# Special Economic Development COW - February 18, 2014 > Auto-transcribed civic record · February 18, 2014 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/3246 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/3246?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2014-02-18 - **Last revised**: July 15, 2026 - **Length**: 3,821 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 Economic Development Committee met on February 18, 2014, at 10:00 AM, with Beard presiding. The committee addressed six agenda items during the session, taking two votes and hearing four public comments. The committee approved the Committee Summary from February 4, 2014, and approved the Food Truck Review. Items referred to the committee were moved forward for further consideration. However, the JOBS Program Review failed to pass. Two informational presentations were also delivered: an update on the Old Courthouse Renovation and a report on the Partner Agency Reporting System. ## Attendance **Present:** Beard, Stinnett, Gorton, Ellinger, Kay, Ford, Scutchfield, Myers, Mossotti, Clarke, Henson, and Lane. **Absent:** Akers, Lawless, and Farmer. **Late arrivals:** None. ## Votes and Decisions **Motion to Extend Food Truck Pilot Program** A motion to extend the food truck pilot program through December 31, 2014 was made by Akers. The motion passed unanimously with 9 ayes and 0 nays. [timestamp: 0:30:24] The following members voted in favor: - Beard - Stinnett - Gorton - Ellinger - Kay - Ford - Akers - Scutchfield - Myers **Motion to Refer Zoning Text Amendments** A motion to refer zoning text amendments for P1 and agricultural zones to the Planning Committee was made by Akers. The motion passed by voice vote. [timestamp: 0:31:29] ## Public Comment Four speakers addressed the council regarding the food truck pilot program and the food truck industry. **Elias Pappas** [timestamp: 0:12:37] spoke in support of the food truck pilot program, describing his personal experience as a food truck operator who transitioned to owning a brick-and-mortar restaurant. He emphasized how the pilot program enabled him to grow his business from a pop-up operation to a full-time establishment with 11 employees, highlighting the program's role in supporting small business development. **Sean Tibbetts** [timestamp: 0:14:13], owner of Cluckenberger food truck and director of the Bluegrass Food Truck Association, addressed the broader impact of the program on industry growth and the community. He noted that the program has been successful in creating jobs and supporting charitable efforts. Tibbetts reported that the association has grown to over 20 members and has seen 5 brick-and-mortar restaurant openings emerge from food truck operations within two years, demonstrating the program's role in fostering a vibrant culinary scene. **Matt Bradford** [timestamp: 0:18:00], a food truck operator and brick-and-mortar owner, shared his personal journey and credited the pilot program with enabling his business growth and expansion. He expressed gratitude to the council for supporting the industry and helping to legitimize food truck operations. **Andrew Southers** [timestamp: 0:20:44], owner of Gastronomes food truck, addressed challenges in launching a food truck business. He emphasized the significant costs and regulatory hurdles involved in starting a food truck operation, noting that these barriers are comparable to those faced when opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant. Southers urged the council to recognize the legitimacy of the food truck industry. All speakers expressed support for the food truck pilot program and its impact on business development and community economic growth. ## Contested Items **JOBS Program Guidelines Approval** The primary contested item during this meeting was a motion to approve guidelines for the JOBS program. The proposal generated significant disagreement among attendees, ultimately failing with a vote of 3-8. The debate centered on three main areas of concern: wage criteria, transparency requirements, and collateral requirements. These issues divided the body, with the majority voting against the approval of the guidelines as presented. The motion did not pass, indicating that the proposed guidelines in their current form were not acceptable to the majority of those voting. ## Committee Summary February 4, 2014 [timestamp: 00:33:01] The committee reviewed and approved the summary from the February 4, 2014 meeting. Key speakers during this discussion included Beard, Clark, and Ellinger. The February 4 summary covered three main topics: * JOBS program * Food truck review * Old Courthouse renovation The committee voted on the approval of this summary, and the motion passed unanimously. ## Food Truck Review [timestamp: 22:20] The committee reviewed the pilot program evaluation for food trucks, examining data on permits, citations, business growth, and community impact. **Key Speakers** The discussion involved committee members Akers, Myers, Southers, Tibbetts, Bradford, and Pappas. **Program Evaluation** The committee reviewed comprehensive data from the pilot program, including: - Permit information - Citation records - Business growth metrics - Community impact assessment **Public Comment** Public comments highlighted the program's success, with speakers emphasizing positive outcomes in job creation and business development. **Outcome** The committee voted to extend the food truck program through December 2014. The motion passed unanimously. ## Items Referred to Committee [timestamp: 00:31:29] The committee received referrals related to economic development matters during this agenda item. Akers presented information regarding zoning amendments for food truck operations