# Urban County Council Work Session on 2014-07-08 3:00 PM - Packet - July 8, 2014 > Auto-transcribed civic record · July 8, 2014 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/3405 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/3405?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2014-07-08 - **Last revised**: July 8, 2014 - **Length**: 11,325 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 July 8, 2014, at 3:00 PM in the Council Chamber at 200 E. Main St, Lexington, KY 40507, with Mayor Gray presiding. The meeting addressed five agenda items, including requested rezonings and docket approval, summary approval, new business, continuing business and presentations, and the Mayor's report. Four of the five agenda items were approved, with one item serving an informational purpose. The council conducted 13 motions and votes throughout the session, while no public comments were heard during the meeting. ## Votes and Decisions The council conducted 13 votes during the July 8, 2014 meeting, with most passing unanimously and two requiring roll call votes. **Procedural and Administrative Matters** The council unanimously approved several routine items, including: • Approval of the July 1, 2014 Council meeting docket (motion by Beard, second by Scutchfield) • Approval of the June 24, 2014 work session summary (motion by Gorton, second by Akers) • Budget amendments (motion by Stinnett, second by Myers) • Amendment to add additional budget items (motion by Ellinger, second by Lawless) • New business approval (motion by Ellinger, second by Farmer) • July 1, 2014 neighborhood development funds (motion by Scutchfield, second by Myers) • Substitution of Planning & Public Works minutes from July 1, 2014 meeting packet (motion by Farmer, second by Ellinger) • Mayor's report approval (motion by Gorton, second by Akers) **Legislative Actions** The council unanimously voted to place an ordinance amending section 2-151 of the Code of Ordinances related to the Keep Lexington Beautiful Commission on the docket (motion by Henson, second by Scutchfield). **Roll Call Votes** Two items required roll call votes with recorded individual positions: The motion to accept and endorse preliminary recommendations of the stakeholder group (motion by Ford, second by Gorton) passed 11-1. Voting in favor: Gorton, Ellinger, Kay, Ford, Lawless, Beard, Stinnett, Scutchfield, Mossotti, Clarke, and Henson. Lane voted against. The motion to cancel the Special Committee of the Whole meeting scheduled for July 1, 2014 (motion by Gorton, second by Ellinger) passed 13-1. Voting in favor: Gorton, Ellinger, Kay, Ford, Akers, Lawless, Beard, Scutchfield, Myers, Mossotti, Clarke, Henson, and Lane. Stinnett voted against. **Appointments** The council unanimously approved placing Joan Whitman on the docket as a Board of Adjustment appointment (motion by Gorton, second by Henson). The meeting concluded with a unanimous vote to adjourn (motion by Farmer, second by Mossotti). ## Budget and Financial Actions The meeting addressed four financial authorizations totaling approximately $646,920 in contracts and agreements. **Health Services Contract Amendment** The board considered Resolution 0671-14, authorizing execution of the First Amendment to the Health Services Agreement with Corizon, LLC for $87,000. This amendment modifies the existing health services contract with the healthcare provider. **Environmental Infrastructure Contract Change** Resolution 0709-14 sought authorization to execute Change Order No. 1 to the existing agreement with AMEC Environmental Infrastructure, Inc. for $59,000. This change order represents modifications to the original scope of work with the environmental consulting firm. **New Environmental Engineering Agreement** The largest financial item was Resolution 0710-14, authorizing execution of a new agreement with Hazen and Sawyer Environmental Engineers and Scientists for $500,000. This substantial contract establishes services with the environmental engineering and scientific consulting firm. **Information Sharing Agreement** Resolution 0719-14 authorized execution of an Exchange of Information Agreement with the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Education and Workforce Development Cabinet. This agreement carries an annual cost of $1,920 and facilitates data sharing between the organizations. The four resolutions collectively represent significant financial commitments across health services, environmental consulting, engineering services, and intergovernmental cooperation. The environmental services contracts (AMEC and Hazen and Sawyer) account for the majority of the financial impact at $559,000 combined. ## Appointments The board made one appointment during the July 8, 2014 meeting. • **Joan Whitman** was appointed to the Board of Adjustment No additional details about the appointment terms, voting results, or background information were provided in the available meeting materials. ## Contested Items The meeting featured two items that resulted in split votes among council members, indicating some level of disagreement on the issues. **Preliminary Recommendations of the Stakeholder Group** The first contested item involved a motion to accept and endorse preliminary recommendations from a stakeholder group. While the specific details of these recommendations were not provided in the available materials, the proposal generated enough disagreement to result in a split vote. The motion ultimately passed with strong support, receiving approval from 11 council members while 1 member voted in opposition. The identity of the dissenting member and their specific concerns about the stakeholder group's recommendations were not detailed in the extracted information. **Cancellation of Special Committee Meeting** The second contested item concerned a procedural matter regarding the cancellation of a Special Committee of the Whole meeting that had been previously scheduled for July 1, 2014. This motion to cancel the meeting also faced some opposition, though it passed with even stronger support than the first item. The final vote was 13-1, with only one council member voting against the cancellation. The reasons for the original scheduling of the July 1st meeting, the rationale for its cancellation, and the concerns of the lone dissenting member were not specified in the available materials. Both contested items, while generating some disagreement, passed with substantial majorities, suggesting that the opposition represented minority viewpoints on the council. The split votes indicate that these were matters where council members felt strongly enough about their positions to vote against the majority, rather than seeking unanimous consensus. ## Requested Rezonings/ Docket Approval The meeting included discussion on requested rezonings and docket approval matters. Based on the available information, this agenda item involved consideration of various rezoning requests that required formal approval from the governing body. The discussion covered the procedural aspects of reviewing and approving rezoning applications that had been submitted for consideration. This type of agenda item typically involves reviewing applications from property owners or developers seeking to change the zoning classification of specific parcels of land to allow for different types of development or land use. The outcome of this discussion was approval of the requested rezonings and docket items under consideration. This indicates that the governing body found the rezoning requests met the necessary criteria and requirements for approval. *Note: Specific details about individual rezoning requests, property locations, speakers, or the nature of the debate were not available in the source materials for this meeting.* ## Approval of Summary The meeting addressed the approval of the summary from the previous work session. This routine procedural item allows council members to review and formally approve the documentation of their prior meeting's discussions and decisions. The agenda item was presented for consideration without any recorded speakers or specific debate. No concerns or objections were raised regarding the accuracy or completeness of the previous work session summary. The summary was approved without discussion, indicating council members found the documentation to be accurate and complete. This approval ensures the official record of the previous work session is formally accepted and becomes part of the permanent meeting record. *Note: No transcript timestamps are available for this agenda item.