# Urban County Council Meeting - April 28, 2011 > Auto-transcribed civic record · April 28, 2011 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/1992 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/1992?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2011-04-28 - **Last revised**: April 28, 2011 - **Length**: 22,020 words > ⚠️ **Auto-generated content.** Audio from the official Granicus video was auto-transcribed with OpenAI's open-source Whisper large-v3-turbo model, run locally by The Lexington Times. Structured facts were extracted with GPT-4o; the narrative summary was written by Anthropic Claude. Verbatim wording may contain errors. See [methodology](https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/about/methodology) or [report a correction](mailto:editor@lexingtonky.news). --- ## Meeting Overview The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Council met on April 28, 2011, at 6:00 P.M. in Lexington, Kentucky, with Mayor Gray presiding. The meeting included three agenda items, all of which were informational in nature. The council heard an invocation, received a commemoration for Public Health Heroes, and received information about the Mayor's Task Force on Wellness. During the meeting, the council took three motions and votes and heard one public comment. ## Attendance The following individuals were present at the meeting on April 28, 2011: * Mayor Gray * Beard * Blues * Crosbie * Ellinger * Farmer * Ford * Gorton * Henson * Kay * Lane * Lawless * Martin * McChord * Myers * Stinnett No absences or late arrivals were recorded. ## Votes and Decisions **Approval of Minutes** [timestamp: 0:04:29] The meeting minutes from January 25 and February 8, 2011 were approved by voice vote. The motion was made by Ellinger and seconded by Gorton. **2011 Consolidated Plan/Grant Application Ordinance** [timestamp: 0:23:17] An ordinance authorizing the Mayor to execute and submit the 2011 Consolidated Plan/Grant Application passed by roll call vote with 14 ayes and 0 nays. The motion was made by Gorton and seconded by Lawless. Voting in favor: Beard, Blues, Crosbie, Ellinger, Farmer, Gorton, Henson, Kay, Lane, Lawless, Martin, McChord, Myers, and Stinnett. **Constitution and Berry Hill Pools Ordinance** [timestamp: 2:10:07] An ordinance to keep Constitution and Berry Hill pools open for the 2011 season passed by roll call vote with 9 ayes and 6 nays. The motion was made by Stinnett and seconded by Myers. Voting in favor: Beard, Blues, Crosbie, Ellinger, Farmer, Ford, Gorton, Henson, and Kay. Voting against: Lane, Lawless, Martin, McChord, Myers, and Stinnett. ## Budget and Financial Actions The meeting approved two grants for Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government: **Community Development Block Grant** - **Amount:** $3,641,000 - **Source:** U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development - **Program:** Community Development Block Grant Program - **Identifier:** BS 121-11 **S. Limestone Streetscape Transportation Enhancement Project Grant** - **Amount:** $750,000 - **Source:** Kentucky Transportation Cabinet - **Project:** S. Limestone Streetscape Transportation Enhancement Project - **Identifier:** BS 129-11 These two grants totaled $4,391,000 in funding for the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government. ## Public Comment Mr. McCarthy addressed the board during public comment, raising concerns about two interconnected issues: potential layoffs and a proposal to replace security guards with a private contractor. [timestamp: 2:33:33] Mr. McCarthy expressed opposition to the security staffing change, citing security risks associated with transitioning from in-house security personnel to private contractor services. He connected this proposal to broader concerns about potential layoffs that could result from the reorganization. ## Contested Items **Keeping Constitution and Berry Hill Pools Open** The council debated whether to keep the Constitution and Berry Hill pools open. The discussion centered on balancing budget impacts against community benefits. Council members expressed concerns about the financial implications of maintaining both facilities while also considering the value these pools provide to residents. The disagreement reflected broader tensions between fiscal constraints and community services. The debate resulted in a split vote, indicating that council members were divided on the issue and could not reach consensus on whether to proceed with keeping both pools operational. ## Invocation Reverend Dalene Vasbinder from Woodland Christian Church delivered the invocation for the meeting. [timestamp: 00:01:03] ## Commemoration for Public Health Heroes Dr. Rice Leach and Kevin Hall presented a commemoration recognizing Public Health Heroes for their contributions to public health. [timestamp: 00:05:02] The presentation honored individuals including Jill Chenault-Wilson and Dr. Malkanthie McCormick for their work in the public health field. This was an informational presentation with no formal debate or concerns raised during the agenda item. ## Mayor's Task Force on Wellness Tish Clayborn presented on the Mayor's Task Force on Wellness, outlining the mission and goals of the initiative [timestamp: 0:10:16]. The presentation was informational in nature, aimed at introducing council members to the task force's work and inviting their collaboration on health initiatives. The presentation covered the task force's mission and objectives, though specific details of those goals were not documented in the meeting record. Clayborn's remarks were designed to engage council members and encourage their participation in supporting the wellness initiatives being undertaken by the task force. The outcome of this agenda item was informational, with no formal action or decision required from the council at this time. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approval of the minutes of the January 25 and February 8, 2011 meetings - **Motion** — passed (14-0): Ordinance authorizing the Mayor to execute and submit the 2011 Consolidated Plan/Grant Application - **Motion** — passed (9-6): Ordinance to keep Constitution and Berry Hill pools open for the 2011 season --- ## Full transcript Thanks for joining us tonight. After our roll call and our invocation, I'll ask for introduction of some special guests that are here tonight, and Council Member Lane is going to help me with that. But first we'll call the roll. Madam Clerk. Mr. Beard. Present. Mr. Blues. Here. Ms. Crosby. Here. Mr. Ellinger. Here. Mr. Farmer. Here. Mr. Ford. Here. Ms. Gorton. Here. Ms. Henson. Here. Mr. Kay. Mr. Lane. Here. Ms. Lawless. Here. Mr. Martin. Here. Mr. McCord. Here. Mr. Myers. Here. And Mr. Stennett. Thank you. Thank you, Susan. Next on our agenda is our invocation, and we're pleased to have Reverend Veybinder here with us tonight. Veybinder. Veybinder. I'm sorry. Forgive me. No problem. Daylene, thank you for joining us tonight. You're welcome. Thank you. Let us be together in prayer. God of our daily lives, we pause in a spirit of gratitude for this day, for sunshine after storm, for the continued presence of spring and new beginnings. We pause in gratitude for those here this evening who work to sustain our community. We pray that this time be filled with creative energy to be able to dream and vision for the good of all. we pray that this time be filled with an openness to listen to one another and that this time be filled with compassion to always keep in mind the most vulnerable in our society God as we pray for our community and our leaders our hearts also hold those people in our state and states who are south who have been victims of such damaging weather these last few days In times like this, we are reminded of our holy connection with one another and with your world. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Daylene. Reverend Vassbinder, I should have introduced Reverend Vassbinder as the pastor at Woodland Christian, A church with a wonderful and long legacy and history in our community. We have a couple of introductions, and I'll ask Councilmember Lane to make his first. Thank you, Mayor. It gives me a lot of pleasure to welcome Scoutmaster Paul DeLetter and eight of his scouts who are attending our meeting tonight. They're from the St. Elizabeth and Seton Church, Troop No. 103 in southeast Lexington. And I had a nice meeting with them before the meeting, and I'm hoping that maybe we've recruited one of these Boy Scouts to be our future council member here in Lexington. So could you give them all a big round of applause and welcome? Thank you very much, Mayor. Thank you. Thank you all for being here with us tonight. I'd like to recognize that we have a visitor in the audience tonight, Ramona Newman, who is the city clerk at Frankfurt. Oh, right over here. Susan wanted me to make sure that we introduced you. Ramona is here to study our granicus, our legislative management system. so tonight's the night that it better work well, right? There we go. Okay. Thanks for joining us, Ramona. All right. Next on our agenda is minutes of the previous meetings. Is there a motion? Second. There's a motion by Council Member Ellinger, second by Vice Mayor Gordon. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, no. Motion carries. All right. Next on our agenda are presentations. We have two presentations tonight, and one has to do with the commemoration for public health heroes. I'm going to ask Dr. Rice-Leach and Kevin Hall to help me, and I'll come around to the... Actually, Rice, I think you've got everything right there, don't you? I haven't got anything, sir. All right, Kevin does. There you go. Where are we? Thank you. Now, people sometimes think public health is just sitting out there at the health department and seeing patients. If you go back to when I was a child in Lexington and we didn't have any immunization against polio, we didn't have any medicine to treat tuberculosis, and we had dogs running around with muzzles because there was rabies loose, in those days everybody kind of worked together. And the two ladies we're recognizing tonight are wonderful examples. of working together where one and one equals two or three or four. First is Jill Chenault Wilson, who is the director of the William Wells Brown Community Center. The center hosts health-related events, including weight loss challenges where more than 800 participants have taken part, two health literacy workshops for senior citizens, four community health and wellness fairs, two HIV AIDS tournaments, two health and wellness walkathons, nutrition and community gardening classes, and exercise classes. This lady is a championship college athlete. There are a lot of championship college athletes, but there are darn few doing what you're doing to help a community be better off for your being here. Thank you. We'll get a camera later. I'm used to talking, but this is a first in here. The second recognition is Dr. McCormick. Dr. McCormick is a professor of infectious disease at the University of Kentucky, and she has stepped in to help us with the tuberculosis program. I used to work on Indian reservations, and I had 100 people in my clinic every day and 800 on the list, but all we were trying to do is control it. She's trying to get rid of it. It's a whole new ballgame. It's a lot tighter-knit community of work. I want to finish up reading a little bit about her. She contracts as a clinical consultant with a tuberculosis program at the health department, thus ensuring that treatment of all active TB cases in Fayette County and several surrounding counties is done the way it's supposed to. When you're trying to get rid of a disease, there's not much margin for error. She makes sure that we do it the way it's supposed to. She has practiced medicine nationally and internationally since 1967 and has been in Lexington since 1994. She is the epitome of a university-based physician helping an army of public health workers get rid of a pest. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. We have one more proclamation. Kevin Hall, who is Director of Communications for the Health Department, will accept this along with Dr. Leach. Bryce, why don't you come on up? You've been doing a lot of heavy lifting. You won't have to lift heavy on this. All you have to do is just accept it. Yes, sir. This is a proclamation which recognizes National Public Health Week, proclaiming the week of April 4th through 10, 2011, as National Public Health Week. Thank you all for all you do. Thank you for helping us do this. Next on our agenda in our section for presentations is a presentation by Tish Claiborne. Is Tish, yep, hey Tish. That's right, I know I saw you earlier. Tish is going to give us a presentation on the Mayor's Task Force on Wellness. Hello. Thank you all for letting us come and present this. We are the Mayor's Health and Wellness Task Force. I'm the chair and I co-chair with Ms. Carmen Combs. I've been on the Mayor's Health and Wellness Task Force for about 10 years. We used to be the Mayor's Breast Task Force, and recently we've gone through an identity crisis and become the Mayor's Health and Wellness Task Force. We're currently revising our logo. Our mission is that we are saving lives through health education and awareness in the workplace and community. We are a group of different organizations and individuals who meet monthly to network and coordinate community health events. One of the greatest accomplishments that we have done as a group is the Lexington Women's Recognition Garden. And that is a project that we have put together. It's on Wellington. It is a place of honor for women who make Lexington their home. Those are actual pictures from the garden. We have some of our flyers, so if any of you all want some more information or would like to go walk, donate, it's all wonderful. We decided that because we have a new name change, a new logo, that we wanted to establish some goals here for 2011. And one of those goals is to establish a strong identity in the community by exploring and serving community needs. And you guys are pivotal in doing that. We would really like to be a resource for you all. If there are needs in you all's districts or if there are goals or if there's health fairs, if there's anything that you would like for us to do, that's what we're here for. We would like to be that force in the community. We are the Mayor's Health and Wellness Task Force, and we would like to become a force in that community. One of our goals was to be a presentation here and to invite you all, let you all be aware of us, and to start this movement. The other goal that is hopefully yet to come is a proclamation, as we just saw happen for Public Health Week, but actually a wellness day. So hopefully we'll get Mayor Gray to facilitate that as well. So basically I would like to ask you all some questions on how we can work with your districts better or within your districts better, or if there are any district needs that you all would like to bring to us and what direction you would like to see us going, because we're here for you all. We're here for the community, and anything that we can do, health fairs, organizations, streamline it, put us all together. Anybody that's in your district that wants to do a health fair, send them to our meetings. Any representatives, come to our meetings. Or send a representative of your own. It's always welcome. So there's your formal invite. Our next meeting is May 13th. It's at 10 a.m. It's in this building on the fourth floor, or fifth floor. You won't find us on the fourth floor. So do you all have any questions? Councilman McCord. Well, I hate to admit this to you, Mayor, but my machine doesn't work tonight, so I apologize in advance to our guests. My name doesn't show up. But, one, I want to thank you all for what you do. And this very important role, and I think what's happening in our city is there is a culture change. And I think people want to be healthier. They want to lead more active lifestyles. I would extend the invitation to you all as a group