# Urban County Council Work Session September 25 2012 - September 25, 2012 > Auto-transcribed civic record · September 25, 2012 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/2705 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/2705?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2012-09-25 - **Last revised**: July 17, 2026 - **Length**: 8,636 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 Urban County Council met on September 25, 2012, at 3:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers on the 2nd Floor of the Government Center, with Mayor Jim Gray presiding. The council addressed 12 agenda items during the session, taking 10 motions and votes on various matters. The meeting included three public comment periods, with members of the public offering input on issues both related and unrelated to the agenda. The council approved several significant items, including requested rezonings and docket approvals, budget amendments, and neighborhood development funds for September 25, 2012. Additional approvals included a summary of prior proceedings and items under new business. The council also approved the Public Safety Committee Summary from September 11, 2012. The meeting featured an informational presentation on Community Transformation Acceleration Grants. Council members received summaries of the General Government Committee meeting from September 11, 2012, and heard council reports and the mayor's report. The session concluded with a public comment period for issues not on the agenda. ## Attendance **Present:** VM Linda Gorton, Chuck Ellinger, Steve Kay, Chris Ford, Tom Blues, Diane Lawless, Julian Beard, Bill Farmer, Kevin Stinnett, Jay McChord, George Myers, KC Crosbie, Peggy Henson, Ed Lane **Absent:** Doug Martin **Late:** None ## Votes and Decisions The council took the following actions during this meeting, all of which passed by voice vote: **Approval of Requested Rezonings and Docket Approval** [timestamp: 00:04:00] Motioned by Council Member Lawless and seconded by Council Member Ellinger, this measure passed. **Approval of the Docket** [timestamp: 00:05:00] Motioned by Council Member Ellinger and seconded by Council Member Beard, this measure passed. **Motion to Waive Public Hearing on Item 3 of the Docket** [timestamp: 00:06:02] Motioned by Council Member Lane and seconded by Council Member Ellinger, this measure passed. **Approval of the Summary** [timestamp: 00:06:33] Motioned by Vice Mayor Linda Gorton and seconded by Council Member Ellinger, this measure passed. **Approval of Budget Amendments** [timestamp: 00:07:03] Motioned by Vice Mayor Linda Gorton and seconded by Council Member Ellinger, this measure passed. **Approval of New Business Items** [timestamp: 00:07:39] Motioned by Vice Mayor Linda Gorton and seconded by Council Member Stinnett, this measure passed. **Approval of Neighborhood Development Funds (NDF) List** [timestamp: 00:08:11] Motioned by Vice Mayor Linda Gorton and seconded by Council Member Farmer, this measure passed. **Recommendation of Option Three for the Mining/Quarry Ordinance** [timestamp: 00:15:07] Motioned by Council Member Lawless and seconded by Council Member Henson, this measure passed. **Creation of a Special Committee to Review Use of UDAG Funds** [timestamp: 00:102:32] Motioned by Vice Mayor Linda Gorton and seconded by Council Member Stinnett, this measure passed. **Transfer of the Distillery District Floodplain Study to the Environmental Quality Committee** [timestamp: 00:45:27] Motioned by Vice Mayor Linda Gorton and seconded by Council Member Henson, this measure passed. ## Budget and Financial Actions The meeting included acceptance and approval of multiple federal grants and budget amendments to support various projects and programs. **Federal Grant** The body accepted federal funds totaling $132,000 from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet for the design of Polo Club Boulevard at Deer Haven Lane and Todds Road (L989-12). **Transportation and Infrastructure Projects** Budget amendments were approved to establish matching funds and project budgets for transportation initiatives: * $33,000 amendment (JOURNAL 63233) to establish grant match for the Polo Club Boulevard design project * $100,000 amendment (JOURNAL 63080-81) to establish grant budget for the Tates Creek Road/Lansdowne Drive Traffic Signal Project from the US Department of Transportation * $3,788.82 amendment (JOURNAL 63206-07) to recognize funds from the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Transportation Cabinet for Georgetown Road improvements **Community and Facility Projects** Budget amendments were approved for the following: * $18,600 and $8,600 amendments (JOURNAL 63234-35 and JOURNAL 63236) to establish grant budget and matching funds for a Lumina Foundation project at the Family Care Center * $2,300 amendment (JOURNAL 63202) to provide custodial supplies funding for the Senior Citizens Center through Facilities and Fleet Management * $1,500 amendment (JOURNAL 63198-99) to provide Urban Forestry expenses via donation funds * $2,000 amendment (JOURNAL 63204-05) to provide Keep Lexington Beautiful operating expenses **Federal Grant Programs** Multiple budget amendments addressed federal grant programs: * $9,689.60 amendment (JOURNAL 63078) for CSEPP FY 2011 radio purchases from the US Department of Homeland Security * $35,000 amendment (JOURNAL 63079) to reallocate CSEPP FY 2010 to match actual expenses * $10,058.22 amendment (JOURNAL 62958) to rebudget Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant from the US Department of Energy * $3.00 and $3,213.32 amendments (JOURNAL 63197 and JOURNAL 63200-01) for JABG programs from the US Department of Justice * $9,502.71 amendment (JOURNAL 63047) for personnel costs in Neighborhood Stabilization Land Banking 2010 from the US Department of HUD **Blue Grass 10,000 Event** Three budget amendments from Downtown Lexington Corporation totaling $21,031.90 were approved for personnel expenses and clock purchase related to the Blue Grass 10,000 event (JOURNAL 62960-61, 62962-63, and 62964-65). ## Public Comment Three speakers addressed the council during the public comment period. **Lexington History Museum** [timestamp: 00:11:20] Foster Ockerman, representing the Lexington History Museum, expressed the museum's interest in being considered for tenancy in the art gallery space should it become available. Ockerman stated the museum's willingness to pay market rent for the space. **Health Equity and Policy** [timestamp: 00:36:54] Council Member McCord delivered remarks on health equity and policy change, critiquing the city's fragmented approach to public health. McCord urged the council to move beyond small-scale initiatives and instead make bold, systemic policy changes to address the root causes of poor health outcomes. **Kentucky Theater Anniversary** [timestamp: 00:46:01] Isabel Yates, former Vice Mayor, announced a celebration marking the 20th anniversary of the Kentucky Theater's restoration. Yates invited council members to a public event scheduled for October 10th and promoted ongoing fundraising efforts for theater upgrades. ## Contested Items **Health Equity and Systemic Change** Council Member McCord delivered a forceful critique of the city's fragmented approach to public health during the meeting. McCord urged bold policy changes and systemic reform to address health equity issues. This critique sparked a passionate exchange among council members regarding the appropriate role of government in shaping healthy communities. The discussion was characterized as heated, reflecting significant disagreement about how the city should approach public health initiatives and whether current structures adequately serve community health needs. **Website Linking Policy** The committee was divided on a proposed website linking policy. The disagreement centered on concerns about restricting links to neighborhood associations and for-profit