The ¶¶ Hello, everyone. Hello. Hello. Hungry, Rob. Thank you for joining us today for the meeting of the work session of the council. Thank you for joining us. And I'll call the meeting to order. And first on our agenda is public comment for issues on the agenda. Mr. Mundy, is anybody? All right. No one signed up for issues on the agenda. That allows us to move to rezoning and the docket approval. any rezoning, requested rezonings, and docket approval. Is there a motion to approve the docket? So moved. Second. Motion by Council Member Stenet, seconded by Council Member Hansen. Is there any discussion on the motion? I believe there is, we have some walk-ons. Council Member Stenet. Thank you, Mayor. I move to place on the docket for the Council meeting schedule at 6 p.m. tonight, an ordinance amending certain areas of the budget of the Urban County Government to provide funds for purchase orders and prepaid expenses rolling from FY 2015 into FY 2016 and appropriate and reappropriating funds, Schedule number 0004. So moved. Thank you, Council Member Stenet. Motion by Council Member Stenet, seconded by Council Member 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, Erin. And does it help the clerk if we take NDF changes now, or do you want to wait until NDF time? Anything that's going to be for the docket tonight, if you guys could move those forward to the docket earlier. Yeah, go ahead. Thank you, Mayor. I move the place or amend the neighborhood development funds and allocate $500 towards activities at Brown Station High School towards scholarships for students. So moved. Motion by Council Member Stennett, second by Council Member Akers. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. If not, then we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Thank you, Mayor. Copies of both of those were in front of everybody. All right. Just for record. Thank you. And I think we have another NDF, right, Council Member Farmer? Yes, sir. Council Member Farmer. Well, I'll just do it. We'll just pick up both NDFs now. Yes, sir. I move to amend the NDF list to include an agreement with the African American Forum in the amount of $2,150. dollars. So moved. All right. Motion by Councilmember Farmer, second by Councilmember Henson. Is there any discussion? All right. If not, then we can take a vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Thank you all. Thank you. Councilmember Evans. Thank you, Mayor. I made a place on the docket under first reading of resolutions, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute purchase of service agreements with the bluegrass state games incorporated in the amount of $60,000, Roots and Heritage Festival incorporated in the amount of $35,500, and the Kentucky Classical Theater Conservatory in the amount of $9,000 to provide services to the public. Second. Thank you. Motion by Council Member Evans, second by Council Member Massadi. Is there any discussion? if not then we can vote all in favor please say aye aye aye opposed no motion carries back to councilmember farmer thank you mayor this has to do with um quarters work that's going to go on while we are on our break and it has to do with um bids that were open yesterday so we're walking this on asking for two readings so that that work can take place while we are while we're away i moved to place on the docket for the council meeting scheduled at 6 p.m. tonight a resolution accepting the bid of packs nursery and landscaping llc in the amount of 214 298.78 for the man o' war boulevard landscape and authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement related to the bid so moved motion by councilmember farmer second by council for acres 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 Lamb. Thank you, Mayor. Today, at today's General Government and Social Services Committee, we had a report out of the Bluegrass Add, the Workforce Investment Act information, and the, I'd like to, as a result of that, I would like to place on the docket, under first reading resolutions, a resolution authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government text cute and enter local cooperative agreement with the kentucky counties of anderson bourbon boyle clark estel franklin garrett harrison jessamine lincoln madison mercer nicholas powell scott and woodford for the county continued operation of and participation in the bluegrass workforce investment board i so move second motion by council member lamb and second by council member henson is there any discussion on the motion all right hearing none then we can vote all in favor please say aye aye opposed no motion carries and also i have um we we all had the confirmation hearings for the board of adjustment and the planning commission members last thursday and i need to move on tonight for tonight's council meeting docket for the mayor's report a recommendation to appoint p brandon gross and chad needham to the board of adjustment and frank penn to the planning commission they again they were confirmed on july thursday july 2nd 2015 so moved motion by council member lamb second by council member scutchfield any discussion council member stennett just for lamb did you name four people uh no i believe the other the other planning commission member was actually on last thursday Thank you. All right. All right. Any further discussion? All right. If not, then we can vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Bledsoe. Thank you, Mayor. I move to place on the docket a resolution authorizing the Department of Environmental Quality and Public Works on behalf of the Urban County Government to procure the replacement of six wayfinding signs from Architecture Graphords, Inc., a sole source provider, and authorizing the mayor on behalf of the urban county government to execute any necessary agreement related to the procurement at a cost not to exceed $61,000. So moved. Second. Motion by Council Member Bledsoe, seconded by Council Member Akers. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right, hearing none, then we can vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Thank you, sir. I have one more. I move to place on the docket for the council meeting scheduled at 6 p.m. tonight an ordinance amending certain of the budgets of the urban county government to provide funds for the wayfinding project within the fiscal year 2011-2012 bond project fund and appropriating and reappropriating funds with schedule number 0005. So moved. Motion by Council Member Bledsoe. Is there a second? Second by Vice Mayor Kaye. 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, sir. Thank you, Councilmember Bledsoe. All right, no further motions or walk-ons, then that allows us to vote on the original motion to approve the docket. All in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. That allows us to move on to approval of the summary. Is there a motion to approve the summary? So moved. Motion by Councilmember Farmer, second by Councilmember Massadi. 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. Allows us to move on to budget amendments. There are no budget amendments for this agenda. It allows us to move on to new business. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. motion by councilmember Scotchfield second by councilmember farmer is there any discussion on the motion please sign on council members Scotchfield thank you mayor if I could just get an update I have a question on two items under new business on letter s could you tell me what this property is on Richmond Road this is for the Jacobson Park lot yes is it the entire lot our agreement with kentucky american let's say that's number s yes it's a lease agreement with fred williamson all right is jeff coming up thank you commissioner reed i don't know i want to be sure you've been busy today that is a a location of a trailer that he he lives in and this is an extension of the the contract that he has for rent he lives there in exchange for services provided it's at the back of the park it's about a quarter acre and i wanted to make sure thank you i had a second question on letter kk kk that is this was the agreement between lfcg and belkin um okay that'd be kevin stennett right i wanted to make sure it looks like um belkin was i guess bought by ae industrial partners i wanted to make sure that this would not have any problems i guess with with our agreement no they made us aware of it and and the agreement will be based with that company as well okay yeah because i think your letter came out in may but we they purchased them in june so just okay thank you mayor thank you council member scutcheville council member farmer thank you mayor my first one is on i think it's items c and j that are combined about the mid block crossing and i appreciate the multiple attempts to do to demonstrate where this is and i like to be good at maps but i still can't tell where it is i'm so sorry so i'm looking at what i think is page 20 and i think i see it on the edge here but i can't this is outbound bull frankfurt pipes somewhere am i right it is where you turn to go to mcconnell springs that makes sense so it's inside yes wow okay thank you for helping me with that i appreciate it um briefly mayor yes sir on item ff the agreement with bullhorn to help us to help us with marketing materials and social media and promotional materials for the Lexington Police Department recruitment initiative. I'm specifically interested in this based on comments we had from someone from the division about how hard it is to recruit at this particular time. And I wanted to confirm that that is the case and that this will indeed help. Okay. We'll let Chief Barnard address that. Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. We had reached out nationally looking at different trends, and one of the things we noticed with law enforcement throughout the country is recruiting efforts are down nationally. Dallas Police Department most recently was at Moorhead State University for a job recruiting fair, and we had talked to them. So competing nationally with the job market that we were on, we were trying to be a little bit more innovative, cutting edge and past looking at just doing commercials and flyers that we routinely had done in law enforcement. So with the social media and talking to different companies and looking at it more cutting edge with our recruiting efforts, so we hope with branding the agency and putting on a national market through social media and different venues that we'll have more success with what we're doing. So we're looking for a more diverse recruitment pool than we've had in the past. I appreciate that. Mayor, if there's a little discretion here, Council Member Mazzotti would like to ask a question on this very same item while we're here. Sure. Thank you for that. I appreciate it very much. Yes. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Chief. Chief, what is the starting salary of our recruits? I'm not for sure if I have it. It's almost 30. Yeah, almost 38 currently. And then they get additional incentives based upon education. Yes, educational incentive after that, And then after they go through the educational incentive and they get certified, then they'll get Kentucky law enforcement money. So a young man or a young woman that has a four-year degree, his first year out would make approximately what? Approximately starting off in that first year around $40,000. With the ability for additional overtime, correct? In overtime, yes, ma'am. Okay. That's one of the things that they were very innovative about was, one, selling the city. It's a very unique place to live and a good place to live. looking at the salaries compared to other agencies that we have, and then the agency itself. So those are all the things that we tried to figure into it with. And I guess that's my follow-up question. Where are we in line with other salaries of our size and our size of the city? Yes, we're doing very competitive with that and the new bargaining agreements coming up. So we naturally had that period where we have locked in for the four years with the new bargaining agreement coming forward. All that will be going back and forth negotiated, but we're very comfortable right now. Thank you very much, Chief. Thank you, Mayor. Mayor, I had a couple more, and I think Council Member Zadde might yield me a couple of minutes back briefly. Commissioner Reed, on items, items TT, the ticket service contract, and items II, the vehicle donation to the city of Hindman, Kentucky. First on the ticket service contract, and this is for ticket service at the Downtown Arts Center. So the presumption is we're doing enough over there to sell tickets? Yes. Well, I think we're doing more than enough to sell tickets. I think we're doing very well there. And this would be an online service of selling tickets that you can go online like a ticket master, something like this. This is a one-time expense of $395. It's not that much money. So we are at the end of the first year of our experiment over there with your folks running that facility? Yes. Yes. It has been successful? Yes. Care to quantify? Well, I was hoping you'd just take yes. But, well, we are up considerably on revenue. We're doing much better. We're doing much better on bookings. Happy to give you a breakout, but I know we're at least 50% higher on revenues and much higher on- I think many of us are interested. Just make it a one sheet to send to us at some point. Happy to do so, yes. And then I'm interested that the mayor of Hindman contacted us asking us for desperately needed vehicles, and we're going to donate some to the city of Hindman, including a wrecked Ford F-150. Do we like the city of Hindman, or what are we doing? I'm very partial to the city of Hindman. I've talked to Mayor Neese on this topic, and also the Kentucky League of Cities has contacted us. Heinemann is in a unique situation. Well, it's not unique being broke, but it's unique the circumstances that led to their economic crisis. There's a new mayor. There was some problems with embezzlement. There's problems with a depressed economy. There was problems with tax collection. We have a new mayor trying to get the city on its feet. They literally have no vehicles. None. The mayor is using his own vehicle to remove snow and his own personal equipment to do maintenance work around the city. It is a very unusual circumstance. They're reaching out to a number of cities. One of the cities close by has donated a vehicle. We thought this was a reasonable request to help this city of about 1,000 people move along and get on its feet. Thank you for the explanation. We are very glad to help them. I appreciate your work. Lastly, Mayor, item WW. This is approved of PSA, Economic Development Partner Agencies. In our budget discussions about outside agencies, was there a comment made or a potential policy question asked about how these were treated differently than the other partner agencies, or am I thinking incorrectly and remembering that? Did one of us ask that question? Because it's a different pot of money, but it's still on a group of outside agencies. I see this has been a great conversation among myself. Thank you very much, Mayor. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Farmer. Councilmember Lamb. That's a hard act to follow up on. I actually have a question on item F, the MOU with the Internal Revenue Service criminal investigation. Is this something new? No? I just didn't see any language where it's a recurring, and so it's something. It's a recurring agreement. We've had the agreement probably for the last four or five years. Okay. All righty. All right. Thank you. Thanks. Item, I'm going to attempt to have a conversation with my colleagues and see if you can. Item G, I believe the issue of nuisances is currently in committee, and I'm just trying to find out if we know when that's going to be discussed. See, I'm trying to initiate it. I think this is a different way. Is it? I'm ready. Councilmember Massadi might be able to help here. If this is what you're referring to, the supplements from the Herald-Leader, is that what you're talking about in reference to this? I'm talking about item G, where we're talking about the definition. I thought the definition of nuisances was in committee, and I'm just trying to remember. Somebody brought that up to me this past week, and so am I just crazy thinking that maybe so? Okay. No, we don't. Oh, okay. Well, that just proves my, I'll have a conversation with myself too. Okay, and then on Commissioner Reid, on the multiple items about the lease agreements that are for six months, is there a reason they're over in December of 2015 as opposed to for an annual yearly lease? In 2011, the council entered agreement that this would be run for a three-year. length of time. They were really up for renewal the end of December. I had questions and concerns about this arrangement, if we could do it better. I'd like to have a six-month extension and come back to the council later in the fall with the determination if we want to move forward with this arrangement as it exists now or go to something different. So that's why I'm asking for the six months extension from July to December. Okay. So do you plan on bringing this to one of the committees or how? Yes, one of the committees. And our new park director, Monica Conrad, has dealt with a similar issue on the state level of the use of houses at state parks. So I wanted to get her on board once I knew she was coming on board and discuss how we can most efficiently and effectively use the resources we have. federal parks. All right. Thank you. Thank you for that information. This item AA about the on base. I was going to ask Commissioner Valincente. I noticed, I know that there are several different soft applications that we do use for integration, but is this for any particular or is it just for a mass integration? This is general. OnBase was purchased several years ago as a document storage system, but since that time, there are multiple modules that allow us to actually integrate documents that need to be stored from various systems. So this is really an extension of what we have already installed. Oh, okay. It wouldn't, by chance, have anything to do with any of our Legistar or anything, would it? Not yet, but we can investigate. Okay, alrighty, cool. And the other is item EE. This is a question. Are these positions that were left out of the MAG, are they a result of the MAG, these reallocation, reclassification, pay changes, looks like they had to do with the ESP positions? Yeah, this was part of the administrative review process, and they were inadvertently left off last council meeting, so these were the unclassified positions. Okay, so these were as a result of the appeals? Yes. Okay, alrighty, thanks. And I've got 34 seconds, so I better choose. And under 00, does this actually create the domestic violence prevention position? and I don't know who that would be. That's Chris. Commissioner Ford. Thanks, Mayor. Council Member Lamb, I believe as it pertains to social services, these positions are just for the reclassification of the program coordinator for our SAVI program and the reclassification of a program coordinator for Isabel Taylor's position, which was formerly known as the Multicultural Affairs. So these are both now program coordinator positions. This is not pertaining to the domestic violence. Okay. I mean, it looks like that these are all relevant to the positions that were approved in the budget, and I'm just curious as to when we might be able to see the domestic violence prevention position be brought forward. Just curious. I would suspect that as soon as we get back from summer break, we'll be farther along in that process. I know we're working to come up with the job description for that position. So it works R&F. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Lamb. Council Member Akers. Thank you, Mayor. This is for Commissioner Reed. I had a question on all of the leases in the parks, letters O through – there's a couple skipping, but O through X, basically. um so commissioner i did the math on each of these and the cheapest rent per month is 91 dollars and the highest is about 350 a month can you tell me a little bit more about who who lives in these properties and what their use like the one that's 91 it says it's just a lot in jacobson so what are they doing with that lot? Well, the thought was the rent themselves are more than that, but the rent is offset by an amount that's determined what it would cost to perform a service, like answering calls on the park, being sure gates are locked, respond to a disturbance at the park, those type of things. It's assumed these folks are on call. So I was concerned. I asked the same questions you did. And I had an outside appraiser look at the rents themselves, and the rents are in line with market values for properties like that. Then we get into the issue of basically the offsets and the cost associated with that. And those are usually running anywhere from $200 to $350 a month that we're offsetting the rents for the value of the services performed. These are all park employees, with the exception at one location where there are retirees of parks. But, again, I would like to have the opportunity and time to look into this further. This is certainly, we're certainly getting our money's worth, but can we do something different or better to enhance safety at the parks? So these are, that's what I didn't know also. So these are all Parks employees. All with the exception of one. And so they live there and then are responsible, as you said, for locking the gates or just security or if something should happen. Which is spelled out in the contract, yes, ma'am. Okay. And that's, I guess, my question, in addition to just learning something, because I hadn't ever seen this before, was also about the fair market rents. And as you know, we just had the discussion about the Black and Williams Center and the rents there for the nonprofits and how they seem to be really high for community-based work. So I just want to make sure that we're being equitable across all of our rentals. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Akers. Council Member Soddy. Thank you, Mayor. I have a question on BB, either for Charlie Martin or Commissioner Holmes, whoever's available, please. David is BB. which item please BB please BB like in boy the blue sky the blue sky pumping station are we done when it says final we are up and running this is good to go no more issues with this this is the final change order close out right yes correct And all the business owners that are there have the ability to go onto the sewer, and that has all been done? Correct, yes. No other problems with sewer tap-ons there at all? That's correct. That's what I needed to know. Thank you. And one last question is OO, and I guess more specifically on page 74. It looks like it's either Mr. Maxwell or Ms. Hamilton. Or maybe someone from the mayor's office can answer the question, please. On page 74, there's a second paragraph in this second bullet, and it says that we now are creating an innovation director. And I'm just curious what an innovation director is and who is our new innovation director. That position is a position that Scott Shapiro is being reclassified into. And what does an innovation director do? Please. I'm sorry. The innovation director is coordinating innovative things. The innovation director is coordinating. Oh, there you are. Thank you. I'm obviously not very innovative. I get it. I know what innovation means, but what kind of innovative things are we coordinating? I didn't come prepared with the detailed job description today, but I can share that with you. I can walk downstairs and send it to you right now if you'd like. Before the 6 o'clock meeting, that would be great. Just give me an idea of what an innovation director does. That's all I need to know. Thank you. Is that it? Council Member Massadi? Done? All right. Okay. Thank you. Council Member Maloney. Thank you, Mayor. I'm just curious on XX. Aren't we getting ready to do a presentation on that? If it is, I'd like to table X until we hear the presentation and then bring it back up after the presentation, if that's okay with the council. I'd like to table X until after we hear the presentation and then bring it back up. Well, the question is to table it, or the motion is to table XX and then bring it back up after the presentation? Yes. All right. Okay. Because it relates to something in the presentation. It relates to the Blue Horse presentation, right? Okay. So there's a motion to table, and who's a second? I'll second. Okay. Second by Councilman Verstendant. Motion to table is not debatable. All in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Well, I think that I'm not sure that it was clear. It was one of the reasons I repeated it. The motion to table until after the presentation, and then it would be reintroduced. All right. So the motion, I judged it as it passed, but maybe we should vote electronically. okay motion passes all right councilmember farmer thank you mayor mine was going to be on the same item of business i was going to take a different tack i was going to ask the council clerk if we delayed uh docketing this until after the discussion this is a hard day the hardest day for the clerk. Does that place any added problem for you to place that after we've completed our discussion? We'll be okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Farmer. All right. Looks like that is all who have signed up for discussion. Allows us to then vote on the motion to adopt to approve new business items. All in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Allows us to move on to continuing business and presentations, and number one on that is NDFs. Is there a motion on the NDFs? So moved. Motion by Vice Mayor Kay, seconded by Council Member Henson. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right, hearing none, then we can vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Next is a presentation on the Blue Horse, and that's going to be by Scott Shapiro. Kingland President Bill Thomason and Visit-Lex President Mary Quinn Raymer. Great. Thank you. Good to be with you here today. So today, in regards to the Blue Horse, I'm going to talk about the agreement that is before you, talk a little bit about why we're hoping to do this, then talk about what we've done in relation to the Blue Horse and what we hope to do next. And then I'll hand it off to Mary Quinn Raymer, who will talk about Visit Lex's experience with the Blue Horse. And then Bill Thomason, president of Keeneland, will talk about the horse as a symbol for Lexington. So first, the agreement. It's a simple licensing agreement with Visit Lex where we would be licensing the blue horse from Visit Lex for $10 a year. There would be an additional $2,500 a year that we would pay to help defer administrative expenses. One thing I wanted to be really clear about with the blue horse that you see here, the silhouette and Lexington, is that we'd be using this horse in addition to the seal. This is not meant to be a replacement for the seal. As many of you know, we've been using the Blue Horse on an ad hoc basis, seeking waivers from Visit Lex from time to time. The mayor's office has done it. I know many members of council have licensed the Blue Horse as well for your own purpose. This would be a blanket license so that the city would be able to use the Blue Horse in a similar way to represent the city to dovetail with the way that Visit Lex is using the Blue Horse to represent the city. So first, a little bit of history. Mary Quinn will get into this more, but the Blue Horse was created in preparation for the World Equestrian Games, then called the CVB. They've been using it for a number of years. It's now a recognizable and positive symbol of the city. And she'll talk a little bit about the designers of the logo and how they came to create the Blue Horse and why they did that and why it's such a fitting symbol for the city. What we would like to do is largely use the silhouette of the blue horse that you see up top, the blue silhouette with Lexington next to it. And this would be used for things like letterhead, mostly electronic purposes, PowerPoint presentations, brochures, newsletters, ways in which the city may interact with citizens. Again, it would be used to complement the seal. There are certainly many areas where we would continue to use the seal as well. We would have limited use for the framed version of the blue horse. That's a little bit more complicated to reproduce. Now, the horse itself, we sent around last week a booklet that was created to give council members a bit of the history around the specific horse that's depicted in the silhouette is used in the logo. Now, this horse is called Lexington and has been referred to as the Emperor of Stallions, the King of Sires. Its bones were in the Smithsonian. Its likeness is in Thoroughbred Park and the horse park. This is an important part of the Thoroughbred history here in Lexington, this particular horse. It still holds the record for the number of years as the top sire, 16 years. And this was back in the mid-1800s. So what we'd like to do is to use the blue horse for three reasons. One is to eliminate logo confusion. Secondly, we want to build Lexington's brand. And third, we want to reflect the great work that the city does, that you all fund. So reason number one, ending logo confusion. This is a sampling of the logos that various divisions and departments use to represent the city. They are all over the map. We use just literally dozens and dozens of logos to represent the city and its work. They've built up over time. There's been little oversight. And it's not clear to the public what the city is responsible for and what it's not. So, for example, if you look at some of these, the senior center logo, city council, the city funds the senior center. It's not immediately clear that that's part of the city. The same can be said for the Department of Emergency Management or Live Green Lexington, for example. Especially with the Department of Emergency Management, it's very important that citizens know that this is part of the government. Secondly, building Lexington's brand. So Mary Quinn will talk again a little bit about the Blue Horse itself, but what we want to do is to dovetail the city's efforts with what the