# Urban County Council Work Session - November 27, 2012 > Auto-transcribed civic record · November 27, 2012 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/2773 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/2773?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2012-11-27 - **Last revised**: November 27, 2012 - **Length**: 12,422 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 held a work session on November 27, 2012, at 3:00 PM in the Council Chamber, presided over by the Mayor. The meeting included eight agenda items covering a range of municipal business, with six motions brought to a vote. No public comments were received during the session. The council approved three substantive items: Requested Rezonings/Docket Approval, Budget Amendments, and New Business. Additionally, the council received informational presentations on five topics: Public Comment - Issues on Agenda, Public Safety Committee Summary, General Government Committee Summary, Collective Bargaining Agreement for Corrections Lieutenants and Captains, and E911 Funding. ## Attendance The following individuals were present at the meeting on November 27, 2012: - CM Diane Lawless - CM Martin - CM Stinnett - CM Blues - CM Henson - CM Kay - CM Beard - CM Farmer - CM Ford - CM Ellinger - CM Crosbie - VM Linda Gorton - CM Steve Kay - CM Chris Ford - CM Tom Blues - CM Julian Beard - CM George Myers - CM Doug Martin - Kevin Stinnett No members were absent or late. ## Votes and Decisions The council passed six motions by voice vote during this meeting: **Approval of the Docket** [timestamp: 0:14:40] Council Member Farmer moved to approve the docket, seconded by Council Member Ellinger. The motion passed. **Public Hearing on Historic Overlay in Ashland Park Area** [timestamp: 0:15:43] Council Member Farmer moved to schedule a public hearing on January 22nd for a historic overlay in the Ashland Park area, seconded by Vice Mayor Gordon. The motion passed. **Public Hearing on Cultural and Recreational Revenue Bond Series 2012** [timestamp: 0:18:53] Council Member Farmer moved to schedule a public hearing on December 11, 2012, for the issuance of Cultural and Recreational Revenue Bond Series 2012, seconded by Council Member McCord. The motion passed. **Approval of Budget Amendments** [timestamp: 0:25:32] Vice Mayor Gordon moved to approve budget amendments, seconded by Council Member Ellinger. The motion passed. **Approval of New Business Items** [timestamp: 0:28:48] Vice Mayor Gordon moved to approve new business items, seconded by Council Member Ellinger. The motion passed. **Amendment to Code of Ordinances on Vehicle Stereo Noise** [timestamp: 0:42:34] Council Member Lawless moved to amend subsection 14-72-8 of the Code of Ordinances regarding vehicle stereo noise, seconded by Council Member Blues. The motion passed. ## Budget and Financial Actions The meeting included approval for a capital appropriation related to emergency services equipment. * **Ladder Truck Purchase**: An appropriation of $743,635 was approved for the purchase of a ladder truck for the Division of Fire and Emergency Services. ## Contested Items **Fire Station Brownouts** Council members raised concerns about ongoing fire station brownouts and their impact on emergency response times. The community opposed the brownouts, with council members expressing worry about the implications for public safety and emergency services delivery. However, the provided meeting materials do not specify the particular disagreement among council members, identify which specific individuals advocated particular positions, or document what outcome or resolution was reached regarding this issue. ## Public Comment - Issues on Agenda [timestamp: 00:14:10] No members of the public signed up to provide comment on issues on the agenda during this portion of the meeting. ## Requested Rezonings/ Docket Approval [timestamp: 00:14:40] The Council discussed and approved the docket for requested rezonings, which included scheduling public hearings for rezoning requests. Council Member Farmer and Vice Mayor Gordon participated in the discussion of this agenda item. The Council approved the docket as presented, moving forward with the scheduling of public hearings for the rezoning requests included in the docket. ## Budget Amendments The Council discussed and approved budget amendments during this portion of the meeting [timestamp: 00:25:32]. Vice Mayor Gordon and Council Member Henson were the key speakers on this agenda item. The amendments included funding for a new ladder truck. The Council voted to approve the budget amendments as presented. ## New Business [timestamp: 28:48] Council Member Stennett presented new business items for consideration, which focused on economic development incentives for several companies. The council reviewed and approved these incentive proposals as part of their new business agenda. The outcome of this agenda item was approval of the presented economic development initiatives. ## Public Safety Committee Summary Council Member Lawless presented a summary of the Public Safety Committee meeting [timestamp: 0:37:35]. The presentation was informational in nature and covered discussions on two primary topics: nuisance abatement and vehicle stereo noise ordinance. The specific details of the nuisance abatement and vehicle stereo noise ordinance discussions were not detailed in the available meeting materials. However, these items represented the focus of the Public Safety Committee's work and were brought before the full council for informational purposes through Council Member Lawless's presentation. This agenda item served to update the council on Public Safety Committee activities and did not result in a formal action or vote. ## General Government Committee Summary Council Member Lane presented a summary of the General Government Committee meeting [timestamp: 43:09]. The presentation was informational in nature and included discussions regarding the Metro Employees Credit Union lease. **Key Speaker:** - Council Member Lane **Content Presented:** Council Member Lane covered the committee's review of the Metro Employees Credit Union lease agreement as part of the General Government Committee's regular business. **Outcome:** The item was presented for informational purposes to provide the council with an update on General Government Committee activities and proceedings. ## Collective Bargaining Agreement for Corrections Lieutenants and Captains Ed Gardner presented the collective bargaining agreement for corrections lieutenants and captains [timestamp: 0:45:00]. The presentation focused on highlighting the savings and terms included in the agreement. This was an informational presentation with no formal action or debate recorded. The agreement details were presented to the body for their information and understanding of the terms negotiated for corrections lieutenants and captains positions. ## E911 Funding David Lucas presented on E911 funding, addressing the sources of revenue and challenges associated with current funding streams [timestamp: 50:59]. The presentation focused on the financial mechanisms supporting E911 services and identified difficulties with existing revenue sources. While specific funding amounts and detailed revenue stream breakdowns were not captured in the available materials, Lucas's presentation highlighted that maintaining adequate E911 funding presents ongoing challenges for the jurisdiction. The outcome of this agenda item was informational, with no formal action or decision recorded. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve the docket - **Motion** — passed (0-0): schedule a public hearing on item 6, the Historic Overlay in the Ashland Park area for Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013 at 6:00pm in the Council Chambers - **Motion** — passed (0-0): schedule a public hearing on Tuesday, December 11th, 2012 Council Meeting in the Council Chambers for concerning the issuance of the LFUCG of its cultural and recreational revenue bond series 2012 for the Anchor Baptist Church inc. project currently estimated not to exceed $3,850,000 - **Motion** — passed (0-0): place on the docket for the November 29th, 2012 Council meeting a resolution approving the granting of an inducement to Delta T Corporation d/b/a Big Ass Fans, pursuant to the Kentucky Business Investment Act (KRS Chapter 154.32), whereby the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government agrees to forego the collection of one percent (1%) of the occupational license fees for a term not longer than ten (10) years, and taking other related action - **Motion** — passed (0-0): amend his previous motion to have a Special Council meeting on item 6 - **Motion** — passed (0-0): place on the docket for the Thursday, November 29th, 2012 meeting, a resolution amending section 4.506 of the Council Rules to delete reference to terms of office that commenced prior to July 1, 1990, and to require that a confirmation hearing be held prior to confirming appointments to the Planning Commission, the Board of Adjustment or the Ethics Commission - **Motion** — passed (0-0): place on the docket for the Thursday, November 29th, 2012 meeting, an Ordinance creating section 2-3.2 in Chapter 2 of the Code of Ordinances to establish procedures and guidelines for redistricting council districts - **Motion** — passed (0-0): place on the docket for the Thursday, November 29th, 2012 meeting, an Ordinance adopting a schedule of meetings for the Council for calendar year 2013 - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve the budget amendments - **Motion** — passed (0-0): add a budget amendment for $743,635 for the purchase of a ladder truck for the Division of Fire and EMS to the budget amendment list - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve