, that's all the comment I have to make. Thank you, Vice Mayor. You're welcome. Council Member Peggy Henson. Hi. George, what type of bid was this project? It was competitively bid. So there were a lot of other? I believe there were three other bidders. Okay. Because just from what I see here, it looks like there was a lot of guessing. So I was just curious if the other bids came close or was this a low bid? This was a low bid. And if, you know, when you add things on to, when you have a change order that's this substantial, would it come close to the other bids? I don't know that I can answer that, but more than likely, if you had the other bids, you would still have the same change order because the same amount of work had to be done. Okay. I don't know. I just think, you know, there's some things on here where it was like they needed 7,000 more close to it, the conduit. How can you be that far off? It just looks like that was an estimate. What they actually did is they had to add an additional conduit. Right. For the entire length of the project. Right. And it just seems like, you know, even though they're $5 a piece, but to need $7,000 more than it was originally bid just seems outrageous. And it comes to $34,000, you know. So I don't know. I guess when I look at this, it just looks to me as if it was a guess of what the work needed to be done. Maybe it was a rush job or a rush bid. I'm not sure, but I just don't see it as being very good for business. We're not real sure what happened on those conduits. I can tell you right now at your next meeting, you're going to see another change order on the Vine Street project, and you're going to see the same thing happened on that one. It's not as much money as the same contractor. Is it the same contractor? No, ma'am, it is not. Okay. Same architect? Yes, ma'am, it is. Okay. And they're usually who tells the contractor what they're going to need, correct? They provide us with units that we use in putting out the bids. It just seems really far off to me. Even with the decreases, there's some that the number is substantial. Once when we got these change orders, we went back to the architects and back to the engineering firm who had done the design and had them re-look at it. and based upon that extra conduit that had to be put in, they were comfortable with those numbers. Thank you. And this also will be, this is not marked as the final change order. However, it probably will be. The only thing left on this particular project is the punch list and the cleanup work. And as soon as weather permits, we will be doing that. And hopefully this will end up, we'll just, we'll come back and adjust and say this is the final one. Because we did not anticipate. So you think there will be one more final change order? Yeah, and if it is, it's going to be extremely minor. Okay. Because this one, what we tried to do with this one is go ahead and balance all the units out for the contract. Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Council Member Lawless. Thank you. First of all, I think it's important to know that many of these items aren't about the landscape architect but about engineering and the utilities. The landscape architect did the design. The engineer who did the other is a subcontractor to the landscape architect. Okay, well, you said that there was going to be another change order on Vine. Yes, ma'am. Can you tell me what section of Vine and who is the contractor on that? Contractor is Marilla Design and Construction, and it is on the section of Vine Street from Broadway to Limestone. And the change order, I know they just did the sidewalks on that. Yes, ma'am. That is correct. And the change order is going to be due to? It's the same thing. it's finishing out the contract and balancing out the units from the original bid. Okay. Thank you. Council Member Crosby. Thank you. My question's actually not for you. Thank you. Mine's on number 15, and it's not so much what the project is, but I just was curious. It has seven bids, and to know if this was the low bid or I know sometimes it will say low bid or that's all. That's my only question. Typically with the construction bid like this, unless the lowest bid is disqualified for some other reason, this is the low bid. So that's my understanding. It's handled by purchasing, so it doesn't pass through my division. Based on the information I have, this is the low bid. Thank you. Are there any other questions? Council Member McCord. This is on number 17. Just Council Administrator Langston, just for a point of clarity, on the NDF that's showing up, we have an agreement with the Bluegrass Community Foundation for $825. I believe that's the same. That's for their planning academy, and I believe that's the pass around that I have here. But would you check that for me just to make sure I don't want to double up, if you wouldn't mind? Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Anyone else? All right. If not, let's turn to page 7 on the docket, and are there any questions, removals, or referrals for second reading of ordinances? Council Member Martin. I guess I want to ask a question about where we're going. Is this for making new references to committees, or is this just working on the docket still? We're still on the docket. I'll hold it until later. It's a little different this time because the first readings were placed embedded in the agenda, and in the past we had started with second readings and worked through the whole docket. So we're just going back to work through second readings to be sure there's nothing anybody wants to remove or refer or ask questions about. I'll come back then. Thank you. Okay. Anyone have questions or referrals? Okay. If not, on page 8 are the second reading of the resolutions. Is there any action that Council members want to refer to Thursday in terms of removing, asking for information, or referring to committee? Second reading of resolutions, page 8 and page 9 of the docket. If not, do you just... And while... I was going to ask, while Council Member Lawless is thinking about her question, I would ask Council Members later to give me some input about whether you like having the new business first readings embedded as they are today, or if you'd rather go back to the way we did at the last couple meetings, just work through the whole docket. It doesn't matter to me. Council Member Lawless. Thank you. Thank you. On, and I know we've already seen this, but on number four, the custodial services for fleet management. And I think we've seen this key to cleaning. Is there somebody here that knows? So my question, just so whoever shows up to answer it, is if that is a local cleaning service, and if not, were there others that were and how close they were? And that's number four. And then on number seven, it's the non-low bid, the same cleaning service. Would you want to come back with this? I think the CAO went to get someone. Thank you. We'll come back to that. The next item on the agenda is review of budget amendments on page six. And are there any questions about budget amendments? Council Member Martin. I'm still on there from previously. I tried to. Would you like to go off? My question was relating to putting something in committee. Oh, okay. There's apparently a problem with the monitor. For the second readings. Okay, go ahead. No. My question, the monitor is acting up, so I've been trying to take it off. I have a question about putting something in committee not relating to this. Okay. Is it related to anything on the docket? No. Okay. We'll get to it in just a minute. That's right. All righty. It's the monitor that's acting up. Thank you. Anything about budget amendments on page six? Okay, if not, we'll move on to item five, agenda items referred from Councilmembers. This might be where you want to step in, Councilmember Martin. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I'd like to refer to the procurement of golf carts for the Division of Parks and Recreation to the General Government Committee. So moved. Second. If I might just explain this, as a part of last year's, I guess the current year's budget, we approved, I think, bonding some golf carts, and I'd like to kind of see how that's going. Particularly, you know, we get all kinds of e-mails here down the city, and you never know really which ones are correct, but they just want to take a look at what's being purchased and for what particular courses and things like that. So the motion is to refer to Thursday night's report out the procurement of golf carts to the General Services Committee, and that is in regards to the bonding of the golf carts? Yes, for the Division of Parks and Recreation. Okay. Will those in favor of referring to Thursday night please say aye? Aye. Anyone opposed? I apologize. We should have discussion of the motion, since there's a person or two who wants to do that. Council Member Beard. Beard, yes. Last fall, we had a discussion with Mr. Fields and with Jerry Hancock concerning 30 golf carts that had been ordered for Avon, $60,000 worth. and I asked why he would do that when we had voted that we were going to close Avon and then through the kindness of our heart we extended from September 1st to November 1st so that there could be some fall golf played out there and I don't think we ever reversed our field on closing Avon yet we're buying $60,000 worth of golf carts. And I don't think we can wait for the next general government meeting to get around this subject. I think we need to address it. In fact, I was all cocked and primed to bring this up, Council Member Martin, and it's just amazing that in the face of that discussion we had last fall that they're going on straight on with this acquisition. And I assume plan on opening the golf course. I hope they're thinking they're going to open it. Surely to God they're not going to take 30 golf carts and just have them sit out there as flower pots or whatever. So I think we need to address this immediately. if not sooner. Rather than wait. Yes. And is this the same issue you have, Council Member Martin? Is this exactly the same issue? It is one of the issues, and because I haven't had a chance to talk with NB and Parks, I certainly didn't want to bring anything specific up because I don't want to sort of cast aspersions on things with it. I don't know only anecdotal stories about. But, Council Member Beard, I'm happy to, you know, to follow your lead. Well, I mean, we did have the discussion here in open session about that, and we talked to them. And the comment was made by Mr. Hancock that he just assumed we'd changed our mind. Well, it doesn't really work that way, I don't think. So, and I don't know if everybody remembers that conversation. Yes, there was no vote to overturn closing the golf course. And I don't know if there's anyone in the audience who could speak to this, but I believe it's supposed to be closed now. And Council Member McCord wishes to speak. Okay, Richard Maloney, can we let the CAO speak? The administration has been meeting with Avon on some other issues, and the golf course was brought up, and they will continue to talk about some ideas that we'd be glad to present to you all, what the proposal is. Right now the golf course is closed. And it will not be reopened unless... We have not discussed that, but there are some proposals that we will be glad to bring to the council when we get that finalized. Does that help answer your question? It does help it. Well, I understand they're getting ready to ship the golf carts, so we're either going to have excess golf carts or... Richard, do you have any information on where those golf carts are going? I do not yet, but I'd be glad to find out for you. Okay, that'd be great. Thank you. Good. Thank you. Council Member McCord. Thank you. This issue kind of keeps coming up in a lot of different forms, and this is sort of the last iteration of it. But C.A.O. Maloney, one of the things last year that I had asked for, and the former administration had convened a meeting with me, folks from inside of government as well as outside of government, to sit down and just try and get at what we actually spend on golf. I think that's the more systemic issue, and I'd like to see it carry over to this administration. I know a great deal of work has gone into that, and they were ready to bring something forward. And maybe that's something that would be very beneficial at the next meeting to get from them. But basically, one of the biggest problems that we have as a government, administration and council, is we can't tell you exactly what we spend on golf. And, for instance, the way that we calculate it right now, golf cart bonding doesn't get counted in golf expenses. But we also, to the flip side of that, have what's called a golf enterprise fund. that looks like we're spending money on golf, but we have people in there that don't do anything as it relates to golf, but that was just kind of a general heading to put those employees, and so that shouldn't count against golf. And so at the end of the day, what I've asked for and what I keep asking for and I think would be very beneficial is for – I know, Ryan, you have been actively involved in this. Basically, let's just work together to bring that forward and say this is how we're going to measure golf going forward so that we can make decisions, I guess, in an educated format going forward. Mr. Maloney, excuse me. The motion on the floor is about procurement of golf carts. If you want to, I'm sorry to cut you off, but we do have a motion on the floor, so our discussion needs to be pertinent to that motion. No problem. Can I ask a clarifying question about the motion? Council Member Martin, given what Council Member Beard has said, The motion is to put it into general government, but he's saying he wants to bring it forward sooner. Are you