CVB is doing. They are marketing the city externally using the Blue Horse. We would be complementing that, using the Blue Horse as the internal symbol of the city. both organizations together making it quite powerful. So good brands, what they do is capture emotion and reflect that back. I think there's no doubt among the people in this room that the people of Lexington really love this city, love the city of Lexington. There's not a brand that really captures that and reflects it back. And you can see the importance of that if you look at the UK logo. For example, when folks look at the UK logo, what they see is a pride, you know, pride in not just the basketball team and the other sports teams, but the city as a whole. What we'd like to do is to create a brand that does that for the city of Lexington. Scott, just a second. Yes. Just for purposes of timekeeping, you've got about half time right now. Okay, great. Thanks very much. Thirdly, we want to reflect the great work that the city does. We aim to create design templates that can be used by divisions and departments, use this as a way to create materials that have higher production values and really reflect the great work that the city does every day. So far we've met with 25 divisions and departments about how we might roll this out. If we get council approval, next we'll work with the CAO to oversee this program. She'll appoint a brand policeman, some oversight to work with the divisions and departments to roll this out. So thank you very much. And right now, I'll introduce Mary Quinn Raymer, who heads Visit Lex. Hi. Thank you for letting me be here today. Just to give you a little bit of a brief background on the Blue Horse and how it came to be in 2007, late in 2007, we had a tremendous opportunity to work with world-class designers on the challenge of establishing an undeniable mark for our city. And we spent three jam-packed days with these folks, traversing the ins and outs of Lexington and our surrounding countryside. And when we were finished and they had had a moment to reflect, they came back to us and said, folks, it's really simple. It's about the horse. and for all that Lexington is and represents, the horse really truly stands at the heart of our identity. The designers were absolutely captivated by our thriving city center, the universities and colleges that we have here, our arts and culture, and most certainly our people, and yet they remarked that 15 minutes in any direction, they were struck by our enveloping countryside and our one-of-a-kind landscape. The relationship of town and country really does matter here, and in many ways, it's evocative of old world Europe, the relationship between town and country. This was a critical observation that was made by our designers, one that I have personally really come to appreciate, and has played heavily into the development of our blue horse as our mark. We needed a memorable horse, not just any old horse, one that was distinctive, that was embracing of our vibrancy and our innovation as a city and our people while honoring our history and our heritage. The answer? Let's take a beloved horse and let's make it blue. It's certainly unconventional, memorable, distinctive. Our blue horse pays honor to that heritage, both the horse and the land, but it also embraces the great spirit of this American city. You might ask, why blue? Well, we obviously sit at the heart of the Bluegrass region, and there is a little college just down the street that happens to embrace the color blue, so it seemed like no other color would be fitting. And in a great moment of serendipity as we're hashing all this out, our team settled on Lexington, the prolific racehorse of the 19th century named after the city of his birth, which Bill will talk a little bit more about. We settled on an old world portrait done by another famous Lexingtonian, Edward Troy, and that allows us to show the instrumental relationship between our town and our countryside. And when we allowed ourselves to turn Lexington blue, we married Lexington's vibrancy and modern day charm with our past. And hence, Big Lex was born, March 17, 2009, to be exact. In the last 18 months in particular, we have been able to fully capitalize on our Blue Horse. We've gone through a rigorous brand standards program and have spent millions of dollars to date investing in this mark and are really excited about the opportunities that we have with the city to partner in this effort. I can just tell you anecdotally, the response from our visitors has been tremendous. They love the Blue Horse. You would be amazed at the number of people that I see year and again at trade and consumer shows that come back asking, hey, I still have the sticker on my backpack, can I have another one? Or the number of visitors that say to us once they get here, you mean there's really not actually a blue horse? And the opportunity that I had last year to put our mark without any words up against marks of my sister organizations all across this country. Without any words, can you tell us where this place is? Lexington was one of two that stood out. Pretty impressive bragging rights. There is a great opportunity for us here to work with council and with all of government to make a statement on behalf of our great city, and I greatly appreciate your consideration. Thanks, Mary Quinn. Mr. Bill Thomason, thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule. Is time up? You're good. You're good. Okay. Yes, sir. Over the last 35 years, I've had a chance to be here on quite a few occasions advocating the business. It's been a while since I've been here, so Mayor and the Council, thank you for letting me be here. At this time this year, it's most appropriate that we're talking about things that are special for our signature industry. We are at the epicenter of the horse capital of the world. We all know that. And over the last five years, especially with what I'm doing, I've had the chance to travel the United States and to travel around the world. and to see that firsthand. It's things that all of us who live here and get to be a part of this sometimes unfortunately take for granted. This is the horse cap of the world. We are renowned in our country and around the world for what's done, especially here in Lexington. Our community is recognized for the beauty of its landscape and what we produce and what we send around the world, that compete around the world. The horse is what separates us. It's what separates from other communities. That's what makes us special. You hear that and you hear it time and time again, but I do want you to know that in my travels and the places that I get to go, I'm very proud of the recognition that this community's guide for the horse and what it does for the community, not just for equine events that are here, but for how that supports other businesses and entertainment endeavors and everything else we do in the community. Integral part of the fabric of what we are. We're here talking about what a horse that's been described as the greatest horse of all time. And I hope for all of us who are involved in the business, we know what that depicts. 16 years leading the sire list in this country. An extraordinary racehorse of his time. A horse whose progeny were ridden throughout history by legendary people during very important times in our country's history. So we are so fortunate to even be standing here talking about the ability for us to have something so special named Lexington to be a part of the depiction of our community that we've talked about is so representative of this special industry. Since his death, he's been memorialized, 1875, he's been memorialized all over the country. Different statues, special tributes. He's been used for the depiction of trophies from his progeny, the Preakness. so many things around the country that when you see the book and you see what's been put together that came out of the Keeneland Library are things for all of us to be proud of. I will tell you, I can think of nowhere in America more deserving for this horse to be representing this community at this time in our history. And I think this whole depiction is something that we can all be proud of. Thank you. Bill, thanks so much. you all hit ahead of time thank you um council member farmer and then council member stennett thank you mayor other than wearing a a personal pin that's more dear to me than the branding of lexington i always wear this pin and i think it is a a great focus for our city and certainly your commentary about how well it did among others is just fantastic i think for purposes of discussion i would ask that the item be removed from the table and placed uh back on the docket so we could dispose of it hopefully properly. Thank you. Actually, Council Member Farmer cannot make the motion because he voted against the motion. Motion by Council Member Lane. Motion by Council Member Lane. Is there a second? Second. Second by Vice Mayor Kay. All right. All in favor of the motion to place it back on the docket or place it back on the table. Please indicate by saying aye. Aye. All right. Opposed? No. All right. Motion carries. All right. Council Member Stenning. Thank you, Mayor. You know, I remember back in the world of question games, you reminded us about what we went through to brand this and put it on all of our wayfinding signs. We did a lot of investment. I never did see the 40-foot blue horse that was supposed to be downtown, but maybe we can work on that one day, too, and people can know where to come find it. And I guess the biggest issue I have is, Scott, on all those logos you showed us, are you asking us to replace those logos, or are we going to ask firefighters and police officers to wear a blue horse and their patch? What's the goal? No, we wouldn't ask fire and police to replace their logos. This is meant to show you the range of logos that we are using across the government. I think some could be changed so that people understand that it's part of the city. for example, Live Green Lexington, you might have a blue horse in front of that. You all, the council, are the ones that are funding these efforts. When you see Kite Fest, for example, in Jacobson Park, which is a fantastic event, there should be some branding so that folks know it's the city that's putting that on. I think there's a particular, we have to be very careful when we come to a place of of the government where we need to project authority. So police, fire, code enforcement, I think there's room for, we need to keep the seal there. But these are all things that I think the CIO's office is going to work out through their policies. So if we ask a division to change, who's going to pay for that change of stationary, of patches on shirts, et cetera? Yeah. So we went, when we spoke with the departments and divisions, we sort of cataloged what would be changed quickly, or what could be changed, what might not be changed. And the reality is that most of the things that would change would come at zero cost. So, for example, letterhead is something that's created electronically. Business cards, I don't think we would not suggest that everyone should be issued new business cards, but as there's turnover, that's when you'd print, use the new branding. Certainly, if we were a corporation, you would allocate a whole bunch of money and change everything over immediately. I think there's a way to see a lot of change in the near term without having to spend any money. Just a normal turnover. I'm all for the branding. I've been asking, subbing on Council, why don't we all get under the same umbrella? All 15 council members have different logos on their stationery. They have a different business card color, different everything. I think that's where we need to focus more so than introducing another logo, which to me could be even more confusing. I mean, when you use a blue and yellow logo on some letterhead and a black and white and a golden white, I mean, we need to get that fixed first. We're looking at our own current logo before we introduce another logo, in my opinion. I love it for the tourism. I think it hit a home run during the World Equestrian Games. But I still have some reservations. I'm not sold on which divisions we're going to change and which ones we're not. Parks is a big one. I mean, are we asking parks to use a blue horse on all their stuff going forward? Is that one of them? That's something, again, that we'd work out through the CAO's office. I think we've had a number of conversations with parks. I think, again, there are things you could do quickly and easily at no cost. There are things that would be tougher, like the park signs. There's been an investment in these signs that can really withstand the weather. and you'd have to be a little more circumspect in how you rolled that out. But we have gone through an exercise with a design agency for what letterhead might look like, what business cards might look like, and so a lot of that work is done and can be, so that's something that might come, that could be rolled out in the near term. I'd like to see the policy flushed out a little bit more and what's official, what's going to stay official, and what we're going to use this for. I just don't get the sense that we have a plan yet. I know we can develop it, but I'd like to see that plan before I support something like this. But thank you for your efforts. We're getting there. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Soddy. Thank you, Mayor. And to follow up on what Council Member Stinnett is saying, we need a mandatory style guideline. Keeneland has one. Blood Horse has one. We can't have 20 different logos. It's expensive and it's confusing. And I don't disagree with you. We are the horse capital of the world. What I have a little concern with, and I think we've discussed this at length, is when someone asks me, what about the blue horse? What is that? What's the significance? I have a real hard time being able to respond to that and answer. I can tell you what a regular horse is in there, what they're doing, and why we're the horse capital of the world. I'm not sure I can tell them what the blue horse is. It's very pretty. It's attractive. It's eye-catching. But when you have a logo, it's supposed to speak for itself. So help me a little bit here. Sure. When the designers came up with the logo, what they said is that the horse is certainly our signature industry here in the city. It's our heritage. It's an important driver of our economy. Horse capital of the world. Certainly it makes sense to have a horse. By turning it blue, what you're doing is, A, making it memorable, as Mary Quinn said. But B, you're expressing sort of what happens inside the urban service boundary, this sort of creative, entrepreneurial, innovative university city that's culturally rich inside the city. So it's meant to reflect both parts of Lexington. So I guess in your estimation, it's more about the University of Kentucky. I'm just trying to understand this because people say, what about the Blue Horse? And I want to be able to give them a good response. Sure. One of the unique things about Lexington is we are the nation's first urban service boundary. We've, as a city, made this commitment to preserving these, you know, the most beautiful horse farms in the world. That's an important part of the city. That's what makes us unique. And, again, by turning it blue, what that does is speak to what's inside the circle as well, which is, again, around a university city, there's a lot of entrepreneurship, a lot of innovation, a lot of creativity, and a lot of outsized arts and culture sector. So that's what's symbolized when you turn it blue. Okay, I probably would like to see us lit, as Council Member Stinnett said, just to flush this out a little bit more before I feel real comfortable with it. But thank you for your answer. Appreciate it. So today what's before you is simply a waiver. It's not a waiver, sorry, a licensing agreement to be able to enter into this licensing agreement with Visit Lexington. We've made a lot of progress on a style guide, which I agree with you is essential. There has to be guidelines. We've made a lot of progress on a style guide that would be created and would govern the rollout of the Blue Horse. So when do you anticipate timing on that as far as being able to get that in front of us so we can have a guideline? We'd work with CAO Hamilton on that. I hesitate to give you a timeline right now. We'd want to go back and talk to some of the key agencies once we know that we're able to use the Blue Horse. All right. Thank you. Council Member Maloney. Thank you, Mayor. I appreciate your presentation. I've said under five different mayors, and they've all come on five different logos. And the thing that I have concern about is, I mean, it's great to have a blue horse. I think Lutzenge and visit Lutzenge did an awesome job doing that. I go back to what Council Member Stenet said about we need to set a difference. I mean, we're going naturally. That's what their job is, to advertise Lutzenge and nature. We're here to represent the citizens of Bayek County. and we've got to make it understandable, one policy on that. And when I look at what we've done, we've got Man of War, we've got Citation Boulevard, we've got everything to deal with the horses in this city. But I think we need to be our own logo for our citizens to understand and be, when they see it, they go, that's the urban county government. When they see that blue horse, I have a hard time explaining that is the urban county government. they just look at that and they go well this is just some kind of art piece is what they look at and it's a beautiful art piece but to me they know we have horses but the people out in the United States and what their job is they're showing that we are the horse capital of the world but the citizens of Fayette County already know that and to see a blue horse I mean I just don't think at the real logo that we're here to represent. That's who we got elected by. And that's why we want to make this simple for our citizens. And I think we've got a great city. Not just horses. Not just a great university. But a combination of all kinds of things. But when I look at that blue horse, it just shows we're just a horse city. I see Lexington beyond that. And I just feel this logo and I go back to what Councilman Dennis said. I just don't feel like y'all put enough into this. You don't have a and I don't think the parks and rec and did they budget to put the blue horse in there? They didn't? It would be again we were looking at the natural turnover of materials that we were integrating. And we just did the budget last just two weeks ago. Did anybody did you go to any of the park people in February or in January tell them y'all need to start budgeting your money for this logo. Did you all do that? We met with parks as well as other departments. I mean, everybody crossed the field. Did you tell them that you only stuck budget in this logo? When we had our meetings with these folks, what we found is that most of the materials where this might show up, we would turn over and we would replace them in the natural course of events, like business cards, like brochures when they're updated, those sorts of things. So we didn't feel it was appropriate at that time to ask them for budget. Did you tell them to put them on their automobiles, on parks, on everything? Because I understand I was a commissioner. I knew we had a budget every year for this kind of use. But when you're something new that I've got to put it on all my vehicles, I've got to put it on everything in urban county government, did you go tell them that that's going to be done? We did talk to Fleet about that, and they said that they could turn this over again in the natural course. They would just start buying the new stickers instead of the old ones. But I do want to answer one other point that you made, that folks in Fayette County know that the horse is a core part of the city. I think that's why it was chosen. It's something that feels natural to people in Lexington, the idea that the logo is based on a horse. Well, I'm going to go finish up by saying, and I tickle to death with the blue horse. I think it's great what they're doing, but for the citizens of Luxington, I don't think they really care. And I think they want to be consistent and they want to be simple. And Luxington's a great city. And I think we have the talent to make our own logo and not have to use somebody else's logo. And that's what we're doing is taking the cheap way out and using somebody else's logo that's already out there. That's my personal opinion. And I think we've got to be in invention. We've got to be unique, and we need to come out and think out of the box. So I agree with the Councilman Senate I'm not ready to vote on this. Council Member Scotchfield. Thank you, Mayor. Now, we're not the first organization to ever sit there and change their logo. I worked for Girl Scouts for several years. Girl Scouts had gone from a three-council organization that had subparts in the state that equaled 15 to 18 people or 15 to 18 offices. All of them had different logos as well. Girl Scouts has very strict rules. It's the color of green that you can use in the logo, how you can switch it around, what sizing you can do. What I ask is there is a protocol because we do have too many logos. We do not have clear identification of when it is. But just slapping on some of these that were created with the horse doesn't make it look more official. That's right. And so, you know, the protocol and procedure has to be uniform throughout all divisions. I would very much like to see it replaced in some way so that the blue horse is seen in that logo. You know, I look at any of the large corporations, law firms, anything in town, little places. They pay marketing firms to update their logo and information on a regular basis so it's out there. and they know about it and so this isn't like a first time ever happening to a city so i just again uniformity throughout so that we can it isn't 27 different logos that's great yeah i agree so we've worked with bullhorn to create uh what's nearly finished this this style guide um as and What we'd like to do is to work with them to create templates that the different divisions and departments can use so that there is this uniformity with the CIO office's oversight. Council Member Lamb. Thank you, Mayor. Historically, I have to say there's the seal that's on that slide versus everything on there, everything else. There's total differences to what that seal. That seal is copyrighted. It's in our code of ordinances. It's our legal, bound, and it's really specific. It gives colors. I mean, it's legally bound. And the rest of those, perhaps maybe some of the fire and the police, perhaps that is recognized or something in their policies and procedures that we approve. But I want to set those two apart. and I remember back several years ago where there was a new fleet of vehicles that came in and our division of fleet services decided that each division they were going to choose what they wanted to put on the side of their vehicles and so we started seeing all these different logos on all these city cars and it became an issue because they used all different kinds of colors with the sealed. They used all different kinds. And so, I mean, it was an issue. And we had to bring that back to the CAO's office at the time, and they corrected it. And so I agree that we do need to have a plan going forward. I applaud Mary Quinn for their wonderful work with the CVB, with the Blue Horse. I think it's outstanding to use it in the convention, in the marketing. I just i i have a a real near and dear to the city seal and i just want to make sure that we always recognize the historical significance of that and i guess you know i would hate to ever think about changing that part of it but that's but thank you and thank you for all the work you all have done thank you council member lamb council member vice mayor k thank you mayor um i just want to take a a minute or two to, if I can, remind council what the question before us is. All that's being asked at this point, as I understand it, is to execute an agreement that will allow us to use the trademark in a variety of ways. It is not about, at this point, how much it's going to be used or where it's going to be used or where the trademarks are going to go or all of that. That's not what is really before us. Before us is a simple question. Do we think that this trademark would be useful for this city? I believe the answer to that is yes, and that we ought to support this at this time. It's a simple agreement. It just gives us the right to use the trademark. All the questions that council members have been raising, good questions, can be resolved as we go forward as the CAO develops a protocol for using this new logo along with the other ones we own. So I hope we can approve that. Thank you, Mayor. All right. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Council Member Bledsoe. Thank you, Mayor. I was actually going to make a very similar point to you, Vice Mayor, in that I like the horse. I think it speaks of Lexington. I think a lot of people use it in that way. A lot of people don't represent the government officially, though. And there's times that actually this morning I spoke at Rotary, so I'm wearing the seal because I felt like I spoke with the authority of the office. When I do other things, I wear the horse. I think that's just part of Lexington's brand, and there's a difference between the two. And that's an important thing that Councillor Lamb brought up. And it's different when we speak or put a letterhead with that on it as opposed to using the horse as kind of all of Lexington's brand. I think it would be nice to have it. I think we should use it in some sort of collaboration with those horses. I mean, the LexGo Swim, you know, has nothing to do with the horse. It's a short-term brand initiative that helps talk about the swim aquatics survey we want to fill out. So putting a horse on those things doesn't make sense. But I think internally, you know, the emergency management group, no one knows that's paid for by us. That's right. And that's unfortunate. So I don't – I appreciate all the discussion. I think we should move forward with using it. I think how we use it is still a discussion we should speak of when it speaks with the authority of the government and when it's just a great thing for Lexington. That's right. That makes sense. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Bledsoe. Council Member Lane. Thank you, Mayor. You know, this discussion we're having sort of made me think about the University of Kentucky because it seems like about 12 years ago they had the same problem we have, is that every division, every college, every university, everything over there had a different logo. And if you'll think about it today, they put in brand management and designed one logo, and that logo is used in the health care and all the colleges and universities. And so they have a consistent brand that projects their image to the community. And that's what I think we need to do for Lexington. The other point I would make is that getting a new brand is a very expensive proposition, and we're very fortunate that the convention bureau did a lot of work on this and have actually been in sort of a beta mode in that they've tested the blue horse for five or six or seven years and it's been a very successful image for our city. And there's a lot to be said for that. We could say, well, we don't like the blue horse, we'll make it a green horse and we'll test it out and maybe it would be a total bomb. So we would have wasted a lot of time and money. The fact that this has already been tested, it's been successful. Now, the other aspect of it, I don't agree that we should delay the conversion to the new logo. I think that if we're going to do it, you need to be consistent. If you have, you know, like that terminology in marketing is called prostitution of the brand because you've got so many different names and logos up there. And when anybody sees it, it means absolutely nothing to them. The image of the city, the logos are all blended, and so you have nothing really. But I think the point that council members are making, and I agree with this, is that we need to have specific applications, just like they did at the University of Kentucky. And they do have a brand manager, and every use of the logo has to be approved in advance. You can't just get the logo and make a new stationary or whatever that is sent over and approved. And once it's approved, then you can use it until you ask for additional changes. I think we need to do something like that program. And I have been actually an advocate of this because every time I drive around, I see all these different trucks running around. They all have different logos on it. I'm thinking we're missing a wonderful opportunity for all the people that come to our city if they see our seal and a blue horse on a vehicle driving around. All the images we would create is very favorable. If we're successful with the blue horse program, then it could be used by hotels or other businesses here. restaurants you know if they've got a site on the internet and they could put the you know we're in lexington and have a blue horse with the seal or just a blue horse however we wanted to approve that and so we could have the entire community embracing the blue horse and collectively it would be a very very powerful brand so i would say we need to keep going forward with this but i believe that the council members are correct we need to have sort of a standardized program of how we're going to implement it, and I think we do need to have the SEAL and the Blue Horse together in many situations where it's like an official government activity on our vehicles, for example. But in some other cases, we may not just use the Blue Horse by itself. But I'm sort of disappointed that we got sort of a negative feedback initially today, but I think that this has been a wholesome, invigorating type discussion, and that if we take all these ideas and come back again to the council, and I would encourage you, Scott, to maybe have our ad agency design three or four conceptual ideas of how we would have a sample letterhead, a sample logo on a vehicle and all that, so we could bring it back and the council could actually see what it would look like in the actual application. Thank you very much, and I appreciate all the work you've done. And, you know, considering that the Convention Bureau, I think you said 2007 is when you started working on this. So that's eight years that this has been tested and, you know, and worked on. That's a big investment, and if we had to start from scratch, we'd have a long way to go. So I would say keep an open mind and let's look at it again. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Lane. Council Member Evans. Thank you, Mayor. I guess going back to what Vice Mayor Kay's point was, is there something that's expiring that we're bringing this to us now? Or is this just an expansion of something that's going on? I mean, is something ending that you all want to continue? I'm curious about that. There's no waiver that's ending. In the past, we've gotten ad hoc waivers. This was sort of a broader license to allow the city to plan for and then use the mark. Okay. And I think what I think I'm hearing from council is that if we go ahead and do this, what assurance do we get that you all just wouldn't go ahead and just start slapping it on cars and everything else? And I applaud you for your effort. You're supposed to be the innovator. You're thinking outside the box, and I think you're going uphill with us right now. So I really do appreciate that and understand the idea and what you're trying to get at. And, I mean, quite frankly, if we're talking about just the horse in Lexington, that's what we're talking about. I mean, it's just my personal opinion. I think we need something more than that. The picture, the frame picture is beautiful, and I think everyone can appreciate that. And I think what Council Member Lane was talking about was probably really more of a tourism issue when you're talking about putting it on restaurants, and that's what we have Visit Lux for. And so how far are we going to go down that road? because going back to Council Member Lamb, well, the way the state does it, they use the seal, but then different agencies have banners around that seal. So it's still the state seal, but there is a distinguishing, there's something distinguishing it just from the state. So I wonder if we could go down that road. But I'm just, I just don't think the blue horse in Lexington is pretty enough. I mean, that's just, I think people would just say, okay, it's a blue horse. But the concept, the idea of it, I'm not against it. I just, I honestly would just want to see a little more oomph before I'd say, yeah, I'll put it everywhere. I mean, we have unbridled spirit for the state, and that's lasted through a couple of administrations just because it was so catchy. You know, education pays. We're like, okay, you know, that didn't last very long. But, again, where does tourism and where does that stop, and where do we get into, okay, we are the city? So I guess that's kind of what I'm struggling with and what really is our business. Because I think it's a good idea. My issue is just I don't think it's enough for us. I think the people that come to Lexington that are being the tourists, they're looking at the tourism signs. They're not looking at our cars to see, oh, is it parks? They're not looking for that stuff. So that's just my struggle. But I am curious about what assurances we would have that you all wouldn't just go ahead and start using it and you would come back to us with some kind of procedure that we could say yay or nay to. Sure. So the hope was that we would have the waiver to then go to the next step, which would be to fill out all the policies through the CIO's office and how this would be used among the divisions and departments and among council members. So certainly with letterhead, for example, for council, we would work with the council on designing that letterhead and how that would look and how that would play out. That's sort of the next step in the process after we have the Blue Horse license. Thank you councilman Evans councilman Farmer and then councilman Maloney Thank you mayor Enjoying history and enjoy the rich history that Lexington has and so well exemplified in the seal and it is our historical trademark, if you will. I have become quite enamored with the Blue Horse and specifically the Blue Horse portrait because I recognize its logo value, its ability to attract attention and imagination and immediately register folks with Lexington and where we are. And when you wear this pin and you travel, you get comments or you get asked, and those are the kind of things you want from a brand fresh logo to press us forward. I so value the partnership between ourselves and Visit Lex, and while this is a somewhat nominal amount, it is an opportunity for us to continue to work on that branding process that places us before different groups of people, millennials and other folks, kind of part of the conversation we had earlier about trying to reach out and find good police recruits. The opportunity to shine our brand with what is an excellent logo that's been brought to us by some of the best logo masters in the country and the world, I think is just a great opportunity. With that as a background, I'd like to move approval of item XX. So moved. Motion by Council Member Farmer and second by Council Member Henson. motion to approve item X-X. Motion to approve and put it on the docket. Right. It's a motion to approve and put it on the docket. Is there any further discussion on the motion? Council Member Maloney? Thank you. I just want to, I probably will vote against that, but I do want to comment on some of the council members saying that some of us said some things that we didn't like the blue horse. Well, that's not. We love the blue horse. It's the policy that we've got concerns about. There is no policy, and that's why we're all having this discussion here is policy. And I have to say one thing, amen to Council Member James, I mean Angela Evans. I agree with her. I see what the state of Kentucky's seal is. It's unique. It's for government. It's what we are. And I see Lutton doing the same thing. I see Louisville doing the same thing. I don't see Louisville putting a blue horse out there. I see them with their seal that make them say they are Louisville. I see Kentucky making sure they're saying they're Kentucky. I don't want to use somebody else's logo, which is wonderful, to do something that we have a seal, and that's why I will not support this, but it all comes down to policy. Thank you. All right. Is there any further? I'm going to pass the chair to the vice mayor for just a minute. You know, this has been a healthy discussion, And there's lots of comments that have been made that are very informing and worthwhile. The couple of things that I think is worthwhile to point out is that the Blue Horse was passed by the council in 2009 as the identity symbol for the city. It was passed in 2009. Okay, so that was before this administration. and I think what we've heard today are a number of comments you know in my view I agree with I agree so agree with Councilmember Lamb when she said about the seal the seal is sacred in many many respects but I spent a I spent a career I'm not gonna say I've been I'm not gonna say I was CA CAO Council member alone, but I did spend a career in marketing, and what this represents is really a winner. It's a real winner for the city. That's what Bill Thomason has said. That's what people who are in the marketing world, when Bill Samuels, who's probably the best marketer in Kentucky, says this is the best thing going for Lexington, you can believe that it is good. so I would also say that what we're talking about here and going back and linking into what the vice mayor had to say and others have said is that we're really not talking about the application of policy and protocol and the branding management. We're just talking today about an agreement with Visit Lex. For me, that would represent, for example, I had to get some cards redone recently. And so we had to go to visit Lex to get approval for the Blue Horse. But what did that mean? Well, I was at the U.S. and I don't tell these stories, but I think it's worthwhile for you all to hear an example of what you've heard from others, like Mary Quinn. My story was that I was handing out cards, and there were a lot of mayors at the U.S. Conference of Mayors. And the mayor of St. Petersburg, who used to be in the real estate business, came up to me after I handed him his card, and he said, You get the best card award. He looked at the blue horse. He looked at it, and he said, and then he wrote me a letter saying, Good to meet you. You got the best card award. So it does what we hope it would do. It provides a memorable experience. And that's why, at least in my view, it's a really good thing for us. And the timing of it, as Bill Thomason said, the timing of it couldn't be better for us. Now, that doesn't mean that we're going to go out, as folks in the country would say, hog wild, and be putting this symbol across the city, it means that we've got to develop those protocols, and that's where we are. So thank you very much. Thanks, Vice Mayor. Thank you. All right, so now we can, unless there's further discussion. Oh, Council Member Lamb. Yes, ma'am. Well, I just have one question, and I did have complete letterhead here. I mean, we're already using this. Is that not correct? so I'm just I'm confused as to what how are we going to use it differently than what we're already using it I mean and I'm not trying to rehash things but I'm just if we're already using it who's gonna make the decisions on how it's being used is it strictly the CAO and the administration that's going to be making the decision will the council be made where when when it's going to be used i mean i'm just curious safe speaking on behalf i'm i didn't mean to be premature and jumping in is that okay just my question i think that's a great question and clearly the illustration of interest what i've learned is in the job in this role is where there is an illustration and a demonstration of interest on behalf on behalf of the council then we need to embrace that and we need to be double sure triple sure that we don't take steps that are precipitous that are too quick and i what i'm hearing is that that is the council's interest and don't go too quickly so when we uh develop when the the work for the branding uh templates is developed then britney to bring the council into that. So a very hearty involvement is what I'm hearing. I appreciate that. Thanks. Council Member Brown. Thank you, Mayor. I'm also confused on what we're trying to vote on, And I'm wondering why we, is there a hurry to vote on this? And can we maybe take it to council the whole or committee to maybe get our questions answered? I mean, even though we've been asking questions here, I like the idea real well, but I'm confused on how it would be used. Some people think it's going to replace our symbol. I don't think that's what you said. But I got the gist that it could be part of the symbol, but there were so many uses. And right now we can use it. All we've got to do is get permission from the Convention Bureau. Is that correct? I mean, you all have a trademark or you have it licensed? So if we want to use it, all we've got to do is ask you. If I want to put it on my letterhead, I ask you and you say yes or no. Obviously, you already said yes to the, you set a precedence because you've already said yes to the mayor. And several. It's even on my identification. So I don't know what the rush is. Should we not maybe vet it a little bit more? I don't know. I'm just a little confused on that. Who wants to speak to the timing question? Jamie, looks like Jamie's coming up. Scott. I will. Yeah. So you're correct. Anyone can get or hopefully can get a waiver from Visit Lex. And what you'd have then is sort of a series of letterheads, for example, or business cards that may not all look the same, and we'd lose some of the consistency that we're trying to achieve here. So what we're trying to do is to get a waiver, to get the licensing agreement, so that we can then go ahead, knowing that we are able to move forward on this, to go ahead and flesh out how this would work throughout the divisions and the departments. So that's why we're here before you today to try to get the licensing agreement. All right. Okay. Could I add to that just briefly? I would say that this is overdue. We've been using it for four and a half years in the mayor's office, and it's just astonishing, the commentary that we get back when people see it. They love it. Again, I think it's overdue. I think we need to make this step. Let's get this behind us so we can develop the policies and protocols that the council can approve. So I don't think there's any harm in approving this. That's my point. I guess you're maybe addressing that to me. So if we pass this right here, we've still got a vote on anything, any logo changes? I don't understand. There will be further conversations. In terms of acknowledgement and approval, I'd have to get some answers for you. But I can say, Fred, I can say the same thing said earlier, that based on the council's demonstration of interest in this, we know from the administration's side, we clearly hear that it needs to be fleshed out. So as we go through the development process, there will be a lot of engagement by the council, whoever wants to be engaged. All right, Councilman Maloney. Mayor, I want to thank you for giving me the history of 2009 on the vote, and I appreciate clarifying that up because I was in the impression when you all came to my office that we were to discuss about making this a deal for good. And from what I'm hearing now, that's why I messed up here. It's all you're basically doing is trying to do another five years so we can stay in agreement with them. And that's basically what I'm hearing. Because when you all came to my office, you all were telling me the history, why we want to make this our number one symbol. And I had a lot of questions asked. But after what the mayor just told me, that this was 2009, this has been going on all along. And that's why I don't know why we're having this meeting. That's the problem. It should have been just if it's all it was to renew them another five years, we shouldn't have even gone this far. And that's why I'm a little bit upset. I thought you all came to ask for my opinion, what I thought about the horse, and continue to make it the maiden symbol. This is not what I'm hearing right now. Basically, it's to give him another five years, which to me, I'm a little bit upset because I was told something totally different. And maybe some of the council members thought it might have been different. But I have no problem putting it on now for first reading as long as we're staying in compliance with them. And that's the last thing I want to do is get out of compliance. All right. Thank you, Council Member Maloney. It looks like that's all who've signed up so we can take a vote. All in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, no. Motion carries. All right. So, where are we? New business? Continuing presentations? We're