in P1 and agricultural zones. These zoning amendment proposals were referred to the Planning Committee for further review and consideration. The referral process allows the Planning Committee to examine the details of the proposed amendments and provide recommendations before any final action is taken by the full body. ## JOBS Program Review Wes Holbrook and Kevin Atkins presented the JOBS program guidelines to the board. The presentation covered investment criteria, taxpayer protection measures, and wage requirements for the program. During the discussion, several concerns were raised by board members. Issues regarding median wage thresholds and the transparency of the program were highlighted as areas of concern. Board members Henson, Mossotti, Kay, Scutchfield, Myers, and Clarke participated in the discussion alongside the presenters. The board voted on a motion to approve the guidelines. The motion failed with a vote of 3-8, indicating that a majority of board members did not support approval of the guidelines as presented. ## Old Courthouse Renovation Update Fugate presented an update on efforts to stabilize and revitalize the Old Courthouse. The presentation covered leasing concepts and potential funding sources for the project. This was an informational item with no decisions made during the meeting. The discussion focused on exploring options to address the condition of the Old Courthouse and identifying viable paths forward for its renovation and continued use. ## Partner Agency Reporting System First quarter FY14 data from economic development partner agencies was presented during this agenda item. The presentation provided updates on program performance and financial metrics from the partner agencies. This was an informational item with no speakers identified in the available records. The session focused on reviewing the quarterly reporting data to track the performance and financial status of partner agencies involved in economic development initiatives. No specific concerns, debates, or action items were documented for this agenda item. The outcome was informational in nature, with the data presented for the committee's review and awareness. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed (9-0): Motion to extend the food truck pilot program through December 31, 2014 - **Motion** — passed: Motion to refer zoning text amendments for P1 and agricultural zones to Planning Committee --- ## Full transcript On a grave On a day like today We pass the time away Writing love letters in the sand How you laughed when I cried Each time I saw the tide Take our love letters from the sand You made a vow that you would ever be true But somehow that vow meant nothing to you Now my broken heartaches With every wave that breaks Over love letters In the sand guitar solo With every wave that breaks Over love letters in the sand Sometimes I feel the weight Of a past break in my mind And I know it's gone for good And it makes me want to cry Is this all we get to keep As the years go rolling by Just a memory For all the days gone by Oh, you're always in my heart And you're often on my mind I will never let it die Just as long as I'm alive Sometimes it makes me sad That we never said goodbye Well, I guess it never hurts To hurt sometimes You try and hold on to the moment But time won't let you stay But forever the step you take You lose something on the way You can't look forward to tomorrow And still hold on to yesterday Oh, I hope that you can hear me when I say Oh, you're always in my heart And you're often on my mind I will never let it die Just as long as I'm alive Sometimes it makes me sad That we never said goodbye Well, I guess it never hurts To hurt sometimes Oh, you're always in my heart And you're often on my mind I will never let it die Just as long as I'm alive Sometimes it makes me sad That we never said goodbye Well, I guess it never hurt It hurts sometimes Though I guess it never hurts, but hurts sometimes guitar solo You haven't changed a bit You didn't think that I'd remember How could I forget We sang Bobby McGee on the hood of my car Made a wish on every star In that clear September sky One bottle of wine and two Dixie cups Three a.m. I fell in love For the first time in my life Oh, that's something that just don't happen twice To this day I still taste that first kiss How I prayed it wouldn't end In a way, seeing you like this I guess I never really did We sang Molly McGee on the hood of my car Made a wish on every star In that clear September sky One ball of one and two Dixie Cups Three a.m. I fell in love For the first time in my life Oh, that's something That just don't happen twice guitar solo That just don't happen twice Oh, yeah They sang Bobby McGee On the hood of my car Little wish on every star Oh, no, no, no To New Mexico Yeah we fell in love Are you playing octaves there? Yeah, I did. Just give me one note. I'm real definite on those down beats. Chair, I was just curious if there's anyone here that would want to speak on this item. You mean from our side? There's a whole group of them. Yes, citizens that would. Not that we're taking sides, but just part of it. Not that we're taking sides, but. Right. I know Council Member Lawless had indicated that some of the restaurants in Lexington were interested in coming and speaking. I don't know if any of them were here or not, but if not, I would suggest that we just extend, and I'll leave that motion up to Council Member Akers, I guess, but extend the food truck pilot program for the 12 months. Thank you. We can do that now unless there's any new news from the food truck group. We have six people that have signed up to speak, and we'd be happy to listen to whomsomever. Sean, you're first on the list, but... I