* ## New Business The meeting addressed new business items during this portion of the proceedings. The agenda item was designated as a discussion and approval session for new business matters. The item was ultimately approved by the meeting participants, though specific details about the nature of the new business items, the scope of discussion, or individual speaker contributions were not captured in the available meeting records. Without additional transcript information or detailed minutes, the specific content of the new business discussions, any concerns that may have been raised by participants, or the deliberative process leading to approval cannot be determined from the available documentation. ## Continuing Business/ Presentations During this agenda item, the meeting included presentations on Neighborhood Development Funds and an Environmental Quality Committee Summary. The presentations were informational in nature, providing updates and reports to the attendees. The session covered two main topics: • **Neighborhood Development Funds** - A presentation was given regarding the status and activities of neighborhood development funding programs • **Environmental Quality Committee Summary** - An overview was provided of the Environmental Quality Committee's recent work and findings This agenda item served as an informational briefing for meeting participants, allowing them to receive updates on ongoing municipal programs and committee activities. No specific speakers were identified in the available records, and the presentations concluded without requiring formal action from the body. The outcome of this agenda item was purely informational, with the presentations serving to keep attendees informed about current neighborhood development initiatives and environmental quality matters under the committee's purview. *Note: Specific transcript timestamps are not available for this agenda item.* ## Mayor's Report The Mayor presented his report to the council during the July 8, 2014 meeting. The agenda item was categorized as a presentation and was ultimately approved by the council. However, the specific details of what topics the Mayor covered in his report, the substance of his presentation, and any discussion that followed are not available in the provided meeting documentation. No transcript timestamps or specific speakers beyond the Mayor's presentation role were recorded for this agenda item. Additionally, no particular concerns, questions, or debate points from council members regarding the Mayor's report were documented in the available materials. The item concluded with council approval, suggesting the report was received and accepted without significant objection or controversy. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approval of the docket for the July 1, 2014 Council meeting - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Place an ordinance amending section 2-151 of the Code of Ordinances related to the Keep Lexington Beautiful Commission on the docket - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approval of the summary of the June 24, 2014 work session - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approval of budget amendments - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Amend the list of budget amendments to include additional items - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approval of new business - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approval of July 1, 2014 neighborhood development funds - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Substitute the Planning & Public Works minutes from the July 1, 2014 meeting packet - **Motion** — passed (11-1): Accept and endorse preliminary recommendations of the stakeholder group - **Motion** — passed (13-1): Cancel the Special Committee of the Whole meeting scheduled for July 1, 2014 - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Place Joan Whitman on the docket as a Board of Adjustment appointment - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approve the Mayor’s report - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Adjourn the meeting --- ## Full transcript Music We'll, uh, if it's good, we'll get going. Yeah, that's all right. We can. All right. Okay. And I'll call the meeting of the work session to the council, call the meeting to order, And first on the agenda is public comment for issues on the agenda. Mr. Mundy, nobody? Okay, thank you, sir. Next, are there any rezonings? All right, then I'll ask for a motion for docket approval. Second. Motion by Council Member Ellinger, second by Council Member Farmer. Is there any discussion on the motion? Wait a second. All right, Council Member Ford. Thank you, Mayor. Council Members, I have distributed via email a motion that I'll bring forth in regards to multi-way traffic stop signals at the intersection of East 3rd Street and Shropshire Avenue. I've emailed that to you with my memo and also, more importantly, the report from the Division of Traffic Engineering. So, Mayor, I move to place on the docket for the July 8, 2014 Council meeting a resolution authorizing the Division of Traffic Engineering to install multi-way stop controls at the intersection of East 3rd Street and Shropshire Avenue. So moved. Second. Motion by Council Member Ford. Second by Council Member Lane. Is there any discussion on the motion? Okay. Hearing none, then we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Ford, thank you. Council Member Lawless. Thank you, Mayor. I also would like to make a motion to place on the docket for the July 8th council meeting this evening a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement with EOP architects for evaluation and historic analysis of the Old Fayette County Courthouse at a cost not to exceed $110,000. This has already been bid and gone through the process and been reviewed, and they just want to be able to get started on it while we're on break. Second. Motion by Council Member Lawless, second by Council Member Clark. Is there any discussion on the motion? Councilman Lane. Oh, I just wondered if this was budgeted and we have this budgeted money or is this new money? Yes, this was budgeted and it's been going through the process. I think a couple of y'all sat on the RFPQ committee. Well, I didn't mean whether it went to the RFP, but do we actually have it in the budget? Do you know, Mayor? Yes. Yes, it is. Okay, thank you. Yes, sir. All right, all right. We've got a motion. We've got a second. Is there any further discussion on the motion? All right, hearing none, then we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Mayor, is there anything else that we need to address before going into the motion for the closed session? I think we're okay. All right, okay. All right, Councilman Rehlier. Thank you, Mayor. I move that we go into closed session pursuant to KRS 61.8101C for the purpose of discussing pending and potential litigation. So moved. Motion by Council Member Ellinger and second by Council Member Massadi. Is there any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, then we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. So the council will adjourn for a closed session into the caucus room. Actually, if you all want to stay in here, it's okay. Anybody who does need to stay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. guitar solo guitar solo Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. guitar solo Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo Thank you. guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo Thank you. guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo Thank you. guitar solo guitar solo Thank you. guitar solo Thank you. guitar solo guitar solo Thank you. Thank you. guitar solo guitar solo Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo Thank you. guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. so Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. guitar solo Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Open session by Council Member Ellinger and a second by Council Member Farmer. Unless there's objection, we return to open session. The first thing we need to do is take a vote on the motion to approve the docket. We've already got the motions. I'm sorry. We just need to. We've already got the motion. We just forgot to take the vote, or I failed to. All in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Carries. All right. Now let's just move on to the motion to approve the summary. Motion by Council Member Beard, second by Council Member Ellinger. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. Hearing none, then we can vote on it. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Next is budget amendments. Motion. The floor is available for motions. Councilman Rehlinger. Thank you, Mayor. I move that the work session agenda be amended to include budget amendments for rolled purchase orders. As in our practice, the Division of Purchasing has reviewed open fiscal year 2014 purchase orders for items specifically approved by Council, contains claims, insurance accounts, or for ongoing construction professional services project, can move those items forward into fiscal year 2015. The budget to cover these purchase orders must be removed to cover these items, and as such, I identify it in the fiscal year fund balance for this purpose, and I move. Motion by Council Member Ellinger. Second by Council Member Kaye. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. We can take a vote then. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Next is new business. Is there a motion? motion by council member farmer second by council member scutchfield is there any discussion on the motion council mayor farmer question on two items items c and i guess d well maybe whatever's on page seven abolishing the positions in 2015 i'm sure this was part of the discussion during the budget about eliminating these positions one of which is in the division of revenue then there's like one, two, three, four, five, five in the Division of Social Services. And I was just surprised that they were also concentrated in that area. And if there's background discussion on that, I'd appreciate it. Okay, Melissa is coming to the podium. Thank you. The positions in social services, they were actually grant-funded positions that ended during the fiscal year or at the beginning of the fiscal year last year, and so they needed to be abolished. the position in revenue was one that was still on the books that was unfilled, unfunded, and needed to be abolished. So that's why. Thank you on both. Then on item D, which is on page 9, which is the transfer right away on Hickory Street, the packet doesn't reflect a map for this. I was interested in what shape this parcel took, but I guess am I to understand from reading the item that they are asking, is this our land to grant or is this the state's land in the right-of-way? The state has requested that we grant this. It's our right-of-way. It's our right-of-way. The state is redoing that intersection, and they've requested that that right-of-way be granted. To D&D Realty. Yeah, but it's just part of the reconstruction of that intersection by the state. I'm a map person. and I'm always appreciative of the illustration. Thank you, Mayor. We'll remember that next time. Thank you, Council Member Farmer. Thank you, Commissioner Holmes. Any further discussion on the motion? All right. Hearing none, then we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Allows us to move on to continuing business and presentations. Is there a motion on the NDS? Second. Motion by Council Member Scotchfield, second by Council Member Beard. Is there any discussion on the motion? Okay. Hearing none, then we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Next is Council Member Stennett's Environmental Quality Committee summary. Council Member Stennett. Thank you, Mayor. This is the environmental quality summary from June 24th. The first item on the docket was committee summary. That was approved unanimously. Second item on our agenda was LexSurf collections. We currently have 115,000 customers that we bill under the LexSurf system for sewer, landfill, and water quality fees, totaling approximately $65 million in annual billings. The previous system was billed by Kentucky American Water, and that collection rate was 98.8%, while the current system has a collection rate of 95.8%. That's a reduction in $1.8 million of revenue. Also discussed during the discussion on LexSurf collections of the 10-day shutoff service. It is sent to actually Kentucky American. Then the water shut off, and the customer at that point would have to pay all outstanding charges in order to have the service turned back on. Any water bill or water service will be restored the same day if payment is completed by 2 p.m. There are also 500 customers who have opted out of the paper invoice process. In addition, 22,000 customers have utilized the electronic funds transfer program. Also, the collection rates are based on the highest past due and oldest delinquency first. The next item on our agenda was the material recycling facility audit follow-up. This is the third time we've had this item on our agenda. We went through the 12 different recommendations. I will not read all 12 recommendations in the follow-up, but I will give you highlights on a couple of them. The first recommendation was to assign the MRF a separate fund within our budgeting process. That was not carried out by the administration and will not be. There was a lot of discussion about which way to proceed forward, but they will continue to manage that fund and report back to us accordingly as to when that would be appropriate to establish a separate fund. The recommendation number two was to hire a management or a manager at the MRF. That was successfully addressed, and there is a manager in place, as well as they're in the process of retaining an accountant for the facility. The other issues of overtime have decreased from 432 hours a month to 158 hours. there is a security issues have been addressed and the doors of the building have been secured risk management has also reviewed and items are being addressed at the murph and the last but not least the contract with brrc has been terminated and we're continuing to address those issues in the house we'll keep this in committee for a future update the next item on our agenda was monthly financials there was no discussion they were in there for information only and we adjourned at 158. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Councilor Stennett. Next is a presentation by Commissioner Paulson on the Vacant Property Review Commission. Is that correct? We're actually going to have the Chair of the Vacant Property Review Commission, Chip Crawford, come and speak. And then if there are questions that It can be addressed either to Chip or myself. Thank you. So I will introduce Chip Crawford. Thanks, Mr. Crawford. Mr. Chairman, I should say. Mr. Chip. Hello. We are here to give you kind of a quick summary of where we are with our vacant property review commission. Our first meeting, a quick overview of our presentation. We'll go through our background, who the membership is, our mission statement, goals that we've set, some tools that we will be bringing to you as council to decide whether to adopt or not, show you a couple of the current activities that we're dealing with, and what our next steps are for this next calendar year. Basically, the Vacant Property Review Commission was created by an ordinance to identify blatant and blight and deteriorated vacant residential properties and to certify these properties that could be taxed as abandoned urban properties and to make other recommendations concerning those vacant, abandoned, and blightened properties. The commission members are myself, Chip Crawford. I'm a builder, remodeler, and president of the Home Builders Association. Karen Dupree, a real estate agent. Bill Johnson, a neighborhood representative. Martina Ackerman, an at-large member. Siobhan Akers is our council member. And David O'Neill, and we're going to add a financial services member to the council, or to the commission here shortly. Our first meeting that we had was in October, and since then we've created a mission statement. The mission of the Vacant Property Review Commission is to return vacant, abandoned, or blightened properties to their most productive use, utilizing all available tools and leveraging public and private resources. We set some goals and objectives. We identified and categorized vacant, abandoned, or blightened properties to develop programs, policies to return these properties to productive use, and then to make recommendations to policymaking bodies regarding these vacant, abandoned, and blightened properties. You all have basically two tools at your disposal. We have an additional taxation of the property. Under the ordinance, the property must meet the criteria that we have established for a year, the criteria for abandoned urban properties, and be certified by our commission. Or you also have eminent domain, which again must meet our criteria, and then you all must approve the use of eminent domain. We have created a website like VPRC, which includes the information that we just kind of laid out for you, who we are, our meetings, minutes, and our report for this. And we're also going to be publishing live our list of preliminary properties on this. The property database. So what we've done, there's 110,000 or so residential properties that we've looked at. We've created a preliminary initial list of these properties, which includes code enforcement complaints, water service data. One thing we've determined is that someone can actually occupy or use a home without maybe some services, but water is an essential service. So that was a key initial component as far as looking at these properties. The PVA information, Lex call complaints, the master commissioner sale, and properties that are reported directly to us. This, we've narrowed that 110,000 properties using these criterias down to an identifiable 270, 280 or so properties that we've seen that could meet these criteria and be considered either blightened or vacant at this time. This is just an initial preliminary list. This database meets two to three or more of our set criteria that we've looked at. And what that did to us is we're now going to send letters to those owners basically requesting information on their property. You know, is it truly vacant? What's the status of it? Is it in some sort of transitional period or exactly what it is? Also, we're going to ask code officials to go and do a visual inspection, do a drive-by, and do an assessment, asking them some very specific questions that we can identify that might add not to code violations, but do they, are they in fact appear to be vacant? Is there windows and doors open or knocked out? Can you see people or activity in these homes? Those kind of things that you can only do with a visual inspection. So that's the goal to then narrow that list down to what we believe will be a much more manageable 50 properties or so. We don't know exactly that we can actually certify that have been vacant for an extended period of time. our outreach program one of the things we did last month was sent a letter to stakeholders requesting additional information to be given to us those stakeholders include you all