sponsors. Committee members held differing views on how the city's website should handle external links and which organizations should be included or excluded. Rather than reaching a resolution, the committee decided to delay action on the policy to allow time for revision. This decision reflected the inability to reach consensus on the appropriate scope and restrictions of the linking policy at that time. ## Public Comment - Issues on Agenda During this portion of the meeting, council members and public speakers discussed various community issues affecting the city [timestamp: 00:04:00]. **Key Topics Addressed** The discussion covered multiple matters, including the Lexington History Museum's interest in utilizing the art gallery space. Additionally, speakers raised broader concerns related to public health and city planning initiatives. **Speakers** Foster Ockerman participated in this segment of public comment. **Outcome** This agenda item was informational in nature, allowing for the presentation and discussion of community concerns without formal action or resolution at this time. ## Requested Rezonings/ Docket Approval [timestamp: 00:04:00] The council addressed the docket for requested rezonings during this agenda item. Council members Lawless, Ellinger, and Lane participated in the discussion. The council approved the docket and took action to waive public hearings for specific items. Two motions were made and approved: * A motion to approve the docket * A motion to waive hearing on Item 3 The outcome of this agenda item was approval. ## Approval of Summary [timestamp: 00:06:33] The council considered the approval of the summary from the previous meeting as Agenda Item III. Vice Mayor Linda Gorton and Council Member Ellinger were the key speakers on this matter. The summary was presented for the council's consideration and vote. There was no discussion or debate regarding the content of the summary, and no concerns were raised by council members. The council unanimously approved the summary of the previous meeting. The item passed without dissent. ## Budget Amendments The council approved a series of budget amendments totaling over $300,000 during this agenda item [timestamp: 00:07:03]. The amendments covered grants, personnel, infrastructure, and operational expenses across multiple departments. Vice Mayor Linda Gorton and Council Member Ellinger were the key speakers on this matter. The council voted to approve the proposed amendments, which addressed funding needs in various areas of municipal operations and services. ## New Business [timestamp: 00:07:39] The council approved a series of new business items during this portion of the meeting. Vice Mayor Linda Gorton and Council Member Stinnett were the key speakers on this agenda item. The approved items included: - Authorizations for use agreements - Grant applications - Mutual aid procedures - Sole-source contracts All of the new business items approved during this section were noted to have no budgetary impact. The outcome of the discussion was approval of the new business items presented. ## Neighborhood Development Funds - September 25, 2012 [timestamp: 00:08:11] The council reviewed the Neighborhood Development Funds (NDF) list during this agenda item. Vice Mayor Linda Gorton and Council Member Farmer were the key speakers on this matter. The NDF list included a $1,100 grant to The Salvation Army designated for the 2012 Breakfast Roast and Kettle Campaign kickoff. The council approved the Neighborhood Development Funds as presented. ## General Government Summary 09-11-12 Council Member Ed Lane presented a summary of the General Government Committee meeting [timestamp: 00:08:43]. **Topics Covered** The presentation included updates on the following matters: - Lease negotiations with the Metro Employees Credit Union - Lease negotiations with Ann Tower Gallery - Review of the website linking policy **Outcome** This item was presented for informational purposes. ## Public Safety Committee Summary 09-11-12 [timestamp: 00:11:51] Council Member Lawless reported on the Public Safety Committee's review of the mining/quarry ordinance. The committee recommended adoption of Option Three, which was subsequently approved by the full council. **Key Speakers:** - Council Member Lawless - Council Member Henson **Outcome:** The recommendation for Option Three was approved. ## Presentation: Community Transformation Acceleration Grants [timestamp: 00:15:45] David Elsen and Sherry Maddock presented on the YMCA of Central Kentucky's Community Transformation Grant program. The presentation focused on a $75,000 grant awarded to support health equity, policy change, and community-wide initiatives designed to combat chronic disease. The presentation was informational in nature, providing an overview of the grant's objectives and the YMCA's planned approach to addressing chronic disease through community transformation efforts. The speakers outlined how the funding would support health equity initiatives and facilitate policy changes at the community level. No specific concerns or debate items were documented from this agenda item. The session served to inform attendees about the grant program and the YMCA of Central Kentucky's community health initiatives. ## Council Reports [timestamp: 00:43:14] Council members provided updates on various topics during this informational segment. **Key Speakers and Topics:** - **Vice Mayor Linda Gorton** contributed to the discussion - **Council Member Blues** provided remarks - **Council Member McCord** offered updates - **Isabel Yates** participated in the reports **Topics Covered:** The council reports addressed several matters of interest: - Military family support initiatives - The distillery district floodplain study - Kentucky Theater anniversary celebration **Outcome:** This agenda item was informational in nature, with council members sharing updates rather than taking formal action or votes. ## Mayor's Report – No No report was presented by the Mayor during this agenda item. ## Public Comment - Issues Not on Agenda [timestamp: 00:36:54] This agenda item provided an opportunity for public comment on community issues not formally included on the meeting agenda. Council Member McCord facilitated this discussion session. During this portion of the meeting, community members were able to raise additional concerns and input on matters of local interest. The comments received addressed topics including health equity and city infrastructure, allowing residents to bring forward issues they felt warranted council attention beyond the scheduled agenda items. The session was informational in nature, with the outcome focused on receiving and documenting public input rather than taking formal action on the matters raised. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed (0-0): place an ordinance changing the zone from a High Density Apartment (R‐4) zone to a Lexington Center Business (B‐2B) zone, for 1.86 net acres, for property located at 410 Patterson Street and 522 and 540 West Maxwell St. on the docket without a public hearing - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve the Docket - **Motion** — passed (0-0): place an ordinance amending Article 23A‐9(k) of the Zoning Ordinance to amend the requirements of the Community Center (CC) zone to allow a building to exceed 50,000 square feet in size on the docket without a public hearing - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve the Summary - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve the Budget Amendments - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve New Business - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve the Neighborhood Development Funds - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve option three for the Quarry Ordinance revision, which would establish the quarry inspection fee based on costs incurred during the inspection the previous year - **Motion** — passed (0-0): place an update on the Distillery District floodplain study into the Environmental Quality Committee - **Motion** — passed (0-0): adjourn --- ## Full transcript Music Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm sorry. Thank you. to requested rezonings and a docket approval. We do have a docket for this week. Council Member Lawless, do you, did you, Ordinance No. 4. Placed on the docket without a public hearing. Second. There's a motion by Council Member Lawless. There's a second by Council Member Ellinger. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. Hearing none, then we can take a vote. All in favor? For the motion, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Thank you. Is there a motion for the docket? Motion. Motion for docket approval. Motion by Council Member Ellinger. Motion by Council Member Ellinger. Okay. All right. I'll come back to that. Let's go ahead and do the docket since we've already got a motion. Is there a second? Let's talk about Council Member Beard. Is there any discussion on the motion? All in favor, please say aye. I want to come back. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Council Member Crosby. Yes, Council Member Lane. Council Member Lane. We'll just go back to it. Item number one on the docket, I'd like to make a motion not to have a hearing or any discussion on that, counsel. Item number three. All right. I'm sorry. Yeah, it's item number three. Item number three on the docket. No hearing. No hearing. There's a motion by Council Member Lane regarding item number three. There's a second by Council Member Ellinger. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. Hearing none, we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. All right. Next on our agenda is a summary. Is there a motion? Move approval. Motion by Vice Mayor Gorton. Is there a second? Second. Second by Council Member Ellinger. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. Hearing none, then we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. All right. Next on the agenda are budget amendments. There's a motion. Motion by Vice Mayor Gordon. Second. Second by Council Member Ellinger. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. Hearing none, then we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. On our agenda next is new business. And we do have several folks here today regarding item J. That's related to the airport. And Executive Director Eric Feinkel is here. I'm just pointing that out in case there are questions related to item J. Move approval of new business. Second. There's a motion by Vice Mayor Vorton, second by Council Member Stennett. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. Hearing none, we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Next on our agenda. Move approval, neighborhood. Next on our agenda. There's a motion. Second. NDF. Motion by Vice Mayor Gordon, second by Council Member Farmer. If there is any discussion on the motion, end the Fs. Hearing none, we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. And on our agenda, next is the summary of the General Government Committee meeting. Council Member Ed Lane. Thank you, Mayor. The General Government Committee meeting was held on September 11, 2012. The first item on the agenda was an update on lease agreements. Commissioner Sally Hamilton spoke specifically to negotiations with the Metro Employees Credit Union and the Antower Gallery. She offered a five-year sliding scale rent starting at 50% of the fair market value in the first year and reaching 100% in the fifth year. Piper Graham, Executive Director of the Credit Union, spoke of the services the credit union provides and stated that any change for space, right, would compromise their ability to serve the employees. Council Member Stenet asked the Commissioner if she was recommending a course of action. She stated that she recommends the five-year plan but was only providing a status report at this time. So that item will come before Council. Commissioner Hempel spoke of the relationship with the Ann Tower Gallery, that the LFECG was subsidizing the operating cost by approximately $12,000 per year. She pointed out that the gallery was willing to increase the amount paid by $2,000 annually, but could not afford any more. Council Member Meyer suggested that an RFP be developed for future use of the space. There was no action taken or requested on the lease by the committee at this time. The next item on the agenda was an update on the website linking policy presented by Scott Shapiro and Attorney Keith Horn. It was agreed that the issue would remain in committee, and a new draft of the policy that addresses the concerns expressed by the committee would be presented at a future meeting. The next item on the agenda was a review of Section 3.101 of the Council Rules. This issue had been in committee for approximately one year with no action taken. Attorney Glenda George provided an overview of the purpose of the proposed changes which give the mayor power to approve certain items without Council approval. The general discussion by the committee members focused on a procedure involving a consent agenda that would not limit Council's powers but still streamline this process. Ms. George is to come back to the committee with a revised resolution for consideration. Due to time constraints, the item on meet and confer was delayed to the next committee meeting on October 2, 2012. Foster Ackerman, representing the Lexington History Museum, informed the committee The museum would like to be considered for tenancy if the art gallery space should become available. And there were a few items that were dropped off of the agenda. The meeting adjourned at 12.55 p.m. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Lane. Next on our agenda is a report from Council Member Lawless on the Public Safety Committee. Council Member Lawless. Thank you, Mayor. The mining and quarry ordinance was on the agenda. There were three options for us to consider. One was to add an administrative fee of $50, raising it from $25. Another was to do a yearly annual cost of living increase. And then the third was about who would be doing the mine inspections and whether it would be independent or if it would be part of the, that the mine owners would hire their own engineers. There was a great deal of discussion about that and concern. Finally, it came down to recommending option number three. It was moved by Council Member Henson to recommend option number three, seconded by Council Member Ellinger, and it passed six to one with one no vote from Councilmember Crosby. There were items that were removed from the list of items in committee. One was to remove Community Corrections Best System of Management. That motion was made by Council Member Ellinger and seconded by Council Member Crosby and passed without dissent. Another one was to remove the right-of-way signage issue. Motion by Council Member Ellinger, seconded by Council Member Farmer, and that passed 6-1. and motion by Councilmember Farmer to adjourn, and that was seconded by Councilmember Crosby and passed without the set. Thank you, Councilmember Lois. Next on our agenda is a presentation regarding Community Transformation Acceleration Grants and David Elson. Oh, wait a minute. Time out. Time out. Council Member Henson, there's a question regarding. Thank you. Pardon? I wanted to ask Council Member Lawless about, did we motion to put option three on the query to full council? Did we do that last week? Yes. Okay. And so I'll. I just want, I couldn't remember. I need to make that motion to move that to the full council. I'm sorry. Okay. Thank you. I'd like to move to send to the full council option number three of the Quarry Ordinance. So moved. Second. Motion by Council Member Lawless, seconded by Council Member Henson. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. Hearing none, then we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. All right. Now, no further questions or comments? Okay. Then we can move on to item D, under continuing business and presentations, which is the presentation by David Elson regarding the Community Transformation Acceleration Grants. All right. Mayor Gray, thanks for having us. Vice Mayor, thanks for having us and listening to our presentation. The rest of the council appreciate being here. We've got some exciting news, and we appreciate the time. My name is David Elson. I'm the Executive Director for the YMCA of Central Kentucky, and co-presenting with me today is Sherry Maddock with the Bluegrass Community Foundation, but also, as equally important, is Community Advocate. So exciting news here today, and the title, we're calling this Creating Healthier Living in Our Communities. And Mayor Gray, I think the timing for this is perfect because health rose to the top of your challenge to Mayor Bloomberg's challenge, too. So this fits real nicely along with that. So maybe a little bit of background. There it works. How about that? The YMCA of Central Kentucky applied to the Center for Disease Control. So the CDC, we applied for a community transformation grant. There were three network partners throughout the United States. There was the YMCA, National YMCA, American Lung Association, and a rural group called REACH. We applied, of course, through the YMCA, and I am really pleased to let you folks know that the YMCA of Central Kentucky was one of ten YMCA's across the nation to get this grant for the Center for Disease Control. We took a coalition down there, kind of a side note. We took a coalition down there several times to meet with the CDC. Folks, they run a pretty tight ship down there. So we've got a lot of stuff that we need to accomplish and a lot of stuff we need to do. But we're thrilled to be here and talk about the Community Transformation Grant. The goal of the grant is to engage community members across multiple sectors. And because, a little bit different, because we're the YMCA, okay, what we're challenging to do is look at this through health equity. Maybe not a term that YI had used four or five years ago. And Sherry's going to talk about health equity in a second. But the opportunity that we have is we came, went to the CDC, and they asked us to form a coalition of community partners. So like-minded people, they provided some seed money for us to create healthier communities. We've got a fantastic coalition of folks who come here really just to make this community a better place. Some of them are here today. Like I said, Sherry Maddock from the Bluegrass Community Foundation. Mark Johnson is back here representing the health department. Also, Ruben Perez, he's not here. We also have Tom Blackman, the CEO of the YMCA of Central Kentucky. Kevin Hari from the Y. Debbie Dean, who runs our diabetes prevention program, Dave Peterson. Andrea James is on this coalition, as well as Melissa McDonald for Alliance for a Healthier Generation. The role of the Community Transformation Grant is to educate. okay inform people why it's important to have a healthier community and then to advocate for just and fair inclusion and then also you know folks there's a lot of people out there who are working on this we need to we need to convene those folks and get everybody pushing the ball in the same direction but like i said because the we're the why you know we need to be looking at this as just and and fair inclusion so sherry why don't you talk a little bit about health equity and so on? Everything we'll do with this grant, which is a policy-based advocacy type of grant, is going to be done with the lens of health equity. Health equity is a measure of a person's opportunity to attain his or her full health potential. So if you look at the differences with the five leading causes of death, which are unnecessary and avoidable, so you get heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, injury, and violence. in addition to that are unfair and unjust causes. So the difference between health equity and equality, it's really important because you could easily mistake those two. I would liken it to shoes. So equality is a matter of everyone having a pair of shoes. Equity is a matter of everyone's shoes fitting. Some of the best practices that the CDC talked about were policy systems and environmental changes. And then as far as health equity and infrastructure goes, it's important to know the community leadership. All of us here were community leaders. Is that health equity? Absolutely. Is advocacy and education health equity? Yes. And then what we need to do with a community transformation grant is make this sustainable over time so that we can have healthier communities. So kind of getting down to exactly what we're going to do with this and then where we can go from here with your help is the community transformation grant will include jurisdiction-wide changes as well as targeted approaches towards health. So jurisdiction-wide changes and then really some targeted approaches. So it's been said, and I think wouldn't you all agree, that we do not have an obesity problem here in the United States. We don't. We have a physical inactivity and poor nutrition problem. Physical inactivity and poor nutrition problem. Kind of makes sense if you look at it that way. So a jurisdiction-wide thing that we're going to do with the Community Transformation Grant is the healthy eating and physical activity standards. So those standards, we do those at the YMCA. We do it at our before and after school child care sites. So we're doing that already at the Y. But jurisdiction-wide, we need to do that at other before and after school child care sites. So with this grant, we're going to challenge others to join hands with us with healthy eating and physical activity standards for before and after school child care. So for those young people. And also, as far as jurisdiction-wide things, we're going to focus on the built environment and access to healthy foods and vegetables. Now, as far as a targeted approach with the Community Transformation Grant, so, you know, how are we really focusing in? We're focusing on clinic-to-community relationships. So we're going to have formal links between health care providers that actually form as referral systems for community-based organizations like the YMCA. And, folks, I'm also happy to let you know that we are targeting African American and Latino populations to get them involved in the YMCA's Diabetes Prevention Program. So these are preventive measures, Diabetes Prevention Program at the Y. It just makes all the sense in the world, and it's why I love what I do. so here's some interesting things so how do we get in the shape we're in i thought we put this up there to to let you know how we got in the shape we're in we all know this stuff too but we've created a world where the car is the king right we built environments where let's see when get this to work oh there you go but that centipede looking thing right there of course is the subdivision it's probably 30 or or 40 or 50 minutes from from your work so you have to drive to get there. We all know about the poor nutrition, not pointing too many folks out, but you can see what we've got there. You don't, of course, even have to get out of your car to eat anymore, and we've got huge soda drinks available all the time. And then the screen time. Here's a couple little kids. The screen time is increased so much, and one of the things that we learned from the CDC is a new term called play deserts. We've created places called play deserts. Kids can't play anymore because it's not safe or it's perceived that it's not safe. And we live in a time of alarming health disparities. So research across the country, especially in urban areas, has now determined that where you live, your zip code dictates how long you live. So these are issues. The implications are profound, both ethically and morally, for us as citizens, as organizations, and as government officials. So you can see the statistics here. And here's the new abnormal, so a comparison from the 1950s to now, just in serving sizes alone. So I don't know if any of you read your paper today. Did you catch the article? 