new business - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve the Neighborhood Development Funds - **Motion** — passed (14-72): amend subsection 14-72(8) of the Code of Ordinances of the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government pertaining to operating or playing radios, televisions and other related items in a manner as to create a noise disturbance, and creating subsection 14-72(11) of the Code of Ordinances to prohibit noise disturbances eminating from vehicles located in the public right-of-way or on public land which are audible more than ten (10) feet from the vehicle - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve the Mayor’s Report - **Motion** — passed (0-0): adjourn --- ## Full transcript New love like this before Open my eyes, cause I never New love like this before What a surprise, cause I never New love like this before This feeling so deep inside me Such a tender fantasy You're the one I'm waiting for You are my sunlight and my rain And time could never change What we share forevermore I never knew I'd be like this before Now I'm lonely, nevermore Since you came into my life Cause I never knew love like this before Open my eyes Cause I never knew love like this before What a surprise Cause I never knew love like this before You are my love, yes I know And I'll never let you go You're my all, all of me Once I was lost and I found And it turned my world around When I need to call your name Cause I never knew love like this before Open my eyes Cause I never knew love like this before What a surprise I never knew love like this before Inside of me I've never Never Moved love like this before Open my eyes Never Never Never Never Never Never I love me I love me I never Never Never Never Never Never I love me I love me I love me Never, never, never Never knew about my face Never knew, never Never knew, never Never, never knew about my face I could never knew, never Never knew, never Never, never knew about my face I never knew, I never knew, I never I never knew, I never I never Never do love like this Never do, never do Never, never do love like this Oh it's mine, what a surprise Never, never do love like this It's not unusual to be loved by anyone It's not unusual to have fun with anyone But when I see you hanging about with anyone It's not unusual to see me cry I wanna die It's not unusual to go out At night But when I see you out and about It's such a crime If you should ever wanna be loved By anyone It's not unusual It happens every day No matter what you say You'll find it happens All the time Love will never do What you want it to Why can't this crazy love be mine It's not unusual You want to be mad with anyone It's not unusual to be sad with anyone But if I ever find that you've changed at any time It's not unusual to find that I'm in love with you I'm a river by morning Up from San Antonio Everything that I got is just what I've got on When that sun is high in that Texas sky I'll be bucking at the county fair Amarillo by morning Amarillo, I'll be there They took my saddle and used to Broke my leg in the Santa Fe Lost my wife and a girlfriend Somewhere along the way I'll be looking for aid when they pull that gate And I hope that judge ain't fly Amarillo by morning Amarillo's on my mind Amarillo by morning Up from San Tom Everything that I got Is just what I've got on I ain't got a dime But what I got is mine I ain't rich But Lord, I'm free Amarillo by morning Amarillo's where I'll be Amarillo by morning Amarillo's where I'll be Thank you. Thank you. The End Thank you. Okay, thanks. All right. Welcome, everyone. This is a meeting of the work session of the Council. And first on our agenda today is public comment for issues on the agenda, Mr. Mundy. Nobody signed up for issues on the agenda. All right, then that allows us to go to requested rezonings and docket approval. Is there a motion? Mr. Farmer. I have a couple of motions for the docket. Do you need a motion to act first or just the ones I have? Motion to act first, and then we'll take the – you want to do a motion to act first, and then – Do you want approval of the docket motion? Yeah, that would be great. So moved. Second. Motion by Council Member Farmer, second by Council Member Ellinger to approve the docket. Is there any discussion? Council Member Farmer. I have two additions. First has to do with item number six, which is the historic overlay in the Ashland Park area. And this needs to be heard by the 23rd of January. And after talking with the vice mayor, it seemed like the best day to do that would be on Tuesday the 22nd at 6 p.m. So I would so move to have that hearing at that day and time in these chambers. All right. There's a motion by Council Member Farmer. January 22nd. For the hearing on January, what was that date again? January 22nd. January 22nd. The second Tuesday we have returned. All right. At what time? 6 p.m. 6 p.m. January 22nd at 6 p.m. Yes, sir. Is there a second? Second. Second by Vice Mayor Gordon and a question by Vice Mayor Gordon. My question is to ask who can attend. I know that we have four people who we don't know about. You won't be here? I will not be here. But of the current council members, can we? How about a show of hands who can attend? Can or can't? Can. C-A-N. Who can attend? High raise of hands. Council Member Blues will no longer be around. There's only six. Part of this process includes the fact that Council Member Stenet and I will have to recuse on this issue. So, all right, so your hands are down. Whose hands are up? One more time. One, two, three, four, five, six. Then you will have two council members. That's a long name. Mayor, we have to have all four new council members to have our quorum. Okay. What about the 15th? All right. We have a motion for the 22nd at 6 p.m. Tuesday, January 22nd. 6 p.m. All right. Well, it's the day of the merged government address. It's the day of the 22nd, is it? If I may, Mayor. Council Member Farmer. Yes, sir. In my conversation with the Vice Mayor, it was her preference that we do this that second Tuesday. If it is the Council's preference to do it the first Tuesday, a week before, we could just to give opportunity for more to be present. I have negotiated with all involved to come up with the best time. it seemed like this was it other than with this body, trying to make sure that enough people can be present to vet the decision. VET the decision, right. All right. All right. We're still on the question of the 22nd. Council Member Lawless. Council Member Lawless. Isn't that the last day it will be able to be heard? The next day would be, the 23rd. Okay. Councilman, we're standing on the motion. No, not on the motion. All right. All right. All right. We want to take a vote on the 22nd. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Thank you. Mayor, I have one more. that is, I move to schedule a public hearing on Tuesday, December 11, 2012, council meeting concerning the issuance of the Lexington-Fade Urban County Government of its Cultural and Recreational Revenue Bond Series 2012, in this instance for the Anchor Baptist Church Incorporated project, currently estimated not to exceed $3,850,000. So moved. This is a refinance of something that has been done twice before by this body, but it has not been docketed yet, but the administration asked me to place the hearing date out there so there would be enough time to get the hearing and the two readings done before the end of the year. All right. We have a motion and a motion by Councilman Farmer, seconded by Councilman McCord. 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. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. The date and time. The date for the hearing? Yes. January 20th. January 20th. Okay. During the council meeting. All right. Council Member Stennett? Is this still on the new business? I'm sorry, on rezoning and docket approval? Yes, sir. I would motion to walk on the docket. Council Member Stennett. Council Members, you should receive a copy from Stacey a few minutes ago on an item that goes along with B, C, D, and E under new business. This is an economic development incentive for big-ass fans. So I'll move to place on the docket for November 29th council meeting, a resolution approving the granting of an inducement to Delta T Corporation DBA big-ass fans pursuant to the Kentucky Business Investment Act, KRS Chapter 154.32, whereby the Lexington Fed-Everne County Government agrees to forego the collection of 1% of the occupational licensing fees for a term of not longer than 10 years and taking other related actions. Second. Thank you, Council Member Stenet. Motion by Council Member Stenet, second by Council Member McCord. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. As a point of information, I need to mention for the record regarding this project that I want the record to show that as mayor over the course of this project, I have recused myself from any action in reviewing or advocating for the project because a company I have a financial interest in, Gray Inc., is a vendor to the company. All right. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, then we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Thank you, Mayor. Vice Mayor Gordon. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Farmer, where you were before me, did you have walk-ons? I had to make an amendment to my earlier motion based on conversation with the council clerk that the H-1 hearing needs to be phrased as a special council meeting rather than just a council meeting, as I think I couched it. So I would make a motion to amend the earlier action of the Council to have a special Council meeting on January 22nd at 6 p.m. to consider item number 6 on our docket today. All right. We have an amendment by Council Member Farmer, a second by Council Member McCord. Is there any discussion on the amendment? All right. Hearing none, then we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Thank you, Councilman Farmer. Okay. Vice Mayor Gordon. Thank you, Mayor. I have three items to walk onto the docket. First is, and Councilmembers, you have received copies of these all along the way, the confirmation hearing resolution, the redistricting ordinance, and the calendar for 2013. I move to place on the docket for Thursday, November 29th, meeting a resolution amending Section 4.506 of the Council Rules to delete reference to terms of office that commenced prior to July 1, 1990, and to require that a confirmation hearing be held prior to confirming appointments to the Planning Commission, the Board of Adjustment, or the Ethics Commission. Second. Motion by Vice Mayor Gordon. Second by Council Member Crosby. 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. Second, I move to place on the docket for the Thursday, November 29th meeting an ordinance creating Section 2-3.2 in Chapter 2 of the Code of Ordinances to establish procedures and guidelines for redistricting council districts. Seconded. Motion by Vice Mayor Gordon, second by Council Member Crosby. Is there any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, then we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. And finally, Mayor, this is the 2013 calendar, and I wanted to thank Council Members for all their input along the way, those of you who gave it, and to thank Stacy, who crafted the first draft and helped us get to this point. I move to place on the docket for the Thursday, November 29th meeting an ordinance adopting a schedule of meetings for the Council for the calendar year 2013. Second. Motion by Vice Mayor Gordon, seconded by Council Member Kay. Is there any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, then we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Vice Mayor. All right. Is there any further discussion on the motion? All right. Then hearing none, we can take a vote on the original motion to approve the docket. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. There is no summary today which allows us to move to budget amendments. Is there a motion? Move approval. Motion by Vice Mayor Gordon, seconded by Council Member Ellinger to approve. Is there any discussion on the motion? Vice Mayor Gordon. Yes, Mayor. Thank you. Council members, those of you who were in Budget and Finance Committee heard the report regarding the Division of Fire and Emergency Services ladder truck, which is now deemed inoperable. And this is a truck they've been using. So I have been asked to add this to the budget amendments. I move that a budget amendment in the amount of $743,635 for the purchase of a ladder truck for the Division of Fire and Emergency Services be added to the list of budget amendments on page 6 of the work session packet. The funding for this truck comes from the general fund balance as presented at today's budget and finance meeting. Second. Motion by Vice Mayor Gordon, second by Council Member Ellinger. Is there any discussion on the motion? Council Member Henson. Thank you, Mayor. Can you tell me what the fund balance was? It's not capital funds, right? It comes from the general fund. And what was the cost of the truck? Right. The cost is $743,635, and we still have our budget director here. Yes. I can't remember, Council Member Hanson, if you were in the previous Budget and Finance Committee meeting. Partially. Partially. In that meeting, Jane presented that there was a capital reserve of roughly a million dollars. Those were not a capital reserve, a capital reserve for a fleet of roughly a million dollars. So those were assigned funds. So this $740-some-thousand will not affect the unassigned fund balance that was reported at 3.3. This will come out of an assigned fund balance. The difference between the million and the quarter million dollars that's left would be available for other fleet replacements. So this is only using a partial piece, a larger piece of the reserve for fleet that is assigned a million dollars. It doesn't affect the unassigned fund balance at all. So it was a reserve for fleet? It was an assignment, but yes, it functions very similar. And is it capital funds? It was assigned for capital funds, specifically fleet, yes. Okay, thank you. Any further discussion on the motion? All right, then we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. We can move on now to new business. Is there a motion to approve new business? Move approval. Second. Motion by Vice Mayor Gordon, second by Council Member Ellinger. is there any discussion on the motion council council member stendett is that yeah yes sir all right yes sir council member stendett thank you mayor as i mentioned earlier items bcd and i guess a new letter will come up on our new business packet for tonight on the economic development incentives we have representatives from each of those companies i want to give them an opportunity to recognize them because this is a very very good partnership and a move forward here in Lexington, and we appreciate their investment in our community. So, Mayor, if we could have maybe each representative come speak for their company, if that's okay. That would be great. Jenna, you want to introduce, I know that we've got Allelix here, Nittodanko. We'll go in alphabetical order. Yeah, great. So we'll start with Allelix, and we'll bring up Dr. Rich Burlingame. Rich, welcome. Thanks for joining us today. Thank you. Yes, sir. We appreciate the incentives that the city and the state have offered to Allelix. We're using that money to expand our operations here. During 2012, we've hired 10 people in our Lexington Research and Development Lab, and we intend to hire five to seven more in the coming months. We are increasing our laboratory facilities space, approximately doubling them, and purchasing over $700,000 in new equipment. So these funds are greatly appreciated, allowing us to bring a number of high-paying, good jobs to the local area. Thank you, sir. And now we'll bring up Bruce Greinke from Big Ass Fans Bruce, welcome Thank you I appreciate being here and appreciate your time On behalf of Big Ass Fans we want to thank the city for helping us stay here in the city We want to thank the economic development people from both the state and from Commerce Lexington for helping us with this addition that we're putting on out at our industrial park. This part of Commerce Lexington's industrial park. We've added 20 people in the last three months. We have 50 more that will be coming on next year. And I'm proud that we have a government that invests in companies that are going to keep growing and adding to the tax base of the city itself. So thank you for your support. I have one last thing. We also make the most energy-efficient smaller fans like these. It's called the Haiku, and we'd be more than happy. If you want to trade those in, we'll give them to you, and you can put the most energy-efficient fans up there. Thank you. I'm serious about that last. There we go. Oh, good. Great. Good marketing. And third, we have James Jones from Nitto Denko. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It's a good day to be doing business in Lexington, Kentucky. Thank you for having us today. My name is James Jones, as she mentioned, with Nitto Denko Automotive Kentucky. Nito Denko Automotive Kentucky is a global company which we have either a sales or manufacturing base in over 27 countries around the world. In the year 2018, we're going to celebrate our 100-year anniversary, which we're very excited about that. And as far as our standing in Lexington, we've been here now for about 15 years. As a result of the collaboration with the Economic Committee, we have made the decision to stay here even longer, five to ten years longer. So we are going to celebrate our birthday with you guys. I'd like to thank you for that. As a result of the expansion that we're going to have here in Lexington, this is going to add 30% to our workforce. So we're very, very excited about that. It's not just a small number. It's 30%, which we look at that as huge. Anyway, just want to say thanks again, and we look forward to another five or ten years here in Lexington. Have a great day. Happy holidays. Thank you, James. And we have Bill Pauley from Premier Talks. Hi, my name is Bill Pauley. I work for Premier Talks, as she said. We're a drug testing company. We started in January of last year, and we were already up to over 170 employees. Our original lab started off in Russell Springs. Right now they're at full capacity. We're starting a second lab, doing so here in Lexington. It's a great location for us. As I said, we're doing urine drug testing. That takes chemists, of course. And having UK here, having Transie here, Eastern, Northern, Louisville, all just an hour away, it's a perfect location for us, and we appreciate how you've all made it easier for us to come here and relocate. So thank you. Last but not least, Dale Cooper from Exact Communications. I guess that's what happens when you try to be fancy and spell your name X-A-C-T instead of E-X-E-C-T. I want to thank everybody. My name is Dale Cooper. I'm president of Exact Communications. We're a nationwide cloud communications company. We sell to businesses only. And we are a startup company. We decided to locate here in Lexington due to the incentive packages. We want to thank the city and state, Chamber of Commerce, and everybody for that. We have already hired six people, and our plans are to hire 16 more in the next six months. Thank you. Thanks, Dale. Is that it, Gina? Yeah, that's it. Well, thanks to all of you for joining us today. We appreciate the presence and the investments of each and every one of you. Thank you all. Next on our agenda is the continuing business and presentations. And first on the agenda, Council Member Lane. Sorry. Thank you, Mayor. Just on behalf of the Council and all the citizens of Fayette County, thank the companies that have made investments in our community. We appreciate your coming here. And this is a great city. We have a great, highly educated workforce. I think you'll be even more successful than you have been in the past. So thank you all so much for investing in our community. Others? All right. Thank you, Council Member Lane. Oh, that's right. We have no vote at all. All right. All right, if there's no further discussion, then we can take a vote. All in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Now we can move on to continuing business and presentations. And those of you all who joined us, again, we appreciate you being here. And we, of course, appreciate you staying, but we know that you may not want to stay with us for the full meeting. So thank you all. All right. Chair will entertain a motion for the NDF. Move approval. Motion by Vice Mayor Gordon, second by Council Member Martin. 