Oh, and the way you look at all me It's a look I know I'll never forget You could've come over to my side You could've... Thank you for joining us for the work session. I'll call the meeting to order and ask for public comment for issues on the agenda. Mr. Mundy, has anyone signed up for issues on the agenda? There I am. All right. Thank you, sir. Okay. All right. They're for the presentation on the sports complex later. All right, next on our agenda is the docket approval. Is there a motion to approve? Second. There's a motion by Council Member Farmer, seconded by Council Member Akers. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. If not, then we can vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Next on our agenda is the summary. Is there a motion to approve? We approve. Motion to approve by Council Member Akers. Is there a second? Second. Second by Council Member Henson. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. If not, then we can vote. All in favor of motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, no. The motion carries. Is there a motion to approve the budget amendments? No. Second. Motion by Council Member Scotchfield. Second by Council Member Henson. Is there any discussion on the motion? Council Member Fred Brown. Thank you, Mayor. Yes, sir. Let's see. I don't know who would come up to talk about it, but it's the Journal 93617 to provide funds for county road aid repaving resurfacing projects. Commissioner Paulson. Yes, sir. This is the county aid fund. Is this what comes from the state? Yes. It's very similar to the map. It's just for county roads. Are we just now getting that money and we didn't do any fall paving related to the county roads? No. What we are doing is we have had this for, this is actually kind of a roll over from a couple of years. And we are moving it into an account where we can spend this money. What did we do before? We have had money to pave. And so what we have done is part of this gets caught up in the approval of agreements with the judge executive. Okay. So we have been working on an old agreement with the previous judge executive, and we have been able to keep paving. We paved last year. Sorry, my little out of breath just came running right over. And what we're doing is we're going to roll this in, and we've got a plan to move forward with several different parts of this plan. So part of it will be paving. The main thing we're getting ready to do with this is to have an inventory of our county bridges. So we have not done inspections of the bridges, we feel, in a recent enough time. So we want to inspect all the bridges and determine which ones we may need to repair. We are working on, part of it will also be current bridge repairs as well as culvert repairs. So this is not only repaving, it's going to be some repairs and maintenance also? Correct. So the county road aid program, very similar to Matt, except for that it's just for county roads. Right, I understand that. And it can be used just for construction, repair, maintenance of roads and bridges. And so, again, we feel that we really need to get on top of the bridges aspect. We've got numerous bridges that are in culverts that have been built during the WPA. So we want to get a good sense, a good inventory so we're going to do an RFP, have them all inspected, prioritize that list in terms of immediate repairs and some that could be repaired a little bit further down the line, and then we'll go from there. Once we have that ranking, we will then also use that with our new pavement rankings for the county roads and then start to push that out. And is this going to be spent prior to June 30th, all this money here, you think? It will not, no, not by June 30th. Okay. And then we'll get another round from the state. We get a yearly, basically it gets broken down as a monthly, but we get an apportionment every year similar to the map, so it is tied to the gas tax as well. Okay. And one other follow-up on that. I don't know where it's at in the legislature about the county judge executive, that position going away, because it will certainly affect how we manage the county road money. Isn't that correct? It is correct. And so what we plan on doing is moving forward regardless. We are struggling a little bit with getting these agreements approved by the judge executive, but we know we need to move forward. So that's really what we're doing at this point is kind of moving forward with him as well as if without him as we need to. So at this point, we're looking at fiscal year 17's budget. We'll not have to worry about the county part for that fiscal year 17, just our own general fund paving money. Correct. The county part will be taken care of. The county road comes, again, our paving for the county road will come from the county road aid. Okay. Thank you. Yes, sir. All right. Council Member Lamb. Mr. Paulson, I tried to – you just – and this is to the same budget amendment for reference purposes. You mentioned that we get money monthly. It's just the way they break it down. So the map and the county road aid, I want to call it the crap, are given to us on a monthly basis, but it's a yearly allotment. So the map is around 5.6, and the county road aid is much smaller, around $700,000 generally. So it's typically around $700,000 a year, approximately. And it will fluctuate based on the gas tax. Sure, right. I just wanted to find an average. And so, okay. All right. That's all I had on that one. Thank you. Councilman Maloney. I have the same question on that. I wasn't finished, please. All right. I didn't realize that. Sorry. I had two more. Okay. Yes, sir. This is Journal 3514. And this has to do with the Office of the Mayor, the Neighborhood Action Match money. I don't know. Okay. Is this to fund additional Neighborhood Action Match grants, or are we giving out more grants than we had anticipated? Can you explain that? There's two pieces to this $15,000. Part of it is a purchase order that didn't get rolled from the prior fiscal year, and so it was cutting into the current $100,000 for FY16. So that's to make up for that purchase order that didn't get rolled. And then there's an additional $6,000-something that the committee agreed upon, and so we're funding it out of these funds. Okay, all righty. And then Journal 393759, this is talking about the emergency management E-915. So by decreasing the funds for the software maintenance, are we not maintaining another software, or is this just something that was budgeted? No, this is one of those where, you know, when we put projects in, we put it in an account, and it looks like it was put in a computer equipment account. and so it actually needs to be expressed in a software account, so it's just moving money around. Okay, so it's just put in the incorrect account. In the correct account. Okay, all right. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Councilman Maloney. We could have Commissioner Paulson come up again. I appreciate it. I'm on the same question I have on this. Is that what the state allocated, $2 million this year, or has it been carried over for years? This has been carried over. We traditionally have done it on a yearly basis. It just kind of got stuck in the transfer between judge executives. Are we having the same problem when I have when I was a few years ago back where we kind of wanted to meet with the county judges? We said we've got to spend this money because we have ATS ready to go, and then the judges said, I don't want to spend the money. I don't think this office needs to be here. And the reason why we got this built up so much is because the county judge didn't want to spend the money. That's a part of it. We've been able to keep spending largely because we've had an agreement that's been in place, and we've had a lot of cost savings with our agreement with ATS, which has allowed us to get kind of twice as much payment for half the price. So we have paved. Let me go on record here. If anybody's been down those country roads, we have. They are terrible. And we've got farm equipment that I don't know how they get across those roads as bad as it is. And if it's a county judge or anybody holding this up for safety reasons, we've got a serious problem. And that's why I was trying to find a way to fix this problem three years ago. And I guess getting rid of the office might be the way of doing this. But personally, they can get rid of the office with everyone. But if it's a judge, it's holding it up this year, we need to put ourselves up there and get this money spent. Well, we are. And again, the plan is to, again, our first priority at this point is to do the inventory of the bridges to make sure that we, my concern is that when we do this inventory, if we find a bridge that is in need of emergency repair, that we have the money to do it. With the money in this budget account, we should be able to go and move on that. And once we have the priorities, we can start the paving and the bridge fixes. So we are going to move forward. To your point, we are moving forward. I hope we do, because I don't like to see this. I don't want to see any money left over for blacktop. And that's the number one complaint that the farmers and the people in the rural area have, that the roads are in bad shape. And as I look at this, I have a hard time telling the constituents, we're sitting there with $2 million and we don't have a way to spend the money. Again, we have been paving, so that's the thing. So we will be, again, moving out there. But we have been paving, again, even last year. I'm not trying to jump on you. I know you've got to deal with the county judge, but there's got to be a way that this body, the administration, says, if they don't want to come to the table and we've got this kind of money as a safety reason, we better get it done. Right, and again, that's why we're moving forward with the bridge work so we can make sure that everything is in safe condition. Council Member Hensley. Derek, before you walk off. So, Council Member Paulson, or Commissioner Paulson, and I have been talking about this issue and the paving. we're trying to address the priorities versus paving versus the unseen structural engineering issues that are in the culverts and the bridges. And so I agree with you. The funding issue has been an issue. I think we're trying to get that straightened up. But at the same time, we're also trying to address the issues you're talking about in the 12th district, basically. So I think we've got a plan. Thank you. All right. That's all we've signed up to speak during discussion. Unless there's any further discussion, then we can vote. All in favor of the motion to approve budget amendments, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Next is new business. Is there a motion to approve? Move approval. Second. Motion to approve by Council Member Farmer, seconded by Council Member Scotchfield. Please sign on for discussion. Council Member Farmer. Thank you, Mayor. Mine is on item A, the issue I asked to be tabled last week to this week, And I believe there's an overhead that Mr. Hicks is coming forward. So for specificity, the point of our new business item is to grant the right-of-way that is above the red line but below the orange line there. That would have been the lane of traffic as outlined by that triangle. So it's that area. That's the subject of our business item today. Yes, sir. All right. Now move that down a little bit, if you would, so we can see at the top there. Because see where the work, come the other direction. There you go. All right, at the top where the MT and not Tabor Road is? At the top. Okay. So this is where we're going to go in, and this is a constituent and a business patron in the 5th District, Burke Furniture Company. And with the memo we'd received last week about going ahead with redoing part of Old Mount Tabor and bringing it up to current standard and spec, both that entrance and one that's further up and out of the picture are going