2030, the predictions for our state and our city, 60% is the prediction. Like, this is today's news, and it's serious. Serious implications socially, economically, environmentally. And the only way these things are going to change is through policy, through working together with partnership structures. It's kind of interesting to note there, too, in the late 1950s, a 7-ounce soda was the norm, and now the norm is a 42-ounce soda. So what the mayor in New York City did was something a little different recently about that. So what are we here today to talk about? So the role, your leadership is critical. Through collaborations and system-wide change, we can restructure our environment to reduce health equity. So one thing that we could do, and this is interesting stuff. We have done some of this here in Lexington. But we can look to create an environment that encourages 20 minutes of physical activity every day. It's kind of built into what we do. There are some examples of that. Here is an example in Decatur, the corner of Commerce Drive and West Ponce de Leon. You can see what it looked like. And with leadership, with vision, with time, it took time. Here's what the corner looks like today. Photoshop. Isn't that something? Yes, Photoshop then. So there's no, you know, going back, you know, they got rid of the interstate exchange. And so you can imagine there that it's not hard to engineer 20 minutes of physical activity into your day. But as importantly, you see people engaging, connecting. You see activity and vibrancy in that. And we're doing a lot of that in Lexington, too, but it's just something to look at. So some steps that we can take today and tomorrow. Zoning and planning with multimodal transportation included, not just where the car is the king. Complete streets. We do have a complete streets policy, and folks were miles ahead. And wouldn't you agree that the urban experience in Lexington, the urban experience here, is vastly different than it was a few years ago because of that complete streets policy. So we need to keep on with that. And then the trails and greenways, we can talk about that too. And community health goes hand in hand with our economic health. I think that we could easily convince you all that we are only as healthy as the least among us in our city. And people can only make healthy choices when people have healthy choices accessible to them. So health equity matters. It matters with business relocation, the cost of insurance, access to health care, and productivity, and just well-being, our well-being as a city, as a community. And, of course, significant determinants of health, this is where we really drill down on equity, issues of race, education, and income. So we pulled a few slides for race, education, and income, And this first slide is our city, and it is the African-American population would be in the darker blue color. And I think you can kind of see where that is. The Hispanic and Latino population, again, is in the dark blue areas. I found this one pretty staggering. You can see how it overlaps with this. I mean, if you read the top things, it says less than a ninth grade education. That's the dark green. Less than a ninth grade education. And you can see how that overlaps and laps over to the previous two slides. And then the last thing would be income and accessibility. So income is in the dark green, so that is 200% below the poverty level. And then the red kind of overlapped on top of that are food deserts in our community. so that you know in closing folks we're here to do the same I think we are in the same business all of us are in the exact same business we're here to make this community a better place that's what we're here for and that's what the community transformation grant is about so our coalition will be working hard for jurisdiction wide stuff and then targeted approaches and we talked about those So what I would ask of you folks is when choices are to be made, when decisions are to be had, that we look at that through the lens, through that focus of health equity, and realizing that if everybody in our city is not healthy or has access to that, then we don't have a healthy city. any questions or do we look at that we almost we beat the clock you know beat the clock that's the game right so be happy to take any questions or entertain anything that y'all would like. Council Member Lawless. Thank you very much. Andrea James, who's my legislative aide for the 3rd District, went on the trip and brought back, as we in the 3rd District have tried to implement more and more bike trails, encouraged more and more pedestrian-friendly intersections, et cetera, and making things more accessible and educating the public about watching out for pedestrians and bicyclists because that's been a shift in our culture. It was shifted to all cars, and now more people are biking, but the general population doesn't know the drivers often don't. We need awareness about educating drivers about sharing the road. So Andrea, James brought back a wealth of information from that trip, and so thank you very much, and I'm very excited about it, and so is she. So she's got the stomach flu that seems to be going around that I heard on the news was rampant. So she was really sorry not to be here today with you all, but she brought back a ton of information that is extremely helpful. So thank you. And I'm not sure if Dave mentioned this, that what was exciting to me being in Atlanta and being educated by the CDC is what's funding this is the Affordable Care Act. So this is the mess nationally and the divisiveness. What's so exciting about what's been accomplished with the Health Care Act is that these are preventable dollars. This is prevention, and it's across the country. So we were with hundreds of people from all over the country working in minority communities to change while we can still prevent a lot of illness. Vice Mayor Gordon. Thank you, Mayor. David and Sherry, thank you very much. I particularly want to thank the YMCA folks. I think for many, many years you've been leaders in the community about looking forward, about what is needed in our community in terms of fitness, health habits, all those kinds of things. And one of the things that, as I read through here, that I noticed, and Council Member Farmer will recall, when I was reading about complete streets and trails and greenways and when we had our goals and objectives task force, we talked a lot about that because everyone on the task force agreed that it was important to build into our comprehensive plan the goals of complete street, those sorts of plans and the trails and the greenways and pedestrian access. And I think that when those goals came to Council and were passed on to the Planning Commission, they did include a lot of pieces that are very supportive of this. So this Council has worked really hard to just keep those kinds of things in the forefront and do whatever we could to move trails and bike lanes and mountain biking there and all those kinds of things forward. And I'm just very happy that our goals and objectives for planning include that, and I appreciate your work on this. Thank you. Council Member Stennett. Thank you, Mayor. So just to be clear, you won the grant? Pardon me? You won the grant. Yes, we did, yeah. Because there were several other people in our community who applied for it. That's right. I think you were talking about collaboration and working together. I think that's a perfect example where the disconnect is in Lexington. We have so many people going after the same grants. So I think it is about time. I'm glad you mentioned that, that we all get on the same page. That way we can guarantee at least one person