The ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ Hello. Hello. So, welcome to the meeting of the council. We've got a full house, so thank you all for joining us tonight. Just for a little bit of a heads up, for those of you who are here for the public hearing, that for the management district, that will come immediately following the ordinances for second reading. So if you'll bear with us just a little while, we appreciate your being here. Thank you. First on our agenda tonight is a roll call. Madam Clerk, if you'll please call the roll. Mr. Lane? Here. Mr. Maloney? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Massadi? Ms. Cutchfield? Here. Mr. Stennett? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Akers? Yes. Ms. Bledsoe? Yes. Mr. Brown? Mr. Fred Brown? Here. Mr. James Brown? Here. Ms. Evans? Here. Mr. Farmer? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Henson? Here. Mr. Gibbs? Here. Mr. K? Here. And Ms. Lamb? Here. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Next on our agenda is invocation, and tonight I'd like to introduce Pastor Lenroy Jones from Consolidated Baptist Church. Thank you. Thank you, Pastor. If we can bow our heads. Our Father and our God, we come in the name of Jesus tonight thanking you. We come before you today giving you honor and praise. You are worthy of praise. You are the source of all that is good. You are the source of all of our blessings. Thank you for every gift that we have been given. We thank you for the opportunity to come before the people. that have gathered here today. We ask your hand of blessing on this here meeting. We ask that you would guide and direct this meeting so that it is full of wisdom, productivity, respect for one another. Father, guys, we even reflect on America. We have an opportunity to come before you and pray in thanking you for our community in Lexington, Kentucky. We thank you for the leaders and those that have gathered here to do this work. Father God, we just ask that you would touch their hearts, their minds, their souls as they move forward in responsibility that's been given to them. Father God, we just thank you for helping us accomplish the work and our goals on this here day. It's in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Thank you. Pastor, thank you, sir. Before we, I'm going to ask everyone if we stand one more time. For those, I'd like to ask for a moment of silence tonight. The passing of firefighter Joe Bissing, who passed away just last night, but those who followed his courageous battle of cancer will, I'm sure, join us all in a moment of silence. Thank you all. Next on our agenda are minutes of the previous meeting, and I'll ask for a motion to approve the minutes. I'll move. Motion by Councilmember Scotchfield, second by Councilmember Henson. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right, hearing none, then we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Next on our agenda, we have two presentations, and I'll go around to the podium. We have one for Child Abuse Prevention Month and another in recognition of Pelham McDaniels. So, Council Member Akers, would you join me up for the Child Abuse Prevention Month? Jill Siegfried, yes. Jill Siegfried is here from the Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky and Council Member Akers has brought this important month to our attention I'm going to read the proclamation and then ask Council Member Akers to speak The proclamation reads Whereas April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month and whereas child abuse and neglect can be reduced by making sure parents have the support they need to raise their children in a healthy environment, and whereas Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky is the only statewide child abuse prevention organization in Kentucky, and whereas while there has been progress in child abuse prevention, there is still so much work to be done throughout Kentucky, including Fayette County, where there were almost 3,000 Child Protective Service reports filed in 2014. Now, therefore, I, Jim Gray, as mayor of Lexington, commemorate the important work of Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky and declare April 2015 as Child Abuse Prevention Month in Lexington. Council Member Akers. Thank you, Mayor. I actually worked for Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky, I guess it's been about 15 years ago. It was my first job out of college, and I was a grant coordinator for their organization. So this year I was invited to their pinwheel event and wasn't able to actually attend, But it reminded me that I don't recall us recognizing the organization or the month previously on council. And so I wanted to take an opportunity tonight to let everyone know that April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. And remember and recognize the work that Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky does, not just here in Lexington, but across Kentucky. So I want to welcome Jill Seifert, the Executive Director of Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky. I want to commend you all for your advocacy and efforts across Kentucky, and we all know that children are especially vulnerable, which is why it's so important that they have a strong voice like yours working on their behalf. So thank you for your advocacy and continued efforts, education efforts, too. Thank you. Thank you. Let's get a picture of you all. Thank you. Everybody's good? Everyone smile. One more. Billy speaks first. So I'm going to ask, and this is no stranger to any of us, I'm going to ask Billy Mallory if she'll come up. And we've got a presentation, but first I'm going to ask Billy to speak. I am absolutely honored tonight to introduce to you Pella McDaniels and his family. I'm going to introduce the family members because this has been a 13-year journey, and they've all been a supportive part of that. Helen McDaniels III is the author of The Prince of Jockeys, which is the biography of Isaac Burns Murphy, who actually lived and worked and raced here in Lexington, Kentucky. What was then called the First Ward is now the First District, and it is proudly the East End where I live. And one of the things that Pelham did while he was here this week, because he's been on a race of his own, he dedicated the amphitheater in the IMAG Garden. And he's made some really valuable connections while he's been here. and he's sold and signed his books and we have an autographed copy for Mayor Gray. And I would like to introduce the First Lady, Navab. And that is Persian for princess and she truly is a princess. And this is a rose for the racist. Thank you. And then we have Ellington. And if you will stand and show them how tall you are. Ellington is 13 years old. And we have helped him to choose his colors. His favorite color is orange. And a hat for the Derby. Thank you. And then we have a very... We have a very special lady-in-waiting, Ms. Sophia, who just turned 11 this week. And her birthday wish was to go to the Derby. And we helped her to pick a winner. And, of course, it's all about the hat. There we go. And this effort will continue. Pelham has been invited to come back during the Breeders' Cup. He will bring one of his traveling exhibits to the Lyric Theater, so it will be here. He will be here. He's made all kinds of really good connections with the Kentucky Horse Park, with UK. He intends to do further research, and I think there's going to be another book, and there's going to be a feature film that will be filmed right here in Lexington. So this is really a big day for Pelham, and it's a big day for Lexington. Thank you. So, Billy, wait a minute. Oh, you've got something else. I forgot. I have one more gift. This is a print of the post that's out at Keeneland. And actually, that was the original gate post from the Kentucky Association Racing Association. Why don't you just stand up here? I'll just stay up here. Stay up here, buddy. Thank you very much. stay up here because now what I'm going to do now is do what mayors and council members do, and that is to make a proclamation. And that's going to be, and I'll read it. It says, whereas Dr. Pelham McDaniels III has written an outstanding book, The Prince of Jockeys, The Life of Isaac Burns Murphy, published by the University of Kentucky Press, and whereas many consider Mr. Murphy, who won three Kentucky Derbies and by his own count won 44% of 1,412 starts to be the greatest jockey of all time, and whereas for many years Isaac Murphy lived in the east end of downtown Lexington near the old Kentucky Association racetrack where he got his first win, and whereas Dr. McDaniels, a professor at Emory University and former NFL player, was invited to Lexington as part of the Keeneland Library Lecture Series. Now, therefore, I, Jim Gray, as mayor of Lexington, in recognition of Dr. Pelham McDaniels and his many accomplishments, do hereby declare April 30, 2015, as Dr. Pelham McDaniels' Day in Lexington. There you go. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Let's get a picture. Can we get James Brown in the picture? Thank you. I'm going to say just a few words, and then I'll remove myself. So I'm going to try to turn to everyone here. I want to say thank you to all of you. I've been traveling back and forth to Lexington from both Atlanta and Kansas City, where I've lived and taught. I've had a chance to make some great friendships. Becky Ryder, Gordon Hogg, I mean, especially, you know, those two people who are sitting up front, these two people sitting up front. I've been to Keeneland. I've been to M.I. King Library. I've done a lot of work across the state between Lexington, Frankfort, Louisville. I've been to Jessamine County, been to Berea. It's just been, for me, I feel like I'm coming home every time I come back to Lexington. This book on Isaac Murphy is not necessarily intended to be the definitive work on Murphy. It's intended to be the beginning of something, I think, that the entire city, if not the state of Kentucky, a city of Lexington, can take advantage of. You have a tremendous history. You have an outstanding history. And I think, especially when we're in this time period called the sesquicentennial, and we're only thinking about the Civil War, you have an opportunity to think about Reconstruction. So for the next 12 years, you can take advantage of that window and really do something special here in Lexington. And I'm so happy to be a part of this, and my work is not complete. This is the first project. So again, thank you very much for having me and my family here. We really appreciate the hospitality, and we look forward to coming back in, is it November? October. October so we'll be back in October. Everyone has to keep my schedule for me. There we go. All right. Everybody's fine. Thank you. All right. All right. Next on our agenda is a second reading of ordinances. Madam Clerk, if you'll give us a second reading of ordinances. Mayor. May I? Council member. I had toggled in for comment, if I may. Oh, okay, I didn't see that. That's all right. All right. I was going to ask for the council's consent to hear from Mr. Webb or Mr. Webb and his, whoever he has with him at this time, rather than make them wait. And if it is the pleasure of the council, I think we could set a few moments to hear from him. I think if it is the council's prerogative, I think it's important for us to remember that there is a signed agreement among us, and we need to keep that in mind as we listen or make comments or even potentially ask questions, although I think it would be best for us just to hear what's going on and go from there. But at this time, I would just make a motion to change the order and allow, let's say, 15 minutes for Mr. Webb and his group to speak at this time. So moved. All right. There is a motion. Council Member Farmer, and there's a second. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. All in favor of the motion, then, please say aye. Opposed, no. The motion carries. Well, I'll ask who's going to speak for Mr. Webb. All right. All right. But I would have prefacing comments. For the benefit of the audience and the council who's here tonight, I'd like to put in context a brief history of the issue recently in the administration's position. Sixteen months ago, as Council Member Farmer mentioned, on December the 10th, 2013, I encouraged the Centerpoint Conditional Restoration Agreement. The council, in its wisdom, approved that agreement on December the 10th, 2013, just in case a situation like this arose. That agreement was agreed to and signed by all parties. Now we have notified the developer of noncompliance with the terms of the agreement. And they are objecting. And this is all expected. So let me be clear. The city and the developer have an agreement. The city's responsibility is to monitor that agreement for compliance. The city has done that. The city's position is that the developer is not in compliance, and a notification letter to that effect was sent to the developer. That is provided for context. And now, whoever wishes to speak, please come to the podium. And Mr. Rosenberg, you'll have three minutes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and members of the council. I'm Joe Rosenberg, and my family has an investment in the Centerpoint Block. We believe in Lexington and downtown, and we have invested in this community time and time again. After many patient years of assembling the Centerpoint Block, our family sought out the most likely developer to put together a first-class development. We quickly realized that the web companies would be the correct choice to bring together this difficult project. They had the most experience in Lexington, and quite frankly, they were one of the few willing to put equity in the courthouse design review area. Most developers would never touch this core of our city with a major whole block new build development. But the web companies with experience in high-rise mixed-use projects, both in Lexington and across the nation, demonstrated an ability to work on tough projects. Our family remains confident that we have the right developer in a very difficult environment who will deliver a first-class development. We believe that this is the most important block in our city and it deserves to be treated with respect. We have listened and learned from the solicited advice as well as the unsolicited advice. We know how vested and frustrated this community is with the lack of completion, and I would like each of you to know how this is the highest priority for all involved. Most of us can only imagine the complexity involved with having a project of this size come together. None of us can imagine how difficult it is when the press reports that the city wants this project backfilled. We appreciate the support of the council, and we are frankly surprised by the letter that was delivered on Tuesday. It's important to remember that more taxes have been collected from the Centerpoint block in the last eight years than in the previous eight years when