to be impacted. So my constituent has specific interest in wanting to make sure that a semi will still be able to negotiate that apron and get in there without having a problem. So that's, after a couple of conversations between last Tuesday and this, the nut of what I'm trying to assure on behalf of my constituent and this business patron. What I can tell you is that the right-of-way closure that's in front of you today will not have an impact. As you can see right here, this is the portion that is being proposed to be closed. This is not being used currently. As far as the access and whether or not any large vehicle can access that particular apron, the property owner would have to consult with our Division of Engineering to be able to... We need to figure it out before we start this, because his point to me is, if he can't get a rig in off of old Mount Tabor, he needs to come in through this to get ready to take away, at least in his mind right now. So he's got government on one side of him squeezing, and government and the next-door neighbor on the other side squeezing. we need to make sure that the business patron is taken care of. In talking with the project manager that's involved with the Mount Tabor widening project, he expressed to me that that particular project, while like any construction project, will be a bit of an inconvenience, but it will be performed in phases where that property owners will not be limited access to Mount Tabor during construction. With respect, phasing that is a great thing to do, but if it still makes it unusable for him, the outcome is still the same. So I need for some assurance to come forward on that. I see no reason not to docket this today, but I need for this conversation to take place with some specificity and outcome. So we'll make sure that we work with Doug Burton and the Division of Engineering to make sure that those driveway aprons are designed when the roads widen to accommodate tractor trailers. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Henson. Thank you, Mayor. I have a question on item J. Mr. Baston is coming forward. I just wanted some clarification. Is this a grant or? This was purchased. We discussed this earlier, I think, a few weeks ago about a multipurpose training facility, and there was some question about that. This was purchased with a grant from Homeland Security, and it's a large cargo box type thing that they're using for our hazardous device unit. And this is to make some additions to that to make it more feasible for the kind of training that they want to do, and they have the funding to do that. Yes. So it's really the entire cost is covered by the grant, or we have a matching portion? That's my understanding, yes. We have the money to complete the project as we're proposing. Okay, good. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Akers. Thank you, Mayor. I had a question on Item B. That's also Commissioner Bastin and Director Ballard. This is the item about providing substance abuse recovery for state inmates at the Fayette County Detention Center. So I just want to make sure and clarify, will all of the funds needed to pay for this program administrator in the FY17 budget be paid for from the state DOC? Let me apologize for this item. It is extremely confusing and it's taken some time for us to kind of sort through it. I have two people that can help me hopefully navigate the path for that. As this is written, this is not exactly what we need to consider today. I think the item submitted in the packet, the memorandum about the MAT program, is what we actually are here to look at today. As I understand it, this item was put in on February 25th, and there was some concern because part of that relied upon the governor approving a budget which would reimburse us and do those kinds of things. Director Ballard had some concern about that, decided to pull that until we found out what the governor's level of funding to support this program was going to be, but to go ahead with the MAT program, which is zero cost to the urban county government. So we need to vote on the Memorandum of Understanding for that. And I have Amy here who is far more knowledgeable than I am about these programs. Thank you. He actually did a pretty good job describing them. What happened with Senate Bill 192, the jail applied for two grants and received both grants. So the MAT program, or the Vivitrol pilot program, we hope to start up this fiscal year. But the 20-bed male facility program, that will start fiscal year 17, and that's reimbursed at $9 per day per inmate, which is about $65,000. So whether or not it will cover the entire cost depends on how much this physician gets paid. And what is MAT? Medication-assisted therapy. In this instance, it's Vivitrol. Sure. And whose decision was it that, or does it have to be, that it's all male and no females? That was a decision at Kentucky DOC. Okay. Is it logistically required, do you think, as well, because it would need to be in one area and it wouldn't kind of make sense to have? Sure. A substance abuse program from DOC, all 20 inmates who are in the program, it has to be segregated from the rest of the jail because the things that make you a good SAT participant, usually you have to be segregated from the rest of the jail for that to be successful. all. Okay. And so are we changing the verbiage of item B at all? I know. All right, wait just a second. Y'all have answered my questions otherwise, other than the docket stuff. So thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Commissioner, you want to give us an update? I think Rodney's idea was that we pull apart the SAT program, which gets into the reimbursement for the inmates, until we know that that's in the governor's budget. Unless I'm, I don't know what I'm talking about. That could be true. The information submitted to back this up all relates to the MAT program. And the resolution that's going to appear on your docket for Thursday night will also only reference the MAT program. So this is slightly, they're both, my understanding is the treatment programs are related in the sense of what they do, but it's going to be limited to the MAT program, and that's what will show up on your docket Thursday night. Okay, thank you. All right. All right, thank you, Commissioner. All right. No further, no one else has signed on for discussion for new business, so we can vote on the motion. Is there a motion to, all in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Next on our agenda is continuing business and presentations. Is there a motion regarding the NDS? Double. Second. Motion by Council Member. Henson, who is seconded by Council Member Masati. 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. Next, Council Member Stennett, you've got a summary of the Budget, Finance, and Economic Development Committee meeting. Mayor, I would ask that we move that to the end of the agenda so our guests can go ahead, and we also have an ordinance that pertains to. That may take some time to discuss. So if we could do that, I'll make a motion to move it to the end. All right. Motion and second. Unless there's objection, we'll move it to the end. Thank you, Mayor. All right. All right. Next on our agenda, then, is the Lexington Sports Park multi-sport youth facility plan. And Brian Miller is going to lead this presentation. Well, good afternoon, Mayor, Council. It's an honor to stand here in front of you today and talk about a transformational project that is a real game changer for this community. Before we get into the details of the Sports Park presentation, I want to provide some context and background on the Bluegrass Sports Commission. We're a non-profit 501c3 with a mission to recruit, stage, and create sporting events in central Kentucky. For the purpose of economic development and better quality of life for our citizens, our organization has been entrusted to operate and manage the Bluegrass State Games, the games which are now in its 32nd year featuring 14,000 participants and 35 different sports. The Bluegrass State Games are one of the largest and longest-running state games in the U.S. and are largely held right here in Lexington. Last year, our organization managed and sold corporate sponsorships for the Breeders' Cup Festival. We raised over $700,000 to put on the prestigious week-long event, the first of its kind, and a blueprint for Breeders' Cup championships moving forward. This year, the Sports Commission has gone all in on a new sports park for our city. We've been hard at work creating partnerships, studying best practices, and focusing our efforts on a major capital campaign. To date, we've received verbal support totaling $6.25 million to help build a new sports park that will be a major tourism destination for our city. Our organization is dynamic, and the impact we're making on our community is substantial. This work is being done by lots of people and supporters. Today, as we talk about the Lexington Sports Park, I've asked a few of our key partners to join me and would like for them to be recognized. Rob Hundon and Ethan Olson are here from Hundon Strategic Partners. They commission the Economic Impact and Feasibility Study. Melissa Bacon, here from Fayette County Public Schools. John Pohl from Visit Lex Monica Conrad from Parks and Recreation Carla Blanton is here representing Commerce Lexington Ron Mack and Pete Hester are here today David Bertram, Executive Chair of the Bluegrass Sports Commission Ramona Fry from Element Design who led the design and construction management for the Elizabethtown Sports Park and Jim Arnold who is here from the Sports Force an organization who builds and operates sports parks and has two projects currently underway in Sandusky, Ohio, and Panama City Beach, Florida. These people, along with others, are here in attendance today because this project matters. It matters to our economy, and it matters to our kids. Sharing his personal message with you today is Bluegrass Sports Commission board member, father of two, and advocate Phil Hollebeck. Thank you. We can go ahead and turn the microphone back on. Good afternoon. My name is Phil Holabek. I'm a board member for the Bluegrass Sports Commission. I'm here, as you know, today with Brian Miller, our CEO, to introduce you to an exciting new project, which you'll see on the screens behind me, the Bluegrass Sports Plex. which we hope you'll see behind me. Like so many of you, I've got these two awesome kids, two little girls who love playing every sport imaginable. And we all love watching our kids play sports. We see them succeed and fail. They learn the importance of hard work and teamwork. We see them dream of becoming the next generation of heroes, and we love watching the friendships they make and the trophies they earn. But when it comes to sports facilities, I think we all share similar experiences as well. We struggle to find practice fields. We sometimes play games just as the sun's coming up and park blocks away from our kids' overworked field. For tournaments, we drive all over the southeast and the midwest. We spend literally thousands of dollars on hotels and restaurants and gas. We give our hard-earned money to businesses in other cities and build their tax base. And then we come back to Lexington and we say, why don't we have tournaments like these right here in Lexington? Why do we always have to drive somewhere else? Why don't we have people coming to our city for tournaments, creating positive economic impact here in Lexington? The answer has always been, we don't yet have a world-class youth sports facility. And that's what the Bluegrass Sports Complex is hoping to change. The city currently has about 130 acres of vacant land at the intersection of New Circle Road and Bursales Road. It's a great location. It's easily accessible from all over Lexington, close to the airport in Keeneland. and easily reached from the interstate. Imagine if this land became transformed into something like you don't