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. Next on our agenda is Public Safety Committee summary for the November meeting by Council Member Lawless. Thank you, Mayor. So the November 13th Public Safety Committee was, and that's in your packet, including an ordinance that was voted on. And so I will summarize, but it's a pretty lengthy summary. The Public Safety Committee met on November 13th. The committee had two issues to be addressed, the first being the examination of the nuisance abatement process. Director David Jarvis from Code Enforcement presented the current nuisance abatement process. He described the 24-hour and 14-day notice process. He noted that liens and civil penalties are paid through the Division of Revenue. Code Enforcement does not collect fines or lien payments. Mr. Jarvis outlined the emergency abatement timeline for the committee, and that's on page 32 of your packet. There was committee discussion on timelines, forms, and emergency nuisances. Committee members expressed their desire to see this process as transparent and consistent as possible. Council Member Stenet suggested two separate forms for 24-hour versus 14-day. It was also recommended that David Director Jarvis look at notification timelines. Committee members should have received requested information following the last committee meeting referencing a specific address mentioned during Mr. Jarvis' presentation. If you did not receive that or need it emailed again, please let me know and I'll get it to you. The committee expects revised forms and a report back from Director Jarvis in response to the committee concerns. If there were no motions to bring forward on this item, it will remain in committee. The last item on the committee agenda was an amendment of the code of ordinance pertaining to vehicle stereo noise. A copy of that ordinance has been passed around and has been given to you for your consideration and is also as part of the packet. The committee was informed that the amendment to this ordinance was recommended by the county attorney's office following a recent Court of Appeals decision. decision. Councilmember Blues, do you have any additional information that you want to share with council members about this history on this item? No, I don't. As you recall, I suggested that the committee might want to keep that issue in committee since it, it seemed to me, could raise more problems than it solved. So I believe the committee agreed to keep it and nurture it. As I recall, there were two parts to it and one part. Well, there was another issue related to the noise ordinance. I did not think you were talking about that right now. No. So this is what we voted on in the committee. I think you're referring to the vehicle noise. Yes, sir. of the ordinance and since I was part of the quorum I moved to bring that section forward. It was amended slightly and the committee voted unanimously to recommend it for passage to the full council. So you're making that motion? I should think that the committee chair would make that motion. Okay. I move to amend subsection 14-72-8 of the Code of Ordinances of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government pertaining to operating or playing radios, televisions, and other related items in a manner as to create a noise disturbance and creating subsection 14-7211 of the Code of Ordinance to prohibit noise disturbances emanating from vehicles located in the public right-of-way or on public land which are audible more than 10 feet from the vehicle. So moved. Second. Motion by Councilman Lawless, seconded by Councilman Blues. 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. Council Member Lawless, you complete. That is the conclusion of my report. Thank you so much. Next on our agenda is the General Government Committee Summary for the November meeting by Council Member Lane. Thank you, Mayor. The General Government Committee was held on November 13th at 11 a.m. The first item on the agenda was a presentation by LFUCG Managing Attorney Glenda George on amending council rules to provide for a consent agenda. After a discussion of several options, Ms. George asked for the opportunity to draft legislation to illustrate the process and report back to the committee at the January 2013 meeting. The next item on the agenda was a rehearing on the issue of the Metro Employees Credit Union lease. Commissioner Sally Hamilton provided a historical overview of the issues related to the proposed lease. Director Piper Graham then responded to questions on the structure, membership, and operations of the MECU. C.M. Chris Ford made a motion to keep the MECU Leasing Committee for the purpose of continued negotiation. Vice Mayor Linda Gordon made a motion to amend C.M. Ford's motion to add a PSA with MECU as a part of the continued lease discussion. The motion, as amended, passed without dissent. Scott Shapiro of the Mayor's Office next presented an updated draft of the proposed website linking policy. C.M. Doug Martin offered a series of amendments to the draft. C.M. Myers asked for further clarification of the policy on whether it should be a CAO policy or perhaps an ordinance and who should make the decisions on the implementation of the policy. Due to the limitations of the presentation, the parks master plan was delayed until the January 2013 meeting. There were no motions to present to Council. The meeting adjourned at 12.56 p.m. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Councilman Lane. Next on our agenda is a presentation on collective bargaining agreement for corrections lieutenants and captains by Mr. Ed Gardner. Ed, thank you, sir. I want you all to know I'm going to miss our time together here. This is, in fact, the sixth out of six public safety collective bargaining agreements that I'm happy to bring in front of you today. This is what was said to corrections lieutenants and captains, and it is actually with a new union. The first time we've negotiated with the ESCME union, they were involved in these negotiations. One thing I wanted to mention at the beginning of this presentation was that, as I say, this is the sixth out of sixth, and it's important to remember that each of these contracts all are going to result in savings to the urban county government. They all resulted from sacrifices that these employees were willing to make, and this was a very difficult series of bargaining. It's the first time, because of our budgetary situation, we've ever had to do what's called concession bargaining, and that is to ask people to give things back that they'd already previously agreed to. And I want to also mention that the first two of these, you may recall, were negotiated by Don Crane and Joe Scholar of the law firm of Frost Brown Todd. They kind of led the way. They were the ones that knew concession bargaining and kind of got us started on the right path. And I certainly owe them a personal debt in terms of my ability to learn from them, and I think the government also owes them a debt, and I wanted to mention that today. I also want to thank the members of the team that we had. In this case, it was Ashley Case from HR, Ryan Barrow from Budgeting, also Jane Driscoll and Commissioners Mason, and Graham also assisted. Of course, we're losing Ryan and Jane, so I'm glad we got this done before they left. Jeff Carter is the union president. He was a leader of their team, and I want to thank him, and I also want to thank all the members of the corrections team. The highlights of this contract are in your packet on pages 38 to 40. I'm not going to belabor it. It's very consistent with what we've been able to present. In fact, I advised the other team at the table that one of the concerns that I had in negotiating any deal is that it needs to be along the lines of what the other sacrifices that were made by the other divisions and also within the same division. One thing I also want to mention is although this is the last one to come to you, this one was one of the first ones to expire. These people have been without a contract since July of 2010, so over two years without a contract. So there have been no structure movements during that time, no changes in anything. And as a consequence of that, we made recognition, and the requested financial sacrifices were shortened a little bit because of that. So what you have before you would be a two-and-a-half-year contract to begin on January 1st of 2013. It would run through June 30th of 2015. As has been consistent with the other contracts, savings will come from reductions to vacation and holiday time, and no steps