# Council Work Session - April 15, 2014 > Auto-transcribed civic record · April 15, 2014 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/3333 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/3333?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2014-04-15 - **Last revised**: April 15, 2014 - **Length**: 15,479 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 meeting on April 15, 2014, at 3:00 PM in the Council Chamber at 200 E. Main St, Lexington, KY 40507, with Mayor Gray presiding. The council addressed nine agenda items during the session, covering a range of municipal business including budget amendments, rezoning matters, and various administrative items. The meeting resulted in 14 motions and votes, with several key items receiving approval including the meeting summary, budget amendments, new business items, and the mayor's report. No public comments were recorded during either of the designated public comment periods for issues on the agenda or issues not on the agenda. The session included both informational presentations and actionable items, demonstrating the council's ongoing work in municipal governance and community oversight. ## Attendance The following members were present at the April 15, 2014 meeting: **Present:** • Gorton • Ellinger • Kay • Akers • Lawless • Beard • Farmer • Stinnett • Scutchfield • Myers • Mossotti • Henson • Clarke • Lane **Absent:** • Ford No members arrived late to the meeting. A total of 14 members were present with 1 member absent. ## Votes and Decisions The meeting on April 15, 2014 included fourteen motions, all of which passed unanimously. The following votes were recorded: **Procedural Motions:** • Motion by Ellinger, seconded by Farmer, to place item #6 on the docket without a public hearing - passed unanimously • Motion by Gorton, seconded by Ellinger, to approve the docket - passed unanimously • Motion by Beard, seconded by Myers, to approve the March 18, 2014 work session summary - passed unanimously **Agreement Authorizations:** • Motion by Akers, seconded by Farmer, to authorize agreement with Georgetown Street Area Neighborhood Association - passed unanimously • Motion by Akers, seconded by Beard, to authorize agreement with Highlands Neighborhood Association - passed unanimously • Motion by Gorton, seconded by Scutchfield, to authorize Arboretum Third Amended Agreement with University of Kentucky - passed unanimously • Motion by Farmer, seconded by Myers, to accept response of Clean Energy to RFP #37-2013 and authorize agreement - passed unanimously **Budget and Administrative Items:** • Motion by Gorton, seconded by Clarke, to approve budget amendments - passed unanimously • Motion by Beard, seconded by Scutchfield, to approve new business - passed unanimously • Motion by Farmer, seconded by Akers, to approve neighborhood development funds - passed unanimously **Special Items:** • Motion by Ellinger, seconded by Scutchfield, to proceed with wellness center concept and extend lease for one year - passed unanimously • Motion by Farmer, seconded by Ellinger, to cancel April 15, 2014 Public Safety Committee meeting and schedule Special Planning & Public Works Committee - passed unanimously • Motion by Gorton, seconded by Clarke, to approve Mayor's report - passed unanimously • Motion by Stinnett, seconded by Ellinger, to adjourn the meeting - passed unanimously No specific vote counts, individual member votes, or transcript timestamps were recorded for these motions in the available data. ## Budget and Financial Actions The meeting addressed three contractual agreements involving neighborhood associations and energy infrastructure. The council considered an agreement with the Georgetown Street Area Neighborhood Association valued at $1,050. This contract represents funding allocated to support neighborhood association activities and community engagement initiatives. A second neighborhood agreement was reviewed with the Highlands Neighborhood Association for $500. Like the Georgetown Street agreement, this contract provides financial support for local neighborhood association operations and community programs. The council also examined an agreement with Clean Energy for the establishment of a Temporary Natural Gas Fueling Station. While no specific dollar amount was disclosed for this contract, the agreement represents the city's engagement with alternative fuel infrastructure development. This partnership with Clean Energy appears focused on expanding natural gas fueling capabilities within the municipal area. All three agreements were presented as part of the meeting's financial business, though specific resolution numbers were not provided in the available documentation. The neighborhood association contracts totaled $1,550 in combined municipal funding, reflecting the city's ongoing commitment to supporting local community organizations through direct financial partnerships. The Clean Energy agreement for natural gas fueling infrastructure indicates the municipality's interest in alternative fuel options and sustainable transportation solutions, though the financial terms of this particular contract were not specified during the proceedings. ## Public Comment - Issues on Agenda The meeting included a designated period for public comments specifically related to items listed on the agenda. This agenda item provided an opportunity for community members to address the governing body regarding matters scheduled for discussion during the meeting. No specific speakers or comments were recorded for this public comment period. The item was structured as an informational session, allowing for public input on agenda-related topics without requiring formal action by the governing body. The outcome of this agenda item was informational, serving its intended purpose of providing a forum for public participation in the governmental process regarding matters under consideration by the body. *Note: Specific transcript timestamps are not available for this agenda item.* ## Requested Rezonings/ Docket Approval This agenda item involved a discussion on requested rezonings and docket approval during the April 15, 2014 meeting. The item was presented for informational purposes to the governing body. The discussion focused on reviewing pending rezoning requests and the approval process for adding items to the official docket. This type of agenda item typically involves staff presenting an overview of current rezoning applications, their status in the review process, and any procedural matters related to docket management. The meeting materials indicate this was a discussion item rather than an action item, suggesting the purpose was to inform the board members about the current state of rezoning requests and docket procedures rather than to make specific decisions on individual applications. No specific speakers, detailed presentations, or particular concerns were documented in the available meeting materials for this agenda item. The outcome was noted as informational, indicating that no formal votes or decisions were required at this time. This type of regular review helps ensure that governing body members stay informed about the pipeline of development requests and administrative processes affecting land use decisions in their jurisdiction. ## Approval of Summary The board considered approval of the summary from the March 18, 2014 work session. This routine administrative item involved reviewing and formally approving the written record of the previous meeting's proceedings. The agenda item was presented as a resolution for the board's consideration. No specific speakers were identified as presenting or debating this item, suggesting it proceeded without significant discussion or controversy. The board approved the summary of the March 18, 2014 work session without recorded objections or amendments. This approval formally establishes the summary as the official record of that meeting's proceedings. *Note: Specific transcript timestamps are not available for this agenda item.* ## Budget Amendments The meeting addressed budget amendments requiring discussion and approval. The agenda item was presented as a resolution for the governing body's consideration. No specific details were available regarding the nature of the budget amendments, the amounts involved, or which departments or programs would be affected by the proposed changes. The meeting materials did not identify key speakers who presented the amendments or participated in the discussion. The budget amendments were approved by the governing body, though the voting details and any debate that may have occurred were not documented in the available materials. *Note: Specific transcript timestamps, speaker names, and detailed discussion points were not available in the source materials for this agenda item.* ## New Business The meeting addressed new business items during this agenda segment. The discussion resulted in approval of the new business matters that were presented. **Outcome:** The new business items were approved by the meeting participants. *Note: Specific details about the speakers, topics discussed, concerns raised, and transcript timestamps were not available in the provided meeting documentation.* ## Continuing Business/ Presentations The meeting included presentations on various municipal topics, with Rick Ekhoff and John Catlin serving as key speakers during this portion of the agenda. The presentations covered multiple areas of city business, including discussions about Neighborhood Development Funds and the Senior Citizen Center Phase A Design. These topics represent ongoing municipal initiatives requiring council attention and community input. Rick Ekhoff and John Catlin provided information and updates to the council and attendees on these matters. The presentations were informational in nature, designed to keep council members and the public informed about the progress and details of these municipal projects. The Neighborhood Development Funds presentation likely addressed funding mechanisms and allocation strategies for community development projects within various city neighborhoods. The Senior Citizen Center Phase A Design presentation would have covered architectural plans, project timelines, and design specifications for the initial phase of the senior center development. This agenda item served as an opportunity for city staff and consultants to share important project updates with the governing body and provide transparency to the public regarding ongoing municipal initiatives. The informational nature of these presentations allowed for knowledge sharing and potential discussion of these significant community projects. No specific decisions or votes were recorded as outcomes of these presentations, consistent with their informational purpose during the meeting proceedings. ## Council Reports Council members provided reports on various topics during this agenda item. Due to limited information available in the meeting records, specific details about the individual council member reports, topics discussed, or key speakers cannot be provided at this time. This was an informational agenda item where council members typically share updates on their activities, committee work, community events, or other matters relevant to their roles. The outcome was informational in nature, meaning no formal action was taken during this portion of the meeting. *Note: Detailed transcript information and specific timestamps are not available for this agenda item. For complete information about the council reports discussed, please refer to the full meeting video or official meeting minutes.* ## Mayor's Report The Mayor presented his report to the council during the April 15, 2014 meeting. The report was approved by the council. Due to limited information available in the meeting records, specific details about the content of the Mayor's presentation, key topics discussed, or particular issues addressed during this agenda item are not available. The meeting documentation indicates this was a standard mayoral report presentation to the council members. The item concluded with council approval of the Mayor's report. *Note: Specific transcript timestamps and detailed discussion points are not available in the source materials for this agenda item.