see right behind me. It's a place where everyone's kids can practice and play their games, a place that's affordable and available to everyone, a place where we can host weekend tournaments, bringing in families from all over the region, showcasing our great city, and adding customers to our hotels, restaurants, and other businesses. It's a place for soccer, baseball, football, lacrosse, and other sports. There's lots of room for parking. There's enough room to accommodate a playground, administration buildings, and concession stands. There's room for bike paths that can connect with the rest of our city's wonderful and growing trail system. And there's even enough room to accommodate an indoor sports facility. Thanks to the support of countless people in town, everyone from Mitch Barnhart to our city leadership, our consultants, our board, the youth sports community, and so many others, we now have great momentum on this project. Most importantly, last year we completed a $50,000 economic impact study. The results are favorable and show just a couple of bullet points. The Sports Plex will have an economic impact of approximately $23 million per year. On an annual basis, nearly 7,000 teams will visit the Sports Plex. In terms of participants, that translates to 140,000 participants a year. Most impressive to me, nearly 50,000 new hotel room nights per year. And that's in the April to October time period when our hotel vacancy rates are higher than the rest of the year. Because of all these positive findings, the Bluegrass Sports Commission is spearheading a major capital campaign to help turn this dream into a reality. Specifically, as Brian mentioned, it's a seven-figure campaign. and as you'll hear shortly, Brian's already raised a high percentage of this funding. I really don't know in all the years of community involvement of many other projects that have this level of direct economic impact for our city. And I don't know of many other organizations I've been involved with or have heard speak up here who are suggesting a public-private partnership who have already raised this level of funding. So with that introduction, I'd like to turn it back over to Brian to provide you with more information. Thank you. Thank you, Phil. Phil does a wonderful job illustrating the need and vision of this project. We know this town loves sports. They love their Wildcats, they love horse races, and they're passionately involved in their kids' sports leagues. Lexington has some of the strongest youth programs in the region. And throughout the year, these kids and their families are asked to travel all over the southeast and midwest, spending thousands of dollars in communities just like ours. Over $7 billion were spent last year in youth sports in the United States. Those are dollars Lexington is currently missing out on. This project not only saves our citizens money, but puts money back into our economy. The economic impact study shows over $460 million worth of economic impact over a 20-year span, a substantial return on investment of this $25 million project. In addition to the revenue, we take a lot of pride in our city, keeping it green, keeping it clean, and showcasing the best of the bluegrass. We partnered with Visit Lex to complete an economic impact study that showed by building a youth sports park to host weekend tournaments for baseball, soccer, softball, lacrosse, and flag football, would not only bring $23 million per year in economic impact, but that we'd fill nearly 50,000 hotel room nights per year, doubling the current amount of hotel rooms being booked for sports tourism in Lexington. and filling a huge gap during summer months when occupancy is at its lowest. The study also showed that Lexington is perfectly situated to capitalize on this opportunity, bringing in nearly 300,000 visitors to our city annually. Currently, the main competition for tournaments in this state is in Elizabethtown, which has reached capacity with their hotel space. As you look at the local landscape, the major sports parks around us are in Indianapolis, Gatlinburg, Nashville, Columbus, all outside 180 mile radius. This is ideal for us. This is an opportunity for us and gives us a great chance to capitalize. In addition to the 140,000 kids who come to the park on an annual basis, we realized in our research a great need in this community. Lexington has 43,000 kids participating in youth sports and we're out of field space. I'm sure many of you have received calls from parents looking for more fields, and this sports park helps solve that problem. You see, this collaborative multi-use sports park fills two needs. It drives economic impact with sports tourism, but two, also provides kids in our community a place to practice and get better. Another benefit it would provide is giving our kids exposure to college coaches looking to earn that next scholarship. In addition, it fits our city's vision for trails and bike paths, connecting some economic centers like Keeneland, Downtown, and Beaumont. I think it's important to take a step back and talk about why now is the time to move forward with this project and discuss the work we've done over the past year leading up to this presentation. In conversations with Mayor Gray, members of his staff, and many of you council members, we knew there were three main hurdles we needed to clear before today's presentation. Number one, we were asked to do our due diligence. Number two, we needed to build partnerships and show collaborations with sports teams and leagues. Number three, we needed to fundraise. And once we checked those three boxes, we would be ready to stand in front of you today sharing our vision and plan. So in doing our due diligence, we commissioned a 245-page study that shows that Lexington can work, The types of sports that work, construction costs, operating costs, new hotel room nights, and economic impact. In addition to that report, we've interviewed different management companies to program and operate the park. We've met with local leagues to understand their needs, and recently have even began meeting with local neighborhoods to gather their input. And looking at partnerships, we found a huge need from Fayette County Public Schools. Board Chair Melissa Bacon is here today, and we've had conversations with athletics leadership at Fayette County Public Schools, and they're very interested in partnering with us. We're out of field space for many of our middle schools and high school teams to practice, and they've said they would work closely with us to lease and utilize the fields Monday through Wednesday, allowing us the opportunity to bring in tourism Friday through Sunday. We've met with many of the leagues you see highlighted, and this park would be a great benefit to each of them. We also knew to make this project a reality, we were going to have to raise significant dollars from the community. I'm proud to say we've had discussions with several corporations and have verbal commitments totaling $6.25 million to be used towards the construction of this $25 million project. That funding is from corporate sponsorships, available grants, pending lease agreements with user groups. We've also found a way to keep this park sustainable, as well as start building a capital expenditures account for replacement. Another key component of the financing is the land lease for the 130-plus acres at Cardinal Run North. This property is nestled into our community bordering New Circle Road and Versailles Road. It's easy to get to in the heart of our city and provides maximum benefit for hotels and restaurants throughout. As we all know, location is key, and this property is the ideal location for this sports park. We teamed with the company who managed the construction process for the Elizabethtown Sports Park Element Design. Ramona and Billy are here today. They did a site capacity map that showed what could be built on the property. This next slide is by no means a final design. In fact, there are some lessons learned from the design that have us interested in looking at a more state-of-the-art approach. Multi-sports fields allow us the flexibility to go from a baseball tournament one weekend to a soccer tournament the next or a lacrosse tournament. This new concept allows for a smarter investment and provides a way for us to differentiate from other sports parks. It's these efficiencies with proper management that will help make this sports park sustainable. From a legal and management structure, we are comprised of 29 board of directors with appointees from the state, LFUCG, Fayette County Public Schools, and the top sports organizations from around the area. This group is ready to serve this community and improve the quality of life for its citizens. So today, we're asking for your support of this project. We're asking for you to match the dollars raised by the Bluegrass Sports Commission to move forward with commitments to help take the next steps forward on this project. With your support, we can go back to our corporate sponsors, Inc. long-term agreements, secure our financing, and with financing in place, we can select contractors, vendors, operators, formalize a site design, and hammer out the details. With your support, we'll continue to make this community better than we found it. Thank you. Thank you, Brian. Anybody else on your team to speak? We do have some who signed up for, yep, chairperson, Madam Chair. Our newly appointed chairman of the schools. Melissa, thank you for joining us. Thanks for having me, Mayor Gray. Council members, I appreciate the opportunity to come before you. As Mayor Gray said, I serve as chair. of the Fayette County School Board, and that's a little new for me to say as of last week, so I appreciate you all having me here today. There is a need in Fayette County for additional practice space for our athletic teams. Not only would the SportsPlex bring Lexington tourism dollars, it would truly benefit Fayette County public school students. Each high school has one football field in which our football teams, our boys and girls soccer teams, our lacrosse teams, I know our marching bands would love to get on the field every once in a while, and it's my understanding that the Kentucky High School Athletic Association has just sanctioned field hockey. All of these sports are vying for adequate practice time on our fields, and we cannot accommodate them. The Sportsplex would allow us to do that. Perfect public-private partnership to work together to serve our students. Thanks. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Vice Mayor, and Council Members. My name is David Bertram. I work for JMI Sports, representing the University of Kentucky Sports and Campus Marketing. Like many of us in this room, I did not grow up in Lexington, and I didn't grow up in Kentucky. I grew up in Indiana, but came to school at UK and have elected to stay here because of the wonderful things our community has. Excuse me. But one thing we are severely lacking in, and I think you already know the answer, it is in youth sports facilities. My family, I have two nephews that travel a lot around the country to play baseball and play soccer, play various sports, and when they come to Lexington to play, they have to go to Woodford County to play soccer. They have to go to Georgetown College to play soccer. They have to go all over central Kentucky to do that. That is a huge negative for us in not having a centralized location for them to come to play. They don't come back here to play because of those very reasons. Not because they don't love Lexington. It's a very easy place to fall in love with. We know that. But we are missing a huge opportunity not providing this type of facility when we think, if you believe this plan, which I certainly do and the board does, it really is not a matter of if we do this, it's when we do it. And what I really want to offer, more than anything, is confidence in Brian Miller and Phil and the rest of the board in that we've been in sports marketing. We've been in this arena for quite a while. And we understand what this means. We understand what we're asking of the citizens, of taxpayers, and so forth. But it's in very good hands. None of us want to go anywhere. We want to make this place better than it already is. And we stand ready to do so. Thank you. Thanks, Dave. All right. And I have Pete Hester and Brian Brooks. How are you guys? I'm Brian Brooks. I actually work for Kentucky Youth Soccer. We're actually a company based here in Lexington. I live here in Lexington. We oversee 40,000 soccer players across the state. We also have programs and tournaments that we currently host at Elizabethtown Sports Park. We do probably 50% of our tournaments there right now. And it's a great facility. like they were talking about, there is a massive hotel issue there right now. There's only a handful of hotels there in Elizabethtown that I would stay at, that everybody would stay at. So people are staying as far away as the Louisville Airport. So something like this, we would wholeheartedly support this. It's a project that obviously would benefit soccer tremendously. We've seen our registration numbers grow really by almost double over the last 15 years. So doing something like this would help us from a state. It would also help our team so they wouldn't have to go to Indianapolis. They wouldn't have to go to Gatlinburg. They wouldn't have to travel outside the state. So we're in full support of this. And obviously what Brian is trying to do, you know, we'll do whatever we need to to get any progress on this project. Thanks, Brian. And Pete, thank you. Mr. Hester. Good afternoon. Thank you for allowing me to come today. I appreciate the Council's interest, willingness to listen, learn about the proposed sports complex, and see this as a viable opportunity to enhance our community in Lexington. But first, I must also recognize the due diligence and the efforts of Brian Miller, especially, Phil Hollaback, Amanda Bledsoe, Tim Turney, and Aaron Thompson. My perspective on the sports complex has origin outside of Lexington. My hometown of Garden City on Long Island has always had a very strong and comfortable sense of community. One of the significant factors contributing to this environment is its youth, athletic programs, and fields for use. I moved to Lexington 25 years ago, and my wife Molly and I have 11-year-old twin daughters that play soccer and every other sport. We also have 8-year-old triplets. They turned 8 yesterday. so we run hard. Our family loves sports. Our family loves Lexington. Understood. I'm an orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine at the Lexington Clinic. I cover the Legends, Asbury, Union, Transy, multiple high schools, and club sports. Through coaching and board service, I've been very fortunate to align with wonderful coaches and parents of soccer, baseball, and lacrosse leagues especially, who from the beginning of my involvement with them have all shared the concern of availability of adequate sports venues. Unfortunately, it appears that once again our field situation has been further compromised as the field used by LFC teams, a couple hundred children a week out off of Harrodsburg Road and Manowar, will no longer be available to us after this season. And unfortunately, we have no plans nor options for a replacement facility. Two years ago, I chose to pursue a solution. I shared my desire to build a sports complex with my friends Michael Ades and David Stevens, who Mr. Jim Host has told me was the greatest community advocate among all the physicians he has ever known. Mr. Ades, Dr. Stevens listened, made quick work of contacting the key figures for me to meet with. Mr. Ades arranged for me and for he and I to sit with Mr. Allen Stein two years ago. Mr. Ades actually regrets not being able to be here today. He's watching his grandchildren in Pennsylvania, but he's offered his full commitment to this project. He's also willing to serve as legal counsel on this project. At that meeting, Mr. Stein handed me the plat that Phil demonstrated up here for the current day sports program. He explained that others had considered similar ideas, but it failed, and he encouraged me to move forward with the project. Over the next 10 months, I worked to create the task force, which has now become our team committed to making this a reality for Lexington. The team I pieced together started by calling my friend Congressman Andy Barr, and then Phil Hollaback, both immediately shared their support and commitment to the project. Next, I called Brian Miller to introduce myself shortly after his appointment as CEO of the Bluegrass Sports Commission and arranged for he and I to meet. It's been one of the best connections I've made in this town in 25 years. My friend and newly elected City Councilwoman Amanda Bledsoe was in from the word go. We set our first meeting for January 2015, where we quickly realized we were a team with common purpose. Three weeks later, Phil made a sports complex presentation at the VSC Awards. Very impressive to everybody that was there. Six months later, we sat in Brian's office as a gentleman from the hunting group, gave their presentation, and supported the complex in Lexington. I then asked my friend Tim Turney to join our team. Tim is a real dynamic individual, if you don't know him. He's the vice president of USU Soccer. He's also recently been named to the board of the United States Soccer Federation, a 10-member board. impressive from a gentleman from Lexington. Each member of this team has committed incredible time and energy to making this possible for us to share with you today. We have aligned with directors and coaches of all the leagues, soccer, baseball, softball, lacrosse, as well as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and Aaron Hogue represents them today. All have given their firm commitments to support and engage in the youth of the complex. Also, the support among all the parents of this community, and I tell you that this roster is impressive and extensive, is full-blown, and wherever I go, your neighbors are interested to know how this Excuse us just a second. We need a motion so you can continue. Oh, I'm sorry. That's all right. Motion second unless there's objection. Please go ahead. That's all right. Thank you. That's all right. So the impact to the families is already recognized in this community as going to be tremendous. All your neighbors are interested to know how this is progressing. I'm on fields quite often, in fact every weekend, and they're always asking me, Also, it's really important. None of us is making a dollar expecting a dollar out of this. In fact, I'm giving up the time and energy with my family and with my practice to be here and to be doing this. This is many hours every week for us. But this is what our team feels is really important to the future of Lexington. In fact, my wife and I, we just returned from Gatlinburg this weekend where we take our seven family members. So we have to get two hotel rooms. And you can imagine how much money we gave to the Gatlinburg pancake houses this past weekend. As you can imagine, with my triplets on the rise, and they're going to be playing everything too, we're going to be traveling quite a bit, so we actually are looking, Mayor Grape, for you to be a surrogate and look after the children if you don't mind traveling a week. This project is our team's passion for the children of Lexington and for the design of a stronger community. I envision more than sports there. I envision concert shows and music where families go on Friday and Saturday nights. I also envision a means by which we expose visitors to the beauties and activities of Lexington. My teammates, Amanda, Ryan, Phil, Tim, and myself, are committed to leading in this process and making this premier sports venue in this region and to strengthen the community through youth sports. I look forward to your genuine collegial efforts between the Bluegrass Sports Commission and your City Council. I also look forward to personally being engaged in this process moving forward. Thank you for your attention and consideration very much. Thank you, Pete. Thanks so much. All right, I think, and Ron Mack. Good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. I am excited about this opportunity when Brian Miller asked me to come speak. I'll be as brief as possible. I just accepted a position as community events and programs coordinator for the Lexington Fiat Urban County government. For the last three years, I've been the executive director of Lexington Powell Incorporated, Lexington Police Activity League. I also own my own business, Commonwealth Sports Management, where I have contracts with Imani Family Life Center and work with the Bluegrass State Games. I grew up here in Lexington in the East End Projects. I'm very proud of that. I played youth ball all over town, Castlewood, Chillitoes, if there's a park, I've played on it. Fortunately, I was able to grow and become a football player at the University of Kentucky. I am a coach here locally, and I have an eight-year-old son, Stoney, that is in the process of living out his athletic dreams. I am on the ground floor, grassroots, if you will, regarding youth sports in this community. I tell you all of this to say that the opportunity to endorse this initiative I don't take lightly. I work with organizations through what I do with my business and also my responsibilities with Lexington Powell and Lexington Fayette, Irving County Government. I work with coaches and parents daily in an effort to find facilities to play in. those folks crisscross Lexington and are willing to pay whatever the cost to find any facility that they can. Our Lexington Fayette County middle schools, they do not have quality fields or facilities to compete with football, lacrosse, soccer, and other outdoor sports. This in turn has a negative effect on the kids' development and pursuing their athletic dreams. There's an obvious economic impact to this particular initiative that Brian had spoke of and others, but the project serves this community in a number of ways that cannot be quantified. Considering our location in Lexington, Lexington should be a sports macro for amateur and youth sports. We're known for basketball and horses, but our youth sports community is so much more than that. I've traveled to Bowling Green and Elizabethtown with what I do, and I'm familiar with those sports complexes, and I've spoke to coaches and parents, and they wonder why Lexington does not have a similar type of facility. It's obvious that they would rather come to Lexington considering where it's located, and I suggest that the city of Lexington supports this initiative and project and take immediate ownership of the initiative because, personally, I feel like that if we don't do it, one of our surrounding neighbors just may take that initiative on themselves. So once again, I appreciate this opportunity to speak with you all, and I stand with Brian and Lexington Sports Commission in endorsing this particular initiative. Thank you. Thanks, Ron. Thanks so much. All right, that's all who signed on to speak toward the presentation. Rick? Brian? I'm sorry, I don't want to continue and break up the presentation. I just wanted to speak as a parent, not associated with the Oregon County government, who actually went through 10 years of tribal baseball. Every place that I've seen on the map outside the area of Lexington, we have been to at one time or another. Most times we've been there multiple times over the 10 years. And believe it or not, I'm one of those people that looks at every penny and every dollar that they spend. and obviously we're not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination, but over that 10-year period, we spent almost $200,000 just to travel to places, and that was just one person out of 15 that did it on a regular basis, going to every place that you saw up there. I mean, it was just we started in March, and we traveled all the way through to win it. We just couldn't play anymore, baseball itself, and that's just one sport of many, many sports that do the exact same thing. And I just thought that I sit here and listen to everybody, and I thought that it would be nice for you all to hear the side or basically a reference of a parent who's actually gone through all that travel. And Lord have mercy how many times over that 10 years we wish that there was something that was here. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks, Rick. Brian, did you want to close it? We've got several council members who want to speak, and I will begin with Vice Mayor Kay. Thank you, Mayor. And I thank all of you for the presentation today and for the information you've given us. This is an exciting project. I've been well aware of that parcel of land that was given to the county probably 20 years ago, Cardinal Run North, and sat there not being used and has the potential to really be of great value to the community. and I appreciate all the effort that's gone in so far to bringing this project forward. I do, however, have a few questions. The first really has to do with the question of the match. So on the page that shows the funding structure, it looks like the Ribbon County government is being asked to put up $18,700,000 roughly, and the sponsorships would be six. So we'd be matching three to one. Is that correct? Yeah. Today we've privately raised 25% of the overall project and are asking the city for the 18 over a set period of time. Okay. Okay, and that's really the construction costs. Correct. And it does not include what urban county government would be putting in in terms of 110 acres of land that could be used for other uses. That's not a question, that's a comment. The money that's been raised primarily from sponsorships, people expecting naming rights? Yeah, naming rights, pouring rights, concessions, partners, other sponsorships, and lease agreements with user leagues. Okay. and have the conversations with the city gotten far enough to consider whether those agreements would adhere to our existing ordinances about naming rights and how they determined and all of those things? They have. Obviously, the level of sponsor and how that's done will be approved through our board, of which LFECG has representation on. and we will be strategic and transparent in that initiative. Okay. And the question of general usage by the public, will there be an opportunity for use of some or all of the facilities, not necessarily by organizations but by individuals or informal groups? How will that work? Yeah, good question. The community assets such as the bike trails or walking trails, would be community use opportunities for playgrounds maybe even a couple fields would be available for use and then the majority of the park that's used for tournaments and would be you know state-of-the-art synthetic turf those would be reserved for people that were leasing the fields and using the facility but definitely having the right mixture of local use and the tourism use for the fields is something we're looking at and evaluating. So during the week, the proposed leasing arrangement with the school system would include use of the developed fields for their teams or not? Yes. Okay. And then this may be a question that's more general, but what are our next steps? Where do we go from here? What does council need to do what do you need to do in order to move this forward so we've had some conversations with mayor staff regarding budget and next steps and the support of you all today and hopefully putting some some funds into the 2016 budget will allow me to go back to those sponsors that we have verbal agreements from new contracts secure the financing and then here today are a couple of different organizations that we would end up contracting with the folks who built the elizabeth town sports park element design and an owner operator that has a shared vision of the construction plan we would start beginning those conversations and begin begin the process i feel like we have done as the sports commission everything that we can sort of do to get it to this point for your buy-in and support and then with the city's commitment we start taking it to the next level. Okay, and just one final question. You said fiscal year 2016. You mean the current fiscal year or the coming fiscal year? Coming. So that will be fiscal year 2017? Okay, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Stennett. Thank you, Mayor. Brian, thank you for coming today. I know you've been working hard the last couple years to get to this point, and thank you to everyone in the audience who has supported Brian and supports this mission because you know outside of downtown and we've done a lot of good things for downtown this is the biggest economic development project the cities ever or would ever undertake outside of downtown and this could be a project that for the first time since i've been on council actually bringing real dollars that we can measure real dollars to our community but not only that the kids that were spoke about earlier i've been involved in youth sports for 20 years field space for football lacrosse you name it baseball it's just not here in our city this is an overdue project in my opinion other cities are benefiting off our teams and it's time we bring it back home i guess brian my question to you as we move down this path long term you said the maintenance dollars how are they being secured you estimate one and a half million you may want to explain to council how that's going to be secured so that you're not asking money from park and rec to go in there and mow fields or do chalk lines because obviously we're extended as it is. That's right, and a great question, Kevin. In addition to finding the $6.25 million, we have also found an owner-operator that would take over the management of the sports park and guarantee the operational costs if the park were to operate at a deficit, which a lot of sports parks on an operation budget do that. They're great benefits for the cities, the hotels, the restaurants, but the economics of a sports park, unless managed strategically and with laser focus, operate at a deficit. The Elizabethtown Sports Project operates at a deficit. Most are funded with a, most have dollars coming back from a hotel or restaurant tax. However, we've done some due diligence and believe we have a partner that will stand with us and secure that we're not here on an annual basis asking for dollars and making that support. And the gentleman I speak of is Jim Arnold from the Sports Force. He's one of the companies that would do that, and he's here today. Very good. Thank you. Because, you know, obviously maintenance dollars is something that this council wrestles with every year in our budget. And I would see this project similar to the courthouse set up. We're doing the same thing with the courthouse downtown, but this would be out in the suburbs. I know it's in a couple of council members' districts. But this would actually serve the whole city, and there would be opportune times for kids to play there throughout the whole year, especially through Fayette County Public Schools, where you know they desperately need, especially on the middle school level. Chair, they really need this space. Those kids are really put on the back burner. So I welcome this opportunity. I would hope that the mayor and the rest of my colleagues would take this seriously in this next coming budget and put forth some type of commitment that would send a message to sponsors and other folks that we're going to do this. We're going to get this done, and we can make it happen, because this is a doable project. Whether or not the final cost is $25 million, $20 million, or $30 million, I know we'll find that out as we get down the path that we've got to start, and I think we can do this in this budget. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Sadi. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Miller, and those other participants that's joining us today. I've walked the walk. I've been through the competitive soccer leagues. It did pay off. One daughter did go to Division I, so we got a little bit of our money back. But I understand the need. My concern is what Vice Mayor Kay has raised about the emphasis about kids who aren't in sports-organized leagues, that they have the opportunity to use this facility as well because it's a national health issue, that kids aren't getting enough exercise. And I want to make sure that they have the ability to play as well on those fields. And I understand there has to be certain times and days and so forth, but I still want that opportunity for them there. Yeah, I think that's our shared vision, too, Council Member Massadi. And as Melissa talked about, I mean, there's other activities other than sports that Fayette County Public Schools has a dream or vision for use. If it's marching band or some of the clubs, archery is a sport that's becoming popular, that's being discussed. So definitely a shared vision. That's what we want as well. And what kind of timeline are we looking at? Or do you have proposed? Do we have any idea? Yeah. Based on when we start the process, it's an 18-month build. So if we were able to have the support and have the money and the dollars secure our funding, which we have, could be looking at March of 18 as the soonest. So you'd need a big check from us by March 18th, wouldn't you? March 2018. Yeah. And let me ask you one. You want to tell me how big? 18.75 is what we would need today based on the 6.25 we've raised. That's the deficit. Yeah, please. Just as a quick clarification to your question, we're looking for bonding in this upcoming budget cycle, if possible, and we would start the planning process immediately thereafter. It's an 18-month construction process. We would need the money prior to completion of that construction, however. I would assume so. Okay, let me ask one last question. What is the competitive situation amongst us and these other sports facilities that you've named? I've been pleasantly surprised at the support we've had from Elizabethtown, who honestly has been our biggest cheerleaders and supporters in talking about two sports parks coming together to host national events, which was interesting. I thought there would be a little bit of hesitation. But they are at capacity. Their hotels, it's done exactly what they wanted it to do for their city. So we've learned a lot from them. I think these tournaments that we use travel from city to city to city, so we would sort of be getting on the circuit at a time, as Dr. Hester spoke about, that if we don't, somebody in this area or community might, and we would miss out. So I think the opportunity and the competitive landscape is very favorable. Basically, there's room for us to coexist. Absolutely. Okay. Thank you so much. Council Member Maloney. Thank you, Mayor. I want to echo what a lot of my colleagues have said, what the Council Member Senate said about the courthouse with our support. And we've got to be creative with our finance. And I think what you all bring into the table is amazing. And I think, to me, this is going to bring a lot more money into this town. And the one thing I like about it is we're keeping our money here. And we lose our money every day. And I'm not trying to bring the casino example up. Everybody goes to Indiana and spends their money on casinos. Here we're keeping it here. And that's why I see this as an opportunity for everybody. Now, one thing I do want everybody to know and my colleagues, I've heard that Dick's Sporting Good here in Lusrington, I believe it's over there in your district, is the number one sporting good in the United States for baseball. More used up from what I understand is baseball comes out of there more than anywhere else in the United States, which tells you all that the money