that we actually do have a wellness day that is already set on your calendar. It's the second Sunday of October, and it's where roads are closed all over the state of Kentucky. And 115 counties out of 120 participated last year. And so you have a day that we can have the mayor declare that has already become a signature day nationally. And so I applaud everything that you're doing. And the garden being in my district is a very welcome guest there. And I'd love to see you all expand your role and move this city more to a cultural change of health and wellness, because I really do believe we have a lot of the infrastructure now starting to be in place for our citizens to have a much healthier lifestyle. So thank you for all the work you do. And I would extend the opportunity to work with you guys with regard to Second Sunday and some of the other things we're doing. Awesome. Thank you. Well, if any of you all would like to bring anything to our meetings, you know where we're at. You can also contact myself. I'm tishmarie36 at gmail.com. Ms. Victoria Meyer at vmeyer at vhsi.com. Or Ms. Carmen Combs at carmencee at kcp.uky.edu. Thank you. Thank you guys for listening. Thanks. Thank you all. Thanks for being here with us tonight, Tish. No worries. Thank you for your support. All right. That's clever. All right. Next on our agenda, committee reports. I'll ask Vice Mayor Gorton for committee reports. Thank you, Mayor. Yes, Committee of the Whole Work Session took place on April 26th, and the summary for April 12th was approved. I move to approve placing on the docket ordinance for first reading number 14 and number 15 without a public hearing. Is there a motion and a second? Is there any discussion? All in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, no. Motion carries. I move to extend the table number 39 resolution until the May 10, 2011 Committee of the Whole Work Session along with a presentation. A motion by the Vice Mayor, a second by Council Member Blues. Is there any discussion? Council Member Henson? It's currently on the docket. This would table it until May the 10th. Okay. And this is the special events issue. All right. No further discussion. All in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, no. Motion carries. The next motion is actually, according to law, a report out, and nothing needs to be done right this minute. and that was to recommend hiring a full-time citizen advocate. That was approved, and this will come up later. It's my understanding from law. Next is also a report-out item. When the resolution is ready to be voted on, the change will be in it, and that is the motion to substitute the word periodic to annual review in the facility's usage policy. Next is I move to place on the docket the amended ordinance relating to the internal audit board to increase the number of members from 5 to 7 and to adopt the bylaws. Motion by the Vice Mayor, second by Council Member Farmer. Is there any discussion? All in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, no. Motion carries. Mayor, due to lack of time at the council work session on Tuesday, it was requested that the council members be permitted to give their council reports tonight if anyone had a council report, and that could be done any time. Okay. Probably be appropriate to do it after your report. Okay. And then the final motion is from the police disciplinary hearing held on April 26th. I move to place on the docket a resolution related to the hearing in the matter of Earl Rayford adopting findings of fact and conclusions of law and imposing the discipline of demotion to police officer. Motion by Vice Mayor Gordon, second by Council Member McCord. Is there any discussion? All in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, no. And that concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you. We'll put the Council reports in the section, in our announcements section. All right. Next on our agenda, the second reading of ordinances. Madam Clerk, can you give us a second reading of ordinances, please? Ordinance number one, an ordinance change in the zone from a wholesale and warehouse business B4 zone to a neighborhood business B1 zone for 0.74 net 1.07 gross acre for property located at 369 Codell Drive, a portion of Equity Alliance of Lexington LLC. Number two, an ordinance change in the zone from a professional office B1 zone to a neighborhood business B1 zone for 0.594 net, 0.829 gross acre for property located at 1389 Alexandria Drive, W. Nelson-McMacon. Number three, an ordinance change in the zone from a highway service business B3 zone to a wholesale and warehouse business B4 zone for 1.083 net and gross acres for property located at 763 and 779 Newtown Pike portions of, subject to certain use restrictions imposed as conditions of granting the zone change, SCW Newtown LLC. Number four, an ordinance amending certain of the budgets of the Lexington-Bade Urban County Government to reflect current requirements for municipal expenditures in appropriating and reappropriating funds, Schedule number 112. Number five, an ordinance approving and adopting an amendment to the 2010 Consolidated Plan to include the purchase of two residential units, relocation of the residents, and demolition of the units in Meadows, Northland, Arlington Project. Number six, an ordinance authorizing and directing the Mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute and submit the 2011 Consolidated Plan grant application to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide any additional information requested in connection with this grant application and to accept the grant if the application is approved, which grant funds are in the amount of $3,641,000 federal funds, are for the FY 2012 Community Development Block Grant Program $2,050,000, Home Program, $1,500,000, and Emergency Shelter Grant Program, $91,000, the acceptance of which obligates the urban county government for the expenditure of $351,500 from various funding sources as local cash match and $67,000 in-kind match, appropriating funds pursuant to FY2012 Schedule No. 9, authorizing the mayor to transfer unencumbered funds within the grant budget and authorizing the mayor to execute agreements for the approved plan. Number seven, an ordinance authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute an amendment to the agreement with the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet for the acceptance of additional federal funds for the Wolf Run Creek Watershed-based plan in the amount of $20,266, the acceptance of which obligates the urban county government for the expenditure of $13,510.67 as a local match, and appropriating funds pursuant to Schedule No. 114. Council Member Lawless. Thank you, Mayor. I was wondering if Ms. Gooding, is she here? It's about number six. Yes. Consolidated plan. Please. Consolidated plan. The grant for community development, block grant, the home program, et cetera. Who does that, is that administered through the urban county government? Are those programs administered through LFUCG or? LFUCG is responsible for monitoring and for administering all of these funds. We have several community sub-recipients for a lot of funds. We have Hope Center. We have Salvation Army. We have Repairers of the Breach, Volunteers of America, MASH Services of the Bluegrass, Bluegrass Domestic Violence Program, Bluegrass Regional Mental Health. We have REACH and Lexington Habitat for Humanity, Fayette County Local Development Corporation, and Community Action Council. Okay, thank you. These people all receive funds from this source. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Thank you, sir. All right. Madam Clerk, Susan, go ahead. Ordinance number eight, an ordinance authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to accept a grant from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, which grant funds around the amount of $750,000 federal funds are for the South Limestone Streetscape Transportation Enhancement Project and the acceptance of which obligates the urban county government for the expenditure of $187,500 as a local match, appropriating funds pursuant to schedule number 115, and authorizing the Mayor to transfer unencumbered funds within the grant budget. Number nine, an ordinance authorizing the Mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute and submit a grant application to the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice to provide any additional information requested in connection with this grant application and to accept this grant if the application is approved, which grant funds are in the amount of $241,845 Commonwealth of Kentucky funds, R4 Operation of the Day Treatment Program for the Division of Youth Services, the acceptance of which does not obligate the urban county government for the expenditure of funds appropriating funds pursuant to FY2012, Schedule No. 7, and authorizing the mayor to transfer unencumbered funds within the grant budget. No. 10, an ordinance authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to accept a grant from the Lexington Fayette County Health Department, which grant funds around the amount of $483,202 federal funds, offer the Home Network Project at the Family Care Center, the acceptance of which does not obligate the urban county government for the expenditure of funds, appropriating funds pursuant to FY2012, Schedule No. 8, and authorizing the mayor to transfer unencumbered funds within the grant budget. No. 11, an ordinance authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to accept a grant from the University of Kentucky, which grant funds are in the amount of $496.50 federal funds under the Child Care Infant-Toddler Provider Incentive Mini Grant Program are for the purchase of equipment for the Family Care Center, the acceptance of which does not obligate the urban county government for the expenditure of funds appropriating funds pursuant to schedule number 113 and authorizing the mayor to transfer unencumbered funds within the grant budget. Number 12, an ordinance authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute and submit a grant application to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to provide any additional information requested in connection with this grant application and to accept this grant if the application is approved, which grant funds are in the amount of $180,000 federal funds, are for the operation of the MASH drop-in facility, the acceptance of which obligates the urban county government for the expenditure of $20,000 to be provided by the MASH drop-in operating budget, appropriating funds pursuant to FY2012 Schedule No. 10, authorizing the mayor to transfer unencumbered funds within the grant budget and authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement with MASH Services of the Bluegrass Incorporated for operation of the drop-in facility at a cost not to exceed $180,000. And number 13, an ordinance authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the Irvin County Government to execute a sponsorship agreement with and accept a $2,000 donation from PNC Bank National Association for the Senior Intern Program and appropriating funds pursuant to Schedule number 111. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Is there a motion to approve the second reading of ordinances? Move approval. There's a rush. Motion to approve by Vice Mayor Gordon, seconded by Council Member Lawless. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, Madam Clerk, will you call the roll, please? Mr. Beard? Aye. Mr. Blues? Yes. Ms. Crosby? Yes. Mr. Ellinger? Yes. Mr. Farmer? Yes, ma'am. Mr. Ford? I recuse on six. Yes on all the rest. The record will be noted. Ms. Gorton? Aye. Ms. Henson? Yes. Mr. K? Yes. Mr. Lane? Yes. Ms. Lawless? Yes. Mr. Martin? Yes. Mr. McCord? Yes. Mr. Myers? Yes. And Mr. Stennett. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Clerk. The vote reflects passage of the second reading of ordinances. We can move on then to the next item on our agenda, which is the first reading of ordinances. Madam Clerk. Ordinance number 14, an ordinance amending Ordinance number 105-2009, the Newtown Pike Extension Ordinance, disapproving a request to amend to apply standards only to commercial development and approving a request to waive the bulk plan, bulk plane, and parking lot standards. applied in Section 10 for property located at 502 through 526 South Broadway, 320 Pine Street, and 319 Cedar Street, Jeff Morgan. Number 15, an ordinance change in the zone from a professional office P1 zone to a high-rise apartment R5 zone for a 0.376 net, 0.42 gross acre with dimensional variances for property located at 407 Marquise Avenue, subject to certain use restrictions imposed as conditions of the granting the zone change, FEDE LLC. Number 16, an ordinance amending certain of the budgets of the Lexington-Vade Urban County Government to reflect current requirements for municipal expenditures and appropriating and reappropriating funds. Schedule number 116. Number 17, an ordinance amending certain of the budgets of the Lexington Bay-Urban County Government to reflect current requirements for funds in the amount of $1,547 from neighborhood development funds in the Division of Parks and Recreation for personnel expenses related to William Wells Brown Community Center's summer programs and appropriating and reappropriating funds schedule number 117. 17 and number 18, an ordinance amending sections 2-442, 2-443, 2-444, and 2-447 of the Code of Ordinances relating to the Internal Audit Board to increase the number of members of the Board from 5 to 7 to require that two additional members be appointed from the community at large to require that appointment of two members be based on recommendations of the Irvin County Council to provide that members may be removed only for cause after a hearing to limit the number of consecutive terms. Members may serve to three full terms to require that the chairman and vice chairman be elected from the members from the community at large and to require the board to adopt bylaws. Is there any motions? Hearing none, then is there a motion? No, no motion. Proceed. I'm sorry. accepting the bid of Ennis Paint Incorporated, establishing a price contract for traffic marking paint for the Division of Streets, Rows, and Forestry. Five, a resolution accepting the bid of Accent Wire, establishing a price contract for bailing wire for the Division of Waste Management. Number six, a resolution authorizing the Division of Community Corrections to purchase drug testing assays for the Community Alternative Drug Testing Program from Thermo Fisher Scientific, doing business as Microgenics, a sole source provider at a cost not to exceed $41,652, and authorizing the mayor to execute necessary documents. Number seven, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute modification number one of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program funding agreement with the Kentucky Department for Local Government to clarify eligible uses of funds and to include a provision for loan servicing by Kentucky Housing Corporation. Number eight, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute a commercial services agreement with Insight Communications Company, LP, to provide Internet network connectivity to the Division of Emergency Management 911 using federal grant funds at an annual cost not to exceed $960. Number nine, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute an amendment to agreement with Granicus Incorporated for addition of the Word Add-in module and integration with Legislature at a cost not to exceed $1,625. Number 10, a resolution change in the street names and property address numbers of 2515 Harrodsburg Road to 2376 Alexandria Drive, of 588, 600, and 601 Judy Lane to 2278, 2277, and 2281 Allen Drive, of 600 Parkside Drive to 2297 Allen Drive, of 1200 Center Parkway to 3554 Appian Way, of 928 North Limestone to 122 Arkeem Avenue, of 3252 Bay Springs Park to 3297 Blackford Parkway, of 400 McKenna Court to 1752 Bryan Station Road, of 2849 