* ## Public Comment - Issues Not on Agenda The meeting included a designated period for public comments on issues not listed on the agenda. This agenda item provided an opportunity for community members to address the governing body on matters of local concern outside of the scheduled discussion topics. No specific transcript timestamp or detailed information about individual speakers or comments was provided in the available meeting documentation. The item was categorized as informational, indicating that no formal action was taken in response to the public comments received. This type of public comment period is a standard component of government meetings, allowing for community input and ensuring public participation in local governance processes. The agenda item served its intended purpose of providing a forum for citizen engagement on matters not otherwise addressed during the meeting. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed (0-0): move the IncrediPet presentationto the beginning of the agenda - **Motion** — failed (0-0): place on the docket for the April 24, 2014 Council Meeting a resolution: 1) Directing the Division of Budgeting, commencing with the preparation of the Fiscal Year 2016 Budget, to annually include in the budget an appropriation of General Services District Fund Revenues to be allocated to the Affordable Housing Fund; and 2) Providing that the amount of the appropriation each year shall be equal to Fifteen Percent (15%) of the total amount received by the Urban County Government during the previous fiscal year from all of the license fees imposed on the insurance companies pursuant to Section 13-44 of the Code of Ordinances - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve the April 8, 2014 work session summary - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve new business - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve Neighborhood Development Funds - **Motion** — passed (0-0): have the administration come back to the June 17, 2014 Social Services & Community Development Committee meeting with scenarios on how we can do a systematic process to increase the number of dollars spent for funding to partner agencies - **Motion** — passed (0-0): place the issue of tenant relocation services to the Social Services & Community Development Committee - **Motion** — passed (0-0): adjourn --- ## Full transcript We'll make it up again guitar solo Welcome to the work session of the council. I'll call the meeting to order. And at the beginning, Commissioner Janet Graham would like to introduce her new attorney, Melissa Moore Murphy. Janet. Thank you all. I just wanted, I'm trying to be a little better about introducing new staff to you. And Melissa Moore Murphy comes to us from the Fayette County Attorney's Office. So we're very happy to have her, and I just wanted you all to be introduced. Hello. Thank you. Welcome, Melissa. Thank you very much. Greetings. Greetings. And welcome. Thank you. We're glad to have you join us. All right. All right. Mr. Mundy, first on our agenda is a public comment for issues on the agenda. Does anyone wish to speak to issues on the agenda? Mr. Mundy, someone signed up? All right, sir. Thank you. Just a minute. So we've got some people for public comment. all right we have we have two two signed up two citizens signed up for public comment first Adam Jones and Catherine acres mr. jump all right okay Adam I am Adam Jones from 909 Summerville Drive, pastor of Open Door Church here. And I'm speaking specifically in regards to affordable housing, so I think that's going to be on the agenda later on. I'm here today. We are here, actually. There's many of us here today in support of the proposed ordinance from Councilmember Kay to dedicate ongoing annual revenue for Affordable Housing Trust Fund. And we are here to support Mayor Gray's commitment to us to advocate for that funding for a dedicated revenue stream. We're excited about that. We're excited about what's coming up. Our city, we believe, is at a crossroads. We can be a city of hope where everyone has a home, or as we grow economically, we will continue to lose 400 affordable homes each year until there are none left. And we believe that this is a good step in the right direction for Lexington. If we truly want Lexington to be a great American city, it needs to be an affordable city where all hardworking families can find a place to stay. there were over 1700 of of your neighbors and constituents gathered a week ago to support the creation of an affordable housing trust fund many of many of us have gathered again here today for the same reason and we will continue to come and gather and support our leaders as they move forward on the trust fund council members we want you to know the mayor is committed to this we are committed to this and now we believe that each council member has the opportunity a good opportunity to decide a direction for our city and we we ask you to vote to send dedicated funding to council and we are behind you all thank you thank you mr jones now that allows us to move on to actually Vice Mayor Gordon has a motion to move the presentation. Thank you, Mayor. I would because we have business people here for this, I move to move presentation D, the Incredipet donation up to now on the agenda. There's a motion by the Vice Mayor and second by Council Member Farmer. Unless there's objection, we'll move the incredible presentation to the beginning of the meeting vice mayor thank you mayor thank you council members um one of the things that we so often encourage and we want in our government is our public-private partnerships. And it's very important to us that the government just not fully fund everything necessarily, that we ask our community partners to help us fund things. And so on that note, I'm very pleased that one of the partners for many years of Friends of the Dog Park is here to present a check, Julia Hall from Incredipet. But she and her business have been supportive of our efforts in Fayette County for a long time. They've given money, they've given services, and they've helped us actually build our dog parks through that partnership. So I'd like to present Julia Hall from Incredipet and ask her to maybe say a couple words. Well, we'll make this the feel-good item of the day. and just say on behalf of Incredipet, it's our pleasure to provide money to take care of dog waste removal in the form of mutt mitts for the dog parks in the coming year. Do you want to say how much? How? Or not? No. Okay. I asked her if she wanted to say how much. She said no. I'm humbled. But it's a very nice amount of money from Incredipet to help us buy these dog waste bags for our parks. so thank you very much we really appreciate it thank you thank you so much All right. Next on the agenda, rezoning requests. I don't see any requests for rezonings, and there's no docket for this week to approve. Council Member Kaye. Yes, Mayor. Although there's no council meeting coming up this week, I have a motion to place something on the docket for the April 24th meeting. All right. There's a motion for, there's a motion. I'm going to go ahead with the motion. Yes, if I may provide a bit of background. A few weeks ago, I made a motion to create an affordable housing fund with a consistent identified source of funding. And that motion was tabled until after the mayor's budget address, which we have had. And the mayor since then has proposed and the council has approved creation of an affordable housing fund with an initial $3.5 million allocation. So rather than move to take my original motion off the table and amend it, I am entering a new motion which will specify that we direct 15% of the insurance fee, which will generate roughly $3.9 million on an annual basis, starting in fiscal year 16, since we already have funding for fiscal year 15. So I would like to make that motion. I move to place on the docket for the April 24, 2014 Council meeting a resolution directing the Division of Budgeting, commencing with the preparation of the fiscal year 2016 budget to annually include in the budget an appropriation of general service district fund revenues to be allocated to the Affordable Housing Fund, and two, to provide that the amount of the appropriation each year shall be equal to 15% of the total amount received by the urban county government during the previous fiscal year from all of the license fees imposed on insurance companies pursuant to Section 13-44 of the Code of Ordinances. So move. It's a motion by Council Member Kaye, seconded by Council Member Lawless. Is there any discussion on the motion? Councilmember Beard. Thank you mayor. There is a glitch that everybody should be aware of and that is that you cannot bind future councils as this we have an election coming up and we're gonna have new players and that council can do anything that they want to, no matter what we do here. It is a resolution, and again, you cannot bind future councils. So I don't see how we can do this at this point. There are other ways to do it, but the specific way is not going to be very valid for very long. Would it be possible to have a law and finance address this question? It would be fine. Barber's approaching the podium. We'll ask. There's not a legal issue with what he's proposing, but to julian to council member beard's point um whatever you all do in this area because there's not a state statute that allows a specific dedication of funds that you could use on a permanent basis it would be in the nature of what uh council member k is putting in front of you all in other words a future council or this council at a future point in time could take an action that's contrary to what's in this resolution all right councilmember farmer mr barbary i always like to catch you while you're still up you you you drafted this motion uh i drafted the upon the instruction from uh councilmember k on what he wanted included in the resolution and the motion i drafted both of them yes very good on page like the bottom of page at least this would be the header and this would be the body of the ordinance and it only it doesn't end the appropriation each year shall be placed in the fund in the equal amount of 15 percent of the total amount received but during the previous and there's no rest how does how to well i've got it okay i've got a second page on my That would be nice. I can read it for you all. Please. During the previous fiscal year from all of the license fees imposed on insurance companies pursuant to Section 1344 of the Code of Ordances of Lexington-Fayette-Erma County Government, and then there's a Section 2 that simply says that this would become effective on the date that it's passed. All right. Thank you. So you said this would accrue 3.9 or something? Yes. Mayor, I'm sorry I had a neighborhood meeting and was unable to join you at the build function. You were asked to advocate for a certain amount there then? I was asked to advocate for, what was it, $2 million? Right. Right. Right. I was asked for a plan. All right. All right. That's what we are doing, and that's what is underway today, the plan. All right. And I do intend to advocate for funding once we have a plan. I think a majority of this council would agree with that. Thank you. Councilman Lane. I just wanted to say, Mayor, I do agree with you. you know I will be open minded and evaluate the plan when we have one I just feel at this time there's a lot of loose ends and I absolutely have no idea of what the plan is going to be and I just have a hard time voting for it so I would like to suggest that the council do not untable them and are not pass this new motion until we do have a plan and we can evaluate it in more detail thank you council member Ellinger thank you mayor two things first I guess I would like a copy of the page that we don't have it would be nice to have that if we somebody could do that for us and then second could you explain the 15% I think I understand how that is it's a 15% of the 5% but if you would kind of go in through the numbers so everybody knows where that three point I think 3.9 or 3.96 comes into play, how that is calculated? Yes, I think when the original proposal was made, there was a proposal to increase the fee by 1% to make it from 5 to 6. But when you start talking about using funds that already exist, the 1% of the 5% gets very confusing. But the intention