is here. I mean, how important that sport is and soccer and all that. And I think, and go back to what constituents every day complain, and I've heard from people out there about how much it costs to go out of the state and all that. It's just amazing. One other thing I want to ask is, what you guys are getting out there, I know this is a money-making deal, and we've got other cities around here. Are there other cities close by that are trying to do this too? Yes. We certainly have had a couple nice headlines in the Herald-Leader in talking about the progress that's been made here in Lexington. have received calls from three or four neighboring counties saying, you know, bring it to our community. That being a class one city, there's some things that we can't do that another county could do. Scott County, Bourbon County, Jessamine County, and with hotel and restaurant taxes. And our desire, and certainly through the economic impact study that Hunt and Strategic Partners did, believe that it works here. It's a benefit of this community, and this is our first choice. Looking at the map, I mean, we look at Cincinnati, Columbus, Atlanta, on our 75, how many are close by. But looking west and east, for instance, going to Louisville, I don't think Louisville has this kind of a complex anywhere in Louisville. Being less than an hour from Louisville, well, it will be less than an hour because it's on this side of town closer to Louisville would be, and then what east, how far east, I know Louisville doesn't have one, how far east would we look at the closest sporting complex on the 64 going that way? The closest one to the east is probably Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and there's one in North Carolina that's Boone, North Carolina. But to the east, there really isn't the competition. As you mentioned, Louisville recently released that they are doing an economic impact study. They're commissioning an economic impact study to look at building a professional soccer stadium as well as this idea of a youth sports complex. So I do think as a community we're on the clock, and that's why we've tried to work diligently and make this a priority to move this thing forward. And I'll just follow up. I want to commend Amanda for coming to me, and I commend Brian, and I commend all the folks involved with this. I just think this is a win-win-win for Luskinson. I mean, you just answered my question. Louisville does not have this. I know we would get, being less than an hour away, the majority of downtown Louisville to here, I think this would be a big, huge plus community and plus eastern Kentucky coming this way or from Virginia or any of those, West Virginia and places like that. This would be wonderful. I just hope my colleagues realize how big of an impact this is to this community. And, Mayor, you know you built 21C. I believe 21C would be full out there if we do build this. So hopefully the council will go on with it. There you go. Council Member Evans. Thank you, Mayor. Brian, thank you for bringing this. I will say I do not disagree with anything that has been said about the need. My nephew played baseball over at Veterans Park. My family spent way too much money at Dick's Sporting Good over the years, so I do understand that. I've heard the need from several different people in several different veins and leagues, so I understand that. I am concerned about the location. if we are talking about people traveling there wasn't the hotel information in here that I was actually really curious about if it's built there will other hotels then have to be built and where does that leave the hotels that we currently have because I've got Hamburg in my district so I'm very concerned about that because I do see school buses there throughout the year so I'm presuming those are sports teams So I am concerned about what that area will then look like, and are we utilizing the hotels that we have now for people that do come in already. And this would probably be a question for Jeff and Monica about the concerns, the future of the parks that we have now. I've got a park that is just a practice field, and nobody wants to use it for anything else. And I don't want the rest of our parks to become that as well. So I don't know if the Bay County Public Schools can utilize those. I want to be sure people have thought about the unintended consequences. And traffic is just kind of the tip of the iceberg in my mind. Because we will have neighbors complaining about that. And I personally think it would be lovely if we could have it someplace just right off the interstate. So we wouldn't have to worry about that as much. But I am concerned about the unintended consequences about the parks that we have now and is there a plan for those. And then the hotel situation, if you all can talk about that. I think it's a great question about location. We did some significant site research around Lexington, and this is such a phenomenal site at the intersection of Versailles Road and New Circle Road. Not only do you have easy access from the east coming straight in from Louisville down Versailles Road, but you've got access right off of New Circle Road, very close to Keeneland and the airport, very close to a lot of our economic centers. The bike path and walking path that will be part of this park connects to the existing bike paths that go through Beaumont. You know about the hotel center that's in Beaumont already. There's very few facilities where you can stay at a hotel and walk or bike to the facility. So that's a huge competitive advantage for us. It's a straight shot down Bursell's Road to downtown. in our hotel centers here. It's an easy shout out New Circle Road to Newtown Pike and the hotel is right by the intersection. So from talking to consultants who have looked at parks like this and many other cities, this is a home run site that you usually don't find in a city. We just lucked into the fact that this land is available. Additionally, if the alternative is looking at putting a big retail center or anything else out in that site, which is a key gateway to our city from the airport where visitors first see. This is something that I think is very respectful to our heritage as horse country. So I can speak very, very highly about the site. To your second question about existing parks, this takes pressure off of the existing parks. Nobody should think about this site just within the confines of these 130 acres. Our existing parks are so overworked already that this will help take some pressure off of those parks. there's more freedom and flexibility to work between activated and free play on those parks. So you don't anticipate leagues leaving the parks that they play at now to go to the sports complex? So the easiest way I could say it, this is our demand. This is our supply. That's a good example. Angela, on the leagues leaving, we do not want to compete with what Parks and Rec is doing in the city from a league standpoint. We're not looking to take over Southeastern Little League Baseball or Western Little League or any of the other leagues that are ran. This would be used to program tournaments. So what we might do is when Cal Ripken, and Susan and I talked about this, when they're looking at bringing a World Series or a regional, we may host that at the complex. but we would never run a Cal Ripken League Monday through Wednesday or even Friday through Sunday at this park. This would be a tourism play on the weekend and then a need, you know, ideally for Fayette County Public Schools so all of the kids in the county can benefit. Commissioner, you need to speak on this. I don't need to. I would love. I wanted to speak to that issue just briefly because I've thought a lot about it, too, over the last couple of years. We're working with Brian as to what impact this could have on parks. And I think the more we discuss it, the more I feel that it will be a positive impact on parks and will greatly complement the programs that we have because it is different. serving with the tournaments, I think it complements our regular league play. Now, we are concerned that we have trails in the parks, playgrounds in this park, and this park is accessible to the general public. They've been extremely willing to work with us on those concerns initially. I also want to emphasize that there's a lot to go on this and a lot of questions that you brought up about, you know, there'll be traffic issues that have to be addressed. There are several challenges that we have to address going forward. There's going to have to be a memorandum of understanding and agreements between the city and this group. But I think it is a valuable project, and we are very comfortable working with these people going forward. Thank you. Council Member Scotchfield. Thank you, Mayor. Looks great. I have children of this age that one of them is going to start traveling lacrosse this summer. My daughter does the dance competition circuit, so I'm in convention centers, so I understand convention centers all over the state in this area. But traveling for the dance competitions, we've been to Indianapolis that has a phenomenal sports complex up there. We've gone to Northern Kentucky. I didn't know Northern Kentucky had their own convention center. Found out a couple weeks ago. Got to stay there. But it is an absolute impact for economics for this city. You know, how many times I've had to spend hotel rooms and literally just to come in, go to the convention center or go to the field. And, you know, we eat out. It's going to bring people here. And we're, as a parent, you're going to be there soon with this. But, I mean, some of us have already been there. we do so much for our kids this is an untapped market that can't have enough for the kids it really can't um i know that you know my kids when they look at you and say i want to play soccer i want to play lacrosse i want to play football you want to make that available to them um and doing it here and having that available here instead of where they travel right now which isn't here They aren't happening here. And Council Member Evans mentioned the concern about the other parks. I want Jacobson to stay kind of this open park. There is a need for new fields. I don't want Jacobson turned into a whole bunch of new fields. We need Jacobson to be what it is. But there is going to be a push as all these different activities grow. We don't have enough lacrosse fields. Right now, Shillitoe has just put in lacrosse fields. We have a few, but we need more. And having that ability to have that somewhere else in town, my middle school son plays on an open field that's not a lacrosse field. There's no striping. There's nothing to be able to tell where they're going. These are all things that we could have here and could be wonderful. And when we have traveled for any of these events, I've stayed far away in order to get there. There's one in Columbus that we went to. So I'm not concerned about hotels going up right around that area. We will preserve that farmland. The airport went in. We didn't have a whole bunch of hotels go in there, and how long has it been here? So I think we can preserve that area. One thing, and I know I've mentioned to you before, let's get a track around one of these fields. You know, AAU track is not something that we take care of here in town. There are AAU track teams, but they struggle every year to find track space because the high schools don't allow them to come onto their field to practice. We have an Olympic gold medalist daughter who travels elsewhere to practice that lives here in town. would love to see that come to fruition as well. But thank you. Thank you. Council Member Lamb. Thank you, Mayor. I, too, will echo a lot of the comments, and I'm excited about this. I grew up a big sports fan. I played sports all my life. My son played soccer for, well, 10 years, I guess. He's got a daughter now that will soon hopefully play in a few, three, four years. And so I look forward to us actually supporting this and supporting our community. Having dealt with and being involved with the Southeastern Little League this past year and knowing the involvement of trying to bring in these tournaments, I had no idea. It was a pretty phenomenal experience, and I look forward to more of that. We do need to tap into this, and I am thrilled and very supportive. I know I have talked to you all numerous times about the environmental study. So I thought I'd ask if you would speak to that just briefly about the environmental study. Yeah, so the environmental study is a concern on the artificial turf and causing cancer, and that's something that we will certainly look at and evaluate. It was covered extensively on one of our local TV channels and is a concern. The folks who would be building the park, both element design and the sports force or whoever we choose moving forward, that's something that we will study and look at and learn more about because clearly we have a chance to do something special for our kids, and we want to capitalize on that. Well, and I don't know where we're planning on pulling this 18.75 from, but I hope that my colleagues will support this as well and we can find this. This is a really good effort, and thank you all for all of your commitment and hard work on this project. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Akers. Thank you, Mayor. I, too, am excited about this project. It's been a long time coming. I remember meeting with Phil and some folks a few years back, so it's nice to see the progress that you all have made. I guess a couple questions. Number one, the Parker's Mill Road, my son played at the opposite side a couple summers ago. I'm a baseball mom. So what are the plans for traffic on that road? I believe there's going to be another entrance to access the park. And are you going to address that before the park is built? Absolutely. And as Jeff said, there are still some big hurdles to address. We're just getting over our first set of hurdles now. Traffic on Parker's Mill, and I live near there off Clay's Mill Road myself, so I've traveled that. It is important to us to protect the integrity of the neighborhood. So from Parker's Mill to Versailles Road, we do not want to direct any traffic in that area. So all traffic from the park in the current layout, the park entrance was off of Parker's Mill opposite Cardinal Run. And so we would want to direct all traffic from Parker's Mill to Man-O-War out of town. The opportunity for an entrance off of Versailles Road makes a lot of sense if that's possible, and that's a study that we will be doing to look at. There's currently a curb cut at that park, and I think Parks and Rec may even use that as a service entrance to that land. So things we're definitely looking at in traffic is number one on the list of concerns that we and neighbors have. And man-of-war is not an option for an entrance? Man-of-war would not be an option. Okay. Okay. And then who, what, I see, I mean, I realize that the school board representative is here, but what kind of soft or solid commitments has the school given you, knowing that they are also under tight budget constraints, and if they had monies, they would build new fields. So how much do they have to support this project? Yeah, so we've met with the local Fayette County Public School athletic leaders, Don Atkins, and Rob Sayre. And it's one thing to build the fields, and then we all know it's another thing to maintain the fields. So the agreement that we've talked about is a financially advantageous agreement that Fayette County Public Schools, which you're right, is faced with the question, are we going to build and maintain our own fields? I mean, many of the schools are out of space, so to build really isn't even an option. Or do we get creative and work with this organization to potentially solve our problems? So that's been the majority of our conversations. Don Atkins has been a representative who is the acting athletics director for Fayette County Public Schools, has been involved with this project every step of the way. And Alan Stein, obviously, is our vice chair and has been engaged as well as Melissa. So those are situations that we obviously don't have anything inked in writing yet, but feel comfortable with their interest and our interest to work together to make that happen. Okay. And as far as the facility or the entire park, who determines the amount of parking that's required? Like I know when we build, open a new business or a shopping center, you know, there's standards. Is there standards as far as this goes? There are. I mean, we're not recreating the wheel on a sports park, so there's lots of examples for us to look at. And I know that Hunden Strategic Partners examined parking specifically as part of their economic impact study. as I mentioned working with experts that have done this the folks at the sports force which are building two parks currently and then Element Design who's here we'll be able to take best practices and lessons learned from some of those facilities to make that right recommendation. I just know visiting either traveling for tournaments or even here in Lexington just on a busy Saturday that a lot of our parks people are parking in the grass parking illegally you know so I just I want to make sure that we, you know, if we're planning an event, a weekend tournament for, you know, a couple thousand people, that we have parking for that as well. Yes, and parking is one of the key indicators on the satisfactory of an experience of coming to a city and traveling and being a part of the sports park. So certainly the research that's been done shows that we need to pay close attention to that. Okay, my time is almost up. I'll come back. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member James Brown. Thank you, Mayor. And thank you, Brian, for the presentation and everyone that spoke in favor of it. And I do support it. I think it's a good opportunity to take advantage of centralizing a sports facility that will accommodate our city current events and draw some sports activities to Lexington. I know the focus had a laser focus on outdoor sports. did y'all take any consideration to indoor basketball, which I know we have limited facilities here in Lexington, and there's a lot of youth that participate in that, and there's opportunities to host tournaments. Did y'all take that into consideration? Yes, it's something we really wrestled with, because obviously in Lexington, and you're looking at a sports facility, we're talking about a sports complex that's really usable nine months out of the year, maybe ten months if we get weather like we just had. the cost to operate those indoor facilities to light, to heat, to cool, to program. There's other people in town that are doing that and taking on that risk, that all of the research that we had done, and again, to talk to what Ethan and Hunden Strategic Partners had done, advised against that. We heard from folks looking for a new skating rink, folks looking for basketball, folks looking for a training center, And the goal here is to be self-sustaining, allow for a large number of kids and teams to come in and participate in the outdoor sports where you have 10, 11, 12 team members per roster, 15 kids per roster is sort of the focus that makes the economics of this work and be self-sustaining. Yeah, I see a lot of green space, so maybe, I mean, that may be something that you might want to talk about or look to maybe plan to do. I do understand the additional costs with indoor basketball and maintaining those facilities. Another concern, and some other council members expressed it already, is the traffic on Parker's Mill Road. I know this is a developing project, so I guess to investigate and see what you can do to make that facility accessible or provide another access other than Parker's Mill Road I think would be valuable. And then I think I also had a concern about the impact it would have on park and rec. So I think you're already starting to have those conversations with Fayette County Public Schools and maybe making that a joint effort to maintain those facilities, I think, is a good start. That's all I had. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Council Member Hensley. Thank you, Mayor. Brian, as many of our fellow council members have echoed today, this will be a projected great economic engine for the area out there. And from my own personal experience, I'm living through this now. I have a 10-year-old, a 6-year-old, and a 2-year-old, and I guess I'm a soccer dad during the summers. So imagine the first time that we signed up with the Commonwealth Soccer Club and I realize we're on this soccer thing, and the first game is in Boyden County in Ashland. Or you go to Elizabethtown to play a team from Lexington. So I understand the dynamics of this. And the fields at Lexington Christian are wore out from practice, and so there's a great demand of that. Maybe one thing that might come out of this is the I-64 connector to get the traffic off of New Circle Road and back to the interstate. But that being said, one of the concerns that I have is from the neighbors of Wellesley Heights. And I don't know what activities you all have done already to speak to that neighborhood specifically. Could you talk to that for just a second? Yeah. I received a call a month ago from Melissa Parsons in that neighborhood asking me to come out and visit with that homeowners association. And certainly, walking into this position 15 months ago, I'd heard past discussions and concerns that they had had. But I had a very productive conversation. Without a doubt, I think understand the project. I would prefer it wasn't in their backyard. But understand that it's good for the city from an economic development and what we're trying to accomplish with the schools. I think the conversations 15 years ago, and some of you guys can probably remember this better than I can, but what I was told is it was more of porta-potties and spray-painting lines and fields and parking cars on grass, and it was going to be not necessarily what we're envisioning and talking about with a state-of-the-art facility being managed. So conversations with them, I mean, security around the park is a concern, noise, lights, and traffic. there's currently a really nice tree line if you look at the property map that exists between that property and wellesley heights and also as we talk about you know what this final layout looks like it's our intention to leave all the trees there's many of the trees intact and then replant and then we might do is if there's anything we have to replant we continue to build up that barricade and even create some space for that neighborhood. Really, there's about seven or eight houses that are affected along that back line, and certainly being able to work together with that group makes all the sense in the world. And they were very open to the conversation. Again, and I do respect and understand, probably wish we were building it in somebody else's backyard. All right. In light of that, I would encourage you to work with my office, and we could maybe go out and have a meeting with their neighborhood or association or take them out and review the plans with them. I know there's some people who have contacted us this morning. I got a few calls that they weren't in the loop yet, and I think we need to work through some of those issues with you guys and explain to them what you're doing. A lot of those people are aware, you know, they're taking their kids to Elizabethtown now, so they understand the concept. And I just think we need to make sure that we, you know, hear what they have to say. From the regional standpoint, one of my old neighbors in Madison County used to be the Chamber of Commerce director. And when this article broke in the Herald-Leader on Facebook, he's like, if they build it before we get it, we're not going to get it. And so there is some competitiveness that's very close to us in Madison County that they're trying to do a similar project. But I want us to be careful with the constituents that border this to make sure everybody's on the same page. I agree and appreciate your help in having this piece. I appreciate you coming back and speaking to me about this a few months ago. So it is a collective effort that we're working on. But thank you. Council Member Hanson. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for the presentation. And I guess me, like everyone else, I've been through the sports traveling teams to Gatlinburg or Sevierville and Owensboro and just lots of places, girls softball. But this is very, very close to my district. so and i know early on when this first showed up on the docket i said to make sure that i was included in the conversation so i have yet to be included but i appreciate commissioner reed for saying there are other things that we need to work on i know i have gotten calls from area neighbors on Parker's Mill. I wrote Can't Handle Any More Traffic. Dunbar, you know, created a lot of traffic when it was built. Parker's Mill, a very beautiful, scenic route from Fersales to, at least to Lane Allen. so from I actually told Council Member Bledsoe I don't care what you do from New Circle to Man of War but just leave the other part alone but I do look forward to those conversations and they're going to be necessary and you know just like with the neighborhood that it surrounds I think I had one question. I think most everyone's asked the same questions that I was going to, but I really wanted to emphasize Parker's Mill, the impact. I don't think a connector, I know you were joking, but I'm like, okay, we've got Keeneland, we've got Calumet Horse Farm, all this. None of that could be disrupted either, so the connector wouldn't work. You anticipate that there would be no organized leagues, local organized leagues, playing at this park? None that currently exists or would take away from what Parks and Rec is doing in this community. Like at Cardinal Run. Correct. In all honesty, I do think when Cardinal Run opened, it's a beautiful park, but it did have a significant impact on our neighborhood parks. So there's, and a lot of times if you leave a park abandoned or with little activity, then you're going to generate some unwanted activities, behaviors. So that's, you know, to me that's critical for us. Maybe that's something that our master plan could look at. But I think that's really all that I wanted to say, but I know the need. I'm kind of sorry that it's in the location it's in, but I do know there is a need. And it will have a significant impact on Lexington. And I think I can think back traveling with my kids and now my grandkids sometimes. It is fun. It is a lot of fun. So thank you very much. Thank you. Council Member Bledsoe. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Ms. Henson. We've talked a lot about Parker's Mill, and not just because of this idea, but because of Cardinal Run South and of kids riding their bikes and trying to access to get to Main of War. so that the need to look at Parker's Mill is not a new need. You know, it's been something that NPO's looked at. I think it's on the plan for 2030-something to expand anyway because I recognize it as a public safety issue. I'm a runner, and I don't run there anymore, because I'm afraid someone's going to hit me. So I think that's an important thing, and we talked a lot about protecting the integrity of the neighborhoods is an important thing. And I look at this idea, and I think it's a beautiful picture of a way to incorporate a public trail that we can all use that will connect to Beaumont, that will connect into Harrodsdale, that will connect over to Shillitoe, which would be a huge amount of trail space for the South End, eventually connecting to Legacy and others, which I think would be an awesome thing. It kind of moves forward with our plan. I don't know where else you can go to a park. You could be able to park to go to a hotel in Beaumont and walk behind those trails and get right over to the sports complex. would be great. I can think of a lot of people who would rather do that than they would drive over in parks. Well, I think that's a really, because of the asset there in Beaumont Center, we do have a lot of hotels, and there's two more coming. So there's plenty of hotel space to do that. And I love the partnership with the schools, and with, I mean, there's, I would hate to do this, and it'd only be something we use for other people for tourism. And what I think is so beautiful about this is that it's both. It's something that will generate $23 million a year, which is a huge economic interest, but it also takes care of the kids that we have. And that, I think, is a really neat aspect and what makes it a true public-private partnership. And I don't know any other group that's brought six million to the table and asked for more to help do something quite like this. I hope Town Branch would be it. You know, that eventually would be that would be far more significant obviously than this, but I love the due diligence that you've done, and I've honored to be a part of the project, and I thank you for your efforts. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Bledsoe. Council Member Farmer. Thank you, Mayor. Let me join others in their variety of comments and compliments on this game-changer for our city. Just a couple of questions. When asked about indoor sports, you kind of deferred in my estimation. Is there any plan in the future for the potential advent of indoor sports at this facility? I think it's something that we are looking at and will continue to look into. the cost of an indoor facility took us into the the 30 million dollar 32 million dollar range and it made our operations budget not sustainable so that's why we wanted to come here today to get the project started with here's our vision of outdoor and self-sustaining because we think that's important but it's something that we will continue to look at and if we can find the right partnerships or the right agreements to make it happen or community support for it i think it's something that is always on the table. Excellent answer. You're good at what you do, sir. All right. And then I want to, like the mayor and myself, welcome the new chairperson of the Fayette County Public School Board. We appreciate that. What I didn't get out of the presentation, either from you or from her, or in any of the facts and figures, was a potential dollar commitment from the Fayette County Public Schools to help us do this. Is that part of the buildup here? Is that in there and I just don't see it? That number has not been finalized. As I mentioned prior, there is definitely the interest, but we're not ready to publicly announce that agreement or what that dollar figure would be today. That's barely good enough for today. I would say that the Fayette County Public Schools budget is larger than ours and that they routinely raise their tax each year the maximum amount, and we do not. So it's never lost on me for the opportunity to say, bring a pail and come on over. Thank you. Council Member Fred Brown. Thank you, Mayor. Several questions and mainly concerns, I guess. You know, this looks great. First question is, what's the timetable on this again that the urban county government would have to participate funding-wise? Is Sally here? Do you want to talk about what we've discussed? Is Sally Hamilton here? She just stepped out. She just stepped out. What I can say, what is done today is the 6.25 privately. What we've talked about is bonding almost dollar for dollar, $7 million or so in an upcoming budget. Fiscal year 17, you're asking for a match of this $6,250,000? That's right. To go forward? Okay. Now, the $6,250,000, the BSC sponsorships, I noticed, I guess all of them are listed on the page before this, are the ones that are the sponsorships. This doesn't include any other like the Fayette School System? It's not in that $6.2 million? It would be. A number for Fayette County Public Schools are lease agreements, naming rights, pouring rights. It could all fall into that bucket. So you don't have a firm commitment on the $6,250,000, then? We do. We have a naming rights partner that has not been signed yet. We have a deal in principle that we've not moved forward with with Fayette County Public Schools. And we have conversations with a pouring rights partner, Pepsi or Coke, conversations with Papa John's on pizza, as well as Kentucky One Health. Well, you know, I think all these should be in place, just in concrete, before urban county government steps up to the plate. And I don't see that in here. I think that has been discussed as part of a memorandum of understanding. Because we're getting ready to announce a budget and bonding and everything associated with that. Yes, sir. Can anybody tell me what the 134 acres, what the value is at that we're putting up from the government? Does anybody know that? I do. Real quick. They would donate it. I didn't say it was donated. I'm saying what's the value of the $11 million. At that time, it was donated for $11 million. That's what they considered it. If we sold that property and did a lot of infrastructure, built town, well, whatever, it's money involved. If we own it, we can sell it. I'm sure of that. We can't sell it. We can't. Part of the deal. You've got to use it for it. Mayor, do you know, do we have to use that for government? I believe that's the agreement. Right. Government source? That was part of the. Would this qualify? Would this use qualify under that donation plan? My understanding, and Commissioner Graham, I don't mean to alarm you there, Commissioner Graham, but you may be familiar with this agreement, or Keith may be. Don't take up all my time, Mayor. I've got some other questions. Well, I want to get it right. I don't think that we've been asked to examine that yet, so I can't tell you today that it does. Their legal counsel may have before they put this together, but I don't think we've seen anything. I think certainly we need to address that. Okay, that's good. So nobody's going to put a value on that land, although it's very valuable, and it's part of the urban county government's ante up as far as I'm concerned. We're looking at town branch bonding program that we've already gotten involved in. We're looking at a courthouse that we've already signed off on pretty much. We're looking at a city hall, which is another big project that is a must. We've got some money out there, and we're almost to our bonding capacity, so I'm a little concerned this. The project looks great. I mean, I don't have any problem with that. I'm a big sports enthusiast. But I just see these things that need to be answered, addressed, before we make a commitment from this urban county government in this next fiscal year budget. And then I would say, just underlying that, that there's traffic problems there, and those have to be addressed. And I just think the private sponsorships and donations and things like that need to come to the forefront on this. this is too much money for the government to put in in this type of project because I don't know that the urban county government has that we're fully into it or going to be able to get the benefit other than the economic benefit and we don't know those numbers either so I need some more information but it's a worthwhile project but you're asking for money awful quick for this project thank you All right, Council Member Gibbs. Thank you, Mayor. Thanks for the presentation. Just for the record, I like kids. I like sports. Done with that part. Me too. But, yeah, I do have, like my colleague, Council Member Brown, have fiscal considerations here that I need to be satisfied on. I also have environmental considerations. 134 acres. That's a big chunk of territory. I appreciate you already talking about trees. I'm kind of the resident tree advocate, and so I'd especially like