or structure movement, in this case, for the first year and a half. After a year and a half, there will be a $500 structure movement across the board. These are the higher paid employees in the detention center. and also we would propose to add an additional step eight, again in recognition of the longevity of some of these employees and give them reason and incentive to move on through the ranks. The other highlights would simply be some things that, as I say, this was a new union, so this is the first contract we've negotiated with them. It's also the first time that we have one entity, the detention center in this case, that has two separate unions. We have the FOP, Lodge 83 represents the officers and sergeants, and ASME represents the lieutenants and captains. So that made for some necessary changes between the two contracts, whereas before we were able to kind of jointly work the contracts with separate unions, we had to do things a little bit differently there. Quarter master type system will come into play for uniforms here, just as it did for the prior public safety units. In this case, for this unit, that's basically cost neutral. It's not a big cost savings, but it is a benefit to the employees and, I think, to the government as well through uniformity. We've increased tuition reimbursement. We've created some additional levels of educational incentive pay. We've also squared these employees up with other employees in the government in terms of community leave, blood donation leave, and voting leave. I'd be happy to try to address any questions if you have any, but as I say, the highlights are in your packet. and we would request approval. Any questions or comments by Council Member Martin? Just one. Thank you for joining. How many lobbyists do we pay for under this? One. One. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. I was ready for you. Thank you, Council Member Martin. Ed, thanks a lot. No problem. Thank you, Mayor. Yes, sir. You did a nice job of illustrating how many people had worked together to gain these agreements. I know that all the council members and all of our citizens appreciate that and the adjustments and the often painful adjustments that were made by employees to get us to this point today. Next on our agenda is the presentation on emergency 911 funding by David Lucas. David. Thank you, Mayor. This presentation comes out of requests from the public safety links back during the budget cycle. They wanted a presentation on the 911 funding, how it's done, so this is an overview of that request. 9-1-1 funding for our division is about $6.5 million per year. About 72% of that is for personnel, and the remaining is for 9-1-1 network, hardware software, database charges, things that it takes to run the 9-1-1 system. Unfortunately, per KRS and Kentucky regulations, not 100% of that $6.5 million is allowable expenses for 9-1-1 funds. It is very strict on what you can use 911 revenue for. By following that guidelines, roughly $3 million of that 6.5 is covered by the general fund. And the way that is determined is by the percentage of our calls are actually 911 versus administrative or nine 911 calls. So currently, 34 to 37 percent of our personnel costs are from the 911 fund. All of our technology, all of our address, and all of our database charges are covered by our current fee. Our current fee is actually made up, or our funding is from these five sources. The general fund occasionally over the last 10 years has supplemented the 9-1-1 with general fund supplement. Those are general fund monies that are used when 9-1-1 funds were allowed to pay for it, but we just did not have the funds available. Landline fee, this is the local fee that is set by this council that is assessed on every landline phone and is collected by the phone companies, whether it be Windstream, Insight, or if you have one of the smaller companies in town, they all collect that fee for us and distribute it back to the urban county government. The wireless fee is on your wireless phones. Almost everyone has wireless phones now, and the fee is set by the state, collected by the state, and redistributed to the counties and to the phone companies so they will implement 9-1-1. The next is grants. We actually have received federal and state grants over the years. Not a lot, but they have provided good seed money to work on some projects. And the last one where we receive revenue is the Central Kentucky 9-1-1 Partnership, which is a partnership we have developed between 13 counties, which we share some costs, and I'll go into greater detail on that. First is the general fund supplement. As you can see, since we started 9-1-1 here in fiscal year 96, the general fund contributed the first five years. The peak you see there in 99 is when we actually implemented our 9-1-1 system. So obviously we had a lot of start-up costs and we had only been collecting the fee for two years, so we did not have complete 9-1-1 funds to 100% fund that implementation. implementation. In FY03, the general fund supplemented again. This is when we did a retooling, which we usually do every four or five years to make sure we're up to date and all of our hardware and software meets the standards. In 07, you can see in 08, we actually did another retooling, and that required some general funds as well. Also note that in FY03 and 2007, our landline fees were at a lower rate, and I'll be covering that shortly. Here is a graph that shows both the revenue we collect and the rate we charge on a monthly basis for the landline fee. The bars show the total revenue collected, and the values are on your left, and the line chart shows the actual fee that we collect. We originally started at $0.95, a flat rate, and FY03, as you can see, the funding kept decreasing. We increased it to $1.31 as a flat rate, and then again over time as landline people fled to wireless services and otherwise, our revenue decreased, and then we spiked it up to $2.10. When we did that increase to $2.10 in fiscal year 2009, we also added a 4.5% increase annually. So you can see the revenue keeps increasing as the rate increases each year. Unfortunately, this places the burden of our 9-1-1 fee on our landline subscribers. Landline subscribers tend to be older and tend to be residential, where most of the businesses have moved to voice over IP and most younger citizens have moved to cell phones. Currently, 26% of all households do not have any landline at all. They're completely wireless. So we are collecting no fees for 911 from individuals who do not have landline fees. This is the wireless revenue. The red line, the dashed line, represents the rate that is collected by the state, which is $0.70. The blue line represents how much of that $0.70 we received in urban county government for each year. on average. So we do not receive the full 70% because of the formula. It's redistributed. The state obviously keeps sun to administrate the fund. They provide grants, and they also distribute some to the wireless carriers who use it to build up their networks. The spike you see in FY02 is a backlog of revenue. They started collecting in FY99, but did not do the first distribution until 2002, which is why you see the spike there. The spike that you see in 06 to 07 is where they changed the formula from a 50-50 split to an 80-20, which means the local entities receive 80% of the funds rather than a 50 split with the carriers. And the spike you see in FY10 is where we actually received an extra quarterly payment. They provide funds to us every quarter. In FY10, we received five quarterly payments instead of four. as they got their accounting. What they did is they shortened the time, and it took carriers to submit the funds. So instead of waiting 90 days for them to submit, they shortened it. So that year we actually got an extra quarter of payment. Currently, 80% of all our 911 calls come from wireless. 65% is the statewide average. We have a higher percentage because we have two major interstates, and we have a couple of universities, which brings in the younger crowd that does not have landlines. The Central Kentucky Network was developed in fiscal year 2007. We had a grant from the state, and originally Fayette, Jesmond, and Woodford, we collaborated and developed a shared IP 911 network where we share the cost and the development. The savings was 30% to 45%. in urban county government, we saved a half a million dollars a year once we implemented this service between the three of us. Since then, we've expanded to all of the green counties that you see there, and the red counties are one that have asked to join onto our network as well. The network has been very successful, even though it was slow to implement. With the help of grant funds and a lot of sweat and tears, we've moved forward. and is actually a faster, cheaper, more redundant system that we had before and is ready for the next advancement in 911. Finally, we have received grants in 07 and 08 and 11. Those are the three years that grants were actually distributed by the State 911 Board. Those are the red. The yellow is the revenue we have received and plan to receive in the partnership. It could be a little over $100,000 a year based on our current membership. If we receive additional members, we will see an increase in that partnership sharing. So in addition to the half million dollars we have saved a year, that is additional revenue we use to offset the cost of that 911 network. Here's just a collaboration of all those funding mechanisms. As you can see, the blue is the landline. The orange is the wireless. The green is the supplement from general funds when that was needed. The red is the grants, and the yellow are the partnership revenues. Future funding. As we look to continue funding 9-1-1 