the council neighborhood associations L bar the home builders Association likes to do please fire waste management streets roads building inspection code enforcement specifically to to let us know if they see anything that was out there. Within that month, we have seen somewhere in the vicinity of about 40 or 50 properties have come back to us to add to our list. So I've gone over a preliminary list of these properties have been developed. I believe we've given that or are distributing that list to you all. But those properties have been reported to the city as abandoned and those that lack water services and have a code enforcement violation. So at least two of those three criteria to initially get on our preliminary list. This list as I said, we will continue to refine it. The more information we get the better. All of these are public record information. So we're just trying to cross-reference them to list and identify these properties. Our next step. So where we are, I've kind of given you a history. As I said, after this meeting, we'll be sending out those letters to those 270 or so homeowners. Next month, so the tax district needs to be established by you all. So next month we're going to come back with a recommendation for you all to establish the tax district. And then once the district is established, the abandoned urban properties district, then a rate can be established. And we'll bring back a recommendation next month to you all what that rate should be. Once that rate's been set, then We will work to certify a list of properties that we can identify that have been vacant for a period of 12 months. We will send additional final letters to the owner. They have the right to appeal this process. And then with those appeals, we'll deal with that. And then on October of 2015 would be the first time that their property taxes would actually be increased to whatever rate you all set. Our goal is to help these properties before then. We want to work with those landowners and identify those properties and do as much incentivizing and helping of them to either rehabilitate or transfer those properties or identify what's going to be happening with those properties before we ever get to this state. That's our commission's goals. That's my quick 30-second overview. Thanks, Chip. There's several council members signed on for comments or questions, so we'll begin with Council Member Lawless. Thank you. You, maybe I read this wrong. Okay. So it's the individual properties. That would be, I'm sorry, I can't see very well, and I thought I read an abandoned urban property tax area or something, so I apologize. This is great. It's wonderful. Desperately needed. Kudos and thanks to all of y'all working on this and volunteering. Thank you. Councilmember Kay. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Chip, for agreeing to serve and to all the members of the council of the commission, that is, who have agreed to serve and to the commissioner and staff for putting this together. This is something that some of us have been trying to get to move forward for quite a while. I think a lot of people on council know that this was a commission that was created and basically nothing happened for a number of years. So it's great to see movement, and this really looks very promising. I do have a couple of questions. Maybe we go to the last slide you put up. It's just as easy to ask them off of that on some of these pages. So the third broad arrow, certify a list of properties to be taxed as abandoned properties. Is that a council activity, the certifying, or how does that happen? No, it's in the ordinance that's written, the actual commission certifies those properties. Okay, so that's done by the commission. while all of these things are going on what is the role of code enforcement we're still working some of those details out but the initially our thought and and Derek please step in whenever you feel like it but what we're going to do the staff has done a great job of working with us and code officials. We have identified these properties. We're asking them on the initial to go and do a visual inspection. We are expecting that when they do that inspection, they're going to be looking for additional code violations. These properties now are flagged, and we're going to be then asking our commission, because we're looking at this list every month, And we're looking for an update on these properties every month. So we're looking specifically at these properties and holding maybe code to be a little more accountable to what code violations they find. We're going to ask them to report back to us and see if the activity has been happening on these properties and if they've been able to be, you know, whatever code violations they've found have been rectified or if the owner is cooperating with us. So I think what you're going to see is that the commission and code enforcement is going to work very closely hand-in-hand to help incentivize these properties getting improved, at least the ones. Now, you can meet our criteria without having a code violation. So it can be abandoned and it can be a vacant property, but be maintained very well. And there's nothing necessarily wrong with that. And we need to identify those properties and find out why that property maybe has been vacant for a year or two. Maybe it's an absentee owner. Maybe it's a death in the family and an estate issue. There's lots of potential things that may be going on with a piece of property that we just need to know about. Okay, so that's very helpful. I saw the commissioner moving towards the front of the room. He might want to add a comment. Before you do that, I just want to clarify one thing. A property can be vacant and well-maintained. Is it then going to be subject to these additional taxation and or condemnation possibilities? Property that, again, perfectly well-maintained, it's been vacant for four or five years, but kept up nicely from the street, you wouldn't know that it's vacant? No. But I think the short answer is no. There's been no water. There's been no electric. There's been no. The short answer is no. It would not be subject to the definition of the abandoned property. Commissioner, you wanted to add about code? I think Chip did a really good job of just summarizing. We are going to work very closely. Code is going to be a big component of this. They already are. It's one of the main components of determining which properties we're looking at. But then, again, once we have this list, they are going to physically inspect every property. They are currently, it's one of the new things that they're doing a little bit more, is looking for these properties, again, working with some other divisions. Police and fire are also assisting on that, as well as getting the word out to the citizens. But Code will be a very big partner with the vacant property review commission just to identify. And, again, I think the number that we've found so far is not, it's good and bad. 272 is good in that we don't have thousands like other cities do. But I think the bad side is we've probably got a lot of properties that we see that people are living in that people may think are vacant and are abandoned, but they're not. And so that's where the code part will also come in is, you know, these may look vacant and abandoned, and they're not. We'll find that, and that's where code will come back in. And if they're not vacant and abandoned, there are people living in them, we will be going back at them and, again, finding and getting them from the code perspective. Okay. My time is up. I have actually one more question, but I'll come back. But, again, thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member K. Council Member Massadi. Thank you, Mayor. Thanks, Chip, for agreeing to serve and Karen Martina. One question I have is I know in my district I have a lot of properties that are abandoned, and we can't get a hold of the landowners. I mean, they're either out of the country or we've tried several attempts to get in touch with them to clean up their property. They still own it, but they just don't do it. Do you have any plan for what you're going to do with those properties? Well, under the ordinance, once you have created the tax district and then they stay in that state and we can certify that that's been the case for a year or more, then you all will agree basically to raise their property taxes. And that is the leverage and tool that you currently have beyond what we do to try to just continue to contact them, to force code violation issues, to work with them or identifying who owns them. And in some cases, we can even go to the lending institution who may have a lien or mortgage on that property and help, again, to incentivize them in any form or work with them to try to improve those properties. And I don't disagree with you. That's great if you have a cooperative landowner or an owner, but what if you don't? And you don't have someone that's – I've got that in my district where I've got homes that are abandoned and we can't get a hold of the owners. And, you know, code enforcement has to come and mow or the neighbors mow because it's such a blight. Right, and that's where we can move towards foreclosure, and we have in some instances where – and again, it's not always the quickest process, but the fines can start to build up. Same with property taxes if you're delinquent or if you're paying them. But if we have the increase in code fines, if we keep adding on to those, we can move and have in the past move to foreclosure on these properties. How many have we done like that in the past? Do you have any idea? I'd have to ask legal. I'm just curious. Oh, it's less than 20. Okay. Well. And it's largely because what we get, and this is how with code enforcement what we often get is in some owners it takes a long time. These are generally housing violations as opposed to nuisance, where you've got housing violations that will add up and add up and add up. And if at any point they come and pay off those fines, it goes back to zero when the process starts. So that's where we're working on that process. But also we have the ability to not take those fines in some cases and just keep moving towards foreclosure. Okay. Thank you. Council Member Stennett. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Chip, for coming today. We appreciate the update, and those who have been around for a while, we know this has been around a while for it, too. So thank you for the update. A couple questions. One, did you all ever discuss commercial properties, including them? No. At the present time, our focus has been residential only and with structure. Okay. And then during that discussion, I'm not sure if you have a draft of the ordinance yet or not, But can we make sure, because none of the presentation, residential, residential, residential is noted, because I know a lot of citizens are concerned about commercial, too. And so we just need to make sure there's a clear distinction that we're not addressing that issue yet. Yeah, and that's actually noted in the ordinance residential. And is that a long-term goal is to include commercial eventually? I think so. I think one of the things to keep in mind is that we were handed a task with an ordinance with very limited language in it as our first goal. We had no idea when we started this process if we were looking at 10 houses or 2,000 or 10,000 properties. We had to write our own goals and objectives and set forth what it is we wanted to do. I think what became very clear with our members is that this is only the first step in what we want to do as far as helping to create a way to work both with public and privately with property owners across the board to help with anything that's vacant or blightened. But we had to start here with the residential. Sure, no, it's a good start. A couple questions logistically. If someone wants to report a vacant house or a house that's perceived as being vacant, they call 311. Who within, and maybe Derek has to answer this, who within government is going to get that call to go follow up? Is it going to be building inspection, code enforcement, your office? There's actually a couple ways to do it. If you call 311, it'll go to build to code enforcement. Code enforcement will then go out and check it. Last year, I think we had somewhere around 97 calls that actually came in to the city for abandoned properties. But we also have a dedicated link on the Vacant Property Review Commission website where you can go and report a property. And that same way it comes in, and we can then send that to code enforcement for follow-up as well. So our code's going to be a point on this. Yeah. When it comes to this, they are the lead on terms of vacant and abandoned. And Chip's very accurate in terms of this whole, you know, what we've got here. We started with an ordinance with a – this had been created years ago. In a sense, we are eating the elephant, and we're starting bite by bite. When we started out, we really had this whole question of how do you even go about identifying where are the properties? So that's why we've gone with this database and really gone around. I can just say Jonathan Olinger has done a huge amount of work in terms of data just trying to figure out how do we do this. Chris Dorge with GIS has been great as well, just trying to get how do we find out from the water data and from other ways to try to coordinate all this together. We were starting with residential and larger because that's where we hear the focus. That's where the concern is from vacant and abandoned properties inside neighborhoods. But we do want to, you know, one of the closely related to that is vacant lots. So, I mean, those are there. They're easier in some ways because we can send out code enforcement or others to mow those lots. Those are a little bit easier to manage. But we do want to move on to other properties. But I think at first, in terms of triage, what those priorities are, it's that residential to start with, but then to move out as we can. Sure. I appreciate that. A couple things on these vacant houses, Derek, and you may have to ask the law department, if they're in bank foreclosure, Can we act on that property tax while they're in foreclosure? And normally we can only set property taxes once a year. So will this be an annual thing that will increase a set of houses once a year? Or can we actually increase their property taxes during the year? A couple questions. In terms of setting the rate, we will set that rate in August. Right, I understand that. But on the houses that we want to say, hey, you have to pay more, can that only be done August? Well, the tax set is once in August. And again, by ordinance, we have to have documented evidence that this has been vacant for a year, in which we're starting from January and moving on through. In terms of foreclosures, I'll let Commissioner. I'm sorry, what was the foreclosure question? Can we enact this tax increase on a foreclosed property while it's in bank hands or in the court system? Because right now we can't do code enforcement. That's what counsel gets told. you can't act code enforcement violations, but liens, because it's in foreclosure. So how can we change the property tax? I think, I mean, I'm not aware of anything that would prevent you from going ahead and calling it one of these properties while it's in foreclosure, and then you might get, you know, if you get a legal challenge on that, we'd have to deal with it. But I'm not aware of anything that prevents you from doing that. Right now we're preventing it on code enforcement action. We can't go abate the property until the... Well, I think they've changed that now, right? So actually, we can. And the question is, we can go and abate a property. The policy will be, do we expect to get that money back? And I think that's a policy decision. And with the money we have for abatements, I think our policy is to move forward. When we've got houses in foreclosure, we go forward and put a lien on it as well. And we just move forward with the goal that if our focus with code enforcement is to make sure their neighborhoods are in the best state that they can be, then we will move forward with those houses, even if they're in foreclosure. But, again, that's something we can note. So we're only going to add houses or change their property tax once a year? Correct. It gives them a lot of time to correct it before it gets all good. And, again, if we go back to the goal, I can't remember if we can get there, but really the question is what do we want to do? Do we want to increase the property tax? Do we want to get the hops in the best state? And so this is one of those tools that we can use. We don't envision the property tax is going to go up a huge astronomical amount because we are limited by how much we can raise it. But it's yet another tool. So if we're hitting them from code, if we've got this ability to raise their property tax, if they will then sell the property, that's great. Or if they'll fix it, that's great. What we want is to make sure these houses are back in the best state for that neighborhood that we can get them. And this is just another tool. I'm out of time, but I'll ask one question in closing. So if we add them to the list in August, they fix it in September. They have to stay on until next August and pay the double tax until next August? No, and there's an appeals process that will go as well. So they'll get – the way this whole process will work, according to ordinance, is that they have an ability to come back and show that they're working on property. And this is where the commission comes in. And we can go back and change their property tax rate mid-year? I believe it's done in January, but they will not have that property tax. So this is why we have to have that. We need to check on that because I think there's some issues there. The way this works is we have – we set it once a year and say these are the properties that are in there. But they have been that way for a year. So we will actually set it. they will have had their appeals process before then. So they will have known for quite a long time before they get to that property tax increase. But when does it fall off? Once they fix their property and clean it up, when does it come off? I believe when it's next year. Right. A year. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Lawless. I think you've already spoken on. All right. Council Member Clark. Thank you, Mayor. Chip, thank you very much. This is something that came up before I was council member, I suspect. But this is excellent. I really appreciate your work on this. One of the things I want to ask, in your second goal, develop programs and policies to return properties to productive use. Can you elaborate a bit on that, where we're going with that beyond the tax? It is our primary agenda item from this point forward through the rest of the year to develop these programs. Right off the bat, I can tell you that we have just creating this list has built a lot of momentum. We've been contacted by multiple people and multiple agencies for this list. just even down to addressing like councilman massadi's question knowing who the owner is having that contact being able to work with them with maybe a private developer or someone who wants to buy the property and helping work the basically putting people together looking at financing opportunities. I think that's going to be a key component is having an easy way for either that homeowner who maybe wants to do something with the home but just hasn't had the resources to do it, or a future developer to buy it and fix it up and be able to get reasonable financing to do the work that might be needed on the property. Those are the kind of things that we're going to be focused on and looking at over the next couple of months to do with these properties. And one quick question, another question. Any relationship, any thoughts about tying this to affordable housing somehow? I'm going to punt that one. Yes, and if you remember on the big wheel of connectivity from the presentation last Tuesday, one of those divisions, one of those areas in there is the vacant property review commission. And this is one of those things that we envision will be, you know, fundamental to affordable housing. How do we identify it? We have talked about it in the vacant property review commission. You know, these are properties that, you know, can we explore this from a land banking? Can we explore it with private developers, land trust, various different ways? We've talked about it informally with some of the nonprofits in town already about how do we help them identify properties that can be used for, you know, say, habitat properties. So it will be one of those components. And this is where, again, there's no it's almost for all intents and purposes, Jonathan is the director of vacant property review commission. It's almost borders on that level of work that he's put into it. And they'll be working very closely with the new manager for affordable housing on how do we link those things together. And, again, working with code and planning in other divisions. But I think we do see it as a key strategy. And, again, particularly with those rehabilitation dollars that we hope to be able to put out in terms of affordable housing, I think it will be instrumental. Good. That's excellent. I look forward to that. Thank you, both of you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Clark. Council Member Ford. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Chip. Thank you, Commissioner Paulson. First, I want to just commend you and the members of the commission for finally getting started. I know prior to your time to being appointed, as has been mentioned, this commission just sat on paper. It was dormant. But very glad that you guys have come on board and helping with the leadership. to segue from council member clark's question about affordable housing and derrick and i have talked about this i see it being a key component of what we're doing with affordable housing particularly what we do with our land use with the urban service boundary This ties into infill and redevelopment. I think that there's the potential is really there for us to do some great things with vacant properties commission. You know, vacant properties, I have a question about the district. You spoke of setting the district. The district is basically the criteria or set of characteristics of a price, not a geographic district, though, is it? Correct. Okay, great. Great, because I would imagine that us as council members, this is an issue that all of our neighborhoods, unfortunately, are plagued with from time to time, having vacant properties. Correct. And one of the things, when you see the list of the 276 properties, you'll see that it's identified by council district and by zip code. So you'll be able to see that this is not centric to any one area specifically. Well, again, this is greatly needed because I think all of us recognize through our neighborhoods that a vacant property not only is an economic drain on property values of other properties, but I consider them in some areas, when it's truly blighted, it's detrimental to the point of almost being a weapon or a danger to nearby folks in neighborhoods. And so I'm really glad that we're approaching this. Council Member Kay may recall when we first got on council, there was one chronic property in our district. And we took a team out with code enforcement and historic preservation and things in law department. And the game that was being played was that the property was blighted. And our council prior to my time had just passed an ordinance that allowed a $10,000 fine or something. But the game that was being played, and code enforcement probably sees this too often, is that the property will accumulate fees and fines. And at the 11th hour, the homeowner, the property owner will come and pay those, and the clock starts all over. But the law department stepped up at that time, and we were able to get that property to change hands because the judge, I believe, if I recall, became very irritated with this game that's being played of not truly addressing the blight with these properties. The last question I have in the two minutes I have in the tools available to us are the additional taxation in the eminent domain. The additional taxation kind of alludes to what I was just speaking about, fixing those loopholes or that broken systems of imposing fines. We don't want to impose fines just to impose fines. We're trying to trigger a change of condition of the property. So let's talk about eminent domain. It says that eminent domain actions require council approval. I would guess that that's not something that this council or this government would take very likely. How does this tie into a potential land bank? And I'm looking to Commissioner Chip for just a second. Because we talked, because that's another tool, vacant property review commission being a tool that Chip is leading for us. The land bank is a tool, again, that we haven't dusted off very well. How does that play into eminent domain and going forward? Right, and with all these, I think the key issue will always be funding. Because with land trust, with land bank, with eminent domain, funding is always going to be an issue. It's a tool, and I don't think it's one that we've explored very much at this point, but one that we want to look forward a little bit more. We're probably going to have to talk a lot more with legal in terms of what we can and how the process works. Because, again, I'm not sure if law knows the last time we have actually used eminent domain. I think that's one of those, you know, maybe one of those last resorts, but it's something that could be very beneficial in certain cases. I do think this tool will give us another option that we haven't been able to use when code enforcement issues get to a point where we need something else. Again, that whole goal being that we can turn those neighborhoods back to get them in the best state that they need to be in, along with furthering affordable housing where needed. But I think with the land bank and the land trust, those are two other different options that we are just starting to use. Again, I think in many ways this commission and the land bank are kind of similar. They've been on the books for a while. It's starting to get them moving, and how do we put them into so that we're starting to not just talk about them but actually use them? We're starting here with this. I think we've got to take that same discussion with land bank, and land trust is now getting moving. But I think eminent domain is something we can talk about. I don't think we're there yet, but I think we're going to have to talk a lot more with legal about how we could apply that. And, again, it's going to come down to funding. Land bank, land trust, eminent domain all require money, so it's going to have to be a serious situation. And I think it was probably talked about at first with some of the large properties, such as the Pennington property, which is one that we did exercise that $10,000 fine. So I think we're getting more tools. It's about really coordinating them up with that overarching goal of just making sure that our community and our neighborhoods are in the best shape possible and that we get them there with expediency. Okay. Well, again, I know you guys are just starting up. I'm very appreciative of this, Chip. and your commission members and excited about what you guys will do for us in the future. And to add real quick, I really think that we're just scratching the surface. The truth is that the government can only do so many things, but when we can take and partner with some private entities and we can help incentivize and come up with some real creative ways to maybe dress. I'm an internal optimist. I believe that we can come up with some real creative