still want to put it in government or general government? Do you want to move it faster? What do you want to do? Well, I mean, I think we could have a special meeting, a couple other issues that are time sensitive, and just have another meeting. General government committee. Yes, ma'am. That's what I would recommend. I would like to speak to this issue also. Yes, were you finished, Mr. McCord? Yes, ma'am. Okay, thank you. Council Member Lane? Okay, just for the record, you know, I had recommended that we do close this golf course. There are not that many plays there. I think we have overcapacity at all of our golf courses, and the people that play there should be able to play at one of our other courses. And then the issue of spending whatever the amount is, $60,000, $80,000, about golf carts out there, I didn't feel like in our current economic situation that was a good investment for the urban county government at this time. I have spoken with Jerry Hancock, and I'm under the impression that those carts are not, they may be pending, but they have not been specifically ordered. But I probably need to get a clarification on that. I think we do need clarification of whether they've been purchased and if they have where they are. So that would be helpful. Council Member Martin. Thank you, Vice Mayor. To answer Council Member McCord's question, the two things I have a concern about are what carts are being purchased for what courses. And this, the Avon came up. And so I don't know the answer in the story, so I thought the committee would be a good place to sort of delve into those facts. I'm happy to do it earlier and would support any attempt to do that. The second thing is that I'd like to understand the bidding process for these carts and to understand whether all our procedures were followed in the way these carts were bid out. And so rather than getting into details about that, I'll just sort of leave it there. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Okay. Council Member Blues. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I was just going to ask Mr. Lane when the special meeting would be. of the General Government Committee. Our next scheduled meeting is March 22nd, but I'm thinking we could have another meeting in a couple of weeks and bring this up as an item. And a lot of it would be dependent upon what information we receive. If these are on order, then we may want to terminate the order. If they're not on order, then it's not as urgent a matter, I suppose. And if I might add, regarding the golf carts, because the information presented to us when this was reviewed at the end of the year is that these are rented out and they do generate substantial revenue for our golf facility. So it's not like we're just buying them and they're giving them out for free. They are rented out and they do generate revenue for us. Thank you. Thank you. Was that helpful, Councilor? I think if the issue is put in the committee and the committee meets within a couple of weeks, I think it can be resolved in a timely manner. So I'd support Council Member Martin's motion. Okay. Is there any other comment on the motion? The motion is to place the issue to bring Thursday night, placing the issue of procurement of golf carts into the general government committee, and this includes bonding. Also. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right. Thank you. Are there other items on number five to bring forward? Council Member Martin. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I also move to refer the processing and approval of disability claims by public safety workers to the Public Works Public Safety Committee. So move. I have a motion by Council Member Martin. Do I hear a second? And you'll need to, if you don't mind, repeat it, and then could you give me a copy of that, please? I move to refer to the processing and approval of disability claims by public safety workers to the Public Works and Public Safety Committee. Okay. Did I hear a second? Second. Okay. Council Member Kay seconds. Is there a discussion? Council Member Stenick. Actually, I had another item for referral, so I'll wait. Right. We'll wait. Anyone else have a comment about the motion? Council Member Ed Lane? Right. I think this is a good idea, but I believe we should have the legal department look and see if the council has a right to review this matter in front of the council. There may be some privacy issues, and there may be that just the ordinance set up the pension mechanism. The Pension Fund Board will not permit us to do it. So I'd like to get an opinion from people. Thank you. Okay. Any other comment? Council Member Ford. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I would ask just for a little background from Council Member Martin in regards to his motion brought forth. And I would also ask if the administration could provide, what is the function of government now in reviewing disability for public safety officers and as such? Do you have a comment, Councilman? I'd be happy to. Obviously, the Kavanaugh group recently released their report dated July 1, 2010. for the shortfall in the funding of the police and fire pension. One of the things that affects the financial stability and the amount of funds they have is how much is being taken out. One of the things that's been brought up, I think, referred to both by the mayor but also by other folks looking at this is that Lexington has an approximate 40 percent disability rate between 1997 and 2010 in its public safety applications to the public safety pension. This is at odds with the hazardous duty part of the county employee retirement system. For folks at home, Lexington basically has its own pension system, and the rest of the state, almost the entire rest of the state, is on the county employee retirement system. The disability rate under CERS is 8 percent versus our 40 percent. Louisville has a 7 percent disability with their public safety workers. So, you know, I understand that our committees are one of the functions is to sort of review the operations of government and to look at various issues, and I thought this was an extremely important issue to look at. I don't know to what extent we'll be able to affect it. That's probably one of the things we'll look at at the committee if it's so moved and approved by the council. But it absolutely affects us because the amount of money that is being, that our shortfall has increased from about $35 million in about 1997 to $325 million. So, and this, the amount of disability is a direct part of that. So I think it's a very serious and important issue. I don't know to what extent that we as a local government will be able to affect it, but I heard a lot last year about bully pulpits, and I'm just hoping that maybe we can use one of our own. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Okay. And if I could just repeat your motion. There's more discussion. You move to bring forward Thursday night the motion to refer processing and approval of disability claims within public safety to the Public Safety Public Works Committee. Okay. Council Member Chris Ford. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Martin, for your clarification. And to the question of the motion, I guess that is my question. Are we asking to study the policies that exist in regards to disability, or are we examining the function of government as it currently exists within the HR or public safety processes? Yes. Yes to which one, Council Member Morty? Is it the policies or are we just talking about the function of government, how claims are examined and processed? I think it's a big difference. Well, I think we need to do both. I think we need to look at what we're doing and then understand about what we're doing, whether there are efficiencies we could introduce or how we are doing the processing and try to understand if there's anything that's within city government that affects the rate of this disability that we might as a city, because we obviously operate police and fire services. And if we are doing something within our operations to drive up our disability rates, we should certainly try to fix those things if we are not addressing occupational safety and workers' rules or things like that. But it's a very serious number, and by operating our police and fire departments, I think we obviously need to, we owe it to our workers, we owe it to the pension to try to address the high disability rate and see what we can do about it. Thank you. Council Member Beard. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I guess as was the previous issue, when does the Public Safety Committee meet? How soon does it meet? Because there is going to be, I believe fairly soon, the collective bargaining process is going to start, and we should have that information before we get into the collective bargaining. Councilmember Lawless, do you have the date of the meeting? Yes, according to my calendar. The date is March 8th at 1 o'clock. Thank you, Councilmember Stenet. So about a month, about a month from now. Did you have a comment, Mr. Maloney? This will not be in the collective bargaining. It's the statute, so we want to really, it doesn't matter because it's in the statute, so it won't have a fact on the collective. It won't be affected one way or the other. One way or the other. Okay. I just feared that it might. I'd be glad to come in and do a presentation, what statute says and all that, but really I don't know how we can change it unless you all have recommendations and you have to go to the legislators and try to get it changed that way. But I don't, as of right now, it's a statute, and I don't think we'll be able to change it. But you could bring information about the statutes. We'll be glad to bring information to you. Okay. All right. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak on the motion? The motion on the floor is to refer a review of the processing and approval of disability claims by public safety workers to the Public Works Public Safety Committee. Yes, Council Member Crosby has a question. Council Member Martin, is it just your intent that we get educated on the statute, or is it your intent that we lobby to change the statute? Well, I think this is a very serious amount of financial thing that the city operates, and we have, I think, an obligation as a council to review our operations and to explore operations that seem to be outside normal parameters of other jurisdictions. And so I don't at this moment know exactly what the group's desire is going to be, but I certainly want to have the presentation that Mr. Maloney offered to bring to us and to examine what the issues are. I don't have any detailed information about the disability claims and the thoughts of the folks who are the experts at this about what creates a higher disability rate in Lexington than versus other places. I do know we have a statutory issue, and I don't know to what extent that, you know, this process may motivate others to pursue that as well. So I certainly don't speak on behalf of the committee, and I think it will be up to whatever passes the committee and passes the council. Council Member Lawless, did you have a comment? It does seem that there's a need for more information for folks. The last, since it is a state statute issue that would have to address this, and the last day for filing any new legislation in this particular session is this coming Friday, I think it's, I'm fine with referring it to public safety, but we've got quite a few things that I think we're going to need to address imminently, and there's nothing we can do about this, at least for another year if we chose to, and it also has to do with the collective bargaining. So I'm glad to approve or support getting a presentation for the Public Safety Committee, but probably it won't be on the March agenda because there's nothing we can do about it right now. Council Member Lane, if you wish to speak, please check in. You can't? Oh. Oh. Yeah, okay, Council Member Lane. Yeah, I would encourage the Public Safety Committee to review this as quickly as possible. Because we're talking about, you know, major financial expense to the pension fund. And even though we can't do maybe any kind of legislation at Frankfort, at least we can see what our options are. And there's anything that we can do immediately to help, you know, make it a more efficient disability benefit than it is now. Thank you. Does anyone else wish to speak? Council Member Henson. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Council Member Martin, I support this completely. I think the numbers tell us that there's something much different in what we do and what other communities do. And I remember the Mayor speaking about making some changes to the pension and so forth for any new employees. I know we will not do anything with current employees or retirees or whatever, but I think it needs to be looked at as quickly as possible. So if we need to take something to the state, then we can be prepared for the next session. Thank you. Anyone else wish to speak on this motion? If not, will all those in favor please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? That motion passes. And are there any other items on number five on the agenda before we go back? Council Member Stennett. Thank you, Vice Mayor. About five years ago, this government examined our solid waste tax and our operation at solid waste. It's been five years since the recommendations from that report came to Council, and I'd like to put into the Budget and Finance Committee an updated report from the Division of Solid Waste as to the revenue and expenses that the current tax is generating. I know at that time we also wanted to know what it really cost to pick up one Herbie, and we really didn't know that at the time. And I think we're closer to knowing that answer. If not, we may know it. But I know Commissioner Cheryl Taylor has been working very hard on this the last couple years, I just want to get an update as to where we're at, and also the third thing, examine the fee versus the tax. What's a better way to operate our salt and generate the revenue for salt waste? So I'll put that item into budget and finance. So move. Do I hear a second? Council Member Henson seconds. Is there a discussion? Council Member Martin? Thank you, Vice Mayor. I would ask that when this presentation is made to us that they bring us numbers, both for residential but also for commercial because they're very different operations. In commercial, they'll put a lot of bins down on the street versus the catcher that goes down the neighborhood street. So I think it would be informative to see what the difference of those numbers are as well. Oh, yeah. I mean, the whole operation would be included. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Anyone else wish to speak? Council Member Lawless. I don't want to speak to this motion but to this issue. Maybe during council reporting? Reporting something else. Okay. So if I understand, Council Member Stennett, your motion is to place into budget and finance a discussion and an updated report of solid waste costs, including fee versus tax costs. Revenue and expenses update. Revenue and expenses. Because I know we decreased it a year ago. Okay. Anyone else wish to speak to the motion? If not, those in favor of referring this, please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. And I will remind council members under the new structure, we set minimum number of meetings for the year, but there's nothing that says committees can't schedule extra meetings because most of them, most of them, not all of them, meet every other month. Now, if we could go back to the first motion that passed, I see that our Division of Parks and Recreation Director Jerry Hancock is here, and you must not have ridden the golf cart because you got here pretty fast. So would you mind, Council Members, do you want to hear what he has to say on the golf cart issue just today? Okay. I hope you didn't break any speed limits to get here. Welcome. Thank you, Vice Mayor. No, I was on the first floor. Oh, well, maybe you were in your golf cart. Are you aware of the question that came up? No, would you state the question for me, please? The question that came up, and this issue has been placed in General Government Committee for a full discussion. I think that there were actually two questions. Is Avon Golf Course closed, as the Council voted? And number two, what happened to the golf carts that were going to be bonded? Avon Golf Course is closed. There is no activity there today. Absent direction to the contrary from you, it will stay closed. However, as you'll see when we come forward with our budget, there will be a cost of mowing that 100-odd acres. And we'll present that at the appropriate time. But no, your direction was to close the course. It is closed. Secondly, with respect to golf carts, I don't have any of the numbers here in front. I wasn't anticipating this. but in your CIP meeting, I want to say late in October, $440,000 was allocated to buy golf carts for three courses, one of which was Avon. I told you at the time that there were 30 carts needed at Avon that would cost about $80,000. With Avon closed today, and if it stays closed, if you don't change that directive to us, then that $80,000 would become available either in the bond that has been defined and has been sold or will be sold, whatever the timing is on all that. That could be used presumably for some other capital function. So we won't buy golf carts for Avon if it continues to be your will to not open that course. Does that help? Is that helpful? I think the council has moved the issue into general government committee, so there will be a fuller discussion. But I do appreciate your coming up. Council Member Lane. Just one quick question. Each golf cart, if it's used as a regular amount of volume of business, how much will I generate on annualized places? Do you have an approximate number on that? No, I wish I did. They pay for themselves. We charge $11 plus for them in the summer. We can rent them twice a day. Of course, we'd have 60 or 70 of them. I don't have the number offhand, but they are profitable. They pay for themselves in a little over two years. We get a guarantee of a five-year life on them, so we need more golf carts. They're profitable. Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much. Is there any other item? Council Member Ford. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Mr. Hancock, if you could, I had just one more question. Council Members, I appreciate the questions raised in regards to the golf carts. I think that's a valid question. That was mentioned in regards to previous conversations in regards to us operating golf courses, and there was a statement made that I hope that you could clarify just briefly that we don't, and I think it would apply to budgeting as well, that we don't know what it truly costs us to operate our golf operations. I hope not to lead you on the question, but tell me that isn't totally accurate. That's not totally accurate. We know what it costs to operate our golf courses. PeopleSoft is both a help and a hindrance in that, but we know what our golf costs are, and we know what the costs are that are indirectly related to golf. Thank you, Mr. Hancock. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Okay. We're still on referring items from Council Members. So Council Member Lawless. Thank you. I'm not sure if this would be environmental quality. There are some streets in the third district that do not have city garbage collection for some reason. And I've gotten requests about how to get them in that. I don't know if I need to refer that to committee or do I need to work with Commissioner Taylor or Kevin Wente. Kevin Wente. The process, Commissioner nominee Cheryl Taylor is here. I'm a little rusty on the process, but yes, if you have someone from the neighborhood or you can call Kevin and Louise over in Environmental Quality, know the process, and can walk a neighborhood through what they need to do to be added back into that pickup service. Thank you. There is a process. It's a little bit cumbersome, but we'll help people walk through that. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. Is there any other item on number five to be referred? If not, part two of number five is the NDF list on page 21 for information only. And then I see that we have Jamshid with us, And so I would like to take us back to the review of the docket. In particular, Council Member Lawless or Council Member Crosby, who had questions about the number four and number six under second reading of resolutions. Council Member Lawless, thank you very much for coming. I believe those were your – did you want to ask your questions, Council Member Lawless? I asked – one of them was a non-low bid. It was for key cleaning services. And I asked if they were a locally owned and operated business and why it was a non-low. The answer to the first question is yes. The reason we went with a non-law, every janitorial contractor is put on a probationary period of six months and give us a chance to audit the work performance. And if it does not meet the intent of the contract, we mutually cancel the contract and move on to the next lowest bidder. And that was the case with that one. And they are locally owned and operated. Thank you. Okay. Did that answer your questions? Yes. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you very much for coming by. All right. Now we'll move on to number six on the agenda, which is committee reports. And I have one item to report. The Budget and Finance Committee met January 25, 2011. It was their first organizational meeting, and Council Member Chuck Ellinger was elected chair. And Council Member Ed Lane was selected Vice Chair. And the full report of the business which took place will be reported out by Council Member Ellinger at the next Committee of the Whole Work Session. And then the next item is Council Reports. Are there any Council Reports? If you have one, please log in. Council Member Stenet. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Just a couple of upcoming meetings. I know a couple areas in town like Southland Drive and possibly downtown, even I know Bill Farmer is a member of Chevy Chase, have what we call business associations. But it's something new that can also parallel a neighborhood association in many of our districts. And so the business owners in Hamburg have decided to try to get this thing moving forward. So on February 22nd at Saal Good Restaurant in Hamburg from 5 to 9 p.m., we're going to invite all the business owners, residents, any council member to come start getting the businesses together out there to perform fellowship and a number of other things. But this is the kickoff meeting, so February 22nd in Hamburg at Saal Good Restaurant. And I'll announce this a couple more times from 5 to 9. Everything's half price. Everything is half price in the building. So we're trying to get as many people in the community out there at the restaurant, talk about things businesses can help one another, again, fellowship, and just getting to know each other. I hope my colleagues, Councilman Lane and Councilman Crosby, can also come. We represent a portion out there as well. But that will be a kickoff, and maybe this is something I'll catch on in some other areas in Beaumont and other parts of the city that we can share information and get it kicked off. So that's the first business association meeting that we're going to have in our district. Second is my annual president's meeting I have with all my neighborhood groups. I just want to remind all my presidents. I know the mayor has already invited or said he will be attending. I invite the vice mayor as well on March the 8th at Spencerian College. That's a Tuesday night after a council work session meeting. So March 8th, again, Cinserian College at 630. That's my annual president's meeting. Thank you, Vice Mayor. You're welcome. Council Member McCord. Thank you, Vice Mayor. February 22nd will be a busy day for various council districts. I'm pleased to report that that night at 7 o'clock at Jesse Clark Middle School will be the public meeting for the Clays Mill Road project. and I appreciate Woodall Construction and the administration and everyone working together to put this meeting together. But this is for all the neighborhoods, all the folks in the district that want to understand what's going to happen over the next number of months with Clay's Mill Road, the timing and lane closures and those types of things to bring their questions for not only the contractor but for Keith Lovin and the project manager. So I want to invite the entire district to come to that since that is the issue that we hear most about. Can you repeat the date and time? Yes, it is 7 p.m. at Jesse Clark Elementary on the 22nd of February, Tuesday. All at-large council members are welcome. Council Member Martin, I know this is important to you as well, so I want to extend the invitation to you as well. It came up during the general government meeting today, the issue of wellness and the potential of changing the culture of wellness for our city and starting right here with the LFUCG employees. And a lot of this discussion came out of the health insurance cost increase and realizing that what's driving that is basically an unhealthy population. And there's a number of folks, not only in leadership, but also in this government that want to see that change. And so coming out of that, Vice Mayor, one of the things that I wanted to just put out publicly and put out to all my colleagues, now that everyone is here, is that leaders lead. And the leadership of changing this culture for our city should start here because we are representative of the city. We were elected to represent the city. And one of the overall goals that I've kept stating is what if the LFUCG became the healthiest public sector workforce in America in five years? What would that look like? What would it take to do that? Well, what it would take to do that is a group of leaders that step up and say, what's the first step? And no matter public, private, no matter where you go, any wellness program, when it changes, the first thing that has to happen is individuals have to get a health risk assessment. They've got to know where they stand starting out. As Council Member Stenet likes to say, you can't measure it, you can't do it. And what I'm going to lay the challenge out coming forward out of this meeting is that the 15 of us would get a health risk assessment and that we would know where we stand. And if we're going to ask the employees to do this at some point in time, then why not leave? And I'd welcome the administration to join in, but that's okay if you don't. It's going to start with us. And this body needs to see where we stand, and then we're going to measure that over the course of the next year. So, Vice Mayor, I appreciate you putting apples and bananas in the break room to start this off right. But we do have to change the culture of this place, of the city, of our state. And as I mentioned earlier, the number one story that came out of Kentucky in August, the number one story across America that came out was the Krispy Kreme burger from the Kentucky State Fair, a hamburger sandwich between two Krispy Kreme buns. The buns were Krispy Kreme donuts. That's the culture you're up against, and that's what we've got to go change. And it's got to start here with us as a group of 15. So I will look forward to laying that challenge out and seeing my colleagues step up to the plate. Just