at that time, that would have been 20%, 1% would have been 20% of the existing fees. So this takes a simple figure, which is 15%, and applies it to all of the revenues generated by that fee in that fiscal year, which in fiscal year 14 would generate $3.9 million. And then, so that would be fiscal year 16, and then 17, it would be 15% of whatever the insurance is, and then 15% of the next year. And does this include health insurance or not? Yes, it does. This includes the fee that's applied to all. We have to read the details of the ordinance. I believe what's excluded is major health plans that are administered by organizations and institutions. I don't think those are in that, but private plans are. But essentially, whatever it is applied to now, it would simply keep being applied to. And 15% would be 15% of whatever it generates. Thank you. Vice Mayor Gordon. Thank you, Mayor. Some of you might remember the phrase tough love. I can't remember if that was the 70s or when that was. I think it was when I was raising my children. But many of you in the audience are my friends from church. My church is heavily involved in BUILD. And so what I'm going to say, you may laugh and you may not like it, but I'm going to speak the truth, okay? And the truth is, I, along with I believe most of my colleagues, recognize there is a problem that we need to fix with affordable housing. But many of us have been asking for a plan. Okay, we are your elected officials up here. Now, if we don't pay attention to the detail of how our tax dollars are used, there's nobody else out there elected to do that. It's us. After this council denied the motion which Mr. K brought before, many of us received criticism for paying attention to the detail. that we should just go ahead and pass it and not worry right now about the detail. And that's what bothered me as well as other people, because for many years I have paid attention to the detail, and it's important for me to know where your tax dollars are going and how they're going to be used. so today at our planning committee meeting we saw the plan the beginnings of the plan which we've asked for for many weeks and i'm really happy and i thank commissioner paulson for bringing us a plan forward it addressed the homeless fund it addressed the affordable housing money, it lined out how we would go forward and look at this money and this plan, if you will, for attacking our problems. And this is what we've been asking for, okay? I'm very happy that we have that. And the planning committee voted to uphold that plan. And that plan is going to bring us in July, from the stakeholder group, the recommendation for the dedicated funding. This is what many of us have wanted, is a plan that showed how the money will be spent and what's important in moving forward to help our homeless and our affordable housing challenges. I appreciate that Councilmember Kay has been a point person for this, but I also recognize that we need to move forward when we're sure of what we're doing with this money. And there are probably well over 150,000 people in this community who work and who pay these taxes and who will appreciate that we have a plan for affordable housing that makes sense, that will move us forward, that will give us goals, that will give us target dates, and that will tell us how we're doing. With that, I just wanted to say that because I think we're on the way forward. We are on the path forward. For me personally, I can't support the motion because the motion doesn't go with that path forward. Thank you. Council Member Henson. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Kay, I guess thinking back with Council Member Ellinger's question about health care, and I know originally when we had the task force, we were going to exclude that. With the Affordable Care Act and everyone going and getting, is that considered private insurance? because I guess I was trying to think of this really needs to be looked at because if their employer does not provide health insurance for them and they're going to a private company, then they would pay this tax, correct? I'm not really an expert on the Affordable Care Act, But I think the point to be made is that this does not change the way in which that fee is applied. Whatever it is applied to now, it would continue to be applied to. There'd be no change in that. If we wanted to change that, we would have to address that separately. All it does is peg the amount of money to that particular fund. So it sets it at a certain level, and then annually it gets reset according to what those revenues are. And this would take effect to 2016, correct? Yes. Because I would certainly like to know about the health care or get that corrected or changed or whatever, because my guess is a lot of people that are purchasing health care through the Affordable Care Act and private companies are also low income, so it could be affecting them. Thank you. Councilman Myers. Thank you, Mayor. I just want to start by saying that the Vice Mayor articulated my feelings better than I can probably do it myself. and I would like to add to that though I've said all along that I am very interested in looking at this issue once we have a plan I'm not in the planning commission so I didn't hear what was presented today I think it would be very irresponsible to vote for this motion as it stands without that plan and that plan being adopted and the details being presented and so there's really no reason to even do this right now. You know, the mayor put forth a request to the council to spend the surplus at $3 million. Was it $3 million for affordable housing and another half million for homelessness? We've already done that. That will take care of this coming fiscal year. This motion, what's in this motion wouldn't even happen until next year. I think in a political, I think this is basically a political move in an election year. To just be frank, we've put money forth. for this coming year. It's already been done. I don't see anything happening to that. When we get to plan in June, then we can look at what's being presented and move forward at that time. So I will not support this motion. Thank you. Council Member Scotchfield. Thank you, Mayor. I want to agree with Council Member Myers and Vice Mayor Gordon. I have actually heard one of our council members say, don't worry about the plan right now. I can't look at the people I represent and not worry about the plan. This is our taxpayer money, and we have to worry about the plan. I don't think there's one person up here on the horseshoe that doesn't think that this is not an issue that needs to be addressed. It does need to be addressed, but we need a plan. It's not fiscally prudent for us to just hand a plane check over without the plan. Thank you. Councilmember Stinnett. Thank you, Mayor. Mr. Barber, you may can answer this question, but maybe Mr. O'Mara may be better suited. Not sure. But this is a resolution. The prior ordinance that we tabled was an actual ordinance tied to the budget. This resolution doesn't have as well. I'll let you explain that. But what teeth does this resolution actually have as we're preparing as it alludes to the 2016 budget, which would be doing a year from now? What impact does it really have on the budgeting? Well, I'll let the legal eagle go second. But I see this as very similar to the $200,000 that council told us to include in the budget each year for code enforcement abatements. So I think it was a resolution. It was an instruction that when preparing budgets annually to include this in the budget. So I was seeing it as very similar to the same type of direction. The prior legislation was in the form of an ordinance primarily because it also included, as you'll recall, a codification of a bunch of different items as well. And this was just an add-on to that. But to get your point how this would work is unless the council instructed otherwise as part of the budgeting process each year, the budgeting department would include this as a line item in the budget that is proposed to you all, and then it would be up to you all whether you kept it the same or whether you enhanced it or lowered it or whatever. But he would use the formula that's in the resolution to plug in an amount that would be proposed to you all in the mayor's budget every year. That's how it would work. Okay. Well, you know, I think that's the problem and lies in the way this is written is the future council next year, whoever that may be sitting here will actually change this amount, agree with it during the budgeting process. And that's where I don't think this is strong enough. And I think that's why when we heard our plan earlier, we also included in that plan to come back July with a funding source with a solid funding source. I think this leaves too many doors open in the future that a future council could come in and change it. I think if we're really going to dedicate ourselves to this, there has to be a better way to structure this and word this. You know, we've asked when we passed the stormwater quality, water quality management fee, we had a plan. This community pays it now in the Lexar bill. You know, Mayor, you've heard a lot the last week so about RUP. Everybody's asked for a plan, so no one wanted to do anything until you got a plan. Well, this is no different. Three years. Yeah, you've heard it for a while. Three years of planning. I don't think it's unreasonable, but I think regardless of what happens today, this plan still moves forward. This issue still gets funded, and it still moves forward. I don't think whether this passes or doesn't pass has any bearing on what we discussed about an hour and a half ago, and that this issue still moves forward, it's still a priority for this council, and there will still be a plan developed and a future funding source. I think the mayor committed to that the other night. This council's committed to that. So regardless of what happens today, I think we're still making progress, and that train's still moving forward. Thank you, Mayor. Councilmember Ford. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Mayor. I want to speak to the motion, and I want to voice my support in favor of the motion. Mayor and council members, I'm very confident that you and many of the supporters in the room know where I stand on the issue. And I do agree that and I do believe in my heart of hearts that this entire council recognizes this issue as a level of importance. So my comments are not intended to refute or debate any positions that have been stated here by council members today. It's solely to say, as I believe, that we need a dedicated source of funding. and heretofore that source has long been proposed to be the insurance premium tax. For many years prior to this year, it has always been a proposed 1% increase of the existing tax. And now the proposal is not to raise that fee, but to set aside a percentage of the existing fee. from where I stand I'm confident that this tool is needed locally but I also recognize that I am one of 15 and I recognize that there are eight votes needed for its passage I'll vote in favor of the motion I will continue to work with each member of this council in the mayor's office moving forward. I hope the motion passes, but we need to find a dedicated source. And from where I sit today, just speaking on behalf of myself in the first district. This is a viable source. I'll be voting in favor. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Ford. Council Member Sidi. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Kay, a question. It seems like there is some division amongst the council members as whether or not they would support your motion or not today. Would you be willing to wait until July until we received the long-term funding source recommendations from the stakeholders. And that would give us a better idea of how this plan is going to be funded, what the necessary amount is. Would you consider that, delaying this until July? I think that's exactly what's at issue. And I think I want to respond if I can. There are people waiting. I have a long answer to that question, and it's not a short answer. So if there are other people who wish to speak or if I can – I'll go ahead. Yes, okay. So I want to start by saying that the good news is that this council, I believe, is fully committed to creating an ongoing source of reliable funding for affordable housing and homelessness. It's going to happen. And I've been saying that to people. It's also the case that regional people can differ, as we do, about what kind of information we need, and how much information we need, and how much information we already have before we can make a decision. A brief history of what has happened with affordable housing, in particular, and homelessness at the very end, is that there's been a plan brought forward, and it was denied because they needed more information about the extent of need. And then that was brought forward, and it was denied because there was needed more information about where the funding should come from. And then that plan was brought forward, and that was denied because we needed a plan. And then we had a commission which incorporated affordable housing and homelessness and brought forth a very large document with a lot of detail about what could and should be done. Six years have passed while this issue has been debated. And while that has been going on, we have gotten into worse shape with our housing and worse shape with the issue of homelessness. I believe that we could spend $4 million on Housing First all by itself. At $30,000 a person, roughly 30 people would be served. We would not begin to meet the need. I believe we could spend $4 million on a voucher program at $6,000 a family, and we could serve 64 families, and we would not begin to dent the need. We could leverage $4 million and build 16 affordable housing units and house 160 people, and we would not begin to meet the need. I believe we know that we have an overwhelming need. I believe we know that we will get a plan from the administration that lays out exactly how that money will be spent. I know that we already allocated $3.5 million without having a plan, with the caveat that we not spend any of that money until we have a plan. I see no reason to delay. I see no reason. I understand that other people do, and I honor that. I understand that completely, but I feel that we have an opportunity right now to say the council is committed. We know we'll need at least that amount of money. We will take that issue off the table. and if I let me just add one other thing I think I've still got is that your time or mine that's running I'm going to answer so go ahead so for me I woke up this morning and there was snow on the ground and I basically said to myself you know it's time for spring I feel the same way about this issue it's been winter too long it's time for spring Council Member Kay I don't disagree with you but I think we've got what May June and July. We have three months. What we passed today won't have effect until 2016 anyway. So what is the harm to wait for three months and have hopefully a unanimous support rather than maybe not even eight votes on this? I'm trying to help you here. I'm trying to get this done for you. So again, I'll just reiterate, from my perspective, there's no reason to delay. We will not have significantly different or better information in July. We will have another group that goes over the same information and the same options, and they'll come back with a recommendation, and then council may or may not agree with that and may put it into committee. It could go into the fall. I think we're right there. I think we're close. I think we're three months close. And we've got a plan. Everybody looks at it and says, even if they do make some amendments. We've got a plan. We make a few amendments. We're there. Bob's your uncle. It's just we're so close. I understand. If I can add one other thing. I know that many of my colleagues on council would prefer that we wait. And I know that many people would prefer that we not put this issue up today. I felt that I had a responsibility to do that. And I regret that it creates a difficult vote because I know people who have said they're not supportive of my motion who are supportive of the general issue. And I want people to understand that. There are people who may decide that today's not the day, but that are fully supportive of the issue, and it will get done. I felt obligated to bring this forward. I brought it forward. It was tabled. Today was the day when it came off the table. I wanted to have something to present. I applaud your tenacity, and I think everyone up here does, because you've been working on this for a long, long time. But to me, two and a half months to get a plan that tells me exactly how much money we're going to spend, where it's going to go, in the scheme of things, when we don't do this until 2016, is small. So today I can't support it. Let's talk about it in July, and we can get 15 votes for you. Thank you. Council Member Lawless. I'd just like to say that to, I guess it was upsetting to me to hear that this was being brought forward right now for political reasons. We've brought this forward several times. We've tried to get this passed in election years and non-election years, and we've been studying it and talking about it in commissions and task forces. So I can appreciate both sides of the argument. What would it matter to wait until July, given that it won't go into effect until 2016 or whatever year that is? But I am going to support this today. I know we have a very close, we're very close to having that plan. And, you know, it's been tabled and pulled back last year many times. And so sooner or later, we need to just do it or not. But, so thank you. Councilman Clark. I'm going to support the motion because it's time. That's the reason. Even though I have mixed emotions about the kind of pressures that have been put on me and other council members, which I don't take kindly to, frankly. But I'm going to support this because it's the right thing to do, not because of support, not because of political reasons. I think it's the right thing to do. We're simply putting it on the docket, and I think it's time, and I support it and know that eventually it's going to happen. And I think we do have a plan. We have enough of a plan that we can make this commitment now. I'm comfortable with that. I was very, very pleased with the plan that was presented at the planning committee. I think we're on good track, and we might as well go ahead and do this because we're going to do it. I don't think there's any question about it. it's way past due. Let's do it now, even though I can see the handwriting on the wall that there's not a whole lot of support. I'm going to support it because it's the right thing to do, and I think we ought to do it. Thank you. All right, Council Member Beard. Thank you. I guess I started this ball rolling, and maybe I'm going to end it at the same time. I personally can't look at what was presented by planning today and then turn around 45 minutes later or an hour later and vote on something as detailed as it may or may not be as far as the the monies and how we're going to utilize them. I still have concerns about actually doing something that is only going to impact the 2016 budget, not the 2015 budget. That's already covered. I spent 24 months on the Affordable Housing Task Force with some of my colleagues, and we attempted to bend and twist and figure out ways to put something together. We never could quite get there. we got a consultant involved it kept on dying on the vine because it was a tax and that was the kind of feeling we were getting that if we tried and it was a tax it would never pass I think things have changed now I think we can definitely do this but this question of a plan has got to be acceptable to most all, maybe not all, but to most all of the people. And this is not a ready, fire, aim up here. This is a little bit more crisp than that. At this point, I can't support this. I'm sorry. but I can say that we will get it done before long before 2016 comes rolling around and we will have people in place and we will have a plan in place that would be a complete plan and we'll have it done somewhere around the end of June or the first day of July thank you for listening thank you mayor all right thank you councilman Beard No other, no council members have signed on to speak or comment, so we can take a vote on the motion. All in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying aye and voting electronically. All opposed, no. No. It's closed. It wasn't closed. All right. All right. The motion fails. The vote reflects that the motion fails. Is that right? Yes. All right. All right. All right. We can move on then to the next item on the agenda, which is the approval of the summary. Move approval. Second. Motion by Council Member Farmer. Second by who was it? Council Member Scotchfield? Second by Council Member Scotchfield. Is there any discussion on the motion? Thank you all for joining us. Is there any discussion? All right. Hearing none, then we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Next on the agenda is budget amendments. There are no budget amendments to approve this week, so we can move on to new business. Motion by Council Member Beard, second by Council Member Myers. Is there any discussion on the motion? Council Member Farmer. Thank you, Mayor. Mine is on the, I would just like just a simple explanation on this effect of the so-called Time Warner Cable Agreement, just a little more understanding than the one paragraph included in the packet. Please. All right, Council Member Farmer. Which item is that? I think it's item C, maybe. Service agreement, Time Warner Cable for Mayor Gray's signature. This agreement replaces the Commercial Services Agreement with insight for high-speed internet used for the AM radio station. Time Warner Agreement expands services to include five static IP addresses and a lot of communication between DEAM offices and AM radio workstation at E911 radio content. Can you speak to it? I will have to get those details back to you from Director Duggar on that. I don't know the particulars. What exactly the program deals with. And mine is a larger issue in that we're still dealing with a temporary agreement with the franchise, And I'm just wondering how this is part of the larger agreement, negotiation, or background. There's any consequences to – I'm sorry. You're going to get Pat now? I'll get Pat. Okay. All right. Is that okay, Council Member? That's plenty. I'm good. Thank you, sir. Is there any – Council Member, stand it. Thank you, Mayor. I, too, had a question on item C on the Time Warner. Did we not bid this out? Aren't there other providers in town that could do the same thing? That's one of the questions I'll follow up with. I think this was a continuing program, and I don't know whether or not there was a need to bid it out. If it's something up and running, it's just a continuation, but I'll check and see. I think we learned there in our discussions at our last workshop about Time Warner and the franchise that Internet is critical. I think there's a lot of other players in town that maybe can provide the same or better service. I'll check the plan. Good. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. So we'll have time between, if we put it on the docket, we'll still have time to address it, right? Is that satisfactory, Council Member Farmer? I may still vote against it. Yeah, no, I understand. But we will have some time to follow up with you. Great, okay. Council Member Lawless. This is not maybe directly linked to that item, But if somebody could speak to the high-speed Internet, not the, what do you call it? Fiber optic. Fiber optic. Thank you. I'm sorry. What's going on with that? Is there somebody from the administration for both my edification and that of our viewing audience? I'm not sure what your question is, but I'll try to answer it since traffic engineering is responsible for LFUCG fiber. Okay. I mean, they seem to be installing. Yeah, we're constantly upgrading the existing fiber and installing new fiber in places where we're upgrading it. Fiber is made up of strands, and with all the data that gets passed back and forth, we found some places where, much like a road, the fiber is under capacity for the amount of information that's trying to travel through it. And then likewise in other places where we're trying to install additional cable or fiber, mainly along large usage areas. But it's almost exclusively LFUCG fiber that's used, you know, from our remote locations, particularly off Old Frankfort Pike and Versailles Road. But it gets used at fire stations and other places as well. It seems that there's a rumor or a notion that they're doing something like on the corner of Ashland and Maine. I'll look into it. I've heard that rumor, but I'll see what I can find out. I've gotten questions about it, and I wasn't sure. Is it going to be free? and that kind of thing. See what I can find out about it, and I'll get back with your office. Thank you. Council Member Farmer. Not so much on new business, but just to follow up on that commentary, it might be interesting for the council to know more about fiber optic and it's where it is and isn't in Lexington. Maybe we should take that up in perhaps planning and public works just by way of update rather than having something here. That'd be great because I do get questions, and they're, you know, so that'd be... Let's just do a motion during council report. Very good. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Farmer. No council members have signed up further to comment so we can take a vote. All in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. No on C. No on, registered no on C. All right. that allows us to move on to continuing business and presentations is there a motion on the ndf move approval motion by vice mayor gordon second by council member myers is there any discussion on the motion all right hearing none we can take a vote all in favor please say aye opposed no motion carries the next on the agenda is social services community development committee summary by Council Member Ford. Thank you, Mayor. The Social Services and Community Development Committee met on March 18th. I call the meeting to order at 1103. We approve the summary on a motion by Council Member Ellinger, second by Council Member Beard of the February 25th summary. First item on the agenda was a partner agency budget review committee recommendations. Commissioner Beth Mills and Craig Benz of her staff walked Council through the partner agency funding recommendations. that was presented to the Mayor's office of approximately $2.3 million. A motion by Council Member Myers to ask the administration to come back to committee in two months with scenarios on how we can do a systematic process to increase the number of dollars spent for funding to partner agencies was seconded by Council Member Ellinger. That motion passed without dissent as amended. A subsequent motion by Council Member Myers was to clarify that date for our June 17, 2014 meeting. And that was seconded by Council Member Ellinger. So I'll bring that motion forward on behalf of the committee. So moved. Motion by Council Member Ford, seconded by Council Member Myers. Is there any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. I oppose no. Motion carries. Thanks, Mayor. The next item on the agenda was workforce development. There was some commentary by myself, Council Member Myers, Council Member Henson, and Council Member Clark in regards to workforce development. I pledge to bring forth a resolution for the committee's consideration, and I'll speak to that later on during council reports. We did discuss items in committee. There were no motions to remove items in committee. The committee meeting adjourned at 1251. Mayor, that concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Ford. And next on our agenda is a presentation on the Senior Citizen Center Phase A design. And Sally, okay, Beth, you're going to introduce it. Thank you. Commissioner Mills. Good afternoon. It's my pleasure to introduce you to EOP Architects and John Catlin Associates, who are going to reveal the design to date of the Lexington Senior Citizen Center. It's a big asset in our community. I'm going to make a few brief comments, and then I would ask. I know presentation is usually 15 minutes, but these guys may need 20. So with councils, I would ask that they could have that, please. First of all, I would like to say to people who are interested in this center, this effort was not with three people in a room. It's been a very collaborative effort. There's been input on programming and building design from public meetings and a design shred. The council was involved, the Senior Services Commission, center participants who are here today, Idle Hour Neighborhood Association, and Southland Christian Church. And Southland Christian Church, I want to say, has been very amenable in sharing their parking lot and private road during construction and beyond. Beyond that, there are many internal departments of this government that have been meeting monthly for progress, not only on the center but on water quality and park improvements. CAO's office, parks, water quality, streets and roads and facilities management, purchasing, budgeting, and community partners meet once a month. And basically I would like to say that Harding Dow, who's been our project manager for EOP, has been a very good listener. He takes notes constantly and he's been very responsive to this input. So it's not a one-person show or a two-person show. The second point I would like to make is the $8 million that's proposed in the mayor's budget. in addition to the $5 million that was here this year, will be enough to present this project as it's presented today. And know that it's not just the building. It's all the furnishings. It's the AV. It's the furniture. It's the classrooms. It's the landscaping and a paratransit van. So this money will be sufficient to present this project as you'll see it today. The last thing I would just like to say is over the past three years, we've visited and researched senior citizen centers ad nauseum. And it is our opinion that this is probably going to be one of the premier centers in the country. And I've asked Mr. Catlin to confirm that. He's in the business of senior citizens, and he has agreed with our assessment. So I think the message that we're making today is that Lexington is a retirement-friendly city and that we value our senior population. Thank you. Thanks, Commissioner. Rick? Mayor, members of the council, my name is Rick Eckhoff. I'm a design principal with the OPU Architects in Lexington. And really the point to begin sort of this presentation is the process that we've gone through because I think at the end of the day it was overwhelming. I mean, I've been doing this for 30 years, and I've never been involved with more passionate people and more committed people in any project in my life. And support of the process, I think, has what's been elevated this project to be exemplary. I think, as Beth pointed out, we've met with stakeholders. We've had work sessions. We've had charrettes. there's been visits to other senior centers so that we can have lessons learned both good and bad but you know and another thing that's really important is early on in fact prior to us even being selected to provide services for this project we realized the importance of bringing the highest level of expertise so john catherine who is going to speak here shortly as well became part of our design team. And John is one of the most identified senior citizen architect consultants in the United States. And so we've been very fortunate to have him involved with this project as well. Let me see if I remember how to do this. The thought, maybe another place to start is everyone, I think, is well aware where the site is. but where the site is had a lot to do with the ultimate design of the building. The site obviously is located behind Southland Christian Church. It's accessible from both New Circle Road and Richmond Road. What we think makes this site extremely unique is the fact that it's going to be located within a city park, which means the people who use this facility also will benefit from the amenities associated with the park as well. Just as of today, the road that runs in front of what will be the Senior Center site, its name was just accepted, and it's going to be called Life Lane. So the address of this building is going to be 195 Life Lane, which through the process that we went through, it became very obvious that the seniors of today and the seniors of tomorrow are more active. They're more health conscious. They're more determined to expand their educational pursuits. Truly, their commitment to live more of an independent life, the term that's being used is aging in place, which means provide seniors with the facility that they can remain an active and productive contributors to the community and also be able to stay at home. So again, this aspect of quality of life was sort of the focus of this. The site itself, just to give you a really quick, the bottom part of this slide where it says Lexington Senior Center is the edge that will front what is now known as Life Lane. The site itself, just some things I'll point out very, very quickly. We have on-site parking for 136 cars. There's available parking to the left that you can see, which is part of the parking that's available for the park itself. Some of the things I'll point out is that we have more than what's required, handicapped spaces. Every other space on-site will be a minimum of 9'6". We are being very sensitive to things like pavement, having different levels. Tripping for the elderly is probably the most one reason for injuries. So there's going to be minimal curbing. There's a generous drop-off in front of the building itself. The main entry is at the bottom edge of the building that you see at the top. There will be a covered drop-off. There's a port of cashier. It actually extends out roughly three feet into the driving lane, so anyone getting out of the cars will be covered. There's also a separation of deliveries. As in a building itself, the wayfinding aspects, the safety of elderlies and others as they enter the site and sort of use the site itself is extremely important. And what you can also see on the upper left-hand portion of the building is outdoor area. I'm going to be talking about the floor plan here real quickly, but there's also outdoor space as well. That outdoor space will be fenced for security reasons as well. So with that, at any point, go ahead and stop me, and I'll be glad to answer any kind of questions. The three most important, through our research, through our working with John, and through our exchange with stakeholders, the three most important aspects of a senior center is to provide a facility where education is provided, where wellness and fitness is provided, and where the opportunity to socialize is provided. it, one fact that we learned, which we were absolutely amazed, is that 65% of the seniors live alone. So to provide, not only in this community, but that's a national average, so to provide a venue or a facility where seniors are encouraged to come out of their home and interact with their peers and to socialize is extremely, extremely important. So with this simple diagram, it basically shows the design philosophy that the whole floor plan has been based around. You see the three key aspects in terms of educational and art, the large group gathering, which is the top of this diagram, the wellness and fitness to the right, and the circulation and the transitional space. One of the pieces of knowledge that John brought to our design team was this notion of collapsing the floor plan itself. What that basically means is that to minimize corridors, actually to have the corridors themselves become part of the activity space of the center so that there's transparency not only from the outside in, but there's also transparency within the building itself. I wanted to just point that out because the floor plans are based around that principle. At the bottom of the page is the main entrance. Some of the things I want to point out there is that, and I don't know if this has a laser or not, so it does. I'm going to screw this up. Where's the laser button? Sorry. The main entry to the building occurs right here, is the vestibule. Part of what you see, the main lobby, obviously, is as you walk into the building, there's a cafe to the left of the building itself, a really critical, critical part of that social aspect of this building. control is to the right where every person who enters the facility will be checked in administration then obviously