need a name and address, please. Yeah, my name is Elias Pappas. The address is 313 South Ashland Avenue. I started as a food truck operator a year ago. Now we have a brick-and-mortar location over in Chevy Chase. And, of course, I support the aspect of food truck because that's what allowed me from setting up a tent in places that I could have set up and employing no one to now feeding 11 families. I have 11 employees full-time and a place that thrives. And we continue working with the truck, too. We haven't been able to be part of the pilot program downtown because we didn't have the equipment, because we had a pop-up set up, not an actual truck. We purchased one. It's going to be ready in about three weeks. So if this has been extended, we'll probably see you out and about here in the downtown area, wherever we are allowed to go. So as for how the business has come so far, I want to thank you for the support in allowing us to, a small business owner, to have a passion about food and cooking and wanting to create a business. I was in no financial situation to start just with a restaurant to begin with, but having the food truck allowed me to save and create a solid concept. And now that solid concept and trust to having a restaurant. And of course, I will continue to do both if I'm allowed to. Council is there any questions for our speakers this moment thank you very much John you next you understand Sean Tibbetts 4009 Hillside Drive I own the Cluckenberger food truck and currently in the process of building and opening the Kentucky food truck and on a a hot dog cart. I'm also the esteemed director of the Bluegrass Food Truck Association, which is a lot of those folks over there. I spent 22 years climbing the corporate IT ladder and was privileged enough to have met, worked for, and solved problems for some of our nation's finest. I'd had the privilege of working with the greatest leaders our nation has known in the last 15 years of our country. That career gave me a home, a college degree, and memories I'll have forever. It also gave me a heart attack and gave me no choice but to leave that particular career at 36. So I walked away from the corporate world and decided to open a food truck in my own hometown of Lexington. I was immediately met with challenges, both from the business perspective of trying to sell a Jamaican product in the middle of Kentucky, and then also from the political perspective of just understanding how to sell that product legally. It was in that process that this group formed, and the group formed to enact change. And it was in the hallowed halls of our nation's capital that it occurred to me that sometimes change in government requires a tenacious voice. So I have chosen to be that voice. And in February and again in May of 2013, a very rare thing in government happened. We achieved change. In 22 years, corporate America taught me that change is difficult for any organization and always ends in some new and unexpected bonds. And unfortunately, some challenged opinions and sometimes some hurt feelings. This experience holds especially true for an organization as large as an entire city. But at the end of the day, those changes led to solid growth in a small industry, more options for consumer choice, and gave more entrepreneurs the opportunity to work and hopefully realize their dreams, including my own. Our food truck organization has grown from four members to over 20 in just two years. Five food truck operators have opened brick-and-mortar restaurants, and two brick-and-mortar restaurants have opened food trucks in that same amount of time. Our association members provide jobs for over 60 Lexingtonians. We also, last year, the food trucks worked with charitable organizations like God's Pantry for the proceeds from Food Truck Friday. This year, we'll be working with 33 different charities for our Food Trucks for a Cause event every Friday downtown. All of this has been done on private property, and all of it self-funded by the food truck operators. Our sister city to the West and our partner in the Bluegrass Economic Advancement Movement has embraced food trucks and a vibrant culinary scene they bring, resulting in a national ranking for their culinary prowess. Be it the methods, words, manners, or means that we have achieved the change over the course of working this last year, please don't let those filters blind you from seeing the growth in jobs, revenues, and partnerships that this grassroots organization has managed to achieve in the relatively short time as it existed. Please allow the program to continue to sort our business, to support our industry, and to support our dream. Thank you. Yeah, I think it's the end. Thank you. Thank you. Jason Cullen, I believe. I'm here, but I think the words have been said already, so I'll go ahead and pass. I don't want to prolong this meeting anymore than this. Okay. Nick Ring. I'm here, but I'll pass as well. Okay. Matt Bradford. Name and address, please. Good morning. Matt Bradford, 3339, Nevious Drive. I'd just like to take this opportunity to say thank you. You know, my wife and I started this business back in 2010, and, you know, along the way we never really realized the challenges that we would, you know, obviously face. You know, two years ago we formed this association. as a brainchild to try and figure out how are we going to be able to legally work in this city, being that the, I don't want to say the word, tainted vision of the food trucks that were already in operation before us. So, you know, the two of us, the three of us, the six of us, now the 20 of us, forming a strong coalition, I like to say, to be a voice in government. Just last year, we opened our first brick and mortar. So I