it was assembled. I've always been a believer that the charge of this city government is to promote healthy growth in our downtown core, rather than act as obstructionists. If you do not support a project but want change, then be helpful in promoting change rather than acting in a negative manner. Remember that if you hire a city official to require him to keep up with this project as part of his job, then listen to him when he tells you and the media just two weeks ago that work is being done. If you would rather give that monitoring process over to an outside attorney who grandstands about where's the work rather than personally admitting to jumping the gun, then that's your choice to waste money. This is not a model of economic development that I'm familiar with. Hiring outside counsel to overrule the staff LFUCG liaison and send out letters contrary to the economic drivers of the city is frankly bizarre. I would urge each of you to not be reckless in sending a closed-for-business message out to the financial world. Many of you on the council have asked for updates and offered to help. Some of you have publicly supported this hot potato issue. The mayor told me last fall at his home that he's in favor of the project. I hope that each of you will allow this difficult project to continue. While this administration has been successful in attracting restaurants and bars in downtown, we need more. I believe that our future is tied to offices, retail, and residential components, as well as those bars and restaurants, for a true 24-7 experience. Those components are difficult to bring to fruition, as is evident by the lack of new construction permits in the area. Most new permits are for small projects, or the larger ones are outside of our center city. But the final thought I want to leave you with this evening is one of support versus obstruction. A letter like this released to the public, rather than having our liaison with the mayor's office call or set another meeting, is wrong and reckless. Today's front page versus the editorial page shows the lack of support for understanding or seeing the full picture. I've always thought that if you see someone struggling, it's better to help them than kick them. You may not care for the project or the developers, but if you care for this downtown, then channel your frustrations and be truly helpful in bringing this difficult project to fruition. Remember that these cranes have not been in our city core for a private developer on a non-government building in the last 25 years. Please allow the cranes to stay and encourage private development to work. As I said, while I'm not the developer of this project, I'm a very interested investor. I don't take an active role, and I'm reminded that the world is made up of doers and complainers. I choose to be a supporter and hope that each of you will also. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Rosenberg. All right. Does anyone else wish to speak? Mr. Webb. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mayor. I understand that there were several of you who had questions, caught the tail end of Tuesday's meeting, and heard a few of them. And as we've always tried to do, we try to be available to you. We've been transparent in this process. We've tried to be as honest and open as we can be. We accept every phone call. And we're here tonight to answer any questions that you might have. We want to expedite the process. It's been a very difficult project, as you all know. we've had a lot of cooperation here we've had a lot of good things happen and we were having a good week with our with our efforts to get this deal done until tuesday's email and obviously it was a little bit disheartening to read on the breaking news that the air leader that this letter existed rather than getting it or that or a phone call of warning that there was an issue about that i just don't think there's any way to do business we're not here to be combative we're not here to be confrontational. We've always had a good relationship with this administration, with this council. It bothers me, I guess, when they see the effort that's gone into this, and we get lots of accommodations for Victorian Square, for example. We love what you do at Victorian Square. We hate what you're doing at Centerpoint. And that was one that we thought we would be doing, that we thought we'd be done. We have obviously worked our panties off to get this deal underway. The plan is still a good one. We have six different component parts that exist there. Getting those six to interface, getting the deal done has been very difficult. As most of you know, we don't have to revisit where we've been, but for five years, virtually nothing happened almost in the development world. It was a giant reset button from 2008 through 2013. We experienced it, The 21 SEPA experience had the same issues. They acquired the property in 2011. They're going to open in the start of 2016, I believe, which is great. We're very supportive of that. We want to do our part, and we want to continue to do our part. We live here. Our employees live here. We try to be good citizens, and I think all of you, most of you, realize that and appreciate that. But again, we are so close, but yet so far, because of, I guess, miscommunication. I told the air leader on Tuesday that I thought, this is an instance of miscommunication because we were asked and, in fact, directed to have communication through Derrick Paulson, the Division of Planning. They meet every two weeks. We try to bring them up to snuff on all issues. Mike Hades goes to those meetings, and they've been extremely cooperative. We've had no issues there. We have been through a long series of hurdles to get this deal approved and get it done. and we're still making the effort to get that done. We haven't given up. But here we are on Tuesday getting a letter that we're in default. Obviously, our attorneys totally disagree with it. Hopefully, it was not an intention to try to reclaim the property or we keep hearing that there's efforts to get other developers come onto our site and develop it or to perhaps build a city hall there. I find that hard to believe, too, with the effort that this council and the administration has put into this deal to make it happen. We are so close. But I also want you to understand the difficulty in getting this thing to the closing table because in 2007, 2008, we started the project, and we were told at that point in time in the planning and approval process that the downtown master plan calls for all parking to be underground in the way of organized garages. I don't take issue with that. I look at the financial center garage, which is mid-block. It's disruptive to the streetscape. I look at the Hilton where the garage is, again, disruptive. We want pure retail there. So we agreed in the design effort that we would do underground parking. We also realized that those numbers don't work. The mayor will tell you, I think, that the average above-ground parking garage at the university's building right now is $15,000 to $20,000 of space. Our garage, it's almost $50,000 of space. Those numbers don't work. Parkers could not afford to pay in downtown Lexington $400 a month for a parking space. That's what it would take to basically break even on the garage. So the only way we could get that done was through the TIF proposal. So we went to Frankfurt and asked Larry Hayes to give us one more bite at the apple in terms of the economic development bond program. That no longer exists. And the only thing that did exist was the TIF program and John Ferris and the administration and others helped us to put this deal together. that would buy down those costs or these numbers work. Well, so picture this. We have the pit. We have three levels of underground parking, 35 feet deep, and we're ready to go on that. The cost of that is about $39 million. So we made the arrangements and had approved by the administration and others and the state a $25 million bond issue. So we got ready to take that to the market. And what we found in 2013 was there was little interest in doing the bonds. Today, there are a number of potential buyers for these bonds. So the next challenge was you have to go up to the flat slab on top of the garage and picture this. The people who are buying the bonds want to be sure that there's going to be the development that goes on above that. That's a $150 million commitment. We got the commitment for the office building. We got the loan and the equity commitments for the hotel. And we're ready to go. So we go back to the bond people and explain where we are. And interestingly enough, many in this or several in this room are on the Monday morning calls. We call every Monday with the bond attorneys. We have five different law firms plus the city's law firm that can per from time to time. And then every Monday, we kind of figure out where we are. We've made great progress. They'll tell you we've made great progress. We are so close to getting this deal done that it's frightening. But it's unfortunate that we didn't have it done yet to the satisfaction of those who criticize it. Now, so when the every money with the calls come in, we have agreed that we would move forward. We have the prospect who will buy the bonds, and they want to be sure that the project is built because there's a $150 million spend requirement that has to be done in that block before the TIF income comes. So getting all six of these people, these lenders, to the table at the same time to close, along with the equity investors, has been very difficult. And, for example, the people that want to buy the bonds and the people that want to finance the office building are ready to close because those things need to happen quickly. We have a couple of major users out there that this downtown would love to have that are interested in this project. If we can get them here, it'll be a godsend. May requires to come back and ask you for a couple more floors to be approved on the building. But I don't think that would be an issue based on the last experience we had with the Courthouse Overlay Group. But the bottom line is, then, you have to also get the hotel people to come and bring their cash to the table at the same time of the closing of the bonds. The problem with that is the hotel people came back and said, we want to invest, but we're not going to invest and put our money up until you deliver the garage. So it's which came forth to the chicken or the egg concept. These aren't your issues. I don't want to bore you with this. The public, I don't think, would necessarily appreciate it or understand the difficulty in getting this deal done. But those on the inside, including the city fathers, I think would all respect and agree. This is a very difficult, challenging deal to do. But yet we are so close. Now, the answer the public wants to know tonight, and I'm sure you do too, when are we going to break ground? Well, what we've been doing for the last 90 days has been finishing up. We committed to put $14 million into this garage. We have done that. We put that money in there. It's in. The next 25 comes from the bonds. the issuance of the bonds. Bond attorneys will tell you they're very close. They've agreed to, we have a buyer for the bonds, but we've got to get all this stuff put together. And that's been the challenge. When that will happen, I told the newspaper two weeks ago that I thought by mid-May we would have a major announcement to make. We still think we'll be there. But issuing a default letter is not the answer. It sends the wrong message to our lenders, to our participants, to our tenants. We're out there still chasing STANTAC, for example. We want them. They need to be down here. They're a great tenant. We and you all work very hard to get them here and get them to come in in the first place. And we have these other tenants that are anxious to get going. Nobody is more anxious to get this project than we are. We don't want to have crosswords. We're not here to debate. We just want to move this thing along. Part of the request that we made back to the council and to the administration is, we're sending this letter. I mean, let's be reasonable. If you all want to know what we're doing, we have an open door. We have an open book. We'll come up and explain it to you at any time. But my advice is, ask the people that are involved on a day-to-day basis. Now, I have some numbers for you that will pretty well astound you. During the default period, which was the last 60 days, supposedly. Excuse me just a minute. We're almost at the 15 minutes that the council allotted. It's all right. There's another minute. I think that Council Member Kay, I just want you to demonstrate the faith and confidence that the investors have had in this project today, because, Mary, you know the money that's required to dig that hole. It's about $10 million. But in the last, in the month of April, we spent $152,000. In the month of March, $154,000. In the month of February, $223,000. In the month of January, $714,000. And in 2014, we spent $8,840,000. dollars. So that's a substantial commitment. Hopefully you all appreciate that. Nobody in the right mind in this community that I know of would come down and do this except us and because we love the community. We want it to be the best it can be and we think it'll have a lasting impact. So any other questions I'd be happy to answer. Thank you. I think Council Member Kay had, go ahead Council Member. Yeah, yes. Vice Mayor Kay rather. There may be questions, but given that we have a lot of people here who came for a public hearing that was scheduled on the agenda I would suggest that we hold the rest of the comments questions whatever or information that you have until the time for public comment we're available thank you thank you all right that allows us to go to ordinances for a second reading madam clerk when you're ready please give us and there are for those who are for those who are here for the public hearing there are 14 ordinances so it won't take too long ordinance number one and ordinance changing the zone from a neighborhood business b1 zone to a highway service business b3 zone for 5.6686 5.6686 net 6.8980 gross acres for property located at 2434 and 2450 nicholasville road mia brookhaven llc council district 4 number two and ordinance changing the zone from a highway service business b3 zone to a neighborhood business b1 zone for 0.345 net 0.465 gross acre for property located at 2100 liberty road landscape variances are also requested doug charles council district 7 number three and ordinance changing the zone from a light industrial i1 zone to a neighborhood business b1 zone for 3.78 net 4.72 gross acres for property located at 308 310 322 and 330 newtown Pike, Thistle Holdings, LLC, Council District 2. Number four, an ordinance amending Article 177B5 of the zoning ordinance to allow a second freestanding sign for churches and schools on properties of more than five acres in size with two street frontages when located in residential