Trailwood Lane to 2772 Burnt Mill Road, of 111092 Spring Run Road to 3861 and 3872 Hidden Springs Drive, of 538 Parkside Drive to 2309 Irene Drive, of Units A and B, 500 Shaftsbury Road, 2 Units 101 and 102, 1210 Meadow Lane, of 1049 Mill Creek Court to 1162 Mill Creek Drive, of 1112 Center Parkway to 3503 Olympia Road, of 469, 461, 463, 468, 460, and 462 West 5th Street Court, to 475, 483, 491, 476, 484, and 490 Pilgrim Court, Of 408 West New Circle Road to 1499 Russell Cave Road of 1725 Chelmsford Drive to 617 Stonehaven Drive. Of 2601 Kearney Creek Lane to 2777 Sullivan's Trace. And of 509, 511, 513, 515, 519, 521, 523, and 527 Bourbon Avenue to 470, 474, 478, 482, 486, 490, 494, and 498 Willie Street. Change in the property address numbers of 217 through 219 Albany Road to 219 Albany Road of 1805 through 1865 Alexandria Drive to 1801 Alexandria Drive. Of 2045 Altamont Court to 2035 Altamont Court. Of 362 through 366 Ellsford Place to 364 Ellsford Place. Of 2537 Berea Road to 2540 Berea Road. Of 370 Glen Arvin Avenue to 366 Glen Arvin Avenue. Of 1100 Horstman's Lane to 1050 Horstman's Lane. Of 350 Lyle Industrial Avenue to 336 Lyle Industrial Avenue. of Units A and B, 3386 Mound View Court to 3386 and 3388 Mound View Court, of 510 and 262 West New Circle Road to 540 and 260 West New Circle Road, of 580 West 6th Street to 575 West 6th Street, and of 495 through 497 West 3rd Street to 497 West 3rd Street, and change in the street name of 1953, 1949, and 1945 Mark Avenue to 1953, 1949, and 1945 Dark Tower Road, all effective 30 days from passage. Number 11, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute a commercial services agreement with Insight Communications Company, LP, to provide Internet network connectivity to the Division of Emergency Management, 911, at an annual cost not to exceed $720. Twelve, a resolution change in the street names and property address numbers of 3,000 Blackford Parkway to 3220 Bledsoe Place, of 937 Williamson Street to 230 Driscoll Street, and of 326 West 5th Street to 465 Kenton Street. Change in the property address numbers of 604 South Broadway to 606 South Broadway, of 666 Cielo Vista Road to 668 Cielo Vista Road, of 800 Florence Avenue to 794 Florence Avenue, of 355 South Limestone to 357 South Limestone, and of 1513 Bursells Road to 1511 Bursells Road, and changing the street names of a section on Vaughn Alley to Merlot Alley and of a section of Morris Alley to Sue Perkins Alley, all effective 30 days from passage. 13. A resolution authorizing the Mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute an assignment accepting a permanent easement for stormwater runoff for property located at 2299 Brannon Road at no cost to the Urban County Government. Number 14, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute change order number one to the contract with Gershman, Brickner, and Bratton, Incorporated for Waste Management Routing Software and Implementation Services for the Division of Waste Management, increasing the contract price by the sum of $66,000 from $1,655,596 to $1,721,596. Number 15, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute a lease renewal agreements with Commonwealth of Kentucky for state police CDL offices and driver's license offices at 162 East Main Street. Number 16, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute an agreement with the International Public and Management Association of Human Resources for the purchase of test products and services for the Division of Human Resources at a cost not to exceed $1,000. Number 17, a resolution ratifying the probationary civil service appointments of Andre Scott, Equipment Operator, Grade 108 N, 17.242 hourly in the Division of Water Quality, effective April 18, 2011. Steve Zahn, Equipment Operator, Grade 108 N, 16.219 hourly in the Division of Water Quality, effective April 18, 2011. Ratifying the probationary sworn appointments of Robert Crow, Fire Captain, Grade 316 N, 23.039 hourly in the Division of Fire and Emergency Services, effective March 28, 2011. Jeremy Greer, Fire Lieutenant, Grade 315N, 17.786 hourly in the Division of Fire and Emergency Services, effective March 28, 2011. Number 18, a resolution approving pursuant to KRS 62.055 and Section 22-55.1 of the Code of Ordinances, the bond with surety of John Larson County Judge Executive in the amount of $10,000 and direct in the Department of Law to record the bond with surety along with a certified copy of the resolution in the Office of the Fiat County Clerk. Number 19, a resolution authorizing and directing the Mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute a certificate of consideration and to accept an easement from Kentucky American Water Company for the property located at 3720 Richmond Road for the East Hickman Pump Station Overflow Spillway at no cost to the Urban County Government. Twenty, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute change order number two to the final to the contract with Bluegrass Contracting Corporation for the Vons Branch Flood Hazard Mitigation Project, increasing the contract price by the sum of $9,968.24 from $1,251,663.75 to $1,261,631.99. Twenty-one, a resolution authorizing and directing the Mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute change order number two to the contract with Stantec Consulting Services Incorporated for the Lach-Lemont Drainage Improvements Project, increasing the contract price by the sum of $6,165.25 from $67,340 to $73,505.25. Twenty-two, a resolution of the Urban County Council electing Doug Martin as representative for Council Districts 9, 10, and 12, and Peggy Henson as representative for Council Districts 3, 5, and 11 to the Transportation Policy Committee of the Lexington Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. 23, a resolution initiating zoning ordinance text amendments for planning commission consideration and recommendation to amend Article 5-1A of the zoning ordinance to provide for a right of entry administrative search warrants and amending Articles 5-9, 17-4, 23C-13, and 26-12 to provide for civil fines. 24, a resolution initiating zoning ordinance text amendments to divine and regulate temporary structures. And number 25, a resolution initiating zoning ordinance text amendments to define and regulate circuses and carnivals. Thank you. Mr. Beard? Aye. Mr. Blues? Mr. Blues? Yes. Thank you. Mr. Crosby? Yes. Mr. Ellinger? Yes. Mr. Farmer? Yes, ma'am. Mr. Ford? I recuse on seven. Yes on all the rest. The record will be denoted. Ms. Gorton? Aye. Ms. Henson? Yes. Mr. Kay? Yes. Mr. Lane? Yes. Ms. Lawless? Yes. Mr. Martin? Yes. Mr. McCord? Yes. Mr. Myers? Yes. And Mr. Stennett? Thank you. The vote reflects passage of the second reading of resolutions. All right. Next on our agenda is the first reading of resolutions. Madam Clerk, when you get to your page. Thanks, ma'am. Resolution number 26, a resolution accepting the bid of R&B Cleaning Services establishing a price contract for custodial services, Services Phoenix Building for the Division of Facilities and Fleet Management. Number 27, a resolution accepting the bid of ABR Construction Incorporated in the amount of $555,431.65 for the Lexington Mall Sanitary Sewer Relocation for the Division of Water Quality and authorizing the Mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute an agreement with ABR Construction Incorporated related to the bid. 28, a resolution authorizing the Mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute certificates of consideration and other necessary documents and to accept deeds for easements needed for Phase 3D of the Meadows, Northland, Arlington Neighborhood Improvement Project at a cost not to exceed $2,000. Number 29, a resolution authorizing and directing the Mayor on behalf of the Irwin County Government to execute certificates of consideration and other necessary documents and to accept deeds for property interest needed for the Lafayette Parkway Stormwater Project at a cost not to exceed $1,600,000. Number 30, a resolution authorizing and directing the Mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute an amendment to agreement with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet for the Loudoun Avenue sidewalk project to include the project budget as part of the agreement at no cost to the Urban County Government. Madam Clerk, excuse me just a second. Council Member Myers would comment on number 31. Thank you, Mayor. I move to amend number 31 to add to the Neighborhood Development Fund an allocation of $300 to the following Gainesway Neighborhood Association, Incorporated. So moved. Second. Motion and a second. Motion by Council Member Myers, seconded by Council Member Ellinger. Is there any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor, please say aye. All opposed, no. Motion carries. Got it, Susan. Okay. One second while I get this, because I didn't have this in the cell. While you're doing that, I thought it might be useful to explain to our guests from the Boy Scouts that what we're doing with these procedures is the Council is confirming many of the purchases and transactions that the city makes, and sometimes it sounds like a lot of stuff, doesn't it? Second. Sometimes it sounds like a lot of stuff, and it is, and sometimes it isn't. Thank you, Mr. Farmer. We needed that second. You ready, Sue? Okay, go ahead. All right, resolution number 31 as amended. A resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute agreements with Joyland Neighborhood Association, $500. Lexington Fast Pitch Softball Incorporated, $250. Chrysalis House Incorporated, $800. William Wells Brown Neighborhood Association, $1,000. Southland Association Incorporated, $2,025. Capacity Incorporated, $275. Gaines Way Neighborhood Association Incorporated, $300. For the Office of the Urban County Council, it costs not to exceed the sums stated. Number 32. Number 32. A resolution authorizing the Division of Human Resources to make a conditional offer to the following, Jennifer Thompson, 19.768 hourly, Jeremy Knight, 19.332 hourly, Tyler Henningson, 17.551 hourly, Environmental Inspector, Grade 113N in the Division of Water Quality, effective upon passage and authorizing the beginning employment upon successful completion of a physical and medical examination as required. Number 33, a resolution approving pursuant to KRS 62.055 in Section 22-55.1 of the Code of Ordinances, the bond with surety of Donald W. Blevins, Jr., Fayette County Clerk, in the amount of $400,000 in directing the Department of Law to record the bond with surety along with a certified copy of this resolution in the Office of the Fayette County Clerk. Number 34, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute a release of easements, releasing a 30-foot utility sanitary sewer and streetlight easement at a 12-foot sanitary sewer easement and a 10-foot streetlight easement on property located at 3840 Camelot Drive, 600 Greenfield Drive, and 3773, 3777, 3781, and 3785, and 3789, Bellowood Drive, Sarah Christian Village Nursing Home. 35, a resolution designating the Tates Creek Golf Horse and Clubhouse and 8th and Softball Complex Concession Stand Pavilion as parks and park facilities where the director of the Division of Parks and Recreation may authorize the possession, sale, delivery and consumption of alcohol beverages and apply for a malt beverage license for sale of malt beverages at the listed locations. Thirty-six, a resolution authorizing the Mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute a memorandum of understanding with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Veterans Affairs, for jurisdiction at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Thirty-seven, a resolution authorizing the Mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute Change Order No. 1 to the contract with Menifold and Prize Incorporated for West Sector Row Call renovation, increasing the contract price by the sum of $8,370 from $58,964 to $67,334. Resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the county government to execute a facility usage contract with the Fayette County Board of Education for use of the William Wells Brown Elementary School for the final resource fair of the Hope 6 housing project at a cost not to exceed $671.70. Number 39 had been removed or retabled. We have number 40, a resolution approving the bylaws of the Internal Audit Board, and number 41, a resolution adopting findings of fact and conclusions of law and imposing the discipline of demotion to police officer upon Earl Rayford by reason of his misconduct within the meaning of and in violation of KRS 95.450, Section 23-42 of the Code of Ordinances of the Lexington-Fayette-Irvin County Government and the rules of the Division of Police. And that's all. That's 40 and 41, right, Susan? Yes, sir. Okay. All right. I request any motions for walk-ons, Council Member Blues. At this time, I think I'll hold back on that, Mayor. Thank you. Okay, we'll go back to it. I'm sorry. What was that? If there may be other walk-ons. All right. Council Member, okay. Yep. Vice Mayor Gordon has a question, then Council Member Henson. I had a question about one of the items you read about the Internal Audit Board, which should include the part about the bylaws, but also increasing the number of people from 5 to 7. Was that included in what you read? That was ordinance number, I believe it was ordinance number 17 or 18. So both of those were included? Yes, ma'am. Okay, thank you. Council Member Henson, then Council Member Crosby, then you. Thank you, Mayor. I have a question on item 35, and I saw Jerry Hancock back there, and I was hoping maybe Jerry... Yes, ma'am. I was curious about the sale and delivery, whatever, of alcoholic beverages at these particular parks. Under what event would it be like just for the golf courses? But although Athens is a softball complex. What we're proposing is to sell beer at Tate's Creek and to sell beer at our Athens softball complex. at both locations, our customers bring those beverages with them, and we'd like to enjoy the same profitable success we've had at Piccadome and Kearney over the last 10 or 11 years, get a license, sell the product legally, and prevent our customers from bringing it on illegally, as has been the case in the past. So these parks are primarily served by adults, correct? That is correct. So it's not like children's sports or any? Don't be misled. There are children that play at all of our golf courses, and there are children that play at Tate's Creek as well. But this will be closely guarded. We won't put the urban county government at risk by serving minors in any way. What this actually does is it will further prevent the likelihood that youth will have access to the material because we'll watch people bring things out of their vehicles, which we don't do as carefully today because we don't sell it. We'll take an interest in maximizing our ability to sell the product. Okay. I may talk to you about this further before it gets a second reading, but I apologize because I didn't really see it or I would have already talked. It slipped over somehow with me. All righty. Thank you, Jerry. You're welcome. All right. So no motions. All right. No walk-ons. No motions. Any, I'll ask next, is there, are there any motions to suspend the rules? I think we have at least one. Council Member Luz. Thank you, Mayor. I would like to move to suspend the rules in order to give a second reading to number 34 at the request of the administration. So moved. Second. Motion and a second. Is there any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, no. Motion carries. It's number 34. Are there any others? Oh, okay. Mr. Lane and Mr. Martin. Thank you, Mayor. I ask to suspend the rules for a second vote on item number 32. Okay, 32. Is a motion and a second on 32? We'll go ahead and take a vote on this then. We've only got one more, right? Okay. Is there any discussion on 32? Hearing none, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, no. Motion carries. Council Member Martin. Thank you, Mayor. I move to suspend the rules to give second reading to item 31. This is the neighborhood development funds as amended, so moved. Motion by Council Member Martin, second by Council Member Crosby. Is there any discussion on 31? I'm hearing none. All in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, no. Motion carries on 31. Mayor. Yes, sir. I noticed in resolution number 32 there's a typographical error in there. It says conditional officer. I believe it should be conditional offer. On 32? That was read correctly. That's a typo, and we denoted that before it was read. So it was read correctly into the record. Thank you. Good. Close inspection is a great benefit. Is that it on the second, Mayor? Yes, sir. Councilman McCord. Second reading on number 41 on the police disciplinary hearing, please. All right. Motion, is there a second? Second. Second by Vice Mayor Gordon. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor please indicate by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, no. Motion carries on item 41. All right. Looks like that's it then. No, I'm sorry. What happened? You can go back. We need to get it. We've got to get the second read, right? Is there someone else? Oh, I'm sorry. Council Member Crosby, then Council Member Farmer. I didn't see you all. Thank you, Mayor. Well, we disappeared. It was there. You didn't see it. I make a motion to suspend the rules on number 40, please. 40? All right. Motion is a second by Council Member Martin. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, no. Motion carries on number 40. Mr. Farmer. Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to make a motion to suspend the rules on item number 27. Anyone ask for a second? Second. Motion on 27, seconded by Vice Mayor Gordon. Is there any discussion on 27? Hearing none, all in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries on 27. All right. Is that it then? Okay. So, Madam Clerk, did you get all those? You were furiously writing over there. Take your time. We have 27. 31, 32, 34, 40, and 41. Yep, that's what I've got. Will do. Okay. Number 27. For second reading, a resolution accepting the bid of ABR Construction Incorporated in the amount of $555,431.65 for the Lexington Mall Sanitary Sewer Relocation for the Division of Water Quality and authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute an agreement with ABR Construction Incorporated related to the bid. Number 31. A resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute agreements with Joyland Neighborhood Association, $500. Lexington Fast Pitch Softball Incorporated, $250. Chrysalis House Incorporated, $800. William Wells Brown Neighborhood Association, $1,000. Southland Association Incorporated, $2,025. Capacity Incorporated, $275. And Gainesway Neighborhood Association Incorporated, $300. For the office of the urban county council, at a cost not to exceed the sums stated. A resolution authorizing the Division of Human Resources to make a conditional offer to the following, Jennifer Thompson, 19.768 hourly, Jeremy Knight, 19.332 hourly, Tyler Hennison, 17.551 hourly, Environmental Inspector Grade 113N, and the Division of Water Quality Effective Upon Passage, and authorizing the beginning employment upon successful completion of a physical or medical examination as required. 34, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the Irvin County Government to execute a release of easements, releasing a 30-foot utility sanitary sewer and streetlight easement, a 12-foot sanitary sewer easement, and a 10-foot streetlight easement on property located at 3840 Camelot Drive, 600 Greenfield Drive, and 3773, 3777, 3781, 3785, and 3789, Bellowood Drive, Sarah Christian Village Nursing Home. Number 40, a resolution approving the bylaws of the Internal Audit Board. And number 41, a resolution adopting findings of fact and conclusions of law and imposing the discipline of demotion to police officer upon Earl Rayford by reason of his misconduct within the meaning of and in violation of KRS 95.450, Section 2342 of the Code of Ordinances of the Lexington-Badarbon County Government and the Rules of the Division of Police. It's a motion to approve. Council Member Crosby, motion seconded by Council Member Lane. All in favor, please say aye. All opposed, no. Sorry, I forgot to ask for discussion. Discussed. I'm going to get a roll call. Madam Clerk, will you call the roll, please? Mr. Beard? Aye. Mr. Blues? Yes. Ms. Crosby? Yes. Mr. Ellinger? Yes. Mr. Farmer? Yes, ma'am. Mr. Ford? Yes. Ms. Gorton? Aye. Ms. Henson? Mr. Kay? Yes. Mr. Lane? Yes. Ms. Lawless? Mr. Martin? Yes. Mr. McCord? Yes. Mr. Myers? Yes. And Mr. Stennett? Thank you. All right. Thank you, Madam Clerk. The vote reflects passage. Next on our agenda are announcements, and we'll take now council reports that weren't able to be made at the work session. Okay. Anybody who wants to? All right. The monitor reflects Council Member Henson, then Crosby, then Farmer, then Stennett. Council Member Henson. Thank you, Mayor. This coming Saturday at Valley Park, there will be the Stream Clean event, which I'm very, very excited about this. There will be the educational exhibits for the kids and lots of volunteers. I believe last count we had about 40 volunteers that will walk the creek and get the items out of the creek that don't belong there. And we're going to be giving away some prizes for the stinkiest item and so forth. So it should be a real fun event. The police are involved. Fire, Bluegrass Pride, Prince Wolf Run. I'm so very grateful to all these folks that have helped organize this event. And that is from 1 to 6 on Saturday at Valley Park. On Sunday from 1 until 4, there is a cleanup of Preston Cave Springs. and this is a cleanup of several that have occurred at this location and our intent is to connect Preston Cave Springs to McConnell Springs. So if you'd like to come join Get Dirty, Dr. Blue says he always likes to do that, then please come join us. We can use all the volunteers we can get. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Henson. Council Member Crosby. Thank you, Mayor. First, I just want to announce our Dance Attack dance teams through our Parks and Rec division had their competition, I guess it was about a week ago, and the teams did outstanding. The senior team took a first and second and a third place overall in three different dances, and let's see, the intermediate team, I believe, had a first and second overall. The junior team had a first and second overall, and the petite team had a second overall. So people from all over the state, or teams from all over the state, compete in this competition. It's held in Louisville, Kentucky, and there's also some out-of-team states. And consistently, our program places above all the others. And so I just wanted to recognize that we have a really golden gem in our Parks and Rec Department, which leads me to my next comment is they put on an annual recital, and I would encourage the mayor and council members and even the mayor's staff and anybody in the public who wants to come out to the Opera House. I know there are several different shows available this Saturday, council members, the mayor and anybody on your staff who's interested, I'm sure that we can find tickets. It's usually sold out, but it's wonderful to see so many different kids across our community participating in this type of program, and I think you all would be truly amazed at what our Parks and Rec Division does with these kids. Also, I want to thank Officer Kevin Watts for his service as our clear officer in the Woodhill neighborhood. Officer Watts has served us for many years, and just like our commanders have switched around, so have some of our clear officers. So we are sorry to lose Officer Watts, but we are very happy to welcome Officer Bean, and we know that she'll do a tremendous job. So I just wanted to publicly thank them all. That's all I have. Thank you. Thanks, Councilman Crosby. Councilman Farmer. Thank you, Mayor. I wanted, first of all, to thank all the hardworking folks at KU who did a lot of work over the last week. I know our lights were out at our home twice over the weekend, and they were very prompt in working with all of the neighborhoods. I know at least the ones I was in contact with. And then I wanted just to highlight for the council and the community the good work that Rocky Burke and the people at Lex Tran, they've been very kind and very helpful. And this Saturday they're going to extend the trolley blue route so that between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., if you want to walk to Farmer's Market and then with your vegetables, flowers, whatever you can get at Farmer's Market, you can get on the trolley and then ride all the way back. In this instance, they'll extend the route back to really all the way back to the corner there where Buddy's is in Chevy Chase. They're really extending it from the end of Old East Vine. It'll then come up through the Woodland Triangle and then come down and hook around the block in Chevy Chase and then go back over and make a left turn by Ani's M's there by Donato. So if you live in those areas and you want to walk to Farmer's Market, get your goods, and then ride the trolley back at no charge. You will be able to do that between 10 and 1. I think it's really great outreach, something that gives people a chance to get out and walk, to be among the folks downtown at Farmer's Market, and then enjoy the trolley. Because the trolley is the experiment that's really working in Lexington. People enjoy that. They enjoyed it before. And in trying to get folks initiated into public transit and alternate modes of transportation, the trolley is a great way to do that. So I want to thank Lex Tran for their help on that. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Farmer. Council Member Stinnett. Thank you, Mayor. Just a couple of items I wanted to discuss on Tuesday. I appreciate the opportunity tonight. First of all, a week ago we had the Environmental Quality Meeting and an update from a very well-presented presentation from our Solid Waste Department and Steve Feeson, Commissioner Taylor. and based on that presentation, I want to ask the vice mayor to go ahead and form a task force to evaluate two specific things with solid waste. The first would be to define the level of service that we're going to offer our citizens, and that's coming from the recommendation from the commissioner and other folks in that department. And the second would be to determine the best way to fund it. That's looking at the current way, which is the property tax. There's any other alternatives we can use to fund the system. So, Vice Mayor, with your blessing, of course, I would ask that you form a task force within the next 30 days and set a time limit of one year to define the level of service we're going to offer through our Solid Waste Department and to determine the best way to pay for that service. So moved. There's a motion by Council Member Stennett, second by Council Member Lane. I'll open the floor for discussion. Vice Mayor Gorton. Yes. Thank you, Council Member Stennett. I would ask Council Members to, I would expect there would be a need for three or four or five Council Members to sit on this task force. So if you're interested, let me know, please. Is there anyone else that wishes to speak while the motion is on the floor? Okay. So if there's no further discussion, I'll ask for a vote. All in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Thank you, Mayor. And the second item I had was we discussed on Tuesday briefly the situation we have with our local swimming pools. I know in the proposed budget there are two pools that are listed to be closed this year. And obviously with the pool season opening on Memorial Day weekend, if this council chose to keep Constitution and Barrier Hill Pool open, we would have to make that decision tonight, basically, because we don't have time to repair the pools and fill them up before Memorial Day. if we don't make that decision. So I know, Mr. Hancock, I know you're here. I don't know if you have the numbers we need to understand, but if you have that cost in regards to Berry Hill and Constitution so this council can deliberate and make a decision, I'm sure the rates are what they were last year. That's another, obviously, decision we'll have to make if we want to, how we pay for it is the big issue. and we pay for it through another rate increase or find another cut in the budget, obviously it's our choices tonight. Do you have those costs, Mr. Hancock, so we can better understand what we're facing? And is a month enough time to get these pools ready to be opened? Yes, I appreciate very much, Councilman. The fact that we're going to have this conversation right now, we really need to make this decision because we have to hire people, we have to clean the pools, paint them and let them dry, and then fill them, yada, yada. I estimated in our budget preparations that closing those two pools would save about $88,000 in expenses and would also reduce our revenue by perhaps $15,000. And that's built into the budget. If you were to open those two pools again, I would need that $88,000 back to open them. Is that net of the revenue number, or would the net not be 88 minus 15? It's 88 minus 15, or 72 would be the net. Okay. And I will open it up to discussion. I mean, I think now is the opportune time to make that decision. If I may, there is an alternative pool question I'd like to lay before you. I've received a lot of input from the community about the proposal to close pools on Monday. When we were going through the terrible budget preparation process of looking at a million dollars in cuts in the case of parks and recreation, that was laid on the table. In hindsight, I wish I hadn't done that. Closing the pools on Mondays, which will cost us $10,000 or save us $10,000 in labor, is really going to be a terrific inconvenience to the public. The three biggest holidays in the summer are on Mondays. Swim teams would be greatly impacted by closing on Mondays, as would our swim lesson program. So in a draconian environment, which we didn't have to get to, closing pools on Mondays might have been a good thing to consider. Standing here today, knowing more about the budget and the finance people knowing more about the budget, I would consider reconsidering closing Mondays more important to more people in the community than whether or not we keep those two pools open. I would prefer, if I could, that you consider that first. and that would cost us about $10,000 or so in seasonal labor. It probably doesn't have a revenue impact because people will go to the pool so many times during the summer. I would prefer that option considered first if you would. There's no motion on the floor right now. Mr. Stennett, you have the floor. Well, obviously I respect the decision that was made to put the budget together and to find ways to cut. I mean, this is obviously a recommended way that we could save money in the budget, and realizing that if we do put this back, we've got to find it somewhere else in the budget, and that's a tough decision as well to make. But I would make the motion to keep both Constitution and Berry Hill Pool open for this calendar season. That's 2011. Obviously, it has effect. We already have the money in FY 2011 budget, FY 2012 budget. Is that number for FY 2012, 88? That's a full season number. So a piece of that is already in this current budget? Approximately a third is already available. There's a motion and a second. Motion by Council Member Stentz, second by Council Member Myers. to discussion on the motion. Council Member Crosby, Council Member... Just come down. Council Member Kay. During our link, we had asked for some numbers about the golf courses, how many people, the revenue and number of people per month, and we didn't really see the number of people that were utilizing those two pools. And the $10,000 on the savings on Monday, there would have to be a revenue loss. So, I mean. Yes, I don't know what that number would be. But I would assume that if we stayed open