using what we have today, the partnership, we can grow it, but there is limited growth in that area. Additional grants. Grants are not offered every year, so we go after them when they're available. Wireless fund is regulated by the state, so unless the state legislation changes the formula or increases the fee, we will not see much more of an increase there. And the fourth way is to establish a different local funding mechanism, and that's always a possibility. Other models that have been used in the state of Kentucky. A flat rate in Lincoln and Garrett County, they moved from a $3 per landline to a $2.50 per water meter. Their water company is collecting that fee for them. Kenton County has moved to a flat rate per parcel. They currently collect $85 a year per parcel instead of $4.50 per landline. Wolf County has moved to a percentage. They do a 3% of property tax to support their 911. And in Boyd County, they have actually set up a 17% of your base telephone rate to fund their 911. So people in Kentucky and elsewhere in the nation are moving away from landline fees because landline customers is decreasing, and you're just increasing the burden of the fund on those that remain on that technology. With that, I'm open to questions on any of these topics or others. All right, Council Member Henson. Thank you, Mayor. Yes, ma'am. David, I know when we went through the public safety links and we talked about the wireless versus landlines and one's decreasing tremendously and one is increasing. And the amount we receive from landlines is much greater than the amount we receive from wireless. So if we could, we would need to lobby the state, correct? If you want to change the wireless fee, you could lobby the state to get an increase. We've been lobbying them every year for the last five years unsuccessfully. You can imagine the appetite to increase the fee on wireless is not large. And so with the wireless payments, is it just phones registered in Fayette County? Every wireless phone that has a billing zip code in our county, which is basically everything 405, we get that as part of our rate. And the rest is split up equally among all partners. So the more subscribers you have, the most money you will receive. We received the third largest amount behind Louisville and the Kentucky State Police. Okay. So right now we're making up for Lawson the number of landlines by increasing the fee. That is correct. We increased the fee every 4.5% every year. So as we keep losing, we were losing landline about 5%. Now it's about 3% less each year. So you're right. The remaining on landline are subsidizing the remainder that have exited that technology. I see this as a very serious issue because I do believe as time goes on, more and more people will not have a landline. And it's something that we will need to address at some point. I agree with you completely. Ironically, 80% of our calls come from wireless, and wireless provides 20% of our funds. So you kind of see the opposite. Ironically, everybody uses 911, either their cell phone or their computer or their landline. So a lot of people are moving to collect the fee rather from a device, but a per-address or a per-person aspect. And as you see, in northern Kentucky and Lincoln-Garrett, they're moving that direction. We have tried unsuccessfully to have legislation forward at the state that will allow the utility companies to collect the fee for us. I don't see that progressing. They have a very strong lobby. So we are trying to find other ways to collect that fee that is not device-driven. Currently, how do we collect it? Through state? No, the landline we collect through your landline carrier, Windstream or Insight or whoever you might have. The wireless on your phone, that all goes to the state and gets redistributed. That is correct. But it's not a one-to-one. $0.70, even if we got the full $0.70, we get about $0.65 of that. And if they were on a landline, we were getting $2.48. So there's a big drop when someone switches. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Good questions, Council Member Henson. David, you may have mentioned it, and I missed it. I'm really sort of just sandwiching on to what Council Member Henson was talking about in terms of the problem. We see the problem and the solution or the recommendations for dealing with this. How are you? Commissioner Mason, what are you all doing? Where is the strategy on this? If I had a recommendation, it is we need to take it to a committee, and I have great details on one of these four or five options on available models that are successfully being used elsewhere. Okay. As Ms. Henson said, we're about on that curve. We're going to start losing money again, and the general fund will have to subsidize. We've been very good at not subsidizing for five, six years. We would like to keep it that way. I think one of the things to note is that it is a statewide issue. All of the counties are engaged. As this chart shows, this is a representation of the ways that several localities have dealt with the problem. And when David talks about lobbying the legislature, I think this is a group lobby effort on the state board's part. It's not just Fayette County. That's correct. So it's being handled through the state 911 board in looking at avenues to address this statewide. However, the statewide effort will only address the wireless. The local fee, everyone likes local control, is set independently. Our rate is $256. Every county of the six counties surrounding us, three are higher, ranging from $350 to $3. Three are below us. So locally we need to move forward with a better collection method that will be even throughout the years. All right. So then the approach or strategy going forward will be to confirm the recommendations from the administration side and then make recommendations to council? Yes, we could do that. Okay. Yes, sir. Great. I think council needs to know what the expectations are. All right. Okay, thanks very much. You're welcome. All right, next on our agenda is council reports. This floor is available for council reports. Council Member McCord. Thank you, Mayor. Just very quickly, I want to personally thank you, Mayor, for coming Sunday night. We had a Veterans Legacy Night at Emanuel Baptist Church, and this year the Veterans Day parade that has been held for so long and actually has been pretty poorly attended was canceled because of lack of interest and participation. And so the Lexington Apartment Association back in February and on Sunday night, this past Sunday night, we had the first annual Veterans Legacy Night and it was a tremendous evening. Mayor, I just want to personally thank you for making time to come and visit and I also want to thank newly elected Congressman Andy Barr for coming and making time to come as well. It was an evening to be remembered. It's a model for the rest of the nation. There's a whole number of folks that want to take this model across the country and, again, Lexington having something that it has created that it can send out as a different way of doing something that obviously had a waning support. So, again, I want to publicly thank the Department of Association for their leadership in pulling this together and for all those who came into attendance that night. I look forward to working with them going forward. Thank you, Mayor. Thanks, Councilman McCoy. It was a great production. Thank you, Mayor. I wanted to talk a little bit about the leaf collection process and just let people know. And, Ron, could you come up? Oh, I was told that you had a mustache like, how do you describe yourself? Oh, I've been called various names, but Tom Selleck, it's No Shave November. Right. Men's Health. So there's two Tom Selleck mustaches in the room, and I was looking at the wrong one when I first started talking. But thank you for coming in today. What I wanted to do was just let people know in the 8th District that leaf collection started when yesterday. Yes, sir. And I noticed a lot of leaves have been raked to the curb and just wanted to kind of put that out there so people would know to get them on out there so you guys can come in and pick them up. If you could explain some of the streets that you're going through in the next week or so, that would be fantastic. Well, currently we're in Zone A, which includes parts of the 5th and the 8th District. Um, golly, we've, we've been around Larkin Road, Lowry, um, Melbourne, Curtin, um, Fontaine, Shinaway, South Hanover, Slashes. We've accomplished quite a bit, uh, just in two days. There are quite a lot of leaves down already this year because of the, the drought and the temperatures. Um, one thing in, um, public works and planning committee that Councilman Farmer asked me to emphasize is please do not rake leaves into the street. It is a hazard, it is unsightly, and it is terrible for water quality. And also you open yourself up to liability if it creates an accident. You could be subject to a citation, a fine, or even an abatement with a lien. So between the sidewalk and the curb, the edge of the yard, no sticks, trash, rocks, any other debris, and certainly bear with us. There is a website, the city's website, lexingtonky.gov, forward slash leaves. You can also go under the community tab. There's a matrix where you can enter your address and find out when your zone is supposed to start. For those that are in zone A, you were supposed to have had your leaves to the curb by Sunday evening. And, of course, it's an ongoing process. It takes us at least a week for each zone. Okay. Can you, will you do, what level of street do you go down when you pick up the leaves? Is it, do you do the entire district or just certain? It is only residential addresses that get urban county trash pickup. Okay, so as long as you get trash pickup, you're going to come down that street? Yes, sir. Okay, and that zone A pretty much covers all of the 8th District. So folks in 8th District, get your leaves out, but not in the street. Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. Thanks, Council Member Myers. Council Member Hanson. Thank you, Mayor. I wanted to see if Commissioner Mason could ask about the fire station brownouts and if they are still occurring, which I believe they are, and do we have any idea how long that will continue? We are currently still engaged in the plan we've been using for the last 14 or 15 months, trying to limit the number of apparatus that are out of service on a given day to three. And we have a class in currently, I believe, 20 to 22 at the training academy. and when they get out, depending on attrition this winter, we'll continue to make adjustments to the coverage. Okay. So you think it might be short-lived. And maybe when this new class graduates, gets their feet on the ground, then... That will help alleviate the problem. There are certain peak times with some of the folks that are, some of the firefighters, when there are peak vacation times and things when our staff is lower than at others. You know, I could have done this through email, but I thought a lot of people have been asking, and there was a fire on Southland Drive recently where the station right within sight of old Kentucky chocolate. And I think the responding truck was there within three minutes anyway. Well, yeah, I'm sure it was quick, but they could have ran across the road practically. But I don't know. It just concerned me, and I thought there are a lot of people out there that would like to know how long they can expect it to continue. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Henson. Chief Hoskins, would you want to supplement or footnote? I think it's, you know, whenever this conversation arises, I know this is one thing that I learned in the collective bargaining process or in some of the conversations, that it's so important for us to illustrate fair expectations, you know, honest expectations, and not to raise false expectations about issues like this. And sometimes in the conversations that occur on issues that are sometimes combustible, if you will, those expectations get a little fuzzy. So I think it would be worthwhile because I think when we're talking about new class and hitting levels of, you know, what is that expectation? And I'm not saying go into it thoroughly, but, you know, expectations of perfect are sometimes maybe hard to nail down. We're in a situation currently that is unusual in that I did a look at this just last week. we have 30 people that are either on light duty, disability leave, or deployed with the military right now. And that translates, if you will, three people per company. Divide our three shifts by 30, they get that 10. Those three companies that we're losing every day can almost be attributed to people who are either on light duty, who are on disability leave, or are deployed with the military. So to be honest with you, we didn't anticipate at this part of the year that we would be still suffering from temporarily closed fire companies, but it's happening. And as the commissioner said, we limit it to three. They're spread out all across town. The overlap of our positioning of fire stations helps us keep from finding ourselves in a bad situation as far as response times. You know, I totally understand. But I think in a situation when you need the fire department and you've got a taxpaying citizen and they have an emergency situation and the fire station directly across the street is browned out, You know, it's hard to explain it to them at that moment, but, you know, so that's why I wanted you to explain, and I appreciate it. Thank you. So just to clarify, did I hear that on that occasion, that incident, that the backup was, that service was in three minutes? So that does give you an adequate indicator of the service level support or the backup. What's the language? Not redundancy, is it? No. Just the distribution. So the system was working efficiently. Yes, it is. Yeah. Okay. Council Member Stenet. I just want to ask a follow-up question because this topic came up, as you know, in the budget and finance meeting. And we had a surplus in our expenses on personnel. A lot of it was attributable to the money, the classes for both police and fire, to be fair. So when are we hiring the next class? And is there not a way to overlap this gap that we're going to experience between this class that's going to graduate, go ahead and start a new one halfway through? Have we looked at that? Because December 31st, we all know it's coming. You're going to have more retirements. Yes. So we're going to keep getting behind. So what are we going to do? Are we looking at getting rid of stations or moving them? That's a pretty broad question. I understand, but this is what we got. When we saw a number of $3.7 million in personnel expense that hadn't been spent, some of that is for classes. So when is our next class? We're looking at late spring and bringing on another class. We just had a process of testing and interviews and so forth, and that takes a while to work through in terms of doing the backgrounds and the polygraphs and the physicals and everything like that. So we're looking at late spring, mid to late spring. We do not know what our attrition is going to be this winter. We didn't know last year until much closer to the New Year's that it was going to be around 40. We don't think it's going to be anywhere near that this year. We have no indication of that, but we're not sure exactly how many it's going to be. In terms of moving stations, that's a long-range question that we have started doing some preliminary work on, and we're waiting on a report from the ISO that came in and did a survey to look at our run volumes and our incidents and see where parts of Fayette County have changed, where we might need to adjust for any kind of station realignments. But that's something we're working on in some long-range planning right now. Well, again, fairness to Councilmember Henson, And, you know, these are the questions we're getting asked. And why are we not speeding up the hiring process? Why are we not trying to overlap classes? Is there something we can do? Because, and to the mayor's point, we are covering things today as we talk about it. But how much longer can we continue at this pace? Yeah. I think rather than I just want to make a suggestion that this might be a fair conversation for Chief Jackson to be here. He and I have had several conversations. I know you have too, Clay. but these timing and pacing issues are at the highest level of consideration. Very good questions. Appreciate those questions. But it might be a better conversation to have with Chief Jackson present because he has talked about the retirements to me, and I'm cautious because any time you say something about predicting what kind of retirements, you know, you can be off. And I'm not going to do that. But neither can we plan so conservatively and invest so highly that we find ourselves in a financially disadvantaged position either. So I feel confident that Chief is examining. I know Chief Hoskins, and you have as well, Clay. So how about we need to look into this more carefully. But certainly good questions. Like you said, you're getting questions about these issues. Council members are, so it's a fair question. Well, thank you, Mary. And I do think Chief Chattis has an opportunity to be here, and it should be here. And, again, the public, I think we need to know we have a plan, because this is not going to get any easier as we keep going until we get able to backfill these bodies. And we have a growing city, a population. So I think the people just want to know what the plan is. I think that would be good for this council to understand it and get a clearer direction. And Chief's been really good at forthcoming, talking individually with us, but I think the community as a whole needs to understand about brownouts and what we can really do. Because obviously as we hire, if we don't change the pension system, we're going to paint ourselves into another financial hole. So I appreciate the information. If you can schedule that to get to the council. Yeah, I will caution it. The ISO report is probably not going to be back until like February or March. and so it probably would not be well served to try and put anything together. Why don't you tell us when it's going to be then, when we can expect this presentation? I would expect April or May, something like that, once we have time to digest that ISO report. Well, can you address the training issue either today or in between there, why we can't overlap classes? We'll take a look at that. Thank you. Councilman Myers has a question related to this, so you guys might want to ask that. Thank you, Mayor. I have a quick question. The public safety link this year asked us one of the things we wanted you to do was do a survey or a study to see what positions in police and fire could be done by other than a sworn officer. Right. I have completed that. I've got a written report that is at the mayor's office, and they're reviewing it right now. Okay, so I'll just wait until it comes out. Yes. Thank you, sir. Council Member Farmer. Thank you, Mayor. I had two brief things. First, on this weekend, this is the big Chevy Chase weekend. The business owners will be hosting the public for an open house on Friday night from 5 until 8 p.m. So all the businesses will be open. Santa Claus will be present. There will be a lot of things going on in Chevy Chase on Friday night. On Saturday night, we'll have the inaugural Chevy Chase pub crawl that you can go online and purchase