hearing about that burger clogged my right carotid artery. Yeah, exactly. Is this a specific health assessment or is this a physical that many of us have? I believe that a lot of the things that we're doing with regard to our benefits consultant, that there's some things that we will have opportunity to take advantage of there to do the full gamut of DEXA scans and bone density and the whole bit. And, again, it's one of those things where you've got to start somewhere, and it might as well start with us. Thank you. Did you have a comment on the challenge, Council Member Beard? He's going to comment on your challenge. It's kind of a follow-on to yours, and that is, seeing as how I seem to visit one doctor or another maybe every month, the results of a physical that I would take would be that it seems silly to go through the same process twice, and mine would be much more complete than what this would be. Is that acceptable? or are you saying that would work, or do you want us all in the same room at the same time? Oh, I think we can. That might get interesting quick. I think we can discuss how that would work exactly, but I think everybody starting at the same baseline with the same tests and knowing where you stand individually and collectively going forward. But, yeah, some of us have been to the doctor a little bit more than others, But at the end of the day, it's about knowing where you are and improving that. You've stirred it up. Council Member Martin has a comment about the challenge. I just want to know whether the KFC sandwich with two slabs of fried chicken on the outside as buns, whether that's going to be excluded from that. That's the culture you're up against. Okay. Is there any more response to the challenge that Council Member McCord has laid down? Council Member Lawless, and then you can go right into your report because you're next. Okay. Because I'm older than dirt and grew up in Kentucky, I too have seen a lot of these tests are really expensive, and I've already had them. So I think we need to take that into account, who's paying for them and et cetera. But I appreciate the challenge, and I certainly appreciate the trying to change the culture of wellness in our community and other places. So anyway, my report is that there is a neighborhood association meeting. The Ellsford Neighborhood Association will be meeting tonight at 7 p.m. at Woodland Christian Church. Everyone is welcome to attend. And I know there are quite a few questions that have been raised by folks in that area on different issues. and I have tried to supply as much information on all those as possible to the Neighborhood Association President to pass on. We'll be in a meeting, so I won't be there. But anyway, I just wanted to let you know it's at Woodland Christian Church at 7 p.m. Thank you. Council Member Henson. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I just have a couple of announcements. Cardinal Valley Neighborhood Association meeting is tonight at 630 at the Harvest Worship Center, which I'll probably miss. But Hamilton Park is having a cleanup of Fursales Road on Saturday morning. Any of you are welcome to join us. But meet at on Hamilton Park, and I know the vice mayor has agreed to join us. It's from 10 to 1. so even if you can't come at 10 or whatever, you can just show up and track us down. We'll have some green reflectors, something on that's green reflected. So that should be a lot of fun. I've really enjoyed things like that. So it's good for our water quality. Thank you. Council Member Myers. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I know it's probably out across the community now that Stu Silverman is going to retire. from the school board or from the superintendent's position this year, and that's going to be a great loss to our community. I just want to thank Stu for his service and read a couple things off the letters on the website today. And under his leadership and his tenure, student achievement has skyrocketed from three schools surpassing the 100 on the state accountability system to 24 this year. And then also, student performance in reading and math has improved dramatically from roughly half of the students' meeting state benchmarks in 2004 when he came on board to nearly 8 out of 10 last spring. So the student's done a fantastic job with our school system. He's going to be sorely missed, and we look forward to the process in which his replacement will be selected. But I just wanted to give him congratulations and thank you. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Council Member Blues. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I have some meeting announcements. On Monday, February the 7th, the Georgetown Street Neighborhood Association will hold its monthly meeting at 6 p.m. in the O'Rear Center in Douglas Park. And at 7 p.m., the Green Acres, Hollow Creek, Breckenridge Neighborhood Association will meet in the Community Center in Green Acres Park. Then on Tuesday, February 8, at 7 p.m., the Meadowthorpe Neighborhood Association and the Townley Park neighborhoods will meet at the Meadowthorpe Park Community Center. There are two important issues on the agenda for that evening. Water Quality Director Charlie Martin will discuss issues related to the Town Branch Treatment Plant with the residents, and I think they'll all be interested in that discussion. and Commissioner Taylor and a representative from the County Attorney's Office have been invited to discuss a new proposal for the old landfill to use the concrete pad area for driver training and instruction, both for city employees and for area high school students. It's an interesting initiative and a potential great benefit to our community. So I think both of these presentations will be of interest to both Townley Park and Meadowthorpe neighborhoods. On Wednesday, February 9th at 6.30 p.m., I will host our first quarterly neighborhood association president's meetings of the year. and that's at 6.30 we will meet in the Traffic Management Center for a tour of that facility and a presentation on the workings of the center. I know that there's wide interest in how we control and manage traffic in our community, so I'm looking forward to a good turnout at that event. Mayor Gray will be with us for the first part of that meeting, and I know he has some ideas on how to move forward on traffic management. And there will be several other items on the agenda once we've had that presentation. So looking forward to that meeting again Wednesday, February 9th, for 2nd District neighborhood leaders, 6.30 p.m. in the Traffic Management Center. Thank you, Vice Mayor. That's my report. You're welcome. Council Member Ford. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I agree that today we had a very, I consider a productive general government committee meeting, and I wanted to pledge my support to Chairman Ed Lane and committee members to work on one of the agenda items that is of great interest to me, and that's the citizens' advocate position. I think it's a vital position. We have a lot of work to do in that area. Today is February 1st, and it marks the first day of Black History Month. I look forward to the events in our community this month that will celebrate, highlight, and hopefully offer us the opportunity to learn more about the many contributions of African Americans to our nation and to Lexington. So I will keep you guys posted of events as I learn them. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Crosby. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I just want to publicly, I guess, state and go on record and then ask for the task force that's been appointed to deal with our procurement issues to take into consideration a discussion on change orders through our bidding process. I think all of us up here understand that there are exceptions to the rules sometimes. When you get into a project, oftentimes you don't know. there's going to be things that come up and surprises, and there needs to be some changes made. But over the course of the past few years, it appears that that's not the exception to the rule. It becomes more the rule. And we have three on our agenda for Thursday night, two are first readings, one's a second reading. And we don't have a very thick agenda. So I think that should tell us something right there, that this is becoming more of the rule. And so I would ask Council Member Ellinger if you all would consider taking this up, as well as single-source providers. I think those are all issues that relate to the procurement process, and definitely we need to look into those. Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I have jotted those down, and we are in the process of setting the meetings, and I will put that down as issues to address. Okay. Anything else? Thank you. That's all I have. Thank you. Okay. Council Member Lane. I'd like for the Chief Administrative Officer, Richard Maloney, to come up for a sec, please. Yes, sir. Welcome. Thank you. I just wanted to start to get a really mini briefing and not to disclose anything that you consider to be confidential, but you still have a couple of positions open in the government. and is that coming along pretty well, or like the CIO and the General Services Commissioner? And, of course, I'm on the General Government Committee, so I'm looking forward to that new commissioners. We got interviews this week with the General Service and the CIO. I've been working with the mayor and the administration on that one, so that is an ongoing process. But right now, our top priority is to get the General Service on right now. If anybody's interested in being in charge of general services, should they send you an e-mail? Please. If anybody wants a job, should they send you an e-mail for an interview? Yeah, well, I think we've got plenty of good candidates right now. I think we've nailed it down to two or three, and by the end of the week, hopefully the administration will make a proposal to you all, and we want to make sure we've got the right person. Okay, very good. The other thing I was going to ask is, you know, you've been in the process of adjusting the divisions of the government, moving some departments and stuff around. Do you see any more changes forthcoming, or do you think you're close to being pretty set in what you want to do for the future? We're pretty close, but we want to do a presentation sometime this month to you all on what changes we made, because the transition team made some recommendations, and we've been going through that and trying to put that together. So hopefully sometime, and I'll mention it to Rebecca, and we'll try to get on your CAL meeting or something and present the changes. And once we get all our commissioners on board, we'd like to present that to you all. Okay, good. Well, thank you for your update. Appreciate it. Council Member Martin. Thank you, Vice Mayor. And I do have a question, a different question for you as well. Has the City of Lexington been reimbursed by the World Equestrian Games Foundation for the police and fire additional services that were provided? I don't know whether it came through on the emails, but it just occurred to me, and I thought I might ask that. Yeah, we got a check last week for $237, I believe, something around there, over $200,000. We got reimbursed by it. Thank you very much. Okay. Council Member Crosby has a question. I have a follow-up to that question because I asked something similar a few weeks ago. What about Spotlight Lexington? Have they reimbursed the city for? That one I have not gotten yet. We'll look on that one, but I know we've got the reimbursement from the WEC game. I'll find out for you. Thank you very much. Thank you. And before you leave, Council Member Stenet has a question. Okay. I didn't mean to glance over that, but specifically, what were the amounts for police, and specifically, what was the amount for fire? I get that breakdown for you. I have that breakdown for you. Because we were promised $387,000 for one and $383,000 for the other. I get that for you. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Can you send that to all the council members? Go ahead. Okay, thank you. Does any other council member have a council report? If not, I wanted to just simply announce that appointment of the Charles Young Community Center Task Force is, I'm working on that, and I want to thank Council Member Ford for his willingness to chair that task force, Council Member Kay and Council Member Henson for agreeing to serve on it, and probably by tomorrow I'll be able to announce the rest of the task force. If there's no other council report, we'll move on to public comment. Issues not on the agenda. Is there anyone who wishes to speak? No one signed up. Okay. Council members, you know at 430 we start our confirmation hearings, and there are apples, bananas, and granola bars for dinner in the caucus room. So do I hear a motion to adjourn? Oh, there's a question before we adjourn. Council member Stennett. If it pleases the council and I guess the commissioners who will be interviewing, if we get done with one a little sooner, can everyone stick around and maybe speed up the process just a little bit? If that's okay with everybody. Yes. Does that work for everyone? Some people are hoping we finish before 7. Vice Mayor? There's another. Council Member Ford has comment. Council Member Senator, I definitely understand and appreciate your sentiment on that. It's been a long day. However, I think we have to take into consideration the public that may have certain time frames in regards that they're expecting confirmations to start. We'll have an extra long break, I guess. Any other comments? Do I hear a motion to adjourn? Council Member Ellinger, second by Henson. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? We are adjourned.