on Mondays, it would cost me another $10,000 in seasonal labor, and there would be a few thousand dollars, perhaps several thousand dollars in revenue that we might not see. So it could be a wash. It could very well be neutral. Yes, ma'am. Holiday Mondays will be very big for us. And have you gotten those numbers yet on the golf courses? All that stuff is coming to you, yes, ma'am. And do you have the, what's the utilization of the two pools? I don't have those numbers in front of me, but for example, we would do 2,500 to 3,000 patron visits at each of those smaller pools on a seasonal basis. Okay, thank you. All right. Council Member Crosby, hold on just one second. Council Member Stennett, was your motion to open in the remainder, for the remaining period of 2011 and for the full 2012 season? Yes, sir. At this point, that would be on the maximum side, obviously. And they're in our budget deliberations, we can decide to close them August 1st. But I think the important decision is to get them open. And last year we closed them August 1st, if I believe I'm correct. It saved us some money. So, I mean, those are things we'll have to hash out. I'm not sure we can hash all that logistics out. The important thing is getting them open is our problem. Just want to – you asked a question about numbers. We have the numbers. And Jane can go get those numbers. And we'll be glad. What now? I was going to get the numbers. If you all needed those numbers, I was going to say we had numbers for you. CHAIRMAN BRYANT, Thanks, Trip 103. Thank you all for joining us tonight. All right. Council Member Crosby. MS. Yeah, I have a question for Commissioner Driscoll, please. MS. Can you tell us if the closing of these two pools, because it affects the end of FY11 by 11 budget, if that was built into what we were, the money we were trying to save for, so it's, I mean, even though it's in the budget, has that money gone to cover what we were in the hole with because you were planning on closing the two pools? The two pool savings are included in both our current year plan and our fiscal 12 plan. And just to give you a little background that might help in terms of the analysis, it was a recommendation from the Parks Department if we had to reduce expenditures. This was one of their top recommendations to us for those two pools. And as we went through the analysis, we did look at the attendance. Those are obviously both the two lowest attendance pools. and at one of the pools, and Jerry, you'll have to help me which one, half of the attendees we actually take, there are parks, summer participants, and the parks had assured us that those individuals could go to another facility. So that was going to be covered. But they accounted for over half of our participants at one of the pools. Excuse me. So we did look at the two lowest, and it's been declining over the course of the last few years. So we didn't just look at last year, because obviously weather plays a part in attendance, but it's been over the last several years that those have been declining. So we did look at what would be the least impact on services to the community when we followed through on this recommendation. Now, Mondays was also a parks recommendation, and they really didn't discuss with us that the Mondays, in terms of the major holidays, you know, we did talk about maybe rolling closures so that not every pool, but Mr. Hancock indicated to us it would be better if the reason he recommended Mondays was it would be better to, for efficiency's sake, to close all the pools on the same day versus maybe rolling. closures throughout the system over the course of time. But we do have those attendance numbers upstairs I'd be glad to get if it's critical for the discussion. So in our link meeting, we discussed also the Monday issue because our link just met on this and clearly we understand there's a time crunch, but we were looking more at opening on Monday and how we could do that. And I believe there was some discussion again about that there was some money in this budget that could possibly be used. Were you able to look at that and see? It sounds to me like any money that was in this year's budget that had not already been committed was used for the cost savings for this year. It is, because we're still looking. As we indicated to you the other night, we've gotten to the economic contingency, not drawing from that, but we've not closed the gap entirely at this point. So we've still continued to work with agencies. We don't think our work is complete to date, and we still work towards those issues. And if there is, you know, some other way we can get to that amount. And so I guess my question is then the money is already being used as cost savings for this budget and not budgeted for the next year. So if we vote tonight to do this, I'm just trying to understand the process. If we vote tonight to do this and we have to find the money from somewhere else to realize the cost reductions for this year, correct? And next year. And is there additional cost involved with opening the pools? Was that included in the estimate that, I don't know if Jerry needs to answer this or not, that was just given to us to open these pools, to get them ready? Our FY11 budget includes operating funds sufficient to paint and open all of the pools. So it wouldn't take new additional money to open these two additional pools. Council Member Stenet I'm wondering since we just discussed this in our link and I understand that there's not much time but I also don't know that this is a decision that we can, I mean to open two pools and not really know the impact it's going to have on the rest of the budget I don't know if maybe we couldn't get these numbers do we have committee the whole Tuesday? We don't meet again for two weeks from tonight and two weeks we're dead in the water I don't know if there's any way we could do a special meeting. No pun intended. Yeah. I'm asking, as our parliamentarian and the person who made the motion, is there any way, can we do any kind of special meeting since this is time sensitive, which would give us time to, I hate to do that to everybody, but perhaps we could gather the information then. Well, let me frame the issue. What was said about the budget reduction for this year is not accurate because we haven't ended this fiscal year yet. We still haven't taken the money back from the rainy day fund, so it's still there, the $5.8 million. We're talking $29,000 for the remainder of this year and 50-something for the remainder of next year, and a budget of $274 million. This is not a lot of money to take two weeks or a special meeting to discuss. I mean, it's $20,000 tonight to keep them open. I mean, we can hash the rest of it out during the budget process. You know, if this doesn't pass, then I'm going to ask money to be put in the budget to take the pool out because my neighborhoods don't want an eyesore sitting there for graffiti, vandalism, et cetera. So it's going to cost money. Council Member Myers and I have had the same discussion because our district's border on Berry Hill. We're in the same situation with that pool. I was just, you know, I'm a little concerned with just how the numbers and with what we're doing and not having all the information in front of us tonight. I'm just trying to frame the magnitude of the decision. It's not going to make or break our budget either way. I understand. Thank you. All right. Council Member Kaye. Thank you, Mayor. I think some of what I was going to say has already been covered, but I believe the question really is one of comparisons and how that money can best be spent. So we have a recommendation from Parks that says, given all of the constraints on their budget, that this is one of the places where we can save money without having a significant impact on the citizens in the community. The Commissioner said this is something that would have the least impact on services. We should not be in the position of having to make this decision tonight, but because opening the pools is an expense that we don't want to entail if we're going to close the pools, we are in that position. We don't have time to do it any other way. Given what I have heard about the parks budget and this decision, I would be inclined to vote against the motion and to continue to, unfortunately, to make a decision tonight on a very small piece of the budget when we're considering, as you said, a very big budget. I don't see any other way to go. So I wish we could do it differently. but my inclination is to vote against this motion. Council Member Farmer. I feel very similar to Council Member K. There's been proposals year after year to close one or both of these pools or other pools, And the mayor has helped frame this discussion from the first day on. This is a budget like no other. This is a tough time like no other. And we can talk about how, I think it's easy to talk about how little it would cost to open these pools. I think it's also easy to talk about how much it's going to cost to maintain these pools at the level of service that we would be required to do so. And, you know, sometimes leadership can be bold and sometimes it can be very mundane. And this is a tough issue. But I think it's one that it's time for us to reckon with in terms of the physical plant needs, the lack of usage, and, yes, the timing issue. So while I appreciate the fact that the 5th District has no pools to begin with, but I understand the loss at the district level of an amenity like this, but I also look to the potential adaptive reuse for either one of both of these and the opportunity for us to embrace that change, because that's what this budget is about. It's about embracing change in local government. So while I appreciate the nature of your motion, and I understand the emotions behind it, I am not inclined to agree with it because there are tough decisions to be made. If we want to make one tonight, I'm glad to make it. So I appreciate your motion. Thank you. All right. Council Member Myers. Who else? Henson. Luz. Okay. And forward. Okay. I think Mr. Lane, too. Lane also, I think. Lane. Thank you, Mayor. History lessons are always good. And so I guess I'd like to ask a couple of questions of Mr. Hancock, please. You know, every time we have this discussion, as Councilman Farmer said, these pools come up in some variation or another every year to be cut. And every year I ask for an aquatic plan. And we've yet to have an aquatic plan. And so let's go back in time. Council Member James was on the council. One of her pools was slated to be closed. We both made the comment that our two pools have no shade. And so last year we worked out an agreement. I put $6,000 in NDF funds in the Neighborhood Association. The parcel was going to match that. I had them up to 2 to 1 to put some shade at that pool. What we always talk about is a lack of use in this pool. Numbers are declining every year. Numbers are declining because the citizens have spoken. They would like to have some shade. They're not getting the shade. I parked $6,000 in the neighborhood association. Parks and Rec was going to match me. We don't have to discuss the match, what it was going to be, was it 2 to 1, 1 to 1, whatever it was going to be. No match ever happened. No apparatus for shade was ever purchased. Number two, Council Member James and I talked about the scholarship program that we have for low-income folks to be able to get scholarships to be able to access the pools at a lesser cost. I know at least my park advisory board member and myself, Council Member James, talked about how are we advertising that scholarship program. And one of the things that we suggested was that we put a simple flyer at all the pools advertising the program. Did that ever happen? Councilman, I can't tell you whether we put a flyer up last year advertising our scholarship program or not. I do not recall. My understanding from the Parks Advisory Board is no, it did not happen. I know there was never one at my pool. The second thing that we said was that. It is in our fund guide, however, which goes into every mailbox in the county. So it's not an unknown policy. It's on our website. But you're right. It may not have gone on to every pool last year. Well, considering my pool is one who has talked about a low attendance, if we put the flyer there so when people do come to the pool, that's the best place for them to see. Now that you mentioned the fund guide, that's another $40,000 savings that we could have by just putting that online instead of mailing that to every household. But let's go back to the scholarship program. The second thing that we said was that the school system has schools that have a certain number of free and reduced lunch students in those schools have a family resource center. And we said, that's a great opportunity to advertise that scholarship program and send a flyer home with all those kids, and they've got the information. Did that ever happen? And I know that my representative on the Park Advisory Board also brought that up in a meeting and asked that to happen. Did that ever happen? He brought that up last evening. You're quite correct, and we agreed that we would do that. He also brought it up last year. Did it happen last year? I don't know whether it did or not. I honestly don't recall. The answer is no. It did not happen. I'll take your word for it. So I guess my problem is that every year when we have this discussion, we talk about the numbers declining. But when we have brought things to the administrations to say, here's how we might increase the numbers, those things are never followed through on. So it's difficult for me to accept numbers declining when the things that could change that aren't taking place. The other thing is the mayor has in his budget $250,000 in social services budget for a study on affordable housing. It seems to me that if we want to find money tonight, if we took $50,000 of that money, which builds so they didn't want and need anyway, then we've got the money to cover the pools for next year, and we just have to find the $20,000 for this year. So the last thing I'll say about my park is that if you close this pool, one of the issues that I have and the residents around there have is the same thing that Council Member Stinnett mentioned, and that is we've got a vandalism magnet sitting right there for everybody to enjoy. So if we're going to close this pool and we're not going to open this pool back up, then we need to put the money in the budget to remove the pool. My suggestion would have been adaptive reuse and make it a skate park or something like that. But we can't just leave the pool sitting there abandoned. I've got tennis courts in that park that are in disrepair. I've got a playground that's back behind the pool that we put $50,000 in the first year I was on the council. If I'd had hindsight, I would have moved that out into the middle of the park so that people could see it from the street, because that's one of the reasons that parents are apprehensive about using it. If you close the pool, now you've basically set up an abandoned park. So now I've got vandalism access there. We've got all the other amenities that were in the park that are now pretty much shut down. So there's more to it than just finding the $20,000 this year and $50,000 next year for this pool. That's why I said we need to have an aquatic program, an aquatic plan to address this issue. If we're going to close these pools, there has to be an adaptive reuse that's built into the budget when we close the pools and not leave the eyesore there for two or three, four or five years until we find the money somehow to do the adapter reuse or the pullout. So I hope that my colleagues will support this. The money is already in the budget to start the process of opening the pools. We just need to find another $50,000 in the process of, like you said, a $274 million budget for next year. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Henson, then Council Member Blues. Thank you, Mayor. Jerry, do you have the numbers on the attendance for both of these pools? Yes, I do. This is not perfect because, as you know, the government is on a physical year, and swimming pools are on a calendar year. So what I have in front of me are physical year attendances. So what I'll give you for FY10 ended last June 30. It didn't include July and August. That's in FY11. But we did 190,000 pool visits last year, and Berry Hill Pool had 4,058. Castlewood had 13,000. Constitution had 3,700. Two smaller pools in terms of attendance. Douglas at 2,300. Pickett-Ome at 2,000. Shiltoe, 16,000. Southland, 76,000. Tates Creek, 27,000. Woodland, 42,000. So, again, Constitution had 3,700 visits and Berry Hill had 4,000. But as was mentioned by Ms. Driscoll, fully about half of the Constitution visits are from Park's ESP program. We take those kids there. we could just as easily take those kids to Castlewood Pool, which is just a few blocks away, six or eight or ten blocks away, and we would transport them there. Both of these pools are fairly old, older than? There are four aluminum L-shaped pools of which these are two, and these date to the late 80s, I'm guessing. I wasn't here, but that's about when they were built. And not to disagree with Councilman Myers, but it's not just a function of shade structures that define attendance. Young people who are our primary customer go to pools that have more activities and are found to be popular by other young people. There's a bit of a cultural social phenomena with swimming. Putting some shade structures up there would probably attract older folks more than it would younger folks who want new kinds of play features, a slide, an animated feature, those kinds of things. Would the scholarship program help with your cost, any? We scholarship anyone in the county that asks for it who can show that they have free or reduced lunch with the school system or have a KTAP card or some other form of state support based on income. We accept that automatically and give people a 50% discount. At the same time, anyone is encouraged to apply for a scholarship beyond that, and we would then, on a needs-based basis, give them up to 100% of their scholarship. I don't think the scholarship or lack of scholarship is driving attendance at these two pools. I think they're older, they're less attractive, and there are other newer pools in the community that are more interesting and that more of their peers are visiting. But even with the scholarships, that's not going to help with your bottom line. No, it certainly wouldn't. But it would generate more attendance. My sense is that the community to whom scholarships are important know about our policy. It's been in place for a decade. I'm suspecting that people do know that they can ask for it, and I don't believe that lack of information about scholarships keeps people from attending any of our pools. What plan would you have for that pool? Well, Councilman Myers and I have talked. I would like to see these older, less used pools renovated into splash pads where mothers with toddlers can go and get moments or minutes or extended minutes of interaction without chlorinating the water, without filtering and recycling, without lifeguards and all the rest of that business. Many communities today are building these splash pads for $125,000 to $250,000. They're not inexpensive, but they save money because they don't require personnel, lifeguards, and chlorine. The library cost. So what we would like to do is replace them with newer contemporary facilities. I believe that young people today, older teenagers, have access to transportation. They're going to go where it's hip and cool and where their friends are going to go. They're going to find a way to go to Woodland or Southland or whatever happens to be hip. I don't believe that the neighborhood children have quite that access, but I think younger children would find the splash beds inviting and attractive and would use them. I'm very much against leaving an abandoned pool in the middle of a neighborhood. I think we need to find a way to keep it open until we can come up with a plan like you spoke about. to make it more cost effective for the neighborhood, a skateboard park, whatever. So if at all possible, I would be in favor of keeping it open. Both of them. Thank you. Council Member Blues, then Ford, then Lane, then Lawless, then back to Council Member Kaye. And I would like to have a comment as well. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. My question is pretty much along the lines of Council Member Myers and Henson. I think that I know it's impossible to try to analyze this all tonight, but I think the cost of closing a pool can be sometimes greater than the cost of leaving it open and usable and to some extent vital to the area and the neighborhood. And that's why it is important, I think, to have the kind of aquatic plan that you've talked about or other plan. And I'm heartened to hear about the possibility of a changed use pool for a clientele who doesn't get to use some of these older pools now. But I'm also worried about what happens when a pool is closed and it falls into neglect. I know that once we close something down, it's often extremely difficult, if not impossible, to revive it. And so I really have to weigh that in considering whether to keep these two pools open for another year. but I think it does prove, this discussion, the importance of making that comprehensive plan that enables us to go forward rather than to get ourselves bogged in this discussion, which we do, it seems every year. On the whole, it does strike me that it's probably at least it's cost effective to keep these pools open this season as it is to shut them down. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Ford. Thank you, Mayor. I have a few questions for Mr. Hancock. And before I start my comments, I want to just make these comments to Council Member Stenet, who in the 6th District is the neighbor of my district in the 1st. And I definitely understand as a district rep his concern for his constituents and the, as Farmer said, the amenities. I appreciate that and take I understand that so I'm supportive of his efforts in that regard. But what we're doing right now is a financial decision. I think that we've kind of gotten aside from that. It's a financial decision and I know we're in a budgetary process. And what concerns me tonight is while I'm supportive of Kevin and it's face value right now, I wouldn't be able to vote to keep the pools open, just as I wouldn't write a check not knowing what's in the bank if the check will clear. And right now, we just do not have the information that we need. However, I will say to Council Member Stenet, I want to know the information needed so I'll be able to support him. So I'll be able to support doing what we need to do, but it has to be in a financially disciplined. So the question I have is timing. And I think the only reason Council Member Stenet presented this tonight is the issue of timing. Mr. Hancock, when are pools scheduled to open? All pools in our system, when are they scheduled to open? We'll open the four aquatic centers on Memorial Day, Saturday, whatever day that is, like the 28th of May or something. Okay. We will open the remaining five pools. I believe it's the following Saturday because Fayette County Public Schools' last day is like Thursday, the 5th or something of June. We'll get some of those people to help us do last-minute cleaning up the following day, Friday, and then we'll open Saturday. I'm sorry I don't have a calendar, but I believe it's June the 6th. So in that regard, so the major pools open on Memorial Day. Yes. I think these two pools will, Council Member Stenet's pool, Constitution's pool, in question, would open the following weekend, which would be June 5th. Is that somewhere in there? The following Saturday, that's correct. First weekend in June. So I guess my question then is our next council meeting is not until May 12th. If council were to study this financially to see if the dollars are there and to see what we need to do to adjust, because we're not going to raise more money to cover the gap. So something's going to have to get readjusted. Would parks be in a position to get that pool constitution, particularly in question, open as soon as that first weekend in June as possible? in those time constraints, at that three-week time period, if Council were to make a decision at two weeks from now, would you guys be able to ramp up and go to get it open? What's two weeks from today? That's May. That would give us three-plus weeks. I'm not standing here telling you this is a crisis and we have to act tonight. I'm telling you that the clock is ticking. We have to recruit people. We have to clean the pools, get them ready. But most importantly, we need to tell our citizens what their summer plans can and should not contain. I'm not going to argue you have to make this decision tonight. Sure, we can do it in three weeks. But we need to do it expediously. Well, Jerry, great. I appreciate that. That's what I want to hear because I want to be supportive. But in order to be supportive, I have to know what I need to know, Council Member Stenet. And so in that regards, and I'm willing to make an amendment to the motion, and I don't know how I'm going to word this, but the one reason we can't exercise bad policy, which we're on the road to do tonight, is just as Council Member Myers stated. Because if we were to make a decision writing a check without knowing what's in the bank, we're going to make hasty decisions to cut other just as worthy programs. And so we saw an example of that tonight. I don't think that's fair to any of the 15, including the mayor, 16 of us up here tonight, nor the constituents which we serve. I think that we can be supportive of district reps such as Councilman Stinnett without making sacrifices or just cutting, grabbing here and there. So I would make an amendment to the motion for us to consider this at the very next council meeting and have the financial information that we need provided to this council prior to. There is a motion and a second. A motion by Council Member Ford, seconded by Vice Mayor Gordon. to amend the motion. Is there any discussion? We have discussion on the amendment. Yeah, is there discussion on the amendment? Discussion on the amendment? Peggy? I'm sorry. The amendment, Council Member Ford, could you restate the... Yes, sir. I would restate that we amend that we, I guess, will be table, well, postpone, help me, help me, Parliamentarian, postpone this discussion of the Constitution Pool and the Berry Hill Pool until the very next council meeting, which is May 12th, of which we have the financial plans needed to consider. So if we need to know the cost and then where we would get the funds to support it from, that would be my motion, Mayor. So there's a motion and a second. All right. And now we're in discussion. Council Member Henson. I would just have a request from Jerry if to include in that cost, like, the days that that pools, both pools are the busiest, and what, you know, maybe not keep them open six days a week, maybe three, four days a week. Include that in the cost. Councilman Henson, I don't think I can do that because I don't keep data by day in terms of attendance. I keep dollars by day. I can guesstimate that, but I would really caution against it. I'm happy to provide it, but I think the public is better served knowing that pool is always open or that pool is always closed or we can't swim on Mondays or we can swim on Mondays as opposed to anything else that gets complicated. We're talking about 8-, 9-, 7-, 10-year-old kids that need to know, you know, that's my pool, it's open, it costs $3, that's where I'm going. It needs to be real simple. Well, you know, if you have a tremendous amount of money, yes, but I think Saturday and Sunday, of course, are probably busier than the rest of the week. So the kids in the neighborhood would figure out what days it was closed, I think. Keep in mind. I would. Not to argue with you at all, but these things are sort of living organisms. We've got water over there that needs to be chemically treated and filtered and cleaned, and you don't walk away for two days and then come back. I mean, we're going to have people there anyway, just keeping it safe, keeping the leaves out. Okay. So, yeah, we wouldn't be hiring the lifeguards, but I think it just gets more complicated than young people and their moms really need in the summer. Okay. But we'll provide you what we can. Thank you. All right. Let me confirm who we've got here that wants to speak to the amendment, to the motion to amend. I've got Council Member Crosby. Who else? Council Member Lane. You want to speak to the original? All right. We're on the motion to amend right now. So, Council Member Crosby, you want to speak to the motion to amend? I just wanted to clarify from Council Member Ford. Initially, when you stated the motion, you said to have the information to us prior to the meeting. Is that your intention of the motion? because when it was restated, it just said to have the information available for us. But I would request that you maybe just state that we get the financial and utilization data prior to that meeting so that we're not once again in a meeting trying to figure out what we're seeing, that we have a few days to ask questions. And I'll try my best here. I guess I'm asking that the financial information be provided to us prior to in order to consider at the May 12th meeting, if that's the council's purview. And I'm interested, just me speaking, I'm interested in just the financials, how much money is needed, and where do we get the sources from. Personally, right now, I think that's financial discussion, not utilization. I think they go hand in hand. When we're talking about a service that's provided to the public, you have to look at utilization just like we do with golf courses or anything else that parks would provide. So, I mean, I'm just requesting that we get both of those. Whether or not you provide it to everybody, that's fine. You know, particularly when we have people who are being laid off, I think it's important for us to know, I mean, it may seem like a small amount as part of our parks program and our overall budget, but when you have people who are being laid off, that's not a small number, and we have to be able to justify why we are going to keep pools open when people are losing their jobs. So that's why I think the utilization and the revenue generated is important information to have. Thank you. Council Member Myers. Thank you, Mayor. I guess, Mr. Hancock, could you include in that number the cost for removing these two pools if they're closed? I'd be happy to do that. And then could I ask one more question? And that is, you talked about the reuse and the splash pads. Do you have a plan to put those in if these pools are closed? I have a desire to. I have no money. I don't think there will be any capital for parks this year. I'm unaware of where the funds would come from. Okay. Thank you. Anybody else want to speak to the motion? Mr. Stenet. Thank you, Mayor. To the motion to amend. Yep, and I appreciate the opportunity to speak to the amendment. You know, earlier today during a Cal meeting, we spent less than 10 minutes talking about $30 million. But yet we spent almost 45 minutes talking about something that's going to be $75,000 that benefits kids. Well, there is talks of layoffs. No layoffs have happened yet. This is still a budget process over two months. So we won't have an answer May 12th on where the money is going to come from because we'll still be right in the middle of budget discussions. So we still won't have that answer. We have the financials tonight. We know it's about $88,000 for both pools for our whole calendar year. We know we have a piece of that in tonight's or this year's budget. So it's roughly $50,000, $60,000 in next year's budget we have to find. That's just another task, like finding anything else in our budget. You know, we found some opportunity this