stand 100% behind the Food Truck Association. As now a member of the brick and mortar, the food trucks allowed us to be able to financially support our own vision of opening in 2013. Our catering business is huge. We're busy in the community. We have built relationships with churches, businesses, industries across the city. Our neighboring counties, we've brought lots of jobs to our neighbors, our friends, our family. So being that we're now a brick and mortar, a food truck, mobile food vendor, caterer, we're looking for our second location to open at the end of 2014. Also being able to offer more jobs to our city. I would like to say that progress is where we are today. Without our members in council, without our voice in the association, we would not be where we are today. Last year when we met, we were looking to streamline where we were to be able to operate in 2013. You all allowed us, you know, with our vision to be able to operate. Where we are now, I feel like in 2014, where we are now as opposed to where we were two years ago, I believe that we're going to go forward and you're going to help us. I think that you believe in us, whether or not we have to go through all the motions for the rest of the year to keep going. We'll do that as an association to show that we're a strong voice in the city to operate legally. So, again, I just want to say thank you, and all of us here are a strong voice in the city as well as you. And as a brick and mortar, I will still stand strong with the Food Truck Association. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Andrew Southers. Good morning. It's Andrew Southers. I'll correct it from your summary from the last meeting because it was spelled wrong. It's S-U-T-H-E-R-S, not O-U, and it's 3292 Sweet Clover Lane. I am one of the owner-operators of the Gastronomes food truck. I don't feel there's a whole lot new to add that hasn't been said this morning other than we are not currently in your packet. We actually received our license and our pilot program license last week, so if you want to update that, know there is another food truck out there that belongs in that packet that's not there. But again, having worked and opened two brick-and-mortar restaurants in this town, both of which are very successful, I can only say that having opened this food truck now, and we went into operation as of last night, the amount of hoops and things we've jumped through simply to get open and licensed are tenfold what I ever experienced as an executive chef in this town. So I think there was an argument perhaps that this is kind of an easy way for either chefs or business owners to try and circumpass maybe the expense or the taxing on opening a restaurant. And I can assure you that is not the case. Thousands and thousands of dollars have gone into this business, not including anything to do with the truck itself, just the insurance and the liability and whatnot. So easily it is comparable to anything I've seen in the restaurant and brick-and-mortar side in this town. Thanks. Thank you. We have several people on the council that would like to say a word or two. Councilmember Akers? Thank you, Chair. First of all, I wanted to take a minute and step back and review the evaluation of the pilot program that we initiated months ago and just review a little bit like where we started and where we are, I guess, right now. If you'll look in your packet on page 9, it should actually be the first page of the evaluation summary. In January of last year, the vice mayor appointed the food truck work group. Its purpose was to craft a food truck ordinance. The work group met five times between February 7th and May 2nd. There's a list of members on the page as well. After discussion and much debate, we presented the food truck pilot to the council, which was the pilot project was approved unanimously on June 20th of 2013 to allow food trucks to operate in designated on-street parking in the downtown area primarily, or only, actually. So the program was initially approved for six months, and an extension was granted through March 1st. So then if you look on pages 3 and 4 of your packet, you'll actually see the evaluation parameters and measures that we used throughout the past six months. This was collected by the CAO's office, by the Division of Police, Lex Park, and the Health Department. So you can see here a list of pilot program permits that were issued in June of last year were four. There were a total of 35 food trucks prior to the food truck pilot. Two new ones obtained permits during the pilot project. Five different food trucks opened brick-and-mortar restaurants during the pilot project, and two brick-and-mortar restaurants opened food trucks. If you look at the number of citations issued from the Division of Police, there were zero. The number of complaints or concerns to LexCall or the CAO's office were also zero. The number of minority or women-owned businesses according to the Division of Purchasing were two. According to the Parking Authority, there were zero citations reported from the Parking Authority. And then the health department, there were five permit applications received during the pilot project. There were no closures, no failing inspections were issued. And as you can also read, none of the food trucks actually took advantage of the pilot project during lunchtime hours. Because of the two-hour limitation on parking between the hours of 8 and 5, it didn't really allow food trucks the opportunity to come downtown, find a parking space. Generally, two contiguous parking spaces are needed to operate, set up, vend, pack up, and leave within the two-hour span. So that does certainly limit opportunities for food trucks. through lunchtime for those