is behind that reception area on the left hand of the plan for you out in the audience i'll point to that there's two large classrooms those classrooms have the ability there's a move petition that divides them if there's a need for a larger lecture or a larger gathering space that movable petition slides and that space obviously has the ability to become very one large large space the library component on the first floor is up in this upper left-hand corner as with any sort of environment community or in a park there's different scales of space that's needed just as it is important to have large gathering spaces it's important to have small gathering spaces. So within the building, you're going to see that we have spaces where small groups can gather, have quiet conversations, or there's large groups that are flexible where large groups can get together. The large space on the back of the plan is a multipurpose room. That multipurpose room is about 3,800 square feet. It likewise is separated by a petition that can be removed where you see or push back. It has a raised platform stage for a larger volume of presentations. You can see where tables are set up on the right-hand side of that multipurpose room. That's going to be set up for dining. There's a kitchen adjacent to that for the food service components that are associated with the center as well. One other thing I want to point out is that there's a main stairway, which actually takes you to the second floor. There's also a lift. There's actually three stairwells that go up to the second floor. Again, taking advantage of John's knowledge of senior centers, it is encouraged that seniors walk flights of steps. So for some of you that would say, why would you put a senior center on two flights or on two floors? That's the reason, because the challenge or having the opportunity or being motivated to go to activities on the second floor is a very important aspect of sort of the daily demands that should be put upon those who enter this fit. on the second level what you see there is when you reach the top of the stairs in this open area towards the center of the plan that's uh the mixed activity areas there's going to be uh card tables game tables uh there's a television area there's billiards room so again if you sort of look at the plan in terms of what you would see on a on a city street uh there's activities that take place off of the main street that encourage people to participate. There's transparency from within the building itself. So people who are visiting the center for the first time are encouraged to participate. In this area to the left, well, to this area to the left are two art studios. One is what we call a messy art studio where painting and those kinds of things will occur. There's pottery, those types of things. And then we have another art studio, which will be what's termed a clean art studio, where there will be sewing and those kinds of things. Just to move you sort of around this plan to the right of the floor plan. is our wellness and fitness component. What you basically have there is a dance studio with approximately about 1,500 square feet. With that facility to be used for things be like yoga, dance, aerobics, those types of things. And then down in the lower part of that fitness and wellness component is where cardio machines will be and other types of fitness equipment. Other things that are located on this flow plan as well, there's a music room. Let me point you to that. If I can push the right button. There's a music room. There's two conference rooms on the left-hand side for you out in the audience. That's the music room component. There's two conference rooms on the left-hand side. That also has a petition that separates those. those conference rooms are very flexible they're going to be used for for additional classroom space and and and other sort of functional spaces that will occur in that I think a couple things I want to point out is that this project will be LEED certified this project there's portions of the building that will also be designated short-term emergency facilities which means they're going to constructed such that there will be approved tornado shelters. This facility will have a generator which will be able to provide power to it during power outages. Let's talk really quickly about the exterior. I mentioned that we thought one of the unique components of this site was the fact that it was located in a park. So one of the architectural notions that we gathered from was to provide aesthetics that were comprised of natural elements such as natural stone, wood, the colors of nature, the elements of nature such as trees. when it came to a roof to maybe borrow from an image of some of the barns that are sprinkled throughout our countryside. So that's really where sort of the big picture of the aesthetics of this building came from. You can see umbrellas on the front of the building where the cafe on the inside actually has a patio that goes to the outside to make sure that we have that socialization element that the cafe will provide to the whole entry experience. What I'd like to do is now introduce, once again, John Catlin. And again, at some point, be glad to take any questions you have. But I'm going to let John speak as well. Thanks, Rick. I'll be very brief. Thank you. it's been a real honor to be part of this team both the talented team of EOP architects as well as the committed staff and I travel the country and I've designed personally about 30 or 40 of these wonderful facilities and this truly is a forward looking facility for me it's very exciting it's been I like to say a real honor to be part of this process and to be able to work with your community on this, what I call a very forward-looking facility. It's all about maintaining within your community the institutional knowledge of elders. It's about helping these elders age in place, to remain a part of your community, to remain active, but most importantly, to age healthy. And what you saw just briefly in that presentation that Rick did is you saw a lot of parts of this facility that really provides three key issues for healthy aging. You saw the social aspect of this facility about bringing elders together, not just the elders themselves, but it brings the community into this facility. Being a part of the park really integrates this facility that is really designed for the elders, but it's really designed throughout the community for their use. and thus the games and things that happen in this park can also integrate well into the way that elders are going to be using this facility. The second important aspect of this is exercise. Besides the social engagement, this facility provides a great opportunity for exercise through the fitness equipment room that Rick showed and the aerobics dance area, but also the idea of what we call stealthy exercise, which Rick alluded to in terms of the stairway. Obviously, we have an elevator for those what we call slow goers who need to be able to use the elevator to get to the second floor. But for those who can make the walk up the stairs, we call that the stealthy way of getting exercise. In COA, the National Council on Aging suggests that we should be walking at any age, anywhere between five and ten flights of stairs a day. So keep that in mind, folks. Walk your stairs. The last aspect of this facility is nutrition, both social nutrition as well as planned nutrition. Social nutrition is like the cafe, dropping in with some friends, having a cup of coffee and a pastry, maybe reading the newspaper, perhaps meeting to discuss an event that you're going to be going to later at the center. The planned nutrition is the kitchen and the relationship to the multipurpose room where you have this wonderful opportunity to provide a daily meal for those who not only need it, but even for those who don't really need it but really do need it in terms of that engagement within this community. So what this is really designed to do is help our elders, as well as the community as a whole, to get out of their homes, get active, stay engaged, and age healthy. And I'm really pleased to have been a part of this process. We have a ways to go, and we look forward to successful completion of this sometime in 2015, the end of 2015. I think it's on track, and you've got a great team working on it with EOP architects and this committed staff. Thank you. This would be the time for questions. Councilmember Lane, do you have a question? Thank you, Vice Mayor. Probably Rick, I had a question for you, and I have one for Beth Mills, too. And somehow I missed the square footage. I don't know if it was not on the exhibit. I'm just saying it. It's roughly 32,000 square feet gross. Say it again, please. It's roughly 32,900 square feet gross. Okay. And because it's LEEDS certified, that means operating expenses for utilities, and it will be much less. Can you give us a ballpark on what the operating costs would be for the building, not including taxes, insurance, and maintenance and stuff like that? No, in fact, that's going to be something that we're in design development right now, and that's part of the information that we're putting together. So I can let you know Monday because that's part of the deliverables that are of our design development package. Quickly, I'll tell you, though, is that it's geothermal, so energy management system. We've taken advantage of that. We've included that in the budget. As you well know, being LEED certified, we're using sustainable design standards to keep those operating costs down. First next week, I'll be able to give you that. Okay. All right. And then I had a quick question for Beth, Commissioner Mills. Yes, sir. I was curious, do you have an operating budget now to annually operate the facility based on staffing and maintenance repairs, janitorial, that kind of stuff? Currently we're at $300,000 right now on what it takes to operate the current center. And with a staffing plan of five additional full-time equivalents, it will increase by $200,000 to $250,000 in the future. And then you'd have to add your additional operating expenses in there, too, for utilities. Are you going to pull together sort of an annual budget that could go along with it? Because once we build it, we've got to maintain it and take care of it. And I think it's important to budget enough money to do a good job in that, because if you have deferred maintenance and, you know. Those figures should be in the plan as we move forward. The $15 million covers the building and the capital, but we have done a contingency plan for operating. Facilities management is still working with us on utilities as we get the thing finalized. But staff should be an additional $200,000 to $250,000 in salaries, and it should be sufficient to keep it. We have asked for two full-time custodians, for example, that we will have control over because we build this beautiful building, and in our visits to other centers, the ones that have their own custodians stay very nice as compared to the one that did not. All right. Will there be any charge for people using the facility, or you just need to be a citizen of Fayette County? That's to be decided. We may rent it out. We may not. That's TBD. So we just don't know that. All right. Okay. That's all I've got. Thank you so much. Thank you, too, Rick. It's good to see you. Thank you. All right. Council Member Farmer. Thank you, Mayor. thank you for making this the big reveal during your budget address last week i appreciate it it comes to a part of the district and a part of the city that will welcome it and certainly the work you all have done locally and john and his group have brought to the interior will make it very special stick just a couple three things that i have questions about i guess in my mind this is just me yes i always thought this might kind of run more parallel to New Circle Road rather than perpendicular. Give me a feel for the siding. The location, if I could, I'll back up. Yes, sir, please do. Okay. What the building right now faces Richmond Road. Okay. And when we did our site study and obviously spent a lot of time on the site itself, There were some challenges with visibility. Obviously, the building itself sat far off Richmond Road. Southland Christian Church obviously has a strong