afternoon, those of us that were here for the Cal meeting. There's always opportunity in the budget, and it's never a final document. Even if we pass one June 30th, as we've seen this last two budgets, we're going to have to make adjustments during the course of a budget year. It's not a static document. So I appreciate the effort to study it more. I always like to have better numbers, Council Member Ford, but I won't support this because I think it's an easy decision. It benefits the kids, and otherwise it's going to be an eyesore to the community. That's the last message this government needs to be sending to the community, is that we don't have enough money to open up pools for kids, period. Thank you, Mayor. Okay. Council Member Kaye, speaking to the amendment, right? I am speaking to the amendment. We won't have a lot more information by May 12th, but we'll have some more information. I stated initially that I was uncomfortable making this decision given the time constraint. A couple weeks would be a help to me because I frankly found myself swinging over to support of the motion while I heard the conversation from my colleagues, but I'm not totally convinced. So I think it would be helpful to me to have a couple weeks, so long as we do get that information, I would say in advance of the Council of the Whole Work Session, it would precede that. Thank you. Council Member Lane. Thank you. Yeah, with regard to the amendment, I'd like to ask a question, Mr. Hancock, and that is the Council Member of the Senate said we're $88,000 short in funding. That would be the savings if we close. What is our total revenue for all pools that were all open? Total revenue last year for all pools was five, well, in FY10, okay, was $532,000. And how many visitors was that? 188,000. That's about $3 per visitor. See, my thought, I agree we need to reevaluate this. I would like to see us consider just raising the rate, 50 cents on every person that comes over. and then that additional income would pay the deficit and we could keep these two pools open. Something like that is sort of an approach we need to take, I think. So when we were reviewing this during the process of reevaluation, could you look at that aspect of it also? Thank you. Happy to. And I will support that amendment. Council Member Ford. Speaking to the amendment, right? Speaking to the amendment. I guess my question is to Council Member Stenner. There are two pools in question. I'm supporting Council Member Stinnett. I'm supportive of Council Member Myers' pool remaining open. I'm very leery from the words from his own mouth, what sources of funds. Not going in, not knowing what we can use, how that would impact services for my constituents. So my question is, at this time I wish, after hearing Council Member Stinnett his thoughts, I do thank him. I do want to support it. I'm going to withdraw my amendment, and I'm going to ask the second of my amendment to withdraw as well. We can just take the up and down vote on making the decision in the dark tonight. I withdraw my amendment. Council Member Ford has withdrawn his motion. Vice Mayor Gordon, you seconded to the motion. Do you wish to speak to your second? I'm supportive of the amendment. so I do not wish to withdraw my second. You've got to make it so you're unwilling to. We still have a motion on the floor. All right. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak to the amendment? Does anyone else wish to speak to the amendment? I think we're willing to take a vote on the motion to amend. All in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, no. No. All right, show of hands. All in favor of the amendment, please indicate by raising your hand. What's the number? Seven. Yeah, hold your hand up. Seven. All in favor of the amendment, all opposed. Raise your hand, Jackie. All opposed? Set number one. All right. So the amendment fails. All right, so we're back to discussion on the motion. Yeah. Actually, Mr. Lane preceded you, Steve, and then Council Member Kaye. So, Council Member Lane, do you wish to speak to the original motion now? You're okay? Okay. Council Member Kaye. Given that the amendment failed, I want to revise, even though I risked the danger in one of my early conversations with this council being accused of either flipping or flopping. I don't know which one it is. But I would support the motion. Having heard conversation and information from my fellow council members, my thinking at this point is that we really don't have enough information to make an affirmative judgment about closing. There will be costs involved if we close or keep them open. And it's not a small amount of money, but it's not a huge amount of money. So I'm going to be in favor of keeping them open for this coming year. Thank you. All right. Anybody else wish to speak to the motion? Council Member Martin. Thank you, Mayor. I'm going to support Council Member Stenet's motion. And I just got to say, I think we on the council, we have to learn to say no. And I think we have to draw the line, and I think we make bad decisions about how we spend money. We micromanage little decisions, and we ignore big things. But what I don't think we should do is to say no to our kids or to the homeless or other folks who are in need in these terrible economic times. Neighborhood pools can be the heart and spirit of neighborhoods. And kids talk about going and meeting each other at the pool in the afternoons, and it just creates a sense of excitement. I know our neighborhood pool does. A closed pool acts as a drain both on the spirit but also on the economy of a neighborhood. It gives an impression that the neighborhood is failing like a mall when it closes. And as my fellow council members have indicated, it can create an opportunity for crime and for vandalism and for other types of mischief. So we're talking about $60,000 or $80,000 in a $275 million budget. We have enormous expenditures in this budget that I think we need to examine closely, and I think we have other places that we can cut our kids in the neighborhood pools. I'm not inclined unless we had a real place, something to replace it with. If we were ready to go with a skateboard park or something like that, I could support that. But to close it now with not really have anything to replace it with and have it go dark and have it fenced up, And it just creates the sense that the neighborhood is failing, and I just don't think I want to support that at this time. Thank you, Mayor. Okay. Anybody else? Council Member Ford, Council Member Beard, Council Member Ford, I'd like to make a comment as well. Well, I think I'm going to support Council Member Stenet's motion. I just want to remind everybody that these neighborhood pools are only open for two and a half months. and they become trash receptacles sometime by November or December. And I'm pretty conversant about the Berry Hill Pool, and it needs more help than it's gotten so far. It generally is an eyesore. It attracts maybe the wrong kind of folks around it. And so, you know, we need to kind of look at the whole picture of our pools. We leave our pools open. I guess we leave the, Jerry, don't we leave the aquatic centers open until Labor Day, but we do close at the other neighborhood pools. About the time that school resumes session. We keep the aquatic centers open until about Labor Day, and then we keep woodland generally open after Labor Day for a week. Well, anyway, that's all I need. Thank you. Councilman Ford. Thank you, Vice. Excuse me. Thank you, Mayor. I want to vote against the motion. I don't have enough financial information to support it. I think it's irresponsible to support it. I have the highest regard for the youth of our community, three boys myself. This is not a good decision. For us as a council to be put in this position, it's not a good decision. but I understand that it takes eight votes and so that's the way it goes but I have $100,000 in needs in my district there's councilmen that have other needs in their district this is not the way we make decisions we don't go into budgeting just walking backwards and saying do things like this while I'm supportive of keeping the pools open I cannot support it in the fashion that we're doing tonight. And lastly, I would say it's very unfair to put those of us in the minority. We often talk about being fiscally responsible, and we wonder why our budget is the way it is. We wonder why our government has had the tough times we've had. This is an example. I'll be voting no. Thank you. Councilman Myers. Thank you, Mayor. I'll just quickly say that this budget that this Council will pass, the Mayor presented to Council will pass, speaks a lot to this community about what is important to the community. And we're talking $60,000, $70,000 to find, to provide activities for kids all summer long. It's a small price to pay. We can do this. There's options that we can come up with before this budget process is over. we can take this issue off the table the next few years, put together an aquatic plan, and come back and then look at if there's an appropriate time to close certain pools, but we have something to do in place of and in lieu of closing those pools. So I think it's a win-win for our citizens and our kids, and that's what's important. Thank you. Okay. I think everybody's spoken. I was going to call the question. I was going to add. I'd like to. I just remembered as I was getting ready to do it, so sorry. Yeah, I'd like to speak to the motion myself, even though I more than likely won't get to vote. I have learned over time. That's true. I have learned over time, and I think some of you heard me say this many times, that there's great wisdom in the collective body of wisdom that's represented by this council. I feel like I recognize that by being on the council, and so that was a big blessing. And it certainly informs my point of view today as mayor. In putting together this budget, I'm sure all of you all can recognize because you're now examining it. You recognize the challenges that we have. When recommendations were presented to me, there was a high reliance on the civil service employees of our government. Our government, unlike Louisville, for example, our directors are merit employees. So directors like Jerry, like Mr. Hancock, are civil service employees. So we really, really relied on them for their recommendations. And Jerry used the language draconian. I don't know that we're yet at draconian, but I sure am recognizing that we could get there. And in that sense, then, what a council does is enormously symbolic. we can say, and I understand the percentages, I understand what $20,000 or $30,000 means in the scheme of $275,000. I understand it real well. In fact, when I got these recommendations, recommendations for layoffs of people that I know by first name, that was really, those are tough calls to make, to include it in the budget. But I also recognize that we have been living beyond our means, and that knowledge is more with me today than it ever has been. Our infrastructure and the suffering of these parks is a reflection of living beyond our needs. The absence of a strategic plan, a strategic facilities plan, of course, that may be described as management negligence in some respects, and is an absence of adequate funding. We don't have adequate funding. We are not going in the direction of adequate funding. Just last week, I was informed that our health care costs for the week, claims for the week, were over $600,000. I think I'm right on this, Jane, that that would represent more than the projected loss. If those numbers are annualized, that would represent more than the $14 million that we are today projecting. So the challenge that we're all going to have as we go down the path of confirming a budget is recognizing that we have kicked the can down the road on a lot of things for a long time. And are these numbers modest? Is this a modest number? Are other numbers modest? To some extent, they may be. But they all add up. They are all adding up. And so that, at the end of the day, as you all deliberate over this decision, I do hope that you'll recognize that just sort of like the decisions that were made on Tuesday night regarding discipline, this is an act of discipline as well. That's what this represents as well. So thank you very much for allowing me to have a comment. Appreciate it. Casey, I think Council Member Crosby, you were going to ask for the question, call for the question. Don't need to. All right. So we're ready. Anybody else want to push to speak then? Okay. All right. All in favor of the motion. Can you restate the motion, Council Member Stenet? Yes, Mayor. It was to keep the Constitution and Berry Hill pools open for the calendar year 2011 pool season, which would span into fiscal years. Council Member Forward, there's a question. Before we make the vote, Mayor, this is my last comment on this, and thank you for indulging me. Just for the record, we are under council announcements. We've had a council of the whole work session on Tuesday. We've had various council budget meetings. We've had walk-on resolutions tonight. We've had suspensions of the rules to adopt, pass first reading of resolutions. This is very, very odd and political that we have this going under council announcements. Very unfair to a rookie councilperson like me. Very irresponsible. Look forward to voting. Hold on, Mayor. As chairman of this meeting. Council, yeah, you're going to ask. Did you not make the decision to have council report because we failed to have it on Tuesday? This would have been done on Tuesday. All right. I recognize that, right. This is not out of the ordinary. I just want to make sure the public watching knows that. Okay, anybody else have a comment? All right, we're ready for a vote then? Okay. All in favor of the amendment of the motion, please indicate by saying aye and voting electronically. Susan, please count me as an aye. Aye. I would like to explain my vote. The motion can't do it now. All right. Motion 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Motion passes 8 to 6. Is that a point of order? Do we have to have 10 votes to put this on? Because it's a walk-on, you've got to have 10 votes, don't you? What is it? The vote was, let's get the vote so far and then come back to that. Nine, the vote was nine to six. All right. It was a motion that was, I mean, my interpretation would be that it would be an appropriate action. I was on the understanding, if it's not on the docket, you have to take ten votes to walk it on. I don't think we have ten votes. To speak to that question, I'm going to rule that it's an appropriate action unless somebody tells me otherwise. Is someone what? You don't need 10 votes. All right. Okay. All right. David said it's okay. All right. Back to Mr. Stender. You've completed the report. That ends my report, sir. Thank you. All right. Council, who's, wait a minute. Next. Council Member Ellinger. Well, I'm not sure if I was next on the council report, but now that, because this was at least a five-minute report, I think the one issue that Mr. Hancock raised that he said was actually paramount to the one that we spent a lot of time on was the Mondays. And at this point, I'd like to make a motion that we keep all pools open on Mondays. Right. There's a motion by Council Member Ellinger, second by Council Member Farmer, to keep pools open on Monday. All right. Is there any discussion? Council Member Lawless. This is in our links, and I certainly don't think open on Monday, while I actually agree with it, is something we even have to think about until the links report out. All right. Okay, Mr. Hancock, you want to speak? I think the citizens need to know that quickly. I think this can happen on the 12th of May more easily than the decision whether to scrape and paint pools, which takes time, and given the rain we've been having, a sunny day would be valuable to us. I'm prepared to wait on this issue until the 12th if that pleases the Council. All right, so what you're saying is that, is it understood what Mr. Hancock just