zones in the agricultural urban AU zone, Lexington Christian Academy. Number five, an ordinance amending Article 286C of the zoning ordinance to provide for the use of alternative building feature in the mixed-use MU zones, Bayer Properties, LLC. Number six, an ordinance repealing Ordinance Number 266, 2008, the Lexington Distillery District Development Area, TIF, in its entirety, dissolving the incremental tax special fund, the district, and any other features related to the ordinance, and canceling or terminating the agreements related to said ordinance. Number seven, an ordinance amending certain of the budgets of the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government to reflect current requirements for municipal expenditures and appropriating and reappropriating funds, Schedule Number 53. Number eight, an ordinance amending Section 16104 of the Code of Ordinances to incorporate the terms and conditions of the Kentucky Pollutant Discharge Elimination System General Permit for Stormwater Discharges Associated with Construction Activities, KYR10, and issued by the Kentucky Division of Water on December 1, 2014. Number 9, an ordinance amending Section 532-1 of the Code of Ordinances of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government related to mechanical permit fees for the installation, replacement, or addition of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems to increase the permit fee for one and two family dwellings. Amending Section 532-2 of the Code of Ordinances related to mechanical permit fees for the installation, replacement, or addition of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems to increase the permit fee for multifamily dwellings. amending Section 532.3 of the Code of Ordinances related to mechanical permit fees for the installation, replacement, or addition of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems to increase the permit fee for structures other than those provided for in subsections 1 or 2 above. Number 10, an ordinance amending Section 2.464 of the Code of Ordinances of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government related to the Corridors Commission to add view sheds as a purpose. Number 11, an ordinance amending the authorized strength by abolishing one classified Civil Service Position of Vehicle and Equipment Technician, Grade 514N, and creating one Classified Civil Service Position of Heavy Equipment Technician, Grade 516N, in the Division of Facilities and Fleet Management, effective upon passage of counsel, appropriating funds pursuant to Schedule No. 54. Number 12, an ordinance amending the authorized strength by abolishing one Classified Civil Service Position of Resource Recovery Operator, Grade 513N, and creating one Classified Civil Service Position of Human Resources Analyst, Grade 520E, in the Division of Waste Management, effective upon passage of council appropriating funds pursuant to schedule number 57. Number 13, an ordinance amending the authorized strength by abolishing one classified civil service position of engineering technician, grade 514N, one classified civil service position of associate municipal engineer, grade 519E, one classified civil service position of program specialist, grade 513E, and one classified civil service position of equipment operator, grade 510N, creating one classified civil service position of SLM Assistant Superintendent, Grade 520E, one classified civil service position of Engineering Technician Principal, Grade 518E, one classified civil service position of Public Service Supervisor, Grade 514N, and one classified civil service position of Maintenance Mechanic, Grade 515N, and changing the pay grade of one classified civil service position of SLM Superintendent from Grade 520E to 521E, and reallocating the incumbent all in the Division of Water Quality and appropriating funds pursuant to schedule number 55. Thank you, Madam Clerk. I believe we have a motion to amend for a new first reading on number 14 by Council Member Gibbs. Council Member Gibbs. Thank you, Mayor. I move to amend ordinance number 14 under the second rating of ordinances pertaining to the creation of a downtown management district, downtown Lexington Management District, to remove the word tax or to amend the word tax to the word assessment and the description of the type of assessment on properties within the district. This is a material change and requires a new first reading. So moved. Thank you, Council Member. Motion by Council Member Gibbs and second by Council Member Henson. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. Hearing none, then we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. The motion still carries. Madam Clerk, when you're ready. Ordinance number 14 as amended, an ordinance creating and establishing pursuant to KRS 91750, the downtown Lexington Management District in providing for its boundaries, a 15-member board, the requirements and appointing process for board members and their term limits, the powers of the board, a fiscal year commencing on July 1st, the undertaking of economic improvements by the board, a budget and audit process, an affirmative action plan, public information, an assessment not to exceed $0.10 of $100 of the assessed property value for each assessed property within the district, a contesting and appeal process, liens, an annual report to property owners, ethical requirements on board members, termination of the district in no later than five years, board guidelines, contracting requirements, management, marketing, and administration, reporting requirements, and advisory council to the board, severability, all effective upon date of passage with the management district assessment of properties within the district to take place no earlier than allowable by law. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Is there a motion to approve a second reading? Motion by Council Member Akers. Is there a second? Second. Second by Vice Mayor Kaye. Is there any discussion on the motion? You might want to clarify. That's Ordinance 1 through 13. 1 through 13. Thank you, Council Member Lamb. That's because we've got to get a second reading on number 14. All right. So we'll have to get that later. Right. So we are voting on Ordinances 1 through 13. So, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll? Mr. Lane? Yes. Mr. Maloney? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Scotchfield? Yes. Mr. Stinnett? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Akers? Yes. Ms. Bledsoe? Yes. Mr. Fred Brown? Yes. Mr. James Brown? Yes. Ms. Evans? Yes. Mr. Farmer? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Henson? Yes. Mr. Gibbs? Yes. Mr. K? Yes. And Ms. Lamb? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Clerk. The vote reflects passage of the motion. That allows us to move to the public hearing on the downtown Lexington Management District. And I'm going to ask David Barbary if he will please explain this process for our, especially for our audience and perhaps for counsel myself as well. Mayor, this would be a very similar process to other public hearings that you have. In this particular case, the intent is for you all to obtain enough information, hopefully from the public comment as well as questions you might have of the proponents that provided the initial draft as well as the law department or anybody else, that you can make an informed decision about whether or not you want to move forward with the adoption of this. I would note that, and I sent this out to the council, there was another change where there was a error placed in the in the previous draft reflecting a requirement that the ethics act apply and that would require some other changes and was not intended so that language was removed from the body of the draft previously so the one you all voted on for first reading or the one that you all gave first reading to tonight also eliminates the ethics exact language that was in the first draft that was provided. Generally, what you all would do is hear from the members of the public that wanted to, you know, that wanted to speak about this. And then if you had any questions of them or anybody else, you would be free to ask those. The other thing that I wanted to tell you all, and I've also communicated this to you all, but not to the public yet, is that the law department believes that this type of change it was just done is of a nature where you're going to have to give the second reading and your vote on May 7th rather than tonight. There's a charter issue potentially because this is, we believe it's probably closely tied enough to a matter of finance where we're not comfortable advising you all that you're okay to suspend the rules tonight and give this particular item its second reading. So just so everybody understands, even though there'll be a public hearing tonight, the actual second reading when the council votes on this assuming they still want to move forward with it would be on the schedule to take place on the may 7th council meeting which is next thursday night all right thank you david we have uh okay council member brand point of order uh my understanding is to have a public hearing we have to announce it or advertise it is that correct yes sir uh we have an advertised this ordinance uh well i don't i i believe you did i mean the the not with material changes the or the ordinance itself was advertised okay so that and and the the advertisement i believe was legally sufficient to put the public on notice that we are going to talk about this management district it's material from the point of procedure but as far as it was not a significant enough change where these one that on the record yes okay thank you thank you councilmember brown for that insight and um that allows us to move to the uh let me let me actually describe the process i will declare the public hearing open then we'll ask if there are comments from the public and several i have several signed up for the four comments and then we will declare the hearing closed after the comments so i have three sheets of those who signed up and i will call you call those names, and then I'll call a couple at a time so you can line up if that works. First, oh, and Vice Mayor Kay, thank you, sir, reminded me to remind those of you who are speaking that there is a generous three-minute time allotment. So first is John Goldman, and then Woodford Webb. John, before you speak, I will declare that the public hearing is open. Thank you, sir. Hello, my name is John Goeman. I'm the regional president for PNC Bank. I'm here in support of the management district. I would state that we are both an owner of property in the district, and we also lease space at 301 East Main, the building known as PNC Tower. I view the management district as an excellent opportunity for the businesses that are in the district and the property owners that are in the district to marshal resources, to focus those resources, and ultimately to direct those resources towards what is essentially the heart of our city. I have looked at some outside research regarding business development areas. I think there's a lot of variables that come into play when you look at any successful development areas. So, you know, some of the information, particularly some of the quantitative information, the success can come from other places. But I view the qualitative information that I've seen to be overwhelmingly positive. So I've been asked to be very brief here, and I will certainly do that. But I just wanted to come tonight and express to the council that PNC is very enthusiastic about the proposition of having a management district, and I certainly hope you guys approve. Thank you. Thank you, John. Woodford. I'm Woodford Webb at the Webb Companies, and I'm here representing six larger properties. We're team players, and we are fully supportive of the management district. There are checks and balances and safeguards, and we feel that the sunset provision also enhances this effort. But they're all over the country. They seem to be proven, and I think it'll be a well-run organization. So we're in favor of it. Thank you. Thank you, Woodford. And next is Thomas Pettit and then Stephanie Hong and Byron Westerfield. Good evening. I'm Thomas Pettit, and I live at 350 East Short Street, and I'm president of the Maine and Rose Homeowners Association Board. I am acquainted with both Louisville and Cincinnati's management districts. I spent time on the Maine and Market areas of Louisville. before the Humana building was even built. I have friends in Cincinnati that had an art gallery on West 4th Street. Both areas were pretty disheveled back then. They're now jewels, clean sidewalks, good signage, no broken pavement. Garbage cans are in beautiful protected covers. It's unbelievable. Someone spoke last time about how all of this is the city's responsibility. The city can't do everything, everywhere. what works is public-private partnerships. New York City has over 40 of these management districts, and when you walk around New York City, you know when you're in one of them. Downtown Cincinnati, Inc. was founded in 1994. The residential population is now nearly double the estimate published in 2004. Demand for rental and for sale units has exceeded supply. Crime went down 39%. Property values went up over 25%, faster than any other Cincinnati neighborhood, and these are Hamilton County figures. I think it's a no-brainer. I think we need it. Thank you, Thomas. Stephanie? Stephanie Hong, 350 East Shore Street, number 303. Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council Members, I appreciate the opportunity. Most of you guys know me as a city employee. I'm here as a private citizen. I have lived in downtown Mainland Road since the beginning of Mainland Road. I think many of you guys probably see me walking downtown with my little dog every day. And I love this city so much. And I heard some of the comment about this is another Texas like the Lex Train. And the difference is, in my view, is this has a deadline of five years of trial period. And with 12,000, 1,200 cities have demonstrated success, I feel really confident about the opportunity that our city should take on. In my line of the work, I tell those young people, you've got to take the risk. If you never take the risk, you will never succeed. And so I'm here to ask the council members to support this management district, and let's take this opportunity to make Lexington a much better place for all of us. Thank you. Thank you, Stephanie. And Mr. Westerfield. Hi, I'm Tom Westerfield, and I'm an apartment at 500s on Main. I actually came to ask for tax relief for residential owners. I'm going to change that to assessment relief. Regarding the district management, if the city is not going to take care of the downtown, then I understand the idea of a separate financing district to do that. My concerns are who's going to pay for it. I think the interests here mostly are commercial and business. They have the most to gain from that. They can pass it on to the people that they lease or do business with. Residential people cannot. I am concerned that another assessment will deter more people moving downtown. We need people moving downtown like this young lady and certainly young people that need to move. It's already cost more to live downtown. We pay for our parking. Our friends have to pay for parking or they often don't find parking and don't come to visit us if there's an event going on. So there are a lot of negative things about living downtown and adding additional $0.10 a hundred, which would be $300 for a $300,000 piece of property. I think that most of the burden should be borne by the commercial people, and the residential should have a tax break and whatever seems appropriate. Thank you, Ms. Westfield. Price, bail. And then after price is Lyle Hanna. And then Mary Quinn Raymer. Good evening. My name is Price Bell, and I first would like to thank all of you for your public service. It is a great compliment, so thank you all. I speak before you today in support of the Business Improvement District. Prior to returning to Lexington, I spent a number of years in Nashville working in leasing, management, and redevelopment of commercial real estate. During my time, I served on the board of the Nashville Downtown Partnership, their business improvement district organization, for four years. The work of the Downtown Partnership was one of the best assets we used in business recruitment. The beautification, clean and safe, and access and transportation initiatives were vital to the improvement of the community and our ability to lease space. While I did not serve during its inception, I served during its renewal, soliciting a number of fellow downtown residents for signatures. The response was amazing, doubling the term of the commitment to 10 years because of the partnership work was so appreciated. In many ways, the downtown partnership filled the gap. With specific projects, an example of this is the early days commissioning a residential market study to prove to developers that the opportunity existed. This led to the first new construction residential project downtown and ultimately catalyzed the residential population growth from approximately 3,500 people in 2007 when I moved in to over 8,000 people today. Since returning to Lexington to start a family, I frequent downtown and love its vibrancy and opportunity. I entertain clients here and am overwhelmed by the enthusiasm for our community and our downtown. I believe this business improvement district will only complement, enhance, and embolden the great momentum within our downtown community. Thank you all for your time. And if you have specific questions about Nashville's downtown partnership or its efforts in the city, please let me know. Thank you, Bryce. Lyle? Is Lyle here? Yes. Yeah. I stand in favor of this, but I want to yield my time to Drew Fleming. All right. Drew Fleming. And Mary Quinn, is Mary Quinn Ramer? All right. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Vice Mayor, Council Members. I spoke a couple weeks ago on behalf of the management district and what the value it would bring. And at that time, and again today, I'm speaking on behalf of 175 property owners that represent $225 million of assessed property in the management district. And I'm here to follow up on a couple issues that was raised last time. First, I know Mr. Alford was here last Tuesday to talk about the management district. And he stated that proponents of the management district were represented by a paid gun. Well, I can only presume he meant that was me. And I just want to be very upfront and say I'm not getting paid a dime on this. This is a pure volunteer effort because I really do believe in the value a management district can bring, and I really do think it is a great thing for Lexington. In fact, I'm such a proponent of the downtown management district that I'm here tonight when it is my four-year wedding anniversary with my wife, and she's 39 and a half weeks pregnant at home expecting our first son. So for the public record, happy anniversary, Tiffany. Secondly, Mr. Alford brought this map with him. It was a bird's eye view downtown. And the statement was made that it's roughly 50% of those properties are non-tax paying. Well, in actuality, there's 567 properties in the proposed management district, and only 96 of them are tax-exempt. Additionally, we still have 51% of tax-paying property owners that are for this project. And finally, as we've said, these management districts have track records of success. There are many other cities where tax-exempt properties will buy in and contribute because they see the value. I would like to point out that someone raised the issue that the formation of a management district should be done privately, but I think it shouldn't be for several reasons. First, we need a reliable and predictable stream of income. Second, if we raise the funds privately, we'd spend half the time raising these funds versus when that time could be used to put services into the district. And finally, and most importantly, if we funded it privately, we'd have freeloaders. Those freeloaders would benefit off of those who paid, and those who paid would eventually get fatigued off of supporting the entire district. So the question that someone else raised was, well, people already pay taxes, so why can't the city pay the services desired in the district? Well, first, Lexington simply doesn't have the funds to do what the downtown management district needs. No city has those funds. That's why there's over 1,200 management districts across this country. I do want to highlight one final point, that existing services won't be cut back in the management district if the management district is established per Kentucky statute. The capital raised will be used to enhance the services above and beyond what is existing. While those services are ultimately determined by a board of managers, which, again, I think is important because it's that board that's going to be contributing to it, they can come up with what they think on a year-by-year basis. And so I wanted to give you an idea of some of those services. public art, newspaper corrals, bike racks, trash containers, pedestrian wayfinding signage, routine litter removal, graffiti removal, sidewalk sweeping, snow removal, additional security, power washing, beautification such as beds of flowers and weed removal, an ambassador program, pop-up shops, and the list goes on and on. There are many possibilities that we can do downtown. So in summary, the management district will be a tremendous asset to Lexington, and especially those property owners in the district. Additionally, we've done what this council has asked us to do, and we've exceeded the statutory requirements. Again, we have 51% of tax-paying property owners that are asking this council to approve this assessment. They're willing and ready to pay this money. And they understand it's even not a lot of money. It's one-tenth of one percent. And so they understand that while it's not a lot to compare to the significant benefits it brings, it's a real worthwhile endeavor. So please, based on the proven track record of success in other cities and the overwhelming support of this district, we hope this council will vote in favor. Again, I'm here today on those 175 property owners, but also we've already had some speakers, and we're going to continue to have some speakers that are property owners, tenants, and community leaders. And so in closing, and in the words of Thomas Pettit that he said last week that I thought was just resonating was, it's time to polish the silver. So thank you very much, and I appreciate the time. Thank you, Drew. Mr. Bill Lear. Good evening, everybody. Happy anniversary, Drew. I'm a, I didn't say this when I was here last time. I'm a co-owner of property in downtown Lexington, the Gratz Park Inn. I'm managing director of a large corporate citizen in downtown Lexington, Stahl, Keenan, Ogden. And I'm really pleased to be here along with the other great corporate citizens in downtown Lexington, companies like Gray Construction, the web companies, and the Herald Leader. An interesting juxtaposition, if you think about it, all of whom are united. in support of this. And I know if you unfurl the blue flag with the gold tinge on it over there, it'll say something like, United we stand, divided we fall, which is a message we all sometimes need to remind ourselves of. Not just for this. One of the things I want to point out to you is something that gets forgotten when we're talking about properties and property values. If you look around this room, you're going to see representatives of a lot of entities that don't show up on the property list. You're not going to see Stahl, Keene, and Ogden on that list. You won't see some of the other major banks on that list, but their CEOs and representatives are here tonight. That's because we're tenants. And I can tell you what happened in our building, the Robert Langley, the central bank building. before Robert signed on, he came to me and to Luther Deaton and to a couple of the other heads of the major tenants and said, are you for that? Are you for this? And we said, yes, we are for this. What is my point? I said when I was here last time, we have a safe downtown, but we can be safer. We have a clean downtown, but we can be cleaner. We have a vibrant downtown, but we can be more vibrant. The whole community benefits from that, but those of us here tonight represent literally thousands of employees who are downtown. They're not showing up in the signatures, but they're here every day. They want it to be safe. They want to be clean. They want to be more vibrant. That's who we represent, not just the property owners, thousands, maybe tens of thousands of employees. This is important to them, not just the property owners. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Lear. Mr. Allen Stein and then Mike Ash. Mr. Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council Members, thank you for this brief moment of opportunity to discuss with you what we think is a very important issue. I'm Alan Stein, and I'm here today representing Commerce Lexington in my capacity as the incoming chairman of the Board of Directors. I wanted you to know that Commerce Lexington has supported for a very long time the concept of the downtown Lexington Management District, over 15 years, as a matter of fact. And we support this effort not just as a property owner, but as an economic development entity as well. Each year, as you know, we travel around our fine nation and we go to other communities and find out what's working there, what we see in other communities that are of great value to those communities as they move forward. And we listen and we hear public officials in all of these communities tell us how good ideas, such as a downtown management district, work on their behalf. We asked Renee Jackson's staff to research, for example, all of the cities with whom we have had a visit in the last 40 years, dating back to 1973 when we went to Toronto. Through their research, we have learned that only a handful of cities that were visited do not have some type of an improvement district. And in the past 10 years, only one community, Greenville, South Carolina, does not have the district. And, by the way, they are working toward having that happen in their community this year. And we are on our way to Kansas City, Missouri. Of course, they have a very important downtown management district that helps them in their community. I don't want to repeat any of the other things that have been said, but I do want to remind you that we believe that the downtown district is an economic development driver for our community, and it would focus on making the downtown cleaner, safer, and a more inviting place. And as you heard, 51% of the taxpaying property owners that represent 62% of all of the property value in the downtown area have signed this petition of support. Thank you very much for your time. We hope you, too. can support this district. Thank you. Thank you, Alan. Mike? Good evening. My name is Mike Ash. I am president of Fifth Third Bank here in Lexington. We are a major employer and a major tenant here in downtown Lexington. You've already heard from my landlord a little bit earlier who's in support of it, and I'm here to also offer up my support for this as well. And I want to make a special note. This is the, this month of April is the five-year anniversary of when we cut the ribbon for the grand opening of the Fifth Third Bank Pavilion in downtown. And that pavilion represented a sizable investment on our part from our company into our downtown. And we believe then and still do today that Lexington is a great American city. We wanted to play a part in helping to create a space that we see as an opportunity to bring the community together. And we think that as we look back over the last five years, that that pavilion has done that. So if we fast forward five years from now after we hopefully will see a passage of this assessment, I think what we're going to see is what every other district of the 1,200 districts throughout this country have seen, that this is a working model to help improve downtowns. And we strongly encourage you to consider passage of this district. We think it will be a success, just like we've seen the pavilion be a success. Thank you. Thank you, Mike. And Fred Mills and then Steve Grossman. Mayor, council members, I'm Fred Mills, 327 Marino Street, long-time resident in downtown Lexington. Worked downtown at the Kentucky Theater for about 50 years. Managed the theater for about 40 years. Have taken and been following this management district issue for some time, particularly because it affects the downtown core. I've seen the lows and the highs of downtown Lexington and listening at the allocates accolades that other a number of other cities in the country I'm impressed that these other cities that think that this is a good thing I encourage you to support this management district and I feel that if you find after I think someone said five years that it's not working and it's not beneficial to Lexington and or there's a mismanagement of funds, I think you should rescind it and vote it out. Thank you very much. Thank you, Fred. Mr. Steve Grossman. Mr. Mayor, council people. My name is Steve Grossman. I'm the managing director of Hilliard Lions. We're an investment company. We've been downtown for about 100 years, I think. We lease property from a very vocal property owner who's not in favor of this. And I, from anecdotal evidence, can attest to, I think, the people that commercial property owners that are in favor of it care for their properties and invest in their properties. Those that don't, in my experience, don't care for the properties and haven't invested in them. And I think that's sad. I'm in favor of the management district. I think there's, as we said, evidence across the country about the successes that it does have. I think locally, it's kind