at Council Reports. All right, if you'll please sign up for Council Reports. Council Members, please sign up for Council Reports, and I'll call on each Council Member for Council Report. Vice Mayor Kaye. Thank you, Mayor. I've got a couple of motions. The first has to do with the growing interest in community gardens and market gardens. The local food coordinator has been working on this, and the planning department has been working on this. And so there's an interest in basically permitting community gardens throughout the community and developing a zone text that would regulate where community markets, where people would actually have the opportunity to sell some of what they produce at that site. So it's not regulated at the moment. There's no regulation. We've not had these community markets, and we've not had community gardens. So all I'm going to move at the moment is to place into committee, into the planning committee, consideration of the question of where we want to allow community gardens and where we want to allow market gardens. So move. We've got a motion by Vice Mayor Kay and second by Council Member Henson. Is there any discussion on the motion? Council Member Massadi? Vice Mayor Kay, I sit on the Greenspace Commission, and we are currently discussing that, the whole issue of community gardens as far as placement, who can be involved in it, and so forth. We've had lengthy discussion on it, so I don't know if you want to wait until we finish with the Greenspace Commission discussing it and then forward it on. It's been something we've been debating for the last couple of meetings. I'm sorry, in the Greenspace Commission? Yes. um well is there a timetable for when there might be is that going to then get referred to planning committee or is it going to come I think they're going to they plan on doing something with it and providing it either to the planning committee or the full council that's my understanding okay I was not aware of that um I guess in light of that I'll withdraw my motion All right. And I have a... All right. Councilmember Vice Mayor Kaye has withdrawn that motion. I have a second motion. And Vice Mayor has another motion. Vice Mayor Kaye. Thank you. This has to do with the question of minimum wage, and there's been a little bit of history. I don't want to go into all of it. but suffice it to say that there was some concern initially about the impact of the ruling that we were waiting for in Louisville we've had two rulings from two courts one which ruled that the ordinance that they instituted was legitimate that a local community could in fact regulate the minimum wage the second had to do with the question of whether implementing that would cause harm, and the court said no. So in light of that, and in light of the fact that there's been an interest on council to have an opportunity for all of council to have this conversation. So far, it's been conducted in the Budget and Finance Committee. There's an interest in having an opportunity for the whole council to address this issue. And so I am going to move, pursuant to Council Rule 4.405, that the issue of increasing the minimum wage be recalled from the Budget and Finance and Economic Development Committee to consideration by the full Council, and I will speak to the question of how that will happen once this motion has been voted on. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Second. I have a motion by Vice Mayor Kay and a second by Council Member Massadi. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. Hearing none, then... Wait a moment. No, wait a minute. This is for council reports, so let's hold up your hand if there's discussion on the motion. All right. Council Member Farmer. And Council Member Lane. All right. Let's see. this motion in a certain manner disappoints me because the council has a way in which it works and has a way in which it takes up legislation. And in the contemplation of this subject, which is really, it's not been about people or policy. It's been about politics because we have never had as yet a discussion about the legislation. We've had continuing very long presentations and input from the public and back and forth. and I would say that when we met last time in budget and finance, after a couple of three months of budget work in which, in essence, if you get down to the leadership of the issue, this came forward and there was a misunderstanding about how the council worked and when it would or could take this issue up. And then when we have our last meeting, which was the first time we really got to have kind of both sides of the discussion made, happened here, there would not that day have been votes to table this issue had not one of the speakers, subsequent to his testimony, been personally savaged from the lectern there. Because no one in this discussion had made personal reference or had taken things in a way that was, in my opinion, not befitting of the council or the chamber. So emotions ruled at the committee meeting that day, and we did table this, which, in my opinion, we are a body of emotion. And we know when we act, we can change our way. We can change what we do. Eight votes rules all. i just think on the one hand this sets uh an an expedient precedent that is is just not best for all of us i understand there there are votes for this i will not be one because i believe it should remain in committee where we can take it up in august and look at the legislation and bring it forward to the full council in a way that falls within the regular course of our business all of of our legislation comes from committee to the council for action. We do break up into a committee of the whole for the budget, which is our largest spending plan, but I just, I feel like the opportunity for us to make our decisions lies within our process and to step back from it for political or expedient fashion and to do so on a day when truly there are not both sides of this issue in this audience. There are a few on one side and none on the other. That's not fair to the issue. It's not fair to the council. My vote would be to have it remain and have us take it up in committee in August, which is our process. You have only said the maker of the motion that we would look at what that process would be once this is done. I think that's another shadow point that again goes back to the leadership of this issue not being well-versed in how the council works, how the public should be involved in it, and the decisions that we should make. It's important policy. It will change the course of people's lives. It will change the way business operates. It will change the way our neighbors and our surrounding counties view us, deal with us, and respect us. Yes, it deserves the full weight of the council, but it also deserves the full weight of our process and our opportunity to vet. We have not vetted this legislation yet. We've had a show trial every time this has come up. We need the opportunity to vet it, make policy, and pass it or not. But I'm not in favor of stepping aside on what is our responsibility as a council and as a committee work. Thank you. Council Member Lane. Thank you, Mayor. You know, my, well, first let me say, Council Member Farmer, your speech was eloquent, and I agree with everything you said. I would just like to add a few more thoughts to that, is that it's very likely that there's going to be an appeal of the court hearing or the judgment over in Louisville, and who knows how long that could take. why do we want to rush into an ordinance that maybe will be appealed? And what if it's put into effect and then it's appealed? And what will be the impact on all the employers and all the employees that are affected by the change in the minimum wage? And there's also the issue of cost. and it's very, very expensive to get into this type of litigation because it could go on for a number of months or years and therefore it's very expensive to the government. I think we need to be thinking about those costs on behalf of our taxpayers. The other point that I think is important that Council Member Farmer brought up is we really haven't gotten into the meat of the whole minimum wage plan And I just wanted to cite a couple of statistics here, is that the minimum wage in the state of New York is $8.75, and there are 19,700,000 people who live there. California has 38.8 million population. Their minimum wage is $9. and Washington State, the home of some high-tech companies over there, 7 million population, their minimum wage is $9.47. So the proposed rate that we have of 1010 is way over anything in the nation on a statewide basis. The other aspect that's scary is the CPI index. and I don't know that maybe there's some states that have a CPI index on them, but I don't think that's generally the way it's done. And that leaves an open-ended increase that goes year to year to year. So if you're a business person and you hire somebody and then you've got to deal with the cost of living index and you don't know what it may be, and although it's been low for a number of years, if you think back when Jimmy Carter was president, The prime rate was 18%, and the CPI was like 13% or 14%. So you can see that could have a huge impact on the operating costs and it would spiral out of control. So I just think we need to think about this more carefully, and I think it should remain in committee. And then when it goes through the process, we can bring it before Council and discuss it in more detail. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Lane. Council Member Gibbs. Thank You mayor I feel like we've been waiting on this a very long time councilmember Massadi introduced the issue in February possibly early March we've had two public hearings devoted specifically to this the last public meeting was scheduled for three hours we only ended the speakers for an hour and a half I feel like everybody's had their I think people have had their say council members have received dozens if not hundreds of emails I feel like this issue has been vetted before by the public it's time to vet this before this body and that's what this motion is about to move this before this entire body given how long we've had this issue before us i think we're no danger of having the public think we're rushing in fact what i hear from the public in my district is they want something done on this i think we owe the people of this county a decision and i think it's time for the whole council to take this up thank you Thank you, Vice Mayor. Mayor, I'm sorry. Thank you, Council Member Gibbs. Council Member Massadi. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Vice Mayor, for bringing this forward. I've talked to everyone here on this council, with the exception of a few who have no interest in discussing the issue. And I believe the questions that we're talking about today is why we want to move this forward to the full council, so we can, quote, vet this issue, because there has been so many questions about this ordinance. Vice Mayor Kay, I appreciate you bringing it forward. I know that the law department has given us authority to do so, so we're not doing an end around. We're not doing something that's not within our purview. And I think it's incumbent upon us to discuss this issue as a full council, because not only do we owe it to the citizens of Lexington, we owe it to ourselves as well. Thank you, Mayor. All right. Thank you, Council Member Soddy. Council Member Fred Brown. Thank you, Mayor. If you don't know, Council members, I'll tell you, I believe in the process. And I think we're probably going around the process and taking it out of the committee. The committee voted to table it and bring it back at the appropriate time. So that's not my only reason, but I'm against this motion because I don't think it's the proper channel to get this. We should go through committee, and then it comes to the council. In speaking at the particular motion, or even the ordinance itself, the verbiage on it, it is not similar. We keep trying to compare it and say that it's compatible with Louisville, and in effect it's not even near the same as Louisville's, which they are under appeal. If this one, with all its caveats and all the items in there, it would certainly have a different approach if the judges looked at it. It's got a lot of things in there. We haven't vetted that. We want to vet that in committee structure. We got public comments from both sides. But you know what was interesting? We got public comments from a lot of businesses, small businesses here in town that said we're already paying minimum wage. And so, you know, we're getting feedback that's not really that negative from some of the businesses. And having said that, I would encourage all small businesses to bring your wages up to a comparable market rate. And I think it's all about marketability. So I'm not against minimum wage. I'm against the process, and I'm against piecemeal on the local level. So I can't support the motion. Thank you, Council Member Brown. Council Member Lamb. Thank you, Mayor. I have to say that if this motion is to pass, that I want to encourage all of my colleagues to do the homework that we have talked about doing. So many of us have discussed about vetting the ordinance. I have concerns with the ordinance language. I look forward to a full on-course discussion of every component of this ordinance so that we can make a good ordinance that will be good for everybody in Lexington. And I just called the other day, just called down to Louisville, and I got all of the meeting dates where they talked about theirs. I'm not comparing ours to Louisville. They're totally two different markets, but I think I take value in understanding why they have included the CPI with a 3% cap. I think there is some value in learning what others are doing. I don't think we really can compare ourselves to anyone, but I do wholly encourage my colleagues to do their homework and to do some research so that we can discuss this in August. and I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Lamb. Anyone else? Council Member Stennett. Thank you, Mayor. Vice Markay, the motion that you passed out before us is different from the email and what conversations you've had with some of us earlier in the day. So I'm just trying to get some clarification. You're moving the issue. You're not moving any type of ordinance. You're moving the actual issue itself to the entire council. It doesn't reference in here an August 20th date. it doesn't reference a cal meeting so why is that not in here trying to keep it simple um i believe that this allows us to consider the ordinance that was put before the budget and finance committee and should this pass i will make an announcement about a council of the whole work session which will be convened to consider the issue in its broadest form whatever council members want to bring forward they like the ordinance that's been proposed they want to work from that fine want to propose something else and work from that have no objection i want to have a full conversation by all of the council members that's the intent as do i again why was a date specific put in here because the budget and finance meets on august 20-ish at the end of the month we already have a meeting scheduled that we can take this up there is no in your motion there's no date so if you make a motion after this the council can vote that down so that doesn't give us a guarantee we're going to be able to discuss it like everyone wants to be able to discuss it i did not put a date in there because i cannot call that meeting until i know that we can discuss this issue if you would like me to set a date i will amend the motion and i'll set a date if that will satisfy your interest i'll be happy to do that i think in in the interest of trying to get this moved forward. I think we need to have a date so that the public watching who are not here can have an opportunity to also know when they can be here and take up the issue. Because the way it's worded on this paper was much different from what you talked to us about earlier in the email, so I can't support this wording. I will amend my motion and that the amendment is that this will be taken up by the council in a special called Council of the Whole meeting on August 20th at 4 o'clock. So move. Motion by Vice Mayor Kay to amend his motion accordingly. Is there a second? Second by Council Member Gibbs. Is there any discussion on the motion to amend? Council Member Stenet. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I got a question for our law department. Glenda, I know you're here. and this is procedural nature, but the Cal meetings, can an official vote of council be taken at a Cal meeting or can that only be done at a committee official recorded vote and at a work session and council meeting? No, an official vote cannot be taken at a Cal meeting. It would have to be taken at the council meeting. So basically the Cal meeting would be for discussion purposes only. Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. All right. Any further discussion on the motion? To amend. The motion to amend is on the floor now. All right. Then we can take a vote. All in favor of the motion to amend, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. All right. Vice Mayor Kaye. Thank you, Mayor. Just to respond to a couple of things that have been said. First of all, I find myself in the unusual position, once again, of being accused of not being properly respectful of process. And I usually don't refer to my background before I came to council and actually while I've been on council. but my professional experience has been providing consultation and advice to all kinds of organizations on how to conduct a fair and democratic process. So I think I understand about fair and democratic process. If there was no interest in having this council have the ability to remove an issue from committee, it would not be in our rules. we would not have the opportunity if we so decide to move something from committee if there was not a feeling that at times that would be appropriate this is one of those times in the last meeting of the budget and finance committee councilmember farmer who has spoken and fled no he's back Councilmember Farmer moved that the item would be tabled, quote, until the Louisville ordinance has been adjudicated, until its final and unappealable order, so that we will know upon which ground we, the city, might make legislation. That is, for some indeterminable amount of time, to table it, to not allow discussion, to not have discussion, to not have people have the opportunity to have any input. That's what the motion was. Given that motion, I feel it's appropriate for this council to take it out of that committee and give the full council the opportunity to have a full discussion about this issue. And as Council Member Stinnett has found out by ask querying law, all we can do in the committee of the whole is have that conversation and if we can, come up with an agreement about what kind of a recommendation to make in formal council meeting. I would point out one other thing. One option for today would be to recall it from that committee and move to place it on the docket for first reading. We decided that that would be inappropriate. We did not want to short-circuit the opportunity for people to have input, especially, as people have said, people on council. We've not had that opportunity. this will give us that opportunity. Those people who have spoken so far against this have said they've spoken against it because they don't feel there's been an opportunity for full discussion. This will allow that. I would urge my council members, my fellow council members, to support this motion. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Is there any further discussion on the motion? Yes. Council Member Sketchfield. Thank you, Mayor. I oppose this because the motion to table this was done until litigation is over. Ladies and gentlemen, litigation is far from over on this issue. I have no desire to waste taxpayer money, hardworking citizens of this city, money as we litigate this because we will be added to the litigation cost. That is why I vote against this. We have somebody else that is litigating this issue. until it is done with them i don't think there's a reason and that was the reason we tabled this to initial thank you council member scotch fields any for council member evans short and simple that this is allowed i mean there's nothing improper about what vice vice mayor k is doing you all know i'm always talking about procedures and the way to do things This is allowed, and there's nothing wrong with it. It just happens to be being used in a way that some are not happy with. But it's clearly allowed in our code. So that argument, it's just invalid. And I think the purpose, as Vice Mayor Kay said, was to get the entire council to have the discussion that hasn't occurred for whatever reason. I'm not on the budget committee. But that's what I hear my colleagues screaming about, is they want to have the full discussion. That's what I think we owe it to ourselves. We owe it to the citizens of Lexington to just have the discussion, and what comes from it is what comes from it. But there's nothing improper about what Vice Mayor Kay has done. The rules clearly allow it. and i would be in support of it all right thank you councilmember evans is there any further discussion councilmember stent thank you mayor you know as chair of budget and finance you know i do respect our process and while this rule is in our council rules and it can be applied here a cow mean just allows us to have a discussion the same discussion could have been had at budget and finance committee meeting because every councilman is invited to come and participate. You can't vote in the Cal meeting, and those who want to come to budget and finance, I understand you can't vote on that either. And I understand the tough spot you're in. But the issue before us is the issue, not an ordinance. I know one was passed out, a sample one. But there is no ordinance before us under this motion. It's an issue, and I think there's a lot better way to handle this issue for all of our citizens. And it has to be comprehensive, and it has to be one that has a lot of different parts to it that makes people's lives better long term, not just a quick Band-Aid fix. But having said that, I'm all for the public discussion with the council because I think that's what we've been lacking. I think this has been bullied through on purpose. I think that's wrong. I think we have a committee process, and I do respect it, but I also respect that we have a rule that allows you to recall it for a discussion in a Cal meeting. Again, you can't take a vote, but we can have that discussion that many of you feel like you couldn't participate in the budget and finance. Well, now is your time to participate, and I look forward to a vigorous and actually a better debate in the fall when we have a piece of legislation before us that actually makes more sense for Lexington. Because, you know, we want to build a first-class city. I hear that a lot. We want to be better than everyone else. We want to set the precedent. Well, let's set one. Let's stop copying and pasting from Louisville and actually bring an ordinance that's good for Lexington and sets a better precedent so other cities can look at Lexington and say, look what they fixed for the long term, not just a Band-Aid for tomorrow. And that's what I'll support. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Stenet. I believe that's all who have wished to speak in discussion. We can now take a vote if you're ready. You probably want to vote electronically. All in favor, please say yes or yay. All opposed, no. Or you voted electronically. So the motion passes. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Motion passes. All right. That allows us to move back to our agenda, back to council reports. And Council Member Lamb is up next. Thank you, Mayor. I wanted to thank the Southern Heights Neighborhood Association for inviting me to their recent meeting last week. It was very nice to meet everyone and hear about their concerns in the neighborhood. and also Waterford Neighborhood Board will have their monthly meeting this Thursday evening and I look forward to meeting with them as well. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Council Member Lamb. Council Member Loney. Thank you, Mayor. I just want to commend our staff, the Urban County Government, for all their help on the 4th of July. What a great show. We had a great weather. The race was great. The parade was fantastic and the fireworks that night was good. I want to commend everybody that was involved with that. And what I wanted to ask was the police, I mentioned earlier about the blasting that we've had. Did what kind of did we similar to what we've done for the last few years? Did we do anything different? How did how did you all feel about because we're getting a lot? I mean, being back on the council, I've gotten a lot of calls from people. And I just assume a couple of a bunch of council members have been here for the last three or four years. I don't know if the blasting has gone down or has it gone back up. I can't answer that, but I just want to know how you feel and what y'all support. We implemented the same plan that we had used in the years past, and I'll kind of give you some staffing. For the 4th of July, from 5 o'clock in the morning until 4 o'clock in the afternoon, we had 163 personnel downtown. From 2 o'clock until midnight downtown, we then transitioned, had 145 personnel. And then in our regular patrol staffing, which is what we usually do on day shift, they work 12 and a half hour shifts. We had 53 officers and night shift. We had 41 officers and we usually handled the calls for service with specialized units out of there. Looking back over to our calls in 2012, that was the year that it really got out of hand. We had over 700 calls for service. 2013, we went to 24. For 2014, we actually went down to 100, so we thought we were on a downturn. I think, though, with the ordinance where we changed it, there was much more media, much more emphasis on it. The calls kind of had risen back up. So in 2015, we actually went higher than in 2013, 227 calls for service. So looking back on it, next year I think we'll increase our staffing, dedicate more officers individually into the sectors, not rely on pulling them out along with the officers that are in there, and then probably working with public safety, the fire department, everyone else, having more of a media plan and a push to say the dangers of the fireworks and then what the ordinance is. The best part is prevention, and I will admit, and like anyone else that hears it, it gets to be a little carried over. Even after July 4th, it keeps going on through the weeks, And I've talked to Chief Holman. The officers are looking at that and designating officers into the area and issuing those citations when needed. So we'll increase the staffing. We'll get it better next year. We thought we'd be on a downturn, but actually we just went up compared to the year before. Okay. I appreciate it. Thank you. Yes, sir. All right. Thank you, Councilman Maloney. In the interest of helping our clerk get the docket prepared for the 6 o'clock meeting, Council Member Lamb has given me some good advice that she knows from experience. Thank you. If we can take the mayor's report now, and then we'll come back to council reports. For the mayor's report? Mayor's report next. I so move to approve the mayor's report. Thank you, Council Member Lamb. There's a motion, and a second by Council Member Henson. Is there any discussion? All right. Hearing none, then we can vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. All right. We'll go back to council reports now. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Did we lose some? Mm-hmm. Council Member Farmer. Thank you, Mayor. It was a beautiful Fourth of July, and we had a great parade, great participation. A lot of folks there. Great afternoon. next year I think we need to have a little coordination between the division of police and our parade marshals because the parade ended at Mill Street this year for the first time that I recall and we had a little bit of a snafu about who went which way on Mill and if you had a 60 foot truck what do you do so we just need to kind of cover that before we do that again next year yes we are on a little bit of a break however tomorrow night I'll be meeting with folks in Blairmore. We're going to have a meeting at 630 at Henry Clay about some traffic calming issues in the area. Going back to corridor stuff, if something else does come up over our break, the corridors can call a special meeting and help out if we have to dispense any funds or get anything else in process for the fall, although some of the beds are beginning to take shape and our corridors are going to look really beautiful for the Breeders' Cup. One of my partners in a business in Chevy Chase, which shall remain nameless, is having a birthday today. His name is Will Pirat. Happy birthday, Will. And I know that his wife Tammy always watches us. Hello, Tammy. And then, as I made reference to on Thursday night, we lost our entire database of folks that we like to include in the 5th District e-newsletter every Friday. If you haven't heard from us, it's for a reason. We don't have your address anymore. If you'd like to be added back to that list, please send me an email, bfarmer at lexingtonky.gov. We look forward to staying in touch. Enjoy the break, everyone. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Farmer. Council Member Massadi. Thank you, Mayor. And I just would like to invite all the council members. I think you've got little envelopes with the information on the Bluegrass Fair. Starts Thursday night. Come out and have a funnel cake with me and some good deep-fried goodies for your health, those of you that are health conscious, but it's a great fair. The Bluegrass Lions Club usually ends up netting about $100,000 to give to charities, and that's a lot of money to give to a charity. So it helps out with vision screening, helps out with hearing screening, and the Lions work really hard. So if you could come out and give us some support, I would really appreciate it. And also a happy related birthday to my legislative aide, Rob Bolson, who was flying above in the high skies on, I guess it was Sunday, in Middletown, Ohio, in a big hot air balloon. So I'm glad you're back. I was a little worried about you that you might get in a power line, but you're here, and happy belated birthday and many more. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Soddy. Council Member Stanton. Thank you, Mayor. I want to echo the compliments to our Park and Recreation staff and our Police Department, Fire Department, and on down the line, everyone who helped work on the 4th, even you, Mayor, You stepped in and got garbage removed from Martin Luther King. So thank you for doing that, too, in preparation for the parade. Good job to everyone, especially Roscoe and Sanitation and Tracy Thurman, David Holmes. Thank you all for coming in on a day off and making sure that stuff got done. The city never sleeps, and I just appreciate everyone who goes the extra mile. I know we had, I know Chief Bernard used to back there. We had over 100 and something police officers working, and it was a difficult time for fireworks, I know. But I think putting our heads together, maybe we could come up with a different tactic next year. and I know you're committed to doing that. The other issue is we've heard a lot of feedback on the parade over recent years. We've shortened it up. Maybe there's time to shake it up and maybe look at a different way to encourage more floats, more participation. And a lot of times to do that, I saw a lot of other cities over the weekend give big prizes. One city gave $5,000 for the best float. Now, that's a lot of money, but it also got a lot of floats in the parade and a lot more kid-friendly activities, and I think that's something to think on for next year. There's an opportunity there to improve, and maybe that would entice some of our bands from high schools to come back. I know those kids do year-round band now, and they're tired, too, and our DLC tries vigorously to get more people in the parade. It's a tough act, but maybe this council needs to help next year. Maybe that's a challenge for all of us. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Stenet. Good idea. Council Member Gibbs. Thank you, Mayor. This is about curbs. not very exciting maybe, but curbs throughout the 3rd District and I expect to know that areas of the city are crumbling and in many cases have disappeared entirely. I move that the Environmental Quality and Public Works Committee examine the curb issue and come up with a plan for improving the situation. So moved. Motion by Council Member Gibbs and seconded by Council Member Farmer. 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. Councilmember Scutchfield. Thank you, Mayor. I have two things. I have a motion to place in our Social Services and General Government Committee an issue we discussed today regarding boards and commissions and having a report out on the membership, expired terms, vacancies, and any other items regarding those. Second. Thank you. Motion by Councilmember Scutchfield, second by Councilmember Brown, Fred Brown. Is there any discussion? All right, hearing none, then we can vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. And I had one other question. One of the things that has been brought to my attention, and it's bothered me, Vice Mayor, you appointed as the representative for the City Council to Commerce Lexington. My understanding is since you are our collaborative Vice Mayor, could you please give us a reasoning? You don't have to do it now, but why you have stepped down from this organization. I'd be happy to respond now if that's appropriate. The answer is actually fairly simple, I think. That is an ex officio position created by Commerce Lexington. It's not created by this council. It's not an appointment by this council. It's not an appointment by this mayor. it's something that the Commerce Lexington created because they wanted our participation the mayor has an ex officio position that they've created for him Kevin Atkins has a ex officio position that created for our director of development I did not personally I did not feel comfortable being a part of a board that has taken positions which i feel are antagonistic to the interests of this city including the one that we've just been considering which is minimum wage i don't want my name associated with that position and so i asked them respectfully to remove that from their board list and they accommodated me okay thank you all right council member uh council member acres thank you mayor um okay let me regroup here um if i could ask chief barnard to come up Like all of you or many of us, I received lots of calls, complaints. I was actually not in Lexington for the 4th. I was in Washington, D.C. And so I just would have continued to receive calls. I mean, even last night we heard fireworks going off. And so I know you said you mentioned there were 227 calls. So I'm just wondering how many citations were actually issued. We received an e-mail about that. We did not issue any citations this year. We issued, going back looking through the years, we issued six in 2013. We issued zero in 2014 and zero this year. Do you have 2012 when there was over 700 calls? No, the ordinance changed after 2012. That's when I think the new fireworks ordinance came in. And I think the push for that, and that's when 13, we really hit it. And I think the public media push for the visibility of the fireworks issue. So looking forward, I think that's something going into next year. Into 16, we may have more visibility and more media push about the fireworks issue and more officers dedicated to it. And I was thinking back to last year, too. I think that there was a burn ban or I think that there was a drought or really dry last year. Bad year last year where everything was really dry. Yeah, and we, so I think that that looks like a pattern that if we really promote, you know, and make it, you know, remind the public year after year what is allowed. I know it won't stop it, certainly. But, you know, whatever we can do proactively I think will be a great help. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. And one, I guess, last thing. I just want to thank everyone. I attended the Georgetown Street Neighborhood Association meeting last night, and we had a much larger crowd than normal. and it was great to see new faces. And there was a tough decision made by the administration and parks, and I guess the police department was involved in that as well, to move Dirt Bowl to the Dunbar Community Center for just this year. And so that was a big part of the discussions last night. And so I just want to encourage, and I will certainly participate, but to work with our parks and work with the police and the neighborhood and the residents to ensure that we bring Dirt Bowl back next year and that we can provide a better sense of safety, I guess, for those in attendance and for residents. In all of our parks, no one should go and feel as if their life is at risk or in danger, and so we need to ensure that whenever we have large events like Dirt Bowl and anytime. So I look forward to working with the residents and parks in the coming year. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Ray. Vice Mayor Kay. Thank you, Mayor. Two things. First, I want to take the opportunity to thank the citizens who came out this afternoon because they care about the way in which the government functions, because they care about a very important issue in front of our community. They sat patiently through an awful lot of our work until we got to the part that they were interested in. Secondly, I believe that a question has been raised about whether this has become a political issue. And I would just like to say that what is political seems to be in the eyes of the beholder. Much of what we do has political overtones. of what we do fortunately at times has none of that kind of associated with it but this particular issue has not become any more political than any other controversial issue that's been before this council over the time since it's been created this is an important issue for the community people are weighing in with their views we're hearing from all sides on this issue and if that's political then we're all kind of going to be tarnished with that same brush Thank you, Mayor. All right. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Council Member Maloney. Thank you, Mayor. I just, Councilman Kay, I just need to go back to the statement of pulling out of the Chamber of Commerce. And I went to the Chamber trip this year, and I brought it up in front of everybody that I was impressed with how the relationship with the Chambers and their city officials, because they were able to talk about problems in neighborhoods that we're having right now. For instance, to Douglas Park and Duncan Park and how they got in there and active and helped volunteers to work with the business in those communities, the families, and donated books and all that. And to me, I think the council needs to be on that board. I mean, we need to have a representation. And I don't agree with everything the chamber says. And you all know me. I'll tell them what I feel about it. And I may not be on the winning side a lot of times, but I will. But the rest of the time, we are on the right side. And I think this is an opportunity for this city to be a great city. And we've got good chambers. And I know there's some things that I kind of disagree with on. But I don't think it's time that we just pack up our bags and leave. I think that's the time you roll up your sleeves, get tough, and put your point down. And I'm not going to take this. And tell them why. We're doing that. And I think the chamber is really an important, valuable to this community, and we've got to keep a great relationship with them. And doing something like this, it seems like to me we're going the opposite of being a great city. So not just my opinion, and I feel like hopefully we, if you don't want to be on there, we need to put somebody on there that cares about this. And us, the council, will have a spokesperson to go there and tell them, can you help us like we saw in Kansas City? So I just think we just need to work together. And that's the last thing we do, break off like that. And I'm just a little disappointed in that. Thank you. Council Member Stenet. Thank you, Mayor. I failed to mention earlier, July is 30 and 30 month for Big Brothers Big Sisters. We're trying to get 30 matches in 30 days. We currently have 137 young men and women on a waiting list for a mentor. So if there's anyone out in the community that wants to help, we already had a corporate sponsor step up and donate 10 new matches. A match costs $1,000 for the year for that mentorship. And I can go through all the stats, but I think most of us know they're less likely to drop out of school, less likely to do drugs, to become more successful in their lives. So if anyone out there wants to help us, 30 and 30 in the month of July is a big program. I meant to announce that earlier, Mayor. So thank you. And just want to add one thing. Vice Mayor, I wish you would reconsider. I'm not going to beat the drum, but I think reconsidering will show a lot because you do represent the council on there, and I would hope you would think about it over break and see if we can come to a resolution. Thank you, Mayor. All right. Thank you, Council Member Stennett. And Council Member Henson is up next. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to chime in about the 4th of July festivities and how much I've really enjoyed. I did not make it to the patriotic concert, but I like that usually, but I was a little afraid of the weather this year. The parade was great. Fireworks were great. My granddaughters, thank you, thank you, thank you. But a big, big thank you to the employees because when you see them, you're out walking the streets and you pass them. and the police officers in their dark uniforms. It wasn't too hot on Saturday. And then following along behind, I just kept noticing different employees. Following along, our mounted patrol that was in the parade were our waste management folks. And I just admire them so much for their work and Debbie Holland for cooking all the food. And so just thanks to all of them for allowing me to have a really great day. Thanks. Thanks, Council Member Henson. Council Member James Brown. Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, I also participated in the parade this 4th of July, and I'd like to thank the fire and police for their efforts and the amount of police that was out on the street, and they directed it good. I also attended the meeting last night with Council Member Akers. and in light of the recent incidents in Douglas Park, I've attended numerous meetings as well as other council members about what's taking place. And somebody at the meeting last night said that when they watched the council meeting, it appears that this council is insensitive to the issues in that community. and I know that's not the case from the conversations I've had with other council members. I know there's a lot of issues going on in the city and that a lot of them doesn't get vocalized at council meetings, but I just want to go on record and say that we are having those conversations. Maybe we ought to have them a little more out in the open and be more transparent, but I neglected two other neighborhood meetings to be at that meeting last night and to make sure that I heard everybody's concerns and issues and ideas of what we can do going forward. So I just kind of wanted to say that. And then they also voiced concerns about Dirt Bowl. Dirt Bowl has been a long tradition in Douglas Park, an event that's looked forward to by many people in that community. And I actually talked to some neighbors that live directly across the street from the park, and they voiced to me that they want to see it returned, but they wanted to see it returned to where it's safe to send their kids and to attend the event. And I know talking to the chief and to other community partners, that's what we're all working for is to make sure that the park is safe. Another event along those same lines is there's a peace walk that's coming Saturday at Duncan Park. and I guess that's something else that we can echo out. I know Council Member Maloney was there last month during the Peace Walk and I would encourage other community members and other council members and other people with the city if you have the time to come out and walk. It's a short walk. It looks long but it's really not that bad. But if you have the time, I think the community would like to see you out there and would appreciate your support. Thanks. Thank you, Council Member Brown. All right, that's all the Council Members who have signed up. We've already done the Mayor's report. Is there public comment? I'm sorry. No, not quite. Close. Mr. Money, has anybody signed up for public comment for issues? Not on the agenda. All right, then that does allow us to motion to adjourn. Thank you, Council Member Scotchfield. We've got a motion to adjourn. We've got a second by Councilmember Akers. Unless there's objection, we're adjourned for a few minutes.