of you who are going to ask why we didn't see food trucks at lunch. At nighttime, though, they are allowed to operate more freely after 5, and I believe some food trucks were downtown for certain events, and I believe that more will be expected to participate this year. As a result of some of the food truck work that we did in the work group, as well as just their own personal experiences in Lexington, we also approved, drafted and approved some zone changes, Texas amendments last year in specific areas such as B4 wholesale and warehouse, And then I-1 and I-2 zones were also, we approved text amendments to allow food trucks to operate in those zones at the request of private businesses. A lot of the food trucks were invited to come to specific businesses and serve lunch to their employees that don't have a lot of restaurants nearby. And at that request, we approved some zone changes. So I also brought today two other zone change requests, text amendments to some zoning ordinance that we can discuss later or we can refer to committee. But these were presented to me, again, at the request of private businesses who want to bring food trucks to their businesses to serve their either student population or their employees, but currently are prohibited by the zoning ordinance. So that's all I have for right now, and I'll just take questions and comments from other council members. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Council Member Myers. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess, is it Michael? Yes. Could you please come up? The questions that I have about this are less about food trucks and what you guys are doing and how well that's working or not working and more about our process and the thought that went in when revenue talked about, we heard in the last meeting, Bill O'Meara came up and said that there was a conversation with revenue regarding do we limit the scope of people who can operate on public property in this manner to just food trucks or do we expand that elsewhere? And so I guess what I would like to see happen is our Department of Law and Revenue do a study over the next 12 months to see what they think about that. And as I said before, there's people who have dog grooming businesses that operate out of vans that could come down on public property and do that work. There's any number of professional services that could do that. Some of them are already doing that in terms of they have the setup to do it, but they're not doing it on public property. And so I would like you guys to study that, number one. Also look at the fee structure that we have in place. and look at other cities and what they're doing in terms of the fee structure. $25 to open up, I think, is all it costs. Is that right for the permit? Yes. No, it's close to $1,000. All your permits, bonds, the mobile food vending units, $250. You have a $500 bond. You have a $100 something else. Yeah, $100 occupational license fee. And then the $25 fee is just for the pilot fee. It's just to be allowed to be on public price. I got you. So I guess that brings another question. If that $25 fee was just for the pilot program, what was the thought after the pilot program is over? And if this is made just a full-term program, is that fee going to go away? Will it go up? Will it stay the same? And what's the purpose of the fee, I guess? I don't know if that was to help offset the cost of doing the work to do the pilot or what. I'm not sure. But really, if we could study those things. And then also, if it's not too difficult, if we could look at a comparison between the cost of setting up a brick-and-mortar restaurant in terms of the fees and things that they have to pay as opposed to a food truck. I am more than willing to take those issues back to Dave Barber. He's the one that's done the heavy lifting on this in our office, and he will follow up on these issues. But I'm more than happy to take those to him and have him report back to you all whatever he finds. Okay. Okay, and Bill Amir is back there, Commissioner Mayor. Could you help with that? I'm sure that, okay. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Akers, did you have further conversation with the council? Yes, thank you, Chair. I would like to make a motion to extend the pilot project through the end of December 2014. So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Well, let's take a vote then. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Unanimously passed. Nine to zero. Chair, if I could make another motion. I would like to place these text amendments, the zoning ordinance for the P1 zone and for the agrural zone into the planning committee for consideration? Thank you. Do we have a second to that? All in favor? Any opposed? That passes also. Keep on turning that off. As far as this business is concerned, we're done as far as this is concerned. Oh, I'm sorry, George. Are we back in again? Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chair. As far as the request that I made, I don't necessarily have to make that in the form of a motion, but could we ask that you guys can report back maybe in October or maybe September? Is that enough time? What I'd like to do is not wait until December when this comes back and then start talking about those things. So if we gave you six months, could you? That would probably be sufficient. Okay. Okay. Okay. Thank you very much. And then I guess we'd report back to economic development. Okay. Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you. I still would like a vote on the February 4th summary if anybody would be so kind as to make a motion. All in favor? Any opposed? It looks like we're clear. Thank you all for coming. And that's where we are. Thank you.