said? The question of opening on Mondays, I think, can be settled on the 12th with less impact to what I need to do between now and Memorial Day than the question of which pools to scrape and paint fill, which you've already decided. All right. Okay. Thank you. Council Member, we're speaking to the motion. Council Member Lane? I wouldn't be speaking to the pool issue, but I want to speak to it under my council report and not directly to the motion. Okay. Does anybody want to speak to this motion? Vice Mayor Gordon? Yes, I did want to remind Councilmembers the links don't report out until May the 24th. So I think perhaps Mr. Hancock needs to know before then. If we wait to hear from the links, we're waiting until the week before Memorial Day. You're talking about it. You've said more about pools in the last 45 minutes than you have in the last year probably. if the conversation can take place tonight, I'm happy to work with finance to find a way to make Mondays happen. It's more important to me, frankly, in the scheme of things than how many pools are open. I think it would be much more welcome to the citizens that all pools would be open seven days a week. Council Member Kaye. Thank you. Mr. Hancock, I've got a question. In the present budget year, fiscal year 11, if no action is taken, would those pools be closed or remain open on Mondays? They would be open on Mondays. Thank you. Given that that's the case, I don't see that we need a motion. The pools will stay open on Mondays absent any action. The link can then consider pool closings in FY12 on Mondays. Thank you. Excellent. All right. Does anyone else wish to speak? Council Member Myers. Thank you, Mayor. Mr. Hancock, did you say earlier that it would be better for the citizens to understand up front what we were doing, or are you satisfied with us changing possibly midstream that we're going to close on Mondays? I think I heard Councilman Kaye recommend to you that we keep the pools open in June on Mondays and that between now and the end of June, at some point in time, you'll decide about Mondays in July and August. I think that sends a clear message to the citizens that you're working on the issue and that they can plan Memorial Day and perhaps even the 4th of July, which is on Monday, I think. So the point is, if you're going to tell everybody, and the newspaper is going to report it, that pools will be open on Mondays in June, that gets me two-thirds of the way where I need to be. Did you say that the Mondays being holidays are going to be probably the bigger money-making days? Yeah, they'll be very big days. Those weekend days, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day are Mondays, and they're very traditional family pool days. because having them on Mondays is fortunate for everybody vacation-wise. And I apologize for having this recommendation in front of you to begin with, this closing of Mondays. I wish I had not done that in all candor. I agree. You agree with that, don't you? Yeah. About six weeks ago, Jerry. So I'm going to support the motion. Thank you. Okay. All right. So we've got a motion. Any other comment? Second. All right. Ready for the vote? Mayor, could we just have the motion restate us? I think I basically said that we keep the pools open on Mondays. In which, does that apply to both fiscal years? It would be through the whole year. Thank you. And that would include both fiscal years. All right. Council Member Martin. I was just going to say, I'm not sure that we can do that in the next fiscal year because we haven't adopted the budget yet. If we don't budget for that, then is that correct? I'm not sure what we just did, but I'm good with it. Go ahead. This may be a good opportunity to clear something up about you. Okay. Ready for a vote then. All in favor, please indicate best saying aye. Aye. All opposed, no. Motion carries. Okay. Mayor, if I could clarify something about Mr. Stenner's motion, both of them. If you really want to take a formal action on it, it needs to be in a form of a resolution, and technically that's not what Mr. Stennett did. So you all could still do that tonight if you wanted to. Otherwise, I think what's going to happen is you're going to have a resolution on both of these for your consideration at your next council meeting. But you all could walk these on tonight in the form of a resolution. Now, I will tell you that with respect to both of these, you're going to have to make sure that in your budget you do budget the money and appropriate the money to keep them open. Okay, is this going to prevent any operational action? I don't believe so. So the question by Mr. Myers is would it take ten votes to do a resolution? Your supermajority is only nine anyway, So if you have the nine votes, that's all it's going to take you to do it anyway. And the other issue that I don't think is 100% clear is the appropriation of money. I'm not clear whether the money was reappropriated for this. If there's no reappropriation of money this year because it hasn't already been reappropriated, you really don't have technically a budgeting issue at all. It's just a directive to keep these open as far as needing to move money with more votes. Vice Mayor has a question. Based on what you just said, and I believe I heard Commissioner Driscoll say that would you be bringing us another place to cut this fiscal year to offset keeping the pools open? We will have to identify some additional reductions, particularly for next year. And to go back to Council Member Stenets, What I was trying to articulate was that we had a plan for the current year and that this would need to have a change in the plan. If you voted the way you did, we'd have to find additional reductions. For fiscal year 11. For 11, and as I understand, if the pools are open for the season, it would affect next year's. Well, but I think the council will have to find that since it's now our. I'm just saying, if you are adding those expenditures back in, they'll be... We'll have to find another cut or another revenue source. Yes. So for this fiscal year, fiscal year 11, you'll bring us a recommendation for where to find this money. We are still identifying more than just this. Okay. All right. Thank you. Council Member Ford. Thank you, Mayor. I guess my question is for attorney. Just trying to get my hands around this. Counsel has already taken action. We had a vote. Without further discussion of that vote tonight, it would just proceed on to the very next meeting in the form of a resolution. Is that correct? That's correct. And it would just take a simple majority. Yeah, it's going to end up being on your docket for the next meeting if there's no appropriation of money. when you unless you have a once it's actually on your docket for your consideration unless you have an appropriations issue it normally does not take a super majority of you all the walk on rule is probably the issue you all have tonight under your council rules if your walk on rule is you have to have 10 votes you probably can't technically walk it on without one more vote for tonight but what's going to happen is you all will have a resolution to the effect of what you all have done at your At the very next meeting. Okay. So this is going to proceed on to the very next meeting anyway, basically, unless we take further uninformed action tonight. Thank you, attorney. All right. I'm confused. Where are we going here? Well, I want to clarify something he said. First of all, you only need eight votes to walk something on. We've walked something on tonight. It only needed eight votes. It's not nine. It's not ten. You need ten votes to suspend the rules and give two readings in one night. That's where you need the two-thirds majority. You're correct. And the motion tonight has no budgetary impact because the money is already in the budget to keep the pools open through the end of the year. That's the only part that still may need to be clarified. If there's no budgetary impact because it's already been appropriated. Yeah. If you haven't moved it out already of the appropriation as the issue. The only way you can move it out is a budget amendment. Then you are correct. You all can proceed with the formal resolution tonight and wrap this thing up. We could, but I think the more appropriate thing would be to put it on next May 12th and have it written out so everyone can see it. That's what I'd recommend to you as a chair. Is that a problem? All right. We're going to do that then. All right. But I think the direction is clear for Mr. Hancock. Yeah, the direction is clear. He doesn't wait. Right. Okay. All right. Who's up with the council report now? Is it Council Member Lawless? All right. I may have forgotten what, but I do want to say very quickly, I want to remind people that the farmer's market is now open on Saturdays. and Sunday at Southland. And there's a, I believe, the grand opening of the downtown grocery shorties on Short Street is this Saturday. And hallelujah. And tonight was the first Saturday night live, or Thursday night. And I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas. Thank you. Great value and wit. Okay. Next, our council report by Council Member Lane. I just wanted to talk philosophically for a minute, and it's going to be short. But my point is that I believe it's the duty of the council to, you know, set the budget, approve appropriations, set policy. And I believe it's the duty of the mayor to take that policy and implement it, at the same time operating, you know, within the budget and within the amount of funds we have available so we can maintain a balanced budget. I don't know that once we've set the guidelines in the budget that we can really micromanage everything that the mayor wants to do. For example, I think that the mayor could decide to close a pool or to set different operating hours without even having the consent of the council. Now, obviously, I would like the mayor to consent with us on some of these items because they are important to the neighborhoods and to the children. My preference would be to keep the pools open, But it's not my preference to say we're going to open the pools and we're going to take another $80,000 out of our budget because we're already dipping into the Rainy Day Fund or maybe we'll just barely miss dipping in the Rainy Day Fund. But we're in dire straits financially, and I think we need to consider this and the kind of decisions we're making and to make these sort of quick motions that we have no financial information, nothing to look at, we don't know what it's going to cost, what the impact is, short-term and long-term, if there are any other options available. I don't think this is in the best interest of counsel or our government. And so that's why I did not vote to pass that motion. But I am open to seeing what Jerry Hancock is going to bring back to us. And, frankly, the idea of maybe raising the cost for admission to all the pools enough to raise the $88,000 we need to pay for the two pools that are not generating enough income might be a solution that would solve the problem without damaging our budgetary problems. So let's just keep an open mind and just work forward and try to get something worked out that's financially viable. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Council Member Ford. Thank you, Mayor. I have just three quick announcements I wish to share. The Charles Young Center Redevelopment Task Force will have its next meeting Wednesday, May 4th, beginning at 530. That meeting will be held here at the Government Center on the fifth floor conference room. Secondly, the Lyric Theater has a permanent new executive director, and I want council and our community to join me in welcoming Ms. Yedda Young, who I believe comes to us from California. I've sent a letter of introduction and welcome to Ms. Young. I haven't had the chance to meet her yet, but I look forward to her. She comes very highly recommended. The Lyric's next board meeting is next Friday, May 6th at 1130 a.m. at the Lyric Theater. And finally, the Kentucky Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials will convene at Spring Summit tomorrow, Friday, April 29th, and Saturday the 30th in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. And the Commonwealth is fortunate this weekend to have National League of Cities President, the Honorable James Mitchell, Council Member from Charlotte, coming to report to the caucus. Those are my announcements. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Ford. Vice Mayor Gorton. Thank you, Mayor. I have just one announcement, and that is to congratulate the Arboretum on May 14th at 11 o'clock a.m. The public is invited to the ribbon cutting and the opening of the Kentucky Children's Garden. And Ms. Dorothy Oates and Dr. David Stevens led the fundraising campaign. It was a $1.2 million campaign, and they're almost there. and this children's garden is going to be an exceptional amenity to the Arboretum, and I hope folks will come out with their children to see it. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Council Member Kay. Thank you, Mayor. I want to follow up on what Council Member Lane has said. That vote was troubling to me. I don't think there was any way to make a good vote up or down. It's not possible to make a budget decision on a single item abstracted from the competing claims of other items. But that's the position we were in. The mayor and his administration and this council have committed to a better process. And I am committed to doing everything I can to make sure that we start early, that we share information, and that we not find ourselves on any item going forward in the situation where we have to make a vote without being able to compare its value to all of the other things in the budget. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, sir. Anybody else? All right. So that completes our council reports. Public comment. I think Mr. McCarthy, you've signed on for public comment. Your Honor and members of the Council, since you are proposing layoffs in the new budget, I wish to remind you that anyone you lay off and anyone you fire will, if they manage to avoid starving to death and manage to stay within the county, they will be eligible to run against one or another of you next election. First off. Second, I think firing our fire chief is a mistake. Cutting back in the fire department or the police department would be mistakes because that puts all of us in more danger, including yourselves, not just me, but everybody in the county. and I think a proposal I first heard about as I walked in the door to lay off the security guards at this building and replace them with a private contractor who would be paying his workers less and not providing benefits, that would be a mistake. I'm presuming you've all at some point in your lives heard the expression penny wise, pound foolish. I think that if you get rid of your experienced guards and you get new people who are willing to work cheaper out of sheer desperation, they will probably be less competent. Hence, this building will be less secure. And I'm sure that a person who's getting paid less and getting no benefits is not going to be quite as willing to risk his neck to save mine or yours. And should Mr. Osama bin Laden or any of his goons decide to take advantage of the diminished security and lower quality workers guarding this building, I just hope he does it during the first three weeks of March when I'm somewhere else. Thank you, Mr. McCarthy. That concludes our items on our agenda. Mr. Beard, I'll call on you. I get this on. I would move to go into closed session pursuant to KRS 61.8101C for the purpose of discussing pending and potential litigation. It's a motion by Council Member Beard, seconded by Council Member Ellinger, that the council go into closed session. Is there any discussion? Could we have a break? Yeah, let's go ahead and take the vote, and then I'll, yeah. All in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, no. Motion carries. All right, we're going to take a five-minute break. Thank you.