personality, and there were some that said that this was a building behind a building. So that was one reason why we felt the architecture had to be strong, so it had an identity itself. The exterior is stunning. Thank you. And as well, night lighting has to play a role in this. So there is a – what we felt was there's actually greater exposure of this building along Richmond. Not that you won't see this building if you're on New Circle Road and you're going across the overpass itself. But we felt – it just felt better, the hours we spent on the site, driving around it, trying to figure – we did – we were the architects on Southland Christian Church, so we were very familiar with that area. We understood sort of the dynamics of the site itself. But it was our opinion that for it to face out towards Richmond Road and sort of be a building of curiosity, for those who did not know what this building was, again, that was one of the reasons that we felt the architectural vocabulary and aesthetics was important, because we wanted people to be curious what this was. And we just felt that opportunity was greater on Richmond Road, facing Richmond Road, than facing New Circle. Does this design allow for, I mean, one of the things I was aware of was the discussion about when is the park in use versus when the center's in use. Is there a commingling of parking opportunity here for people using the park at different times than the center? That was the intention. If the center wasn't in operation and there was some sort of special function going on in the park itself, softball tournament, whatever, that the parking could be used for park functions as well. Likewise, if there was something going on in the center that required additional parking, that they would be able to utilize the parking that's part of the park. All right, and then back up to the one that shows the footprint a little bit further away. Okay, I'm just wondering about will there be shadowing from the building onto the baseball field, or have you taken that into account? We did take that into account. We ran solar studies of it, and no, we're just shy of that. Excellent. Yeah. Well done. And then what's the, between the park and the building, any barrier open? What will it be like? There's actually an access. You can kind of barely see it. Okay. Where the home plate for the base hole diamond is and kind of runs right to left. So there's a way through there. Exactly. Where the lot actually comes around closest to it. That's exactly right. That's excellent. Well done. You touched on it, and I appreciate it, the fact that there would be some storm sheltering here. Yes. I know that FEMA provides, I think, upwards of 75% sometimes in terms of match for storm sheltering. If we were to enter into a discussion to enhance the sheltering, is there an opportunity for us to make it different, better, more secure, if you will? Yeah, right now, the areas that we're structuring and building to the standards of tornado shelters, It would be the multipurpose room and the kitchen area and some of the other back-of-house storage spaces where food would be stored. So if there was other money available, we could definitely expand those services to maybe administration and so forth. That decision would really need to happen really quickly. Well, I'm intent. We'll put some wheels on it. Okay, thanks. I know my time is up, but I just want to tell you what a great exercise this has been in watching you all partner and watching our government come together from the CAO's office down to make – the mayor talks about moving parts in terms of the reparating project. There are so many moving parts on this, from the sewering to the design to the way it looks and the impact on the community of Idle Hour and Woodhill, which you all have worked so well with the neighborhood. it and i just can't compliment you enough and tell you how fast i want you to get it done because it will really be an asset for us all thank you sir i just want to say it's been an honor i mean we have worked with like i said people who are so committed and so passionate to this everybody's come to it with a very open mind and heart thank you mayor thank you very much thank you council member farmer council member clark thank you mayor um i have a description and impression of this, I'll just say, wow. I hope one of these days that I become a senior citizen and can participate. Until that time, I'll be watching very carefully the development of this. And a couple of quick questions, Rick, if I might. Use of natural light. Can you tell me how you've incorporated that into the structure? Absolutely. A couple things. Let me go to the elevations. Maybe start with the plant first. The bottom of the plant faces relatively south. The top of the plant faces north. So we obviously wanted to take advantage of that northern friendly sunshine. The multipurpose room, which the back of the multipurpose room has large glass. so it's going to have this north-facing exposure, which will be friendly sun. So we use that to our advantage, so that would be great views in the multipurpose room looking out into the park. Likewise, on the south, and this is why I want to go to the exterior. Let me get to there. I don't drive this very well. I'm sorry. There you go. Okay. This is a perspective, and it shows basically south exposure. South exposure, the transparency was absolutely important to us so that activities of the center would be visible to people driving by. One of the things that was absolutely essential is that this building was not intimidating to people who were visiting it for the first time or were curious. So to have transparency into the building was really important, but it was also challenging because it was this facade that faced south. So what you can sort of see is this sun screening that's been incorporated into the design that will filter that sun and still maintain transparency. We also have to be very important because glare in a senior center is not a friendly thing. So again, controlling that sun, make sure we didn't create sun glare, so on and so forth. That had to be something that had to be sensitive to as well. Natural light, if you can see from the art studios on this side of the building, every opportunity we had to maximize outdoor views, natural sunlight, we took advantage of. Again, we wanted this facility to be open, airy, fresh, a lot of natural light coming in, and a lot of transparency from the inside outside. Good. Thank you. One other quick question. Is one elevator enough? We think it is. Obviously, you're going to call me when that breaks down. But we think it is. It was a budget decision. one elevator runs about $65,000. So in terms of the load usage, yes, sir, it is. Okay. I appreciate it very much. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Beard. Thank you, Mayor. When this was first unveiled to us at the Mayor's budget hearing, it just blew everybody's mind that I was sitting with anyway you're to be commended as is Commissioner Mills had a couple of questions for her however what do we do in 25 years is there enough land there to expand I will tell you, at this center, there is not. When we first built this place, we talked about building an expansion plan. In our minds, I guess we assumed that four acres was bigger than it might be. However, having talked with Mr. Catlin, you can build a center too big. The centers that we visited in the New England area that are premier centers are 20,000 square feet. Ours is closer to 33. When you think about the people in the building being able to feel this social feeling that they belong, feeling that the staff knows who's there, you can get too big. So at first, I would guess when we first heard you couldn't expand, there was a disappointment to it. But having researched the centers, this is probably as big as you want to go. And Mr. Catlin might speak to that differently, but it's kind of like the difference between a big high school and a small high school. You know how your kids get lost? There's a sense of community at our center. We don't want to be too big. That being said, our other center had lots of office space in it because in the 80s, the senior center model was to have multi-agencies in the building because there wasn't Internet. Only 8% of this building is office space. 92% of it is activity space. So on scale, we're going to be able to serve a lot more people in this building than we were in the other ones, not just because of size, but because of the way the building's being used. I haven't really decided why I asked a question about 25 years from now, because I'm not sure there's going to be a problem for me anyway. 25 years from now, we can't expand this building. I'm sorry. And Harry? What is the requirement to be designated a senior as far as the senior center is concerned? 60 years old or the spouse of someone 60 years old? Oh, that's a piece of cake. I noticed in this picture here, by the way, that there's somebody in there taking some special pills or whatever. And if so, I want to get some. Thank you very much. Sorry, I got to add a little levity into everything. Thank you, Councilman Brick. Vice Mayor Gordon. I just want to thank you, Rick, and all the folks with you for the presentation, and to acknowledge that in the audience we have some members of our Senior Services Commission, including our chair, Gail Reese and Sean Wright from the current PACT Senior Center. and these folks have also given so much input and worked real hard. I know Christy has done a lot of surveys and we know that our current Senior Citizen Center is jammed full. So I'm thinking maybe in 2015 the mayor and I will be sitting at the card table in the card and game room having a friendly game of cards right mayor see it yes it's right there but i'm my bifocals i can see it can i tell him what you said he said with his bifocals i can see it but i'm just thrilled i think this is what we all imagined along the way and i personally knowing the little bit that I know from being on the Senior Services Commission, this place will be full very soon after it's open. Because I think right now a lot of people don't go to the Senior Citizen Center because they know it's jammed full. So thank you for the beautiful, open, light-filled plan. It'll be a place where people really can let themselves soar in a lot of ways. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Council Member Clark. Yes, a quick question for Beth, probably. Have there any thoughts about naming the center other than the Lexington Senior Citizen Center? No, we haven't gotten there yet. That's to be decided as well. That's all I need to know. Thank you. All right, looks like that's all signed up, so thank you all. Thanks very much. All right, great presentation and that allows us to move on to the, well we've already done the IncrediPet donation. Division of Emergency Management move. Clay, do you have? Yes. I can be very brief. For some quick historical context, Dean moved out to Cisco Road about 16 months ago to get out from under a very bad lease up here on Martin Luther King. We saved about $120,000 a year on that lease. Plus, we were looking at possibly having to replace the HVAC system in that building, which would have been about a $300,000 bill. And we have examined looking at them staying in the Cisco Road facility during demolition and reconstruction. But there are too many risks with that. There could be a risk of power outage or water outage. The dust and noise would be a problem. And they would have to move within the building anyway while we were undergoing reconstruction. So we know this is an inconvenience. But in continuing with trying to keep our costs under control as much as possible, we're looking at moving them over to some space the police have where their ComTech people used to be. There will be no interruption of deemed services. the emergency operations center when they moved from martin luther king over to cisco road was set up in the police third floor training room which is where the that's the backup eoc anyway and we can do that for this move while they're physically relocating the improvement to the police space will be the modifications that are going on new flooring new lights and painting and cleanup. So we're trying to stay on the timeline of about 18 months from when we start demolition, which should start sometime, I think, in May, to get the EOC built out inside the Cisco Road facility and also the space for emergency management and 311 to move in there. We're trying to make sure that we stay on track of that so we don't lose the $3 million federal dollars that they've had to repurpose a couple times already in the course of things. So that's the quick update on the emergency management move. Anybody have any questions, comments? All right. Councilman Massadi. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Commissioner Mason. I appreciate you giving us an update. I had some questions, if you have a minute. Sure. What's the condition of the new location? I know that it's not the best. It is not, but it's being improved with our own facilities, folks doing the work. It's going to be renovated and I think some temporary walls. John Sheet is here that could speak to that. But it was used until a few years ago by the police ComTech folks, and the bays of the building are going to be cleaned out. That's where the EOC will be reset up. They're going to get, like I said, new lights and things like that for the entire space. So the mold they had there and that's all going to be dissipated and taken care of, abated rather? Yes. Okay. What about how long is it going to take for the move to occur and be finished? When do you anticipate they'll be there? We're hoping to have everything completed within the next two and a half to three and a half weeks. We did the environmental assessments. Obviously, that's the standard procedure we go through with buildings such as this one. And there were a couple of very minor mold issues, but we also run a test. There's some asbestos in the tiles. So as a matter of fact, as we speak, the crew is finishing up the work on removal of all the tiles. And we hope to get back in there probably the next day or two and go ahead with the installation of the walls and the flooring. and the paint and all the lighting would be upgraded. It's going to be a brand new space. And as Commissioner said, once Deem moves out to their new and permanent location, then police will have the ability to utilize that space also. Did you all look at a different location prior to this? I'm just thinking something maybe in the Phoenix building, so you wouldn't have to go through all this abatement and so forth. I'm just saying, did you look at a different location prior to this? We've looked at many locations, LFECG-owned as well as private locations out there. There were a few things that needed to happen. One was obviously the access to city fiber for communication and data and so forth, and this facility already had it, so that was not a cost associated with it. Secondly, by utilizing one of our own buildings, this facility would save us a whole lot of money. And then the improvements that we're going to make, it actually would be to one of our own buildings. So it's going to be utilized by many different groups in the future. How long do you anticipate they'll be there for? I'll be very surprised if they're going to be there for more than 16, 17 months, to be honest with you. I've been through many demolition projects, and even with the best of plans and intentions, there's always you taking a risk in terms of disruption of services, especially with the utilities and communication systems. On the new center, I think we have $1.8 million budgeted for that. Is that correct? I believe so, yes. That's the cost it's supposed to be. If we go over that, do we have funds to, additional funds in case we go over that $1.8 million? I have to let Commissioner Mason. The project is more than $1.8 million. It's $1.8 of general funds. We've got some other monies that 311 has in terms of the water quality money and some of those because of the percentage of calls that they receive on a daily basis or apportioned. And we've got the $3 million from the federal government. So total we're looking at? I think we're looking at about $6 million to $7 million. Okay. And we don't anticipate any type of interruption of service because I'm thinking, you know, here we are in transition. What happens if it's April, it's tornado month, you know, concerned about safety issues? No, we don't. We've got the backup EC that's already. We could roll out and have it set up in an hour over here at police headquarters. Okay. Just wanted an update. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you, Commissioner Mason. This allows us to move on to council reports. Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Mayor. I guess, Commissioner, if you would come back up here, please. I spoke to you earlier, and you said you have some preliminary numbers. I think Glenn also does, too. We all like to celebrate when the U.K. wins, but we know there is a cost associated with that, and I think you have those numbers for us, if you would. There is a cost associated with that. We've gathered the cost for the public safety units, and for public safety, 911 was $720 in overtime. Corrections was $7,810. Fire, $10,694. And police, $113,424. So public safety had overtime expenditures of $132,648 as a result of the two weekends of the basketball celebration response. And then it's your handwriting. You're going to have to read that. There are also some other costs associated just with traffic engineering and the replacement cost and the contract installment of all those fixtures or signs and poles that had to be replaced. That ran about $14,364, and we're still waiting on three reports from waste management, building inspection, and code enforcement. So just that total between public safety and what we have for traffic engineering is $148,540. And we still have three more to be reported on, you say? That's correct. Okay. Thank you very much. Glenn, could you email that to us, Commissioner? Email those numbers to us. Okay. We'd appreciate it. I think it looks like a bunch of questions here, too. But thank you. All right. Does anyone have any questions related to this? Councilman Lane. I was just, since you figured up the cost, are we going to be seeing a bill to the U.K. and asking for reimbursement on that? I mean, after all, they probably made several millions on the TV. I think that's a policy question that might come from you all. That overtime figure from public safety did not include my time on that Saturday night out there, though. Okay. Thank you, sir. Council Member, is that on this issue? Council Member Lawless. Council Member Lawless. It didn't count my overtime either. But I'd also like to say there was involvement with the sheriff's office, state police that last weekend got involved. so it it was those weekends are going to always be very expensive that's correct and we were able to do some things in advance that cut the overtime cost in terms of some schedule adjustments so you know we were able to adapt to some things as we as we move forward which really kind of dilutes how many hours were put in. It was like people worked less at other times so they didn't have to... Right. There's an opportunity cost affiliated with changing your schedule and working something other than your normal routine. Right. Thank you. How are you going for the justice? All right, Council Member Scotchfield. Thank you, Mayor. Commissioner, I apologize. I guess you're going to get exercise today. I do have a question. Public safety was moved from hearing from our committee meetings today. I know that you all were doing an investigation on the shooting of the dog by the Lexington police officer. I wanted to see if we can get an update on that. I know that myself, I'm very concerned, as are many of my constituents. I'm pretty certain that that investigation is nearly completed. And I think the procedural part of it is playing out in terms of maybe even just talking to the officer. And I apologize. I had thought about that question yesterday and forgot to follow up with the police to find out exactly where it stands. But I'm pretty sure that's how far along it is. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Scotchfield, Council Member Clark. Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to bring to the attention of the council, and I think everybody got an email, but it's been a while, so I wanted to kind of remind everybody. Bill Fountain, who is a professor of boriculture at UK, and Sue Beard, who's chair of the Lexington Tree Foundation, have planned a tour of Lexington's urban forest. And this is going to happen on Friday, April 25th at 1 o'clock. It's a couple of hours to tour some Lexington areas. And it's basically an educational tour that will look at some of the things that are threatening the health of our public trees and kind of learning what can be done in the future to more ensure their health. So we all know the benefits of trees. And so I think this opportunity would be good for everybody if we can join them Friday the 25th at 1 o'clock. And they're going to have a van here at the center. And you can check their email. If you need some more information, I'll be happy to give it to you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Clark. Council Member Ford. Thank you, Mayor. I have three quick items to share with the council. The first is in regards to the Social Services and Community Development Committee. We have a meeting scheduled for next Tuesday, April 22nd. And forgive the lateness, the delay of the email that I sent to council in regards to an issue that Commissioner Mills has been working very hard on in regards to tenant relocation services. Without further delay, I move to refer the issue of tenant relocation services to the Social Services and Community Development Committee. Second. Motion by Councilman Ford. Second by Councilman Myers. Is there any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Councilmembers. We will place that item. This is an item that was brought forth independent of my leadership, and again, I look forward to learning more about the hard work that Beth and her colleagues have put in to this important issue. The second thing I want to speak to is in regards to another item that we'll discuss next week in social services, which is workforce development. In light of Auditor Adam Eland's report of the Bluegrass ad a couple of weeks ago, there's been a lot of moving parts in regards to the Workforce Investment Board. I want to say, Mayor Gray, I want to speak to the communication that you delivered to the ad last week in regards to their plans as it pertains to remaining the fiscal agent for the Workforce Investment Board. My understanding is that the Workforce Investment Board is now acting for its independence in light of what has come of that audit, and I do appreciate your letter. One thing, I've long been talking about bringing a resolution as it pertains to workforce, and now that the audit is complete, I plan to bring a resolution that echoes and supports the mayor's position that he indicated in your letter last week, And that is for the Workforce Investment Board to have the opportunity to solicit RFPs for a new fiscal agent. I think that is in the best interest of workforce here in Lexington and across the region. So I'll bring that forth next Tuesday. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Councilman Ford. Councilman Massani. Thank you, Mayor. I just want to bring to everyone's attention that this is National Public Safety Telecommunications Week. The second full week of April is dedicated to the men and women who serve as public safety telecommunicators, which is vital to our protection of human life and property and to the preservation of law and order. So I just wanted to take this opportunity to recognize the invaluable work of our public safety telecommunicators in Lexington. Thank you for their service. That's all, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Sadi. Okay. I think that's all the council members who have signed on for a council report. It allows us to move to a mayor's report. There is none this week. And to public comment for issues not on the agenda. Mr. Money, has anybody signed up? All right, sir. All right. Then, if there's nothing further before the motion by Council Member Stenet, second by Council Member Scotchville. Unless there's objection, work session is adjourned. Thank you.