ways and bring some things to you all down the road to address those specific issues and those specific problems. We might be able to come up with some different solutions that aren't just punitive and take a long time to do to help those properties. I think that's what our next couple of months they're going to be really focused on thanks again chip thank you mayor all right thank you council member forward council member k you've already been you've oh okay we're back to the okay councilman lawless Thank you. There's several issues. And when we did the increase in fines for code violations, several of them, you know, they have 14 days or whatever. and then they can appeal it, and it may take a couple of months, and they can't fine them again until that's done. I want to compliment the law department, who recently has done a couple of putting a foreclosure notice on properties with code enforcement violations and adding in there that they not only had to pay for the fines and the abatements, but they also had to do the work. And that was the piece that was missing when these property owners would wait until the last minute and then pay the fines and not do the work and start all over again. And there's also, you know, I think we definitely need to increase those code enforcement fines. And on things like grass, you know, somebody has 14 days to mow it what's already, I think, is a foot or 18 inches tall before they're fined. And then another 14 days, you know, you've got a really bad, dangerous situation, especially if the grass is dry, we're in drought. Squatters that go into these vacant buildings and start fires and et cetera. The other thing is boarded-up windows, which is allowed, and it's a horrible, you know, boarded-up windows are worse than tall grass. So I think that's something we need to look at as a city ordinance about boarding up windows for, I mean, I can think of a house on two houses on Constitution whose windows have been boarded up for at least 15 years. So but also when we moved a lot of the building inspection violations from that were city ordinances to civil penalties, A lot of those, which I still am having a hard time understanding, are being inspected when there's a complaint by planning and zoning. And they're really, that needs to be moved to code enforcement where there's a better system. So, and then lastly, my one concern I have is that some of these abandoned buildings will then be purchased by absentee landlords. And it may be as bad, if not worse, than it being vacant. So I think we need to think about all these different pieces and continue planning the planning committees, looking at the inspection issue on the planning and zoning's doing on things that really should be in code enforcement and upping those fines. But again, these are my concerns, and I think we need to really think about how we're going to do it. And then a lot of times people give you this big sob story that, oh, you know, I've lived here all my life and da-da-da-da-da, and, you know, they don't. So we have those to deal with. So anyway, thanks a million to all of you. I look forward to supporting you all in any way I can and appreciate it. Councilman Marquet. Thank you, Mayor. This is a very practical question, and maybe it's for the commissioner. I'm not sure, but you're generating a list. It's a draft list. You said people have requested it. In order to avoid duplication of effort, is that list available for people to look at? When will it be available? What's the logistics for all of that? What we wanted to do was we wanted, one, this is all public record data. Anybody could have put the resources in to doing this. So we felt like we're not stepping over any privacy issues with regards to that. Two is that we wanted to make sure that we had done our due diligence with looking at the data before we made this public. Our goal today is to basically make it public. So you all will be receiving this list. It is a preliminary list. It is not the certified real list. They're very likely legitimate properties with legitimate issues on it that will not meet our criteria. We expect that. We hope to narrow that down to a very small list of properties. But basically today, after today, we will make this, we'll put this on our website. In the next few days, you all will be distributed the list, and anybody who requests it can get it. That's great. I appreciate that. That will be very helpful. And, again, thanks for all this good work. Thank you, Mayor. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Kay. It looks like that's all the council members who have signed up. So, Chip, thanks again. Thanks to you. Thanks to your commission members who are here as well. Thanks to everybody. And, Jonathan, thanks to you, Commissioner. Thank you. Have I forgotten anybody? Okay, great. All right. That allows us to move on to council reports. Council Member Massadi. Council Member Henson, go ahead. I've got a couple things I've got to get done here. Okay. Council Member Henson. Thank you, Mayor. I have a couple items that I wish to place in committee. So I move to place into Public Safety Committee the examining of ride-sharing program. Motion by Council Member Henson and a second by Council Member Mossade. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right, hearing none, then we can vote. All in favor, please. Council Member Lawless. Does anybody know if Commissioner Mason or if the state is addressing that, the transportation cabinet is addressing that at this time? Well, there you go. There's actually about four or five state agencies that are looking at it. Transportation, Department of Insurance, workers' claims, and revenue. And they're trying to get their hands around what's going on with these different companies that are starting to have a presence in Kentucky. and then we're looking at it as well as to how the activities fit within or outside of our ordinance. Okay. You might, I know, I think it's Virginia is working with the state and the communities and the taxi companies, et cetera, to come up with something that works for everybody. So I think there are some other states that are looking at it kind of in a unique way. which a lot of places are. Okay. Thank you. And I guess as an explanation, I wanted to say that while we're on council break, I thought it would be a good opportunity for Paul to really dive into this topic and find as much information out as he can. And I felt the most appropriate way would be by putting that in committee. All right. Any further discussion on the motion? Okay, then we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. And secondly, I would like to move to place into the Public Safety Committee the EMS cost to people that utilize them, utilize the ambulance, particularly elderly. And this is another item that we're working on the same as the ride share. I want to look at the Lexington's very friendly to our seniors when it comes to taxes. and they receive a homestead break on their taxes. But I want to look at doing the same thing for EMS runs. If you're a Fayette County resident, you are over the age of 65, and you use EMS, that there would be a fixed cost for you, and you wouldn't be receiving those high bills. So I want to examine that and see what it would cost the fire department in lost revenue. I've already met with the fire department, too. So that would be my motion. All right. Motion and a second. Is there any discussion on the motion? We have a motion. Yeah, Council Member Henson. All right. What's the wording of the motion? To examine the cost for an EMS run to our citizens, I guess. I would like to know what the average insurance company pays, what the average cost is, how many of those that utilize the service are 65 or older. So there's a lot of things that I want to research while we're on break. You're welcome. All right. Any further discussion on the motion? Okay, then we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Opposed, no. The motion carries. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Sadi. Thank you, Mayor. Mayor, I want to say I'm delighted to see you here today. I want to tell you why. I've been trying to reach you unsuccessfully since last Thursday. And I know you've been busy with the 4th of July parade and the picnics and the activities. And clearly, you've been hard to reach, but I'm not sure my constituents are as understanding about the situation. We've got a lot of criminal activity in the city park in my district that we've been working on for about the past three months. And these neighbors are frustrated, alarmed at the situation. So you can imagine my frustration when I can't reach you. You know, at the recent press conference you had with the public to communicate with police as far as an effort to solve and participate and prevent crime in our community, we want to try to engage the public and try to engage communication. And so at this point, in the same spirit, I believe we definitely have the opportunity to improve the communication with the mayor and the council. And I guess, would you agree with me, Mayor? Well, I don't know. I'm sorry that you must have not been able to reach me because I don't have any indication that you did. But I'm happy any time. In fact, right after this meeting, happy to. Well, I did, and I tried myself on your cell phone, which you have no voicemail. And I spoke with Wes, and I spoke with Lori, and Lori Houlihan was notified. So, you know, it's very difficult for me to. Well, I didn't get those messages, but I'm sorry for that, Jennifer. Happy to talk to you. The next time we have some direct communication between the mayor and the council, that's what we're talking about. Well, you know you've got my cell phone, so I'm happy to. I have no voicemails. And I know that I've got text, and I've got several methods of communication just like I know that you do. If you can give them all to me, that would be great. So I can reach you, and you can reach me. All right. Happily. Thank you. All right. Council Member Lawless. I'm glad to see you here today I just wanted to remind everybody that this our council meeting tonight immediately following this meeting we will be on break until August 9th I think it is August 8th or 9th So our constituents and the public know we won't be having our committee meetings and our council work sessions and council meetings. But generally, most people can get a hold of their council member or the council aide and utilize 311. and if all else fails, call Jennifer who can get a hold of Mayor Gray. So anyway, I hope everybody has a great break and we'll be gone for a month, but work will continue. Thank you. All righty. Thank you. Council Member Farmer. Thank you, Mayor. First, I wanted to thank our CAO and many members of Parks and Recreation for the work that they did over this past weekend to make sure that the Eidlauer Neighborhood Association could have their usual picnic in the Eidlauer Park. And that was no small feat as work has begun there to move that football field and to make way for the beautiful new Senior Citizen Center. So we really, and I should compliment the CAO and the work of Brad Chambers and the people there, They went out of their way to make sure that there was a tent, there was availability of parking, there were porta-potties. It was probably one of the best picnics because we were set up on the top of a hill. There was a nice breeze. And I just wanted to thank you for that work, Madam CAO, and everyone else who went in and made sure that it happened. It was a great event, and everyone was very appreciative. And then secondarily, and Mayor, I'll just say to you, I thought that the 4th of July was the parade especially. We had, you know, I've been a parade marshal longer than I've been a council member. And we had an excellent parade with several bands and people lined the street. And it was just a beautiful event. And many, many people make that all work. But I'll just say to you, Mayor, well done for the 4th of July, sir, on your behalf. Then turning to other business, I've had some constituent input about the case or the line of inquiry that goes along with the police person who discharged their gun and a dog was killed. And I just need to know where that stands, because I'm getting some input from some people that are kind of wondering what's going on. And I just, is there a general update that someone can give me? Are we still on to have some sort of a hearing about that at some point? I think Commissioner Mason and maybe. It has gotten through much of the internal process with the police department. and should be coming across the street, and some decisions will be made in the very near future. I'm appreciative of that. I believe a hearing date has been set on that. I want to say it's August 25th. It's somewhere in August. I just want to make sure that was still the case. Yes. On the side of transparency, people have asked, and I'd like to be able to answer. On the 25th of August. Very good. Thank you. And then, as I like to be our practice, while we are gone, we're going to try to do some things to the chamber to spiff it up a little bit. Last year, we were able to hang the portraits and make some changes to the lighting in here. I hope that by the time we come back, we'll have a little bit cleaner carpet and a little bit better look in here, maybe a little bit of lighting changes. But it's just always a chance when we're not here for several weeks to do some things in here. I'm appreciative of all the people that work on that because this is local government for people. these positions, these cameras, this lighting and sound. So the ability to make that better, I think, helps us all. And then lastly, I just wanted to add my condolences to many others for Dr. Stevens and the passing of his wife, Sally, who was just a great lady and one of Lexington's leading ladies in my estimation. And I, along with some other council members, made time to be at that funeral this morning. I just wanted to pass along my condolences, my prayers for him and his family. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Councilmember Farmer. Councilmember Akers. Thank you, Mayor. I wanted to first just share a little bit. We had a really great meeting last night at the Georgetown Street Neighborhood Association, and I wanted to thank the mayor for attending. And we had Chief Bastin attend. We had the deputy CAO attend, as well as Larry Johnson from Partners for Youth, as well as our usual crowd of some officers and sergeants that work in the area. And, of course, Councilmember Ford was there, myself. But it was a long meeting, and it was a good meeting. And I think that it really demonstrated the growth in that neighborhood, of the community in that neighborhood, of people pulling together and people showing that they care about their neighborhoods and working together to make it better. And so I thank everybody involved in making that happen over the past year or so. Secondly, there are a couple neighborhood meetings coming up tonight and tomorrow night that I wanted to share, the first of which is tonight at Melrose Oak Park. Neighborhood Association will meet at 6.30 p.m. at Thompson Road Baptist Church. At 7 o'clock also tonight is the Meadowthorpe Neighborhood Association meeting. They meet at 333 Larch Lane at the Neighborhood Community Center. and tomorrow night the St. Martin's Neighborhood Association meeting will meet at 6.30 p.m. at the Charles H. Quillens Community Center in St. Martin's Village. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Ford. Thank you, Mayor. I want to speak a little bit to kind of what Council Member Mossadi started to speak in regards to the issues in the community here lately in regards to violence. First, I want to begin without a doubt by thanking and pledging my support to Chief Bass and his command and the Division of Police. They have really stepped up as they've always been here lately. I think this is an opportunity for the council to band together, hopefully, in stronger communication with the mayor's office and the administration. To make it plain, police cannot solve these issues alone. I think there are some things that we can do to better and greater strengthen the fabric of our neighborhoods. People need to work. People need to feel safe in their homes. They need them. We're doing some good things. We're focusing on housing. We have $1.5 million more in social service programs than we had four years ago. And Mayor Gray remembers three summers ago when we banded together to help address the issues with youth activities. but again when when there's a any neighborhood in our city that has 20 percent unemployment in my opinion it makes that neighborhood susceptible to a high level of violence and crimes it makes it a target and that's unfair what impacts a neighborhood in my district impacts a neighborhood in your district and vice versa. Our town is just that small. And so the challenge I present is, and we know what's going on with job training and workforce over at Bluegrass Ad, but I'm asking and challenging us to really put the resources necessary to come forward with a strategy to get people back working. I think we really have to focus on that. And since the mayor's training center closed, we've had a gap that we have to refill. The one last thing I'll say about with optimism that we can get it done, we've seen time and time again from Sally and Derek and across the government us finding ways to get initiative started. We saw it here today with Vacant Property Review Commission. We saw all the money that we've put into the plans down at the convention center, down at Rupp Arena. It takes resources. And for this issue to get people back working, I think we need a strategy and we need a resource and we need to do it in short order. And if there's an opportunity over to break, Mayor, and council members, whoever is interested, I think we need to have those conversations. Thank you, Mayor. All right. Thank you, Council Member Ford. Any other Council Members who wish to speak at the Council Report? All right, then. We can move on to Mayor's Report. Is there a motion? Second. All right, motion by Council Member Akers, second by Council Member Kaye. Is there any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, then we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. allows us to move to public comment for issues not on the agenda. Mr. Mundy, any finally signed up? All right. So that then allows us to move to, is there a motion to adjourn? Second. Motion by Council Member Ellinger, second by Council Member Kaye. Unless there's objection, we are adjourned. Thank you.