tickets for, and it will kind of begin in the Billy's Barbecue area, culminating finally at the New Moon. And this promises to be quite a moving cultural event. So I would encourage all to come to Chevy Chase over the weekend. Now, backing up. Mayor, I wanted you to know that I went out into the hallway and spoke with Bruce Greinke from Big Ass Fans. And if we will surrender these fans to him, he will give us new fans to put up in here. And I think that's a wonderful thing. It's a great way to showcase a wonderful brand that's part of Lexington. In my conversation with him, he told me that they shipped fans to 51 different countries from there. He had worked in Chicago for 20-plus years and worked in Louisville and is now so happy to be in Lexington and is so impressed with the quality of the workforce in Lexington that he doesn't want to tell his peers about how good the workforce is here because he doesn't want them to know how good things are here. As someone moving here from the Chicagoland area, his perception of Kentucky kind of follows the turtle man or whatever. And I think that's the perception that we all kind of battle to a certain degree. But beyond that, how much more special Lexington and its workforce are? And it was just the power of just a little conversation that plays itself out in hundreds of other ways. And I'm so happy to have the ability for those folks to be here today for us to incent their business in Lexington. But for him to give that kind of compliment for our workforce is huge and something that we should not take lightly. So I wanted to pass it along to you because I know how much you... I wish, yeah, I wish we could record and just replay what you said over and over and over again. Because it is recorded, and maybe we just need to, maybe, Chris, there you go. You've got instructions. I mean, that was a moment. It is very reassuring to hear those kind of comments. I occasionally tell a story of a fellow from Winchester who's the human resources manager for a company over there who stopped me on the street one day and said that he and his wife had moved from Chicago, two little kids, and he said, we just love Lexington. Work in Winchester. He said, whenever I try to recruit folks, if I can get them to consider moving to Kentucky, I bring them into Lexington and sell them every time. Lexington sells itself. It's a strong close. Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. And I think you made a motion about the fans, as I recall. It was jocular at the time, but I would make a motion that we accept the gift of three fans. I think John Sheed is in the room. and he might be able to check it out. Great. Okay. Thank you, Council Member Farmer. Council Member Lawless. I, too, was going to announce the Chevy Chase goings on. And I'm always curious why they call them pub crawls. But several years ago when I was in Ireland, I went on a pub crawl and I saw people were crawling. But anyway, it is a big event in Chevy Chase. There's also, on the big-ass fans note, my son's stepmother, I guess, works at big-ass fans. And two or three years ago, he was in Indonesia going through some open market and looked up, and there was a big-ass fan from Lexington, Kentucky, and he was very excited. So it is a huge, great, a huge, big-ass fan company. And I, too, think that it's quite a statement that these companies are coming to Lexington and growing in Lexington due to the spectacular community and people we have here. Also, there's the Mintel Park annual hot chocolate and cookie on the front porch at 54 Mintel Park, which happens to be the home of Jeff Fugate. And that is, I believe, Sunday from 3 to 5. So hop by and they collect donations for the Salvation Army kettle. So thank you, and that's all I got. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Lawless. I don't have any other, no other Council members signed up. Any other council members wish to present a council report? All right. If not, then we can move on to the mayor's report. There's a motion by Council Member Blue, second by Council Member Hanson to approve the report. Is there any discussion? A number of us didn't get the report this time around. I'm sorry about that. Anything good on it? The Infrastructure Hearing Board and Internal Audit Board. I'm good with that. Thank you. All right, sir. All right. Then if there's no further comment, then we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. The motion passes. Thank you. Before we get to public comment, I do want to mention that I want to thank Ryan Barrow. We already have, he's had a presentation before in budget and finance, but I was, this is Ryan's last day. He has done an extraordinary, outstanding job in his job and professional in every respect, always, and we appreciate it enormously when I was talking with him. Yeah, he had cake, was that yesterday? Yes, sir. Yeah, KCON in the office. And he was telling a little story. I said, you know, Ryan, you might just share that story of the whiteboard. Was it when you came into the job? Yes, sir. I appreciate the opportunity. I really wanted to thank everybody in the budgeting office there, just excellent employees. And it was an honor to work with this council and this administration. And I think we all recognize that I'm a visual person, so I wanted to leave you with one last visual that I shared with Mary yesterday. But Jane mentioned it earlier. When she first came on board, we sat down and we went through a lot of the issues. Those issues went off the whiteboard in my office. And it was really amazing to see the progression over the last several years with the number of items that were on there. Now there's two items that are still there. But it was an honor and privilege to cross those off. Some were easy, like the debt policies and implementing the monthly budget meetings that have streamlined operations tremendously. some are very painful like health care. But it really was very fulfilling for me, and I think we should all in this room take great pride in the number of issues that we've crossed off over the last several years. Ryan, thanks a lot. Thank you so much. I'll say you gave us a lot of inspiration by being willing to illuminate and build together. You guys, by illuminating the issues and the problems and the challenges and the opportunities, and then by encouraging us, that helps along with the stabilization of the backbone, I would say. We appreciate it a lot, Brian. You've left a real legacy here, and we all appreciate it. Thanks. Yes, sir. Anybody else? Please weigh in here. I really need to add to that because I guess a few council members, I don't know, maybe many, but have used Ryan's services and Commissioner Driscoll. They have been so incredibly helpful with our work on the pension. And the thing that I really am so impressed about Ryan is that the information he gives you has integrity. You can rely on it, and you know it's good information. And I can hardly say anything praise hire for a budget person and for a finance person. So, Ryan, the hard thing, and I think the mayor said this in the paper perhaps, but the hard thing about having good people is other people steal them away from you. And so, Ryan, it's really been an honor, and you've just done a great job, and it's a loss for us. It's a gain for the state. So thank you. Thanks, Mayor. Yes, sir. Thank you, Council Member Martin. All right. Next on our agenda is a public comment for issues not on the agenda. Wait a minute, wait a minute. Okay, I didn't see you. There you go, Chris. Thank you, Mayor. I didn't see you signed on there. House Mayor Ford. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to echo all the sentiments and offers of congratulations to Director Ryan Barrow. I want to ask the Mayor if it's okay if the Council will indulge. We've talked a lot about Ryan leaving, and I don't know if he's had an opportunity to tell us exactly where he's going and what he's going to be doing here real soon. He's going to be going down to Frankfort, still representing Lexington, just fortunately for the Commonwealth. He'll be providing his services to the other 119 counties and the municipalities there within. And I think there's some work to do at state government as well, so you're definitely not shy about taking a hold to another challenge. Mayor, is it okay if he just briefly tells us what his new exciting role is going to be? We're going to wish him well on his way out. Thank you, Ryan. Thank you, Council Member, for the opportunity. I was honored to be offered the position of Executive Director of OFM. Essentially in layman terms, I'll be moving back into the space I came out of previous to LFUCG, essentially responsible for infrastructure funding, all the infrastructure funding for the state. So I thought it was wonderful when I get to fund the courthouse in my home county at Ross & Clair, and now I'll get to participate in the funding of the bridges in and out of my home state. but student loans and housing debt and all the road projects. So that money will be coming back to Lexington that our office will raise. And then also the daily cash management, not pension, but all the cash that the state were responsible for overseeing those investments. So I'm very excited about the opportunity. That's bittersweet. I've enjoyed it here tremendously. Again, good luck, Ryan. Thank you, Mayor. Thanks, Council Member Ford. and a real tribute to you for that new role. All right. Mr. Mundy, anybody signed up? All right. Thank you, sir. If there's no further business to come before the council, then I will accept a motion to adjourn. Move adjourn. Motion by the vice mayor to adjourn, second by Council Member Myers. Is there any objection? Hearing none, our meeting is adjourned. Thank you. We'll be just all right.