gets the grant versus all three losing it next time. But congratulations on getting the grant. How much was the grant for? $75,000. And what exactly, to the layperson watching, where does that money actually, what does it actually do? Does it hire staff to go do education? I mean, what does $75,000 actually bring to our community in the form of this grant? Well, no, there's no additional staff. We have some dedicated staff at the Y, and the other folks who are sitting here in this room, they're giving of their time and their talent. So some of the dollars were used for education. So we took a small group and a little bit bigger group down to Atlanta. Some of those dollars were used for that. But this money is going to last over a couple of years. And, you know, so the two things that were, or the several things that we spoke about were the jurisdiction-wide change and then the targeted approach to African-American and Latino populations for the diabetes prevention program. And then the final thing would be expanding the healthy eating and physical activity standards that the Y does now, expanding those to other before and after school child care. How do you expand it? Are you saying purchase the food physically with the money? No, no, this would be just education about why it's important. So, no, we wouldn't be purchasing food. It's just education about, you know, how many minutes of physical activity and what constitutes a healthy snack and, you know, educating the kids as well. Good. I know this council has been very supportive of the Y's mission for a healthier community, healthier lifestyle. I know, and maybe you can give us an update on it, but back in 2007, you know, we pushed hard to give $100,000 towards the new Y in Hamburg. which is my district. So what is the status of that YMCA? Because I know out that part of our city, there's a big need for those kind of amenities. Well, I'll go ahead and speak up. And Tom Blackman, our CEO, is here too. So, of course, at 2007, we all know what happened in 2008, and the fundraising became extremely difficult. It's not something that we have forgotten about. We do have other projects that we're working on currently to make Lexington a better, healthier city. It's not over with now, but it's not been easy to raise the significant amount of dollars to get that project done. So the campaign, the money that we gave is still there, and the campaign is still alive and well? Is that still part of the plan, the master plan? Down the road, yes. Are you talking about that particular project? Yes. Okay, very good. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Stinnett. Council Member McCourt. Thank you, Mayor. Thanks, guys, for being here. And I appreciate all that you do and all that everybody here does. What I'm getting ready to say may sound strange coming from me, but we need to do more. we are celebrating a little league victory today and we're playing in the major leagues the bottom line to it is is that our constituents of this city this state in this country are dying especially our children they're getting fatter and all the money that's being thrown at this the hundreds of millions of dollars are not doing too much. Robert Wood Johnson put a half a billion dollars to turn the childhood obesity trend by 2015. They set a 15-year goal. They're seven and a half years into it. Last September in Washington, D.C., the man who runs that fund stood up in front of a group of people and asked, did we set the goal too high? The only one that had enough guts to answer him was the public health guy from San Antonio, and he said, yeah, you did. Well, I don't know if you caught it, but about three months ago, Robert Wood Johnson pulled back on their estimate of what they're going to do. Hundreds of millions of dollars. It's not working. It's not working. And the reason why it's not working is because we talk about coalition building. We talk about it all the time. I've seen it. I've lived it. I'm in this thing up to my eyeballs every single day. And as you all know, this is my baby. So I'm not talking out of school. There isn't coalition building. There are fiefdoms everywhere. And until everybody decides we're all going to play along in the sandbox and this is a big enough problem, that we're all going to kind of come together and put all of our resources on the table, we're going to celebrate Little League victories. Now, I don't mean to diminish it because I know it's highly competitive and so forth like that. And again, that's a good thing. Everything helps. It's kind of like the starfish analogy where they talk about, you know, throwing those one starfish back at a time. It does mean something to that starfish. But I'm telling you guys, we are fighting a culture war right now. This is a change of culture. Like you said, Dave, we've built the city for the car. We've packed our schedules so full the only thing that you can eat is fast food because you're so busy running kids around. And if you have any children that play any sports, anybody watching, what happens? You watch your kid play the sport while you and the rest of the parents sit on the sidelines and choke down food and try and answer emails on your phone. We don't do things together as families anymore. We don't exercise your exactly right day. We have a physical activity problem, a dearth of physical activity. So let me walk you through a couple things on your slides. You said zoning and planning and zoning. We put a commissioner of planning and zoning that gets it. Derek Paulson gets this thing. I put into the goals and objectives of Councilman Farmer's task force for the comprehensive plan the health and physical activity guidelines that New York City has adopted. That's great, but doing those things is window dressing. You've got to go out and actually do something. It's awesome to do this, but if we say we're going to change policy, then I would challenge this council going forward January 1 to change every policy you can. Council Member Kay, I want to thank you for taking the ball and running with it when we suggested we put healthy food as an option for folks in our own building. Thank you for doing that. But have we put healthy food into our vending machines? Have we made that healthy food the cheapest in the vending machines? No. No, we haven't. Council, we've got the opportunity to do that. Why don't we do it? It's because we're sitting around here winning Little League victories. Trails and greenways. I threw a grenade in the room when I said that every PDR farm ought to have an area for a trail on it. Boy, I got taken to school on that one. Everybody from the farm community beat me up over that one. But you know what? The farm community and the Fayette Alliance said that they were going to do was find the next place, like the Legacy Trail, to take this trail system out into the country. That's a cool thing. Guess what? That was two years ago. Where are we? If you're going to talk about it, then do something about it. At the end of the day, we can talk a really mean game, but if we don't make a full onslaught commitment to health and the health of our community and take this $75,000 and leverage it to $750,000 and $7.5 million and $75 million, then we're just celebrating Little League victories. Again, what I would tell you is you've got to look around at the things that we do have that are good. Second Sunday is something that we created, but we own it. It is a national holiday that could be replicated everywhere. I ask you, sitting out here, for any of you that have participated in Second Sunday, have you told your counterparts around the country and forced them to go do this? I was just with legislators from all over the state yesterday in Atlanta sharing this as an idea for them, trying to push this. Are you pushing it? Are we pushing the stuff that we're good at and the things that we need? That's the question you've got to ask yourself. We're not doing enough. And if you don't think that this is something that affects every single one of us, All you've got to do is look at our own health insurance rates because our employees are self-insured and we've had a health insurance crisis. At the end of the day, what I'm saying is take this and go do something with it big, monumental. Leverage it. Go find every single person you can to leverage this. I know my time is up. But, again, I feel so strongly about this, you all, because this is the issue. This is the main issue because it is a life and death issue. Thank you guys for what you're doing, and thank you for letting me share that. Absolutely. Thank you, Councilman McCord. And Sherry and Dave, thank you guys very much. Thank you all very much. Appreciate it. Sherry, thank you for your colorful fence as well at home and your garden. It brightens up the neighborhood for sure. All right. Next on our agenda, council reports. The floor is available for council reports. Vice Mayor Gordon. Thank you, Mayor. I have three items. First is that in our communities, we know that we still have Army Reserve, Air Force Reserve, of all of the reserve components in the National Guard who are still getting deployed. And even though they're not getting deployed so much in Iraq or Afghanistan, they're starting to be deployed into the AFRICOM, which is the Africa Command, and other areas in the world. There are about 120 countries where our military are being deployed. And we have several thousand Reserve and Guard service members in central Kentucky. And so I wanted to announce some information that I received, which is the title of it is Supporting Children of the National Guard and Reserve. And it's an institute that's going to be holding a fairly major conference to help parents and families deal with these deployments which continue. And so I would encourage anyone who is interested, who is a military member, to contact www.militarychild.org. And if you're interested in this conference, you can register there. or if you're interested in more information about how this institute helps support our military families during deployments, that would be a good place to go. And then the second item is, Mayor, I wanted to request an update. It's been, I think, very quiet on the front of the distillery district. And I know that at one point we were doing a floodplain study out there, and I'd like an update. Perhaps this might be actually a good item for our environmental quality, Council Member Blues, to get an update on the floodplain study of the distillery district. And so I will go ahead and move to put that into the Environmental Quality Committee. Motion by Vice Mayor, second by Council Member Henson. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. Hearing none, we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. And then the third item is that our distinguished former Vice Mayor, Isabel Yates, is here, I believe, to issue an invitation to council members. And so I wanted to call her to the podium just to have a minute of, or even two minutes, Isabel. Welcome. Thank you, Council members and Mayor Gray. I'm delighted to be here, and it's nice to be on the other side of the fence. It's great. You're all very serious, and you've got lots of big problems. And I just came because I want to tell you what I'm doing. I am, well, I'll tell you how it started. Mayor Gray wrote me a note this spring and said, it's been 20 years since we restored the old Kentucky Theater. 20 years, let's celebrate. He also said it's the 90th birthday in October of this old Kentucky theater. So Isabel likes to celebrate. He knows that, I think. And I said, gosh, that's a great idea. Let's do it. And so we got into it, and we found out that we not only needed to celebrate, and we are, because it's a wonderful theater. It's used every day. It's a great thing. But it does need some updating. 20 years makes a difference. I don't think it does with me at all, but with some people, 20 years would make a difference. And I just want you to be aware of what we're trying to accomplish. We organized a Friends of Kentucky Theater to raise some funds because we realized a lot of things needed to be done. And I think you've got a little letter about the needed projector, which has got to be digital. Everything has to be digital and obtained. And I want you to be aware of that, and I want you to be aware of the other things that we are doing to try to raise the money in order to purchase that, in order to purchase new seats. I speak to people all the time. I say, do you ever go to the Kentucky Theater? Oh, I go all the time. And I said, do you like? I love the theater, but I hate the seats. The seats are really broken down, and we do need new ones. So that's another thing we knew. But what we did is organize a Friends of Kentucky Theater, and we also established a charitable foundation with the Bluegrass Community Foundation, a charitable organization, which is called Friends of Kentucky Theater, but it's under the auspices of the Bluegrass Community Foundation. And so every money, every bit that we raise, we'll go through that and be accountable. Well, we're just beginning to do this, and I wanted to tell you that we're going to have a big event on October 10th. It's on a Wednesday night from 6 to 8. It's going to be free and open to the public. We're going to have a lot of things to do, a lot of activities. We're going to have plenty of popcorn and free kind of refreshments and not too much because we're trying to raise money, you know. But on the other hand, it's going to be a big celebration. We have a lot of activities. I won't have time to tell you all about it, but I wanted to invite you to do it. I do want to tell you this. I have an incredible team of people who are interested in this and who are working with me. And Steve Grossman is my co-chair. We have a lot of co-chairs. We have a lot of fun. And we've gotten together, and we're going to send an invitation to you. You'll get this, but it is so great. I wanted to just issue it myself personally. I want you to come to this, and I would not mind if you would give a little money when you can. Now, it's not necessary, but it would certainly be appreciated. Now, I want you to hear what I'm going to say, and I did not write this. I don't nearly have the great sense of humor. Bill Fortune wrote this. He's a law professor, and he came up with this. This is our invitation. Dear friend, I don't always feel it, but I'll be 90 years old on the 10th. Now, I'm not that close. I am close, but not that close. Please come to my birthday party at my house at 6 that evening. There will be food and drink, not much because we're on a tight budget. Some of my friends will have a few words to say. You'll call me venerable and an icon, but I know how old I am, and I know this old body needs a lot of work. The ravages of AIDS. I was rejuvenated 20 years ago, and I sure appreciate everybody that helped them, but 20 years of hard living has taken its toll on me. The doctors have told me that unless I get a digital projector implant, whatever that is, by next year that I might lose my sight altogether. No more watching movies at my house. Wouldn't that be terrible? But those digital projector implants are really expensive. And I don't know whether I can come up with the money, and we need it soon. And my seats, sometimes it feels like sitting on springs. My padding is all worn out from all that sitting. And since I had seat plants 20 years ago, doctors can replace seats, making sitting soft and comfortable. But like projector implants and everything else these days, seat plants and implants are really expensive. It sure would make me and my friends feel better if we could get those implants by next year. You and I know that I'm not looking as well as I used to, a bit dowdy, some folks say. I really need a facelift, a little nip and tuck on my forehead, what you call my marquee. And I definitely need some new clothes to show off my lobby. So please come to my birthday party. We'll have fun, and I really want to see my friends. P.S. Big presents would be nice and appreciated. Thank you. Thank you. Isabella, thank you very much. That's just great. And just a quick comment. Some council members will remember when we used to have zone changes that went until you were on the council, Isabel, until 2 in the morning, we would go get popcorn on our break and bring it back here from the theater so we could get through the zone change hearing. So very nicely done. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Vice Mayor. And likewise, Isabel, thank you so much. All right. Next on our next council member signed up, Council Member Blues. Thank you, Mayor. As you, as all council members know, the Environmental Protection Agency has put a number of demands and deadlines on us as a consequence of our agreeing to the consent decree. And one of those components of fulfilling the terms of the consent decree is the capacity assurance plan. That is to say, a capacity assurance that mandates that you can't develop something unless there's sewer capacity to do so. And that sounds simple, but it's an immensely complicated process. And last spring, a capacity assurance plan task force was formed to draft a plan. and this morning the task force completed its work, which is really the first phase of a continuing process. And I do want to say thanks to a number of people for being involved in this process. First of all to the task force members, Council Members Stinnett and Henson, Ellinger and Kay, Vice Mayor Gorton and Commissioner of Planning Derek Paulson. We started in May. The task force worked through the summer and, as I say, finished this morning. It was not just the task force that worked in this. This was a major collaborative effort. It involved a number of LFUCG professionals, notably, of course, Division of Water Quality Director Charlie Martin and his crew, Division of Planning, Law, Engineering, Building Inspection, Environmental Policy. They were all with us through this process and made important contributions. The consultant team, Stantec and Joe Herman and his people, were immensely helpful, worked many, many long hours. I'm sure we'll get a bill, but it was well worth the expense. They did an incredible job. Above all, we had many stakeholders in chambers as we worked, closely involved in the process. University of Kentucky, which has a major stake in this, Transylvania University, Fayette County Public Schools, the Home Builders Association, Commerce Lexington, the Fayette Alliance, Ball Homes, Fayette County Neighborhood Council, and others I probably failed to mention. And they all were there. They all contributed their ideas and their concerns. As I say, this was a collaborative process that enabled us to work through the many, many components of this plan to come to decisions and to compile a number of decisions that will now have to be translated into enabling legislation, and our law department working with water quality and other entities and the consultants will be involved in that. So we really should be grateful to everybody in and out of government who contributed to this process, and I did want to acknowledge that. At our October 16 work session, there will be a task force report to Council. So this will be a prelude to the presentation later in the month and in November, possibly running up to December, of the ordinances and resolutions that will really constitute the terms of the Capacity Assurance Program Plan, which will have to be presented to the EPA on January 3, 2013. So, again, Mayor, I just wanted to express my gratitude to everybody who was involved in this process. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Blues. Council Member McCord. Thank you, Mayor. Just a couple of quick announcements, and while on that soapbox, let me go ahead and just say that this weekend is Lexington hosts the fourth annual Bourbon Chase, a 200-mile relay race across central Kentucky, starting in Shepherdsville and running through all the distilleries of central Kentucky and ending up in Lexington on Saturday night. And we'd encourage folks to come out and watch folks come across the finish line and be a part of that celebration where there's food and bourbon tasting and all kinds of good things here in Lexington. On October 14th, it is the annual Second Sunday across the state of Kentucky. and from 2 o'clock to 6 o'clock will be hosted on the Legacy Trail and it's a way to celebrate that permanent piece of infrastructure that we did build that we don't have to necessarily close down our streets. We have a place where we can go year-round and we want to invite folks to come out to it. For more information on that, you can go to SecondSundayLexington.com. Second Sunday Lexington, and that's with a 2ND, SecondSundayLexington.com. So as I was sitting here in between, I guess, rants on health, I wanted to think about how we could turn what was said into something very positive. So to my colleagues, I want to issue you a challenge. By the end of your next term, whatever that is. Now, for some of us, we only have a few months to make this work, and it may or may not work for those of us stepping out. But for those that will be here, this is my challenge to you. I would challenge each one of you to champion and build something in our city that improves the physical health of our citizens, along with champion and passing some piece of policy that makes our city healthier. So my challenge to you is go build something physical and go pass one piece of policy that you can look back on and say, That was my part. Don't pass something that puts something into committee to study something. We all know about that. I'm talking about go and pass something that you can point to. Your relationship with Mayor Bloomberg and his heart towards health and wellness and so forth, I believe that if this body compiles a strong enough record of passing policy changes and physical construction of facility and infrastructure, I think we have a very strong chance of tapping into his generosity through his foundation, not just through this first $5 million challenge, but through other things like that. And if the most sedentary city in America does something like this, people have to stand up and take note. So that's my challenge to my colleagues, and I would challenge the community to start to champion those things we can physically point to and those policy changes that we can point to. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Councilman McCord. Vice Mayor Gordon. Yes, I wanted to just say a couple more things quickly. Council Member Blues, he mentioned everyone else who sat on the task force, the Capacity Assurance Program Task Force. I would just like to thank you. You did a fantastic job of chairing this collaborative effort. and it was recognized by some of the community partners this morning who thanked you and spoke about your leadership. So I wanted to recognize you for that and thank you very much. The other thing, Council Members, is that several of you have been emailing to Tyler Scott, my legislative aide, ideas for the use of the UDAG money. and Mayor, you also have an item, I think, on that list. And so I think rather than leave it to some kind of a knock-down, drag-out fight, I want to be sure that we have a process in place for determining how these monies are used because there now is a list of maybe seven or eight actual entities that have requested to be considered. And so what I'm thinking about, Council Members, and some of you have already spoken to me about this, is to have a special committee of the whole meeting where we might have some discussion over this so that it doesn't all get lost in the shuffle of other discussions. Thank you. seconded by Council Member Stenet. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. We are adjourned. Thank you. Thank you.