of an ad hoc district. I'm involved with the Triangle Foundation as the president. And we basically set up our own kind of ad hoc management district ourselves with the two major parks that we have downtown. We have Thoroughbred Park, which we own the property. But we're in partnerships with the Parks and Rec. They mow the grass and the basic stuff. But we also provide additional services for taking care of the flowers, polishing the plaques, and doing other services in that space. We've been very involved originally from the beginning with the establishment of Triangle Park. But that is a city-owned or Lexington City Corp. property. We just built it, and then we did the recent renovation. But if you recall, prior to that renovation, that that particular space had deteriorated to really a very bad condition. And as one of my friend's daughters said, she wouldn't go in there because there's creepers that are in there. So we looked at that, and we did the renovation. But in addition to that, we were working very closely with Lexington Center Corp. on a day-to-day basis and making sure that it's cleaned, the condition is good. If something gets broken, then we fix it. We just recently put all the sod back in, but that's all the cost of the foundation that is supported by its members. And I think you can see that the interest and activity in that park space has increased significantly since those changes have occurred. So I would encourage you to vote for the management district. I think it's going to be a great thing for downtown. Thank you. Thanks, Steve. And Susan Delph is next, and then Ken Silvestri. Thank you. Nice to see you guys again. Under the circumstances, I might need some extra time, a little bit. Over the winter, as you know, it was real bad on the streets. We were literally walking on the streets. As his body, I think you should have been the parent to clean up your own sidewalks, like the OCAP building on Martha's De Keene Boulevard. The sidewalk was not cleared off at all. We were scared to walk on them because of the ice, so we were walking on the streets. At the time, I was staying at the Salvation Army. Well, when it first snowed, it was real bad. It came up to our mid-calves or mid-thighs. I saw a couple with a stroller with two babies in it, and they had to stroll on the street because sidewalks were not cleared. Neither was the streets. So two cops stopped them, and I joined the second car, and they took us back to Salvation Army. That's not on us. That's on you guys. Next time, I would say, you guys are the parent. You need to show the kids what to do. Stern go out and have citations for not clearing off the sidewalks. that's what I think you should do next time the reason why I'm really up here now that's one of them is I have a proposal for you you have a bunch of paper that we would like to have called recycled paper I would like to make this paper I just got done using to make it into recycled paper it'll save the city lots of money in the thousands. The only thing we want is your recycled paper so we can make our own paper out of it and help this urban county government save money and might generate some money for their programs like tenant services. Tenant services keeps running out of money as you know. We might be able to to help tenant services out on that alone by making the paper and making it into something and sell it over to farmer's market. But we got one problem. We have no warehouse. I've already talked to the environmental department about that, the head honcho, and she agreed with that. Susan, excuse me just a minute. We want to be courteous, of course, to everybody. Yes, I agree. This is a public hearing for the, you may not have been here when it was announced, but this is a public hearing for the downtown management district. And we'd be happy for you to stay and share remarks. My name was called up. That's the reason why I'm up here. Yeah, right. And you signed up on this document. But if you'll stay and give us your remarks a little later, that'd be great. Okay. Thank you. All right. Ken Silvestri. Ken, welcome. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Vice Mayor and members of the council. I've been a real estate broker here in Lexington since 1990. And so I'll bring to you really a perspective from a commercial real estate idea that, think about it, we're really competing with the Fayette Mall and the new Fritz Farm that the Summit's going to be having. So when I was working in downtown Lexington back in the late 60s, early 70s, the streets, the downtown streets were really filled with people. It was an exciting place to be. There was a lot of buzz. The malls opened, Fayette Mall, Turfland Mall, obviously, it was actually Turfland and then Fayette. And as we know, they took a lot of the business. The Fayette Mall is a very well-organized, very well-funded place to go shop. And what's happening is that they have really diluted a lot of the opportunity that downtown Lexington needs. I can tell you that if you take a look at their advertising budget, if you take a look at how they're managed, they're doing very well. Guess what? They have 5,700 free parking spaces. But guess what? Downtown has 8,000 parking spaces. One of the things that I think that in addition to the cleaning, the security, and many of the other wonderful benefits, I think this business improvement district could also work in ways to come up with creative solutions for additional free parking ideas. The people I've talked to think that additional parking would be beneficial. Another thing that I think that's happening is that the dysfunction of all of the business owners and even the merchants not having that same mall effect is really deteriorating the rents. And if you take a look at, like, the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, Colorado, their rents are $40 to $45 per square foot. Their occupancy is 98%. Downtown Lexington is about 15% vacant. And the rents are probably between $15 and $20. So really what we're talking about here is a prosperity solution. The rising tide raises all boats. And by having all of these positive, embracing services that are happening, as the real estate professionals in this community can then begin really selling the benefits of locating new businesses downtown Lexington. And I think that, for example, if you take a look at Apple Computer, I don't know if you all realize that Apple Computer is so sought after by the malls that all of the rents actually go up, the rents per square foot go up about 10% when an Apple Computer is in a mall. Now, how would we like to have Apple downtown? I think that would be a, I think Centerpoint would be a fine location for Apple. And I really do support what needs to happen in that location because downtown really needs many, many more apartments. The more apartments that we have, the more credit cards there are walking the streets of this downtown Lexington. That brings up the volume of business. So let's bring the downtown business district to Lexington. Thanks, Ken. Thank you. Next is Dan Roland and then Steve Kelly. And finally, the sign-up that I have is Joe Terry. Mr. Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of the Council, my name is Dan Roland. My wife and I live just across the street in the Nunn Building. I'm here to astonish you by being very brief. I've been on, I think, six community committees or task forces dealing with the downtown since my wife and I moved here in 1974. I thought a lot about the downtown, and I'm here to support the downtown management district, because I think this is a huge step forward. I'm not a huge expert, but on the other hand, it seems the evidence that's been presented to you is overwhelmingly in favor of creating this district. My wife and I are residential property owners and not business owners. And so to, you know, basically to kind of respond to an earlier speaker, we're enthusiastic supporters of this, even though we're residential property owners and not business owners. This has been a great track record of these districts and other cities, and it just seems to me this is kind of a no-brainer. So thank you. Steve? Yes, sir. Can I yield my time to Joe Terry, please? All right, sir. Mr. Joe Terry. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Vice Mayor, Council Persons. I am the immediate past president of the downtown Lexington Corporation, and I'm also a tenant by virtue of my law firm being in the Lexington Financial Center. We came to council in late 2013 asking for the creation of a management district. And the supporters at that time had petitions signed by 33% of property owners representing 51% of assessed value. We got to council late, right before they were getting ready to go on Christmas break. And at that time, the council politely suggested to us, Councilman Stennett, Councilman Farmer, you'll remember, suggested that we come back with new petitions and that we primarily have or we would have suggested to have 51 percent of the tax-paying property owners. And that was over and above the requirements that the state statute for creating management districts require for us, for supporters to come before the council and for you to act. We took that to heart, and we've done just that. And we now have come with petitions, as you have been informed, of 52% of taxpaying property owners representing 61% of assessed value. And we have done what you ask us to do. I personally met with each one of you answering questions, or almost each one of you. The majority of you, I guess, because there's something, certainly Mr. Brown is new. And this past summer, this fall, we've talked about this, answered questions. Presentation last week was very lengthy, and I know that a lot was presented to you, and I hope you've had a chance to digest that. You've heard from numerous property owners both last or two weeks ago in that work session. You've heard again tonight of property owners, and you've heard from community leaders and community organizations that see the benefit of a downtown Lexington management district. Again, I said we've done what you asked us to do, and I certainly encourage your support and your vote for the creation of the downtown Lexington Management District. And before I close, I want to mention one thing that I haven't heard tonight that I think is very important. And that is with the board that is going to govern the downtown Lexington Management District will be composed two-thirds of the 15 members will be property owners. and property owners are the ones that are asking, a majority of the property owners have asked for this creation of the management district and they will be the governing body of that district, subject to oversight by this council. So I encourage your support and thank you for listening to all of us tonight and we look forward to the second reading. Thank you. Thank you, Joe. So that's all that I have signed on to speak tonight for the public hearing. So I will declare the hearing closed now, and that allows us to move on to ordinances for a first reading. And those who have been patient with us and wish to leave now, who are here for the public hearing, we thank you all for joining us tonight. All right, Madam Clerk. Ordinance number 15, an ordinance changing the zone from a wholesale and warehouse business, B4 zone, to a highway service business, B3 zone, for 0.47 net, 0.69 gross acre, and from a two-family residential R2 zone to a highway service business, B3 zone for 0.55 net, 0.62 gross acre for property located at 836 and 840 Winchester Road, 912, 916, 920, and 922 Detroit Avenue, and a portion of 915, 917. Madam Clerk, you might want to wait until the room clears. Let's give them a little chance. Thank you. I urged you on early. All right. 917, 919, and 921 Dayton Avenue, including a dimensional variance, Jake Rorden and Mark A. Jeter, Council District 5. Number 16, an ordinance amending Article 17 of the zoning ordinance to allow multi-tenant listings on freestanding signs in the planned shopping center B6P zone, Ruggles Sign. I believe there's a motion on number 17. Yes, there is a motion on number 17 by Council Member Lamb. there we go that's all my band lamb sorry i was doing other work close i make a motion to remove ordinance i make a motion to remove from tonight's docket under first reading of ordinances not item number 17 an ordinance relating to the reorganization of the department of public safety due to typographical errors and to replace it with a new ordinance Thank you, Council Member Lamb. Motion by Council Member Lamb. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Council Member Bledsoe. Second by Council Member Bledsoe. Is there any discussion on the motion? If not, then we can vote. All in favor, please say aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Madam Clerk, when you're ready, please continue. Ordinance number 17, an ordinance pursuant to Sections 3.0224 and 6.12 of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Charter amending the authorized strength by abolishing the following classified civil service positions. One position of Administrative Officer, Grade 523E, one position of Security Supervisor, Grade 514N, and 12 positions of Security Officer, Grade 507N, in the Division of Facilities and Fleet Management, in creating the following classified civil service positions. One position of Administrative Officer, Grade 523E, one position of Security Supervisor, Grade 514N, and 12 positions of security officer grade 507N in the Department of Public Safety, abolishing the following unclassified civil service position, one position of security officer part-time grade 507N in Division of Facilities and Fleet Management and creating the following unclassified civil service position, one position of security officer part-time grade 507N in the Department of Public Safety and transferring the incumbents at their current job classification, pay grade, and salary from the Division of Facilities and Fleet Management to the Department of Public Safety, effective July 1, 2016. Number 18, an ordinance pursuant to Section 6.12 of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Charter renaming the Office of Chief Information Officer to the Department of Information Technology effective upon passage of counsel. Number 19, an ordinance amending certain of the budgets of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government to reflect current requirements for municipal expenditures and appropriating and reappropriating funds, Schedule Number 56. Number 20, an ordinance amending the authorized strength by abolishing one vacant classified civil service position of service rider grade 510 in the division of parks and recreation and creating one vacant classified civil service position of service rider grade 510 in in the division of facilities and fleet management transferring the position and its funds and appropriating funds pursuant to schedule number 58 effective upon passage of council number 21 an ordinance amending the authorized strength by changing the pay grade of one classified civil service position of safety coordinator from grade 514 into 516 in and reallocating the incumbent in the division of streets and roads and appropriating funds pursuant to Schedule No. 59. And No. 22, an ordinance amending certain of the budgets of the Lexington Fayette-Irban County Government to provide funds for general fund reallocation projects as approved at the April 28, 2015 work session and appropriating and reappropriating funds at Schedule No. 62. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Are there any motions for Wall Collins? I believe Council Member Henson. No. Sir, I'm showing a note that the PSOC, public safety. All right. All right. So are there any motions for walk-ons or suspensions? All right. If none, then we can proceed to resolutions. Madam Clerk. Resolution number one, a resolution accepting the bid of Angel Contracting, LLC, in the amount of $119,600 for Legacy Trail Flagpole Base Construction for the Division of Engineering. Number 12. Two, a resolution accepting the bid of DC Tours, LLC, establishing a price contract for charter bus services for the Division of Parks and Recreation. Number three, a resolution accepting the bid of bluegrass fire equipment, establishing a price contract for fire hose for the Division of Fire and Emergency Services. Number four, a resolution accepting the bid of Glove Planet, LLC, establishing a price contract for disposable gloves for the Division of Community Corrections. Number five, a resolution accepting the bid of EVA PAR, incorporated in the amount of $33,995 for a generator for the Emergency Operations Center for the Division of Emergency Management 911. Number six, a resolution accepting the bids of Sina Long Care Services, LLC, and Stephen Hillenmeyer Landscape Services, establishing price contracts for mowing for the Division of Parks and Recreation. Number seven, a resolution accepting the bid of Xylem Dewatering Solutions, Incorporated, establishing a price contract for emergency pumps and accessories for the Division of Water Quality. Number eight, a resolution accepting the bids of Judy G. Combs, doing business's landscape supply and design, Happies General Contracting and Maintenance, Walker Harris Landscapes and Hardscapes, LLC, McGee Springs Incorporated, Sino Lawn Care Services, LLC, Edgington Mowing Service Incorporated, Joshua Fane doing business's mow power, All Pro Lawn and Landscaping, Mow Edge Blow Lawn Service, Lunt's Commercial Lawn Care, LLC, ZKB Services, LLC, and D&M Mowing Incorporated, establishing price contracts for turf mowing for the Division of Environmental Services. Number nine, a resolution ratifying the probationary civil service appointments of Greta Giles, staff assistant senior, grade 510N, 15.128 hourly, effective May 4, 2015, and Diane Lewis, administrative specialist, grade 513N, 17.274 hourly, effective April 20th. Hold on just a second. I believe we've lost her quorum. Have we got it? Okay, Jake. Yeah, we got it. Okay, continue. Diane Lewis, Administrative Specialist, Grade 513N, 17.274 hourly, effective April 20, 2015, both in the Division of Revenue, and Robert Austin, Public Service Supervisor, Grade 514N, 20.358 hourly in the Division of Water Quality, effective April 20, 2015. ratifying the permanent civil service appointments of James Moore, License Inspector, Grade 512N, 20.248 hourly in the Division of Revenue, effective March 22, 2015. Daniel Estes, Public Service Supervisor, Grade 514N, 19.724 hourly, effective March 22, 2015. Daniel Peterson, Equipment Operator Senior, Grade 512N, 16.681 hourly. And Michael Jordan, Public Service Worker Senior, Grade 509N, 17.490 hourly, both effective March 15, 2015. and all in the Division of Streets and Roads. Frederick Cotton, 16.066 hourly, effective January 14, 2015, and Patrick Wright, 17.579 hourly, effective January 21, 2015, both Resource Recovery Operator, Grade 513N, in the Division of Waste Management. Kikoko Lusewi, Custodial Worker, Grade 505N, 12.463 hourly, in the Division of Family Services, effective March 8, 2015, and Travis Noel, 19.162 hourly, and Joshua Toomey, 18.599 hourly, both heavy equipment technician, grade 516N, effective March 15, 2015. And James Duncan, skilled trades worker senior, grade 517N, 24.686 hourly, effective March 8, 2015, all in the Division of Facilities and Fleet Management, ratifying the probationary community corrections appointment of Bradley Baker, Community Corrections Sergeant, grade 112N, 23.579 hourly, in the Division of Community Corrections, effective April 6, 2015, ratifying the voluntary demotion of Manuel Benton, resource recovery operator, grade 513N, 21.468, hourly in the Division of Waste Management, effective March 23, 2015, and ratifying the appointment of Wanda Wallen, equipment operator senior, grade 512N, 20.005, hourly in the Division of Water Quality, effective March 9, 2015, due to a failure to successfully complete the probationary period. Number 10, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute change order number two to the contract with Bluegrass Contracting Corporation for the Meadows-Northland Arlington Public Improvements Project Phase 5B, decreasing the contract price by the sum of $10,502.42 from $806,151.67 to $795,649.25. sense. Number 11, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute an agreement with AMEC Environment and Infrastructure Incorporated for services at the Haley Pike landfill at a cost not to exceed $90,000. Number 12, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to accept a grant from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, which grant funds during the amount of $1,278,000 federal funds are for design of phases four, five, and six of the Town Branch Trail under the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program, the acceptance of which obligates the urban county government for the expenditure of $257,600 as a local match. Number 13, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government and pursuant to the jobs fund program to negotiate and execute a 10-year forgivable incentive agreement and related documents, including personal guarantees with Summit Biosciences Incorporated and its owners in an amount not to exceed $100,000 for the creation and retention of nine new jobs with an average hourly wage of at least $31.75 exclusive of benefits. Number 14, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute a partnership agreement with Goodwill of Kentucky Cars to Work Incorporated for the purpose of client referral to the Cars to Work program for the Department of Social Services. Number 15, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute change order number one final to the contract with Randall Davies Construction Company for construction of the Brighton East Rail Trail Project Phase 2, increasing the contract price by the sum of $78,609.51 from $466,601.66 to $525,211.17. Number 16, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute and submit a grant application to the U.S. Department of Justice and to provide any additional information requested in connection with this grant application, which grant funds are in the amount of $34,405 federal funds under the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program and are for reimbursement of costs related to incarceration of undocumented criminal aliens. Number 17, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute a two-year agreement with Smart Systems for Dishwashing Chemicals for the Child Care Food Program at the Family Care Center at a cost not to exceed $3,400. Number 18, a resolution declaring a surplus and authorizing the Department of General Services to transfer on behalf of the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government adjunct 2014 Ford Explorer to the Automotive Technology Program at Bluegrass Community and Technical College. Number 19, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute amendments to agreements with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet for extension of the Loudoun Avenue sidewalk CMAQ project, the Gainesway Trail CMAQ project, and the Town Branch Trail Phase 3 project through June 30, 2016 at no cost to the Urban County Government. Number 20, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute amendments to agreements with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet for extension of the Southland Drive CMAX project and the Tates Creek Road sidewalk project through December 31, 2015 at no cost to the urban county government. Number 21, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute the certificate of consideration and any other documents necessary and to accept deeds for property located at 277 Lafayette Parkway, 283 Lafayette Parkway, and 1856 Clay's Mill Road for the acquisition and demolition required for the hazard mitigation grant program at a cost not to exceed $500,000. Number 22, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute a memorandum of understanding with the Winchester Police Department for provision of canine service to the Winchester Police. Number 23, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to purchase airtime from Time Warner Cable Advertising Sales for commercials and advertisements for recruitments for the Division of Fire and Emergency Services at a cost not to exceed $30,000. Number 24, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute the first amendment to lease agreement with Bluegrass Community Action Partnership's Elder Nutrition Program, extending the program's lease on a month-to-month basis beginning July 1, 2015. Number 25, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute the first amendment to lease agreement with Nursing Home Ombudsman Agency of the Bluegrass, extending the agency's lease on a month-to-month basis beginning July 1, 2015. Number 26, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute and submit a grant application to the MacArthur Foundation for the Safety and Justice Challenge Grant Program and to provide any additional information requested in connection with this grant application, which grant funds are in the amount of $150,000 federal funds and are for collection and assessment of inmate data. Number 27, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute change order number one final to the contract with Lagco Incorporated for the Anniston-Wigland Phase III project, decreasing the contract price by the sum of $5,890.95 from $995,237 to $989,346.05. Number 28, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute an agreement awarding a Class B infrastructure incentive grant for stormwater quality projects to link belt construction equipment company LVN P L L L P at a cost not to exceed $175,000. Number 29 a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute change order number one to the contract with like co incorporated for the idle hour park demolition and football field construction project increasing the contract price by the sum of $194,152 from $366,541 to $560,693. Number 30, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to accept a grant from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Division of Highway Safety Programs, which grant funds in the amount of $30,000 federal funds, are for police officer overtime support for distracted driving enforcement, and the acceptance of which does not obligate the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government for the expenditure of funds. Number 31, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to donate to the Kentucky State Police radio headsets, which are no longer compatible with the current radio system. Number 32, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to accept a grant from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, which grant funds during the amount of $361,600 FHWA planning, $48,400 Federal Transit Administration Section 5303, $102,000 Mobility Office SLX, $54,000 Air Quality Planning SLX, $67,200 Congestion Management SLX, and $52,800 Bike Ped Planning SLX Federal funds are for the Division of Planning Unified Work Program fiscal year 2016, the acceptance of which obligates the urban county government for the expenditure of $67,800 FHWA Planning, $12,100 Federal Transit Administration, $25,500 Mobility Office SLX, $13,500 Air Quality Planning SLX, $16,800 Congestion Management SLX, and $13,200 Bike Ped Planning SLX as a local match subject to sufficient funds being appropriated in fiscal year 2016 and authorizing the mayor to transfer unencumbered funds within the grant budget. Number 33, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to accept a grant from the Kentucky Education Fund for Handicapped Children, which grant funds are in the amount of $11,000 Commonwealth Kentucky funds, are for therapeutic recreation activities and programs for disabled persons, and the acceptance of which does not obligate the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government for the expenditure of funds. Number 34, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute change order number three to the contract with EOP Architects PSC for the replacement senior citizen center, increasing the contract price by the sum of $14,145 from $771,210 to $785,355. Number 35, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute two three-year agreements with Time Warner Cable to provide high-speed internet services for the Division of Youth Services and the Bluegrass International Community Center at a cost not to exceed $860 for fiscal year 2015. Number 36, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute change order number one to the contract with Rio Grande Defense Company, incorporated for the chain link dugouts, various parks projects, increasing the contract price by the sum of $5,340 from $145,800 to $151,140. Number 37, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute amendment number two to the agreement with Bluegrass Area Development District to provide updated budget and updated service delivery budget backup for operation of the Lexington Senior Citizen Center. Number 38, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute an agreement awarding a Class A neighborhood incentive grant to Palomar Town Home Association Incorporated for stormwater quality projects at a cost not to exceed $12,841. Number 39, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute a memorandum of agreement with Civil Air Patrol Kentucky Wing for procedures for missions. Number 40, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute a fixed price agreement for natural gas supplied under Columbia Gas of Kentucky's SVGTS tariff with the lowest responsive bidder contingent upon a price not to exceed $5.50 per 1,000 cubic feet. Number 41, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute a memorandum of understanding with Kentucky's State Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control for hosting of a database And number 42, a resolution expressing the urban county council's opposition to the closing of the United States Postal Service mail processing facility on Nandino Boulevard And encouraging the preservation of postal jobs at this location in Lexington Fayette County Thank you, Madam Clerk I'll ask for a motion to approve second reading resolutions Second Motion by Councilmember Stinnett, seconded by Vice Mayor Kaye. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. If not, then, Madam Clerk, Councilmember Lane. Thank you, Mayor. Yes, sir. I have a question on item number 29, and that's Jeff Reed would probably be the one to address that. Number 29 is the resolution on the change order for Idle Hour Park. All right. Mr. Reed. Commissioner Reed, can you help us on that? I'm sorry, Commissioner. You might have already briefed us on that, but I don't recall the details on that, where the construction price went up from $366,000 to $195,000 approximately for the demolition and football field construction. uh these these are a number of items roughly 120 to 130 000 of the total 194 or ad alternates that were part of the original bid package that we've plugged in now the the other balances for soil and grading and a drainage issue that came up there's funds available for all these within the within the scope of the project and just the course of business. You're saying you had a reserve for it, so you're going to go. The alternate part was just part of the normal bid process. Okay, thank you, sir. I appreciate it. Thank you, Council Member Lane. All right. Any further discussion on the motion? All right, then, Madam Clerk, whenever you're ready, please call the roll. Mr. Lane? Yes. Mr. Maloney? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Cutchfield? Yes. Mr. Stennett? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Akers? Yes. Ms. Bledsoe? Yes. Mr. Fred Brown? Yes. Mr. James Brown? Yes. Ms. Evans? Mr. Farmer? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Henson? Yes. Mr. Gibbs? Yes. Mr. Kay? Yes. And Ms. Lamb? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Clerk. The vote reflects passage of the motion. allows us to move on to resolutions for a first reading. Resolution number 43, a resolution accepting the bids of S&T Fencing Incorporated, Herb Getty's Fence Company Incorporated, and Myers Fence LLC establishing price contracts for fencing for the Division of Parks and Recreation. Number 44, a resolution accepting the bid of Randall Davies Construction Company LLC in the amount of $49,880 for asphalt repair for tennis and basketball courts, Waverly Park and authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute any necessary agreement related to the bid. Number 45, a resolution accepting the bid of Bluegrass Contracting Corporation in the amount of $864,959.22 for the Meadows, Northland, Arlington, Oak Hill Drive 5D for the Division of Engineering and authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute an agreement with Bluegrass Contracting Corporation related to the bid. Number 46, a resolution accepting the bid of Wayne Supply Company establishing a price contract for emergency generators and accessories for the Division of Water Quality. Number 47, a resolution accepting the bid of J. Edinger & Son Incorporated establishing a price contract for snow plows for the Division of Facilities and Fleet Management. Number 48, a resolution accepting the bid of CNR Asphalt LLC in the amount of $22,200 for asphalt repair for the basketball courts, Lou Johnson Park for the Division of Parks and Recreation, and authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute any necessary agreement related to the bid. Number 49, a resolution accepting the bid of tennis technology incorporated in the amount of $55,554 for asphalt repair for tennis courts, Meadowthorpe and Shillitoe Parks for the Division of Parks and Recreation and authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute any necessary agreement related to the bid. Number 50, a resolution accepting the bid of Roberts Heavy Duty Towing Incorporated establishing a price contract for towing services for the divisions of police and code enforcement, the Department of General Services and the Lexington and Fayette County Parking Authority. Number 51, a resolution authorizing the Division of Human Resources to make conditional offers to the following probationary civil service appointments. Corey Hyslope, public service worker senior, grade 509 N, 14.066 hourly in the Division of Streets and Roads, effective upon passage of council. Samuel Gross, public service worker, grade 507 N, 12.209 hourly in the Division of Water Quality, effective upon passage of counsel, Royce Reeves, logistics officer, grade 508N, 15.735, hourly in the Division of Emergency Management 911, effective May 18, 2015, and Otto Helmuth, skilled trades worker senior, grade 517N, 24.411, biweekly in the Division of Fire and Emergency Services, I think that should be hourly, effective May 18, 2015, and authorizing the Division of Human Resources to make a conditional offer to the following unclassified civil service appointment, George Young, ESP Coordinator, Grade 514E, 1381.06 biweekly in the Division of Parks and Recreation, effective upon passage of council. Number 52, a resolution ratifying the probationary civil service appointments of Eric Reid, Support Specialist, Grade 512N, 15.301 hourly in the Division of Computer Services, effective May 18, 2015. Melvin Clemens, solids processing supervisor, grade 519E, 1,971.28 biweekly in the Division of Water Quality, effective May 4, 2015. Daryl Morbley, 16.379 hourly, and Harry Ashby, 14.312 hourly, both public service worker, grade 507N, in the Division of Waste Management, effective May 4, 2015. Ursula Killens, public service supervisor, grade 514N, 17.800 hourly in the Division of Facilities and Fleet Management, effective May 4, 2015. and Thomas Allen II, Public Service Worker Senior, Grade 509N, 13.218 hourly in the Division of Parks and Recreation, effective May 4, 2015, and ratifying the permanent civil service appointments of Donnie Sammons, telecommunicator, Grade 513N, 21.164 hourly in the Division of Police, effective April 6, 2015, and Bon Hassan, clerical assistant, Grade 505N, 13.516 hourly in the Division of Family Services, effective March 22, 2015. Number 53, a resolution authorizing the Division of Water Quality to purchase stationary hazardous gas monitoring equipment for the West Hickman Wastewater Treatment Plant from Sierra Monitor Corporation, a sole source provider, and authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute any necessary agreement with Sierra Monitor Corporation related to the procurement at a cost not to exceed $59,291.98. Number 54, a resolution accepting the response of Cornerstone Environmental Group, LLC, to RFP No. 1-2015, design of landfill cap for Haley Pike Landfill, and authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute an agreement with Cornerstone Environmental Group, LLC, to provide services related to the RFP at a cost estimated not to exceed $43,630. No. 55, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to accept a donation from the Meadows Loudoun Neighborhood Association of $2,317.90 for the purchase of one park bench and bur oak trees to be placed in Castlewood Park at no cost to the Urban County Government. Number 56, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute change order number one to the contract with Acela Incorporated for the Acela Civic Platform Project, increasing the contract price by the sum of $134,752 from $1,198,788.20 to $1,333,540.20. sense. Number 57, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute and submit a grant application to the U.S. Department of Labor and to provide any additional information requested in connection with this grant application, which grant funds are in the amount of $1,050,000 federal funds and are for the development and implementation of an employment training program for court-involved youth. Number 58, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute contract amendments with the Headley Green Homeowners Association, Gratz Park Neighborhood Association, Northside Neighborhood Association, and Ashland Neighborhood Association for extension of the completion date of the Neighborhood Action Match Project to December 31, 2015 and to change the scope of work for the Headley Green Homeowners Association contract to include the installation of monkey grass and plants along the drainage ditch basin area at no cost to the urban county government. Number 59, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute change order number one to the contract with ibm business continuity and recovery services for the disaster recovery equipment project increasing the contract price by the sum of 51 660 dollars from 84 360 to 136 020. number 60 a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute agreements with lakeshore village incorporated 1 350 and crossroads christian church 800 for the office of the urban county council at a cost not to exceed the sum stated. Number 61, a resolution supporting the Safe Routes to School SRTS program, a proposed partnership between the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government and the Fayette County Board of Education for the establishment and maintenance of safe routes for children and parents biking and walking to school in Lexington Fayette County. Number 62, a resolution supporting and encouraging the establishment of the Forest Health Research and Education Center, FHC, at the University of Kentucky for the expansion of critical research and educational programming and to address increased threats from invasive pests and pathogens on trees and forests throughout the region. Number 63, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the Irvin County Government to execute a certificate of consideration and any other necessary documents and to accept a deed for property located at 1604 Fort Sumter Drive for the Fort Sumter Drive Stormwater Improvements Project at a cost not to exceed $180,000. Number 64, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government and pursuant to resolution number 181 74 and ordinance number 475 to execute a memorandum of understanding with the american federation of state county and municipal employees AFSCME local 4468 to non-wage related benefits and working conditions for certain employees in the division of waste management number 65 a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute certificates of consideration and other necessary documents and to accept deeds for property interest needed for the meadow lane at New Circle Road Modified Access Project at a cost not to exceed $5,000. Number 66, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to accept a certificate of consideration and any other necessary documents and to accept a deed for property located at the intersection of Liberty Road at Winchester Road for additional funding for the Liberty Road at Winchester Road Improvement Project at a cost not to exceed $30,000. Number 67, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute the purchase of service agreement with Lighthouse Ministries for the completion of a full-service dining facility for the provision of meals for low-income and homeless individuals at a cost not to exceed $67,657. Number 68, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute change order number one to the contract with Riddle Construction Incorporated for the Coroner Community Action Center renovation project, decreasing the contract price by the sum of $247.62 from $597,720 to $597,472.38. Number 69, a resolution accepting the response of City Visions Associates, LLC, and AU Associates, Incorporated to RFP No. 9-2015, Development Agent Services for the Old Payette County Courthouse and authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute a professional services agreement with City Visions Associates, LLC, and AU Associates, Incorporated, to provide services related to the RFP at a cost not to exceed $500,000 for Phase 1A, with any additional services and phases provided under the agreement contingent upon sufficient funds being appropriated in future fiscal years for a total cost not to exceed $1,275,000 for the entire project. Number 70, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute a consultant services agreement with Element Design, P-LLC, for the Idle Hour Park Improvements Project at a cost not to exceed $33,000. Number 71, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute change order number one to the contract with GRW Engineers Incorporated for the West Hickman Wastewater Treatment Plant Administration Building Expansion Improvements Project, decreasing the contract price by the sum of $54,690 from $95,870 to $41,180. $90. Number 72, a resolution ratifying the Department of Law's execution on behalf of the Urban County Government and subject to the approval of the Kentucky Public Service Commission of a unanimous settlement agreement, stipulation, and recommendation, and any other necessary settlement documents in Kentucky Public Service Commission case number 2014-00371 pertaining to the rates of Kentucky Utilities Company. Number 73, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute a rental agreement with Bay Area County Board of Education for a fire recruit testing site at a cost not to exceed $1,200. Number 74, a resolution authorizing and directing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute a contract with the Prudential Insurance Company of America for group life insurance for all LFUCG employees effective January 1, 2015 at a cost not to exceed $775,000. And number 75, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute agreements with Rabbit Run Homeowners Association, $1,000. Palomar Hills Community Association, $600. The Village of Rabbit Run Condo Association, $500. Aylesford Place Neighborhood Association, $500. Mentel Neighborhood Association, $1,000. Growing Together Preschool, $1,050. Mary Todd Lincoln House, $550. Captain Underwood Young Marines, $800. LexArts on behalf of Art Connects, $1,000. Historic Woodward Heights Neighborhood Association, $500. Belcourt Neighborhood Association, $900. And East End Community development corporation 500 for the office of the urban county council at a cost not to exceed the sum stated is that it meredith all right thank you are there any motions for walk-ons or suspensions. You're welcome. All right. Council Member Henson. Thank you, Mayor. I moved to place on the docket of the April 30, 2015 council meeting under first reading of resolutions, a resolution authorizing change order number one with Churchill-McGee, LLC, for Public Safety Operations Center Phase 1B renovation, increasing the amount by $18,033.79. So moved. Motion by Council Member Henson. Is there a second? Second. Second by Council Member Evans. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. If not, then we can vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Any more walk-ons? All right. How about suspension? council member scutchfield we'll we'll have to do a walk on uh second read i mean the first read on the walk on right when we do that then we okay all right madam clerk this will be number 76 a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute change order number one to the contract with churchill mcgee llc for public safety operations center phase 1b renovation increasing the contract price by the sum of 18 000 three hundred 18 033 dollars and 79 cents from six million one hundred and nine thousand dollars to six million one hundred and twenty seven thousand thirty three dollars and seventy nine cents thank you ma'am and now um council members cut your field thank you mayor um i move to send the rules and give second reading to number 60. motion on number 60 is there second second by council mayor henson thank you mayor yes ma'am Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. If not, then we can vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Council Member Maloney. I moved, and we have a second reading on number 76 that we just walked on because they have a roof that has to be built as soon as possible. So I hope you all would support that. Thank you. Motion on number 76. Second by motion by Council Member Maloney, second by Vice Mayor Kay. Is there any discussion? All right, if not, we can vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. All right, we have the motion carries. One objection. Council Member Henson. Thank you, Mayor. I move to suspend the rules and give second reading to number 51. And this is the HR, the conditional offers of employment. Second. Motion by Council Member Henson on number 51, second by Council Member Akers. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right, if not, then we can vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. I have one more, Mayor. Council Member Henson. I move to suspend the rules and give second reading to number 72. And this is at the request of the administration, and they wanted to get this taken. care of. This is to ratify the Kentucky utilities rates. Before the case closes, they wanted to get this one done. Motion by Council Member Henson. Second by Vice Mayor Kay. Is there any discussion on the motion? If not, then we can vote. All in favor, please say aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. All right. That looks like that's all who signed on for suspensions, and I'll ask the clerk to please give a second to reach. Council Member Brown, do you have a... Thank you, Mayor. i'd like to make a motion to suspend the rules on number 61 the supporting the safe routes partnership with lfucg all right whatever number 61 council motion by councilman brown second by councilmember farmer is there any discussion on the motion all right not then we can vote all in favor please say aye aye opposed no motion carries okay is that it all right Meredith, whenever you're ready then. Number 51, a resolution authorizing the Division of Human Resources to make conditional offers to the following probationary civil service appointments. Corey Hyslope, public service worker, senior, grade 509N, 14.066, hourly, in the Division of Streets and Roads, effective upon passage of counsel. Samuel Gross, Public Service Worker, Grade 507N, 12.209 Hourly in the Division of Water Quality Effective Upon Passage of Council. Royce Reeves, Logistics Officer, Grade 508N, 15.735 Hourly in the Division of Emergency Management 911 Effective May 18, 2015. And Otto Helmuth, Skilled Trades Worker Senior, Grade 517N, 24.411 Hourly in the Division of Fire and Emergency Services Effective May 18, 2015. And authorizing the Division of Human Resources to make a conditional offer to the following unclassified civil service appointment. George Young, ESP coordinator, grade 514E, 1381.06 biweekly in the Division of Parks and Recreation, effective upon passage of council. Number 60. A resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute agreements with Lakeshore Village Incorporated, $1,350, and Crossroads Christian Church, $800 for the office of the Urban County Council at a cost not to exceed the sums stated. Number 61, a resolution supporting the Safe Routes to School SRTS program, a proposed partnership between the Lexington Fayette-Irban County Government and the Fayette County Board of Education for the establishment and maintenance of safe routes for children and parents biking and walking to school in Lexington Fayette County. Number 72, a resolution ratifying the Department of Law's execution on behalf of the Urban County Government and subject to the approval of the Kentucky Public Service Commission of a unanimous settlement agreement, stipulation, and recommendation, and any other necessary settlement documents in Kentucky Public Service Commission case number 2014-00371 pertaining to the rates of Kentucky Utilities Company. Number 76, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the Urban County Government to execute change order number one to the contract with Churchill McGee, LLC, for Public Safety Operations Center Phase 1B renovation, increasing the contract price by the sum of 18 033.79 from 6 109 000 to 6 127 033.79 thank you madam clerk is there a motion to approve move approval motion by council member henson second where did i get a second second by council mayor gibbs all right is there any discussion on the motion all right if not then i'll ask clerk oh council member brown is this on the vote of the resolutions this is on the second reads are we is this on the okay uh just uh clarify i'll vote yes for the number 76 but i i just feel the process has not been properly vented or vetted when you have a walk-on first reading and then you go to second reading immediately and that's the only reason i oppose it i don't oppose the actual motion yes sir i wanted to clarify my vote and that'll be appropriately noted thank you sir all right meredith you ready then if you'll call the roll that'd be great thank you mr lane yes mr maloney yes ma'am miss scotchfield yes mr stennett yes ma'am miss akers yes Ms. Bledsoe yes Mr. Fred Brown yes Mr. James Brown yes Ms. Evans yes Mr. Farmer yes ma'am Ms. Henson yes Mr. Gibbs yes Mr. Kay yes and Ms. Lamb yes ma'am thank you thank you Madam Clerk the vote reflects passage of the motion allows us to move on to communications from the Mayor Is there a motion? Move approved. Second. Motion by Council Member Hanson. Second by Council Member Farmer. Is there any discussion? All right. If not, we can vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Next is for information only. Then next is announcements. Before Council announcements, we do have a disciplinary hearing from the Fire Department and Assistant Chief Kristen Chilton is here for that disciplinary hearing. Chief, thank you. Yes, I bring before today, we have some discipline to issue with your approval, and that is for firefighter Brian Doody, and it's in violation of conduct and becoming an insubordination. So the recommended discipline for this employee is a 48-hour suspension. Repeat the Lexington Fire Department social media course and attend the sensitivity training provided by LFUCG Division of Human Resources. Move approval. Motion by Councilman Lane to approve and a second by Councilmember Henson. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right, if not, then we can vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Thank you. Chief, thank you. I'll open the floor now to Councilmembers for announcements. Please sign up if you have an announcement. Am I seeing? Council Member Lamb Thank you, Mayor I just wanted to announce that there's going to be a groundbreaking on Monday, May 4th at 11 a.m. to start the reconstruction that the University of Kentucky is doing to Alumni Drive between Taste Creek Road and Nicholasville Road Thank you Thank you, Council Member Lamb Council Member Brown Yes, I would like to announce that the Planning Commission meeting today at 1.30 in this room, that the Armstrong Mill West Small Area Plan was approved, and I'm very appreciative of that and look forward to the rest of the council members helping me to follow through with this plan. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you, Council Member Brown. any any other council members have an announcement at this time all right if not then that allows us to move on to um public comments i have bernard is bernard here bernard's not here okay and rob Morris? I have Rob Morris signed up to speak. Rob Morris. And I also have Joe Rosenberger. Is Joe still here? Or was that for the previous? Okay. All right. Mr. Morris. I'm going to bring up a presentation. It'll be a brief one. Rob, if you... So we heard today that we're so close to another deal and that we should be hearing something by mid-May. Is that about right? Hope so. The Centerpoint project, the Centerpoint pit, now has a hole so deep that it has a seven-year echo We've been hearing so close and that we're this close to a deal. We just need another 60 to 90 more days and the deal will be closed. We've been through now eight versions of CenterPoint in the last seven years. This is how it looked in March 2008. At the time, we were saying it'll be an all-cash deal from some mystery financier. It would provide 900 jobs. It would be done in time for the equestrian games in late 2010. By six months later, we had a second design. Now it was going to be the tallest building in Kentucky. Around the time that design came out, the mystery financier died. But nobody knew that at the time. It was also supposed to be an all-equity transaction. Money was on reserve and ready to go back in October of 2008. Still on schedule, we were just waiting those pesky permits to come in, but at that time, nobody still knew that the mystery financier was still dead. The rest of the world didn't find that out until April 2009. At that time, 61 of the $91 million condos in the project were spoken for, despite the fact that only eight such properties had been sold in the previous 12 months. But even though the mystery financier had died, their estate was still on track. That's what the developer told us in June 2009. And there was another financier waiting in the wings. And there was an investment bank financier that had stepped forward as well, all in June 2009. In August, actually, that's a misprint there, was 64 of the $91 million condos were spoken for. in june 2010 after another year or so of inaction we had a third version of centerpoint this time it had a flat top a year after that we had a fourth version the one that gene gang and and studio gang were involved in and it was cool there were local architects involved in the project The community kind of said, yay, this is a great thing. Excuse me. Yep. The three minutes is, your three minutes is expired now. Okay. But the procedure is that a council member could make a motion to extend that, but that would require a motion by a council member. So I'll move. Second. There's a motion. There's a second. Unless there's objection, you can continue. I'll try to finish in the next few minutes. Thank you. So the community approved. But then we found out a few months after that that Studio Gang was no longer associated with Centerpoint. But in February, we found out that EOP had yet another fifth version of Centerpoint. And the fifth version still involved the local architects. So EOP was involved in this version, and local architects were involved in some parts of the project. But then a few months later, we found out EOP was no longer associated with CenterPoint. And I believe this was CMMI offered a new version of CenterPoint, I think number six, in August 2013. The local architect involvement was no longer there. The buildings that had local architect involvement were changed. and then in October they were changed again. In December we heard, hey, Stantec's going to be our number one tenant in the office portion. And then in May 2014 we had the eighth version of CenterPoint. Council approved the bond structure in September 2014. The garage bonds were to be sold soon in October 2014. And then we found out Stantec was out in November 2014. But the bonds were still going to be sold soon. And it was going to be finished by late 2015. And the crane got delivered in December 2014 and sat. In January, we heard the bonds were to be issued by the end of the month. and the thing is is that in 2008 what you've seen so far in in this is is basically a fantasy center point fantasy center point with fantasy financials fantasy timelines the reality is center point was a lot of old pretty run-down buildings on the block i believe council member Lane called it a pimple on the face of the community. A few months later, it was a pit of dirt, and then it was a lake. And then for a long time, it was the grassy field that most of us remember. And then lately, it's been a pit, and Mr. Lane's pimple has been an open gash for about a year. we don't need to keep condoning this kind of behavior on the part of the developer. We don't need to keep condoning this kind of abuse of our development incentives. Our development incentives with TIF should allow us to say no more. TIF is a public funding of the parking garage. the parking garage has been funded through the tiff for quite some time yes right uh i was going to say that that third second third three minutes is expired rob okay thank you okay thank you appreciate it all right uh that's all who have signed up for public comment is there anything further to come before the council not then i'll take a motion to take oh i'm sorry another public comment i got here before the sign that sheet was uh no longer available i'm sorry to sign up i would like to speak briefly okay i'm bill johnson on this uh 645 west short street downtown and uh this project was supposed to be the uh the great uh panacea to downtown and it's been anything but that. It's been a disaster for seven years since it was begun. The east end of downtown is especially being hurt. There's a huge visual and physical barrier that reduces the motivation for people to walk to that part of downtown. Those businesses do not appear to be thriving, and as an investor in one of them, I'm sensitive to this. This is even more true for the businesses surrounding Centerpoint block. So one need to talk about how they want small retail to thrive while your activities are killing or have killed the retail that surrounds this project. I can think of no time with this project during its seven long years that the financing plans put forth have come to fruition. And here we are asked once more to wait until next month, but next month never comes. This is not just a Webb-Rosenberg issue. This is a Lexington issue, and it's hurting all of us, and we really need to stop killing the east end of downtown. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. There was, I think there was a motion to adjourn. Was there a motion? Motion to adjourn by Council Member Scotchfield. Is there a second? Second by Council Member Bledsoe. Unless there's objection, we are adjourned. Thank you. Baby, I've been drifting away Dreaming all day I'm holding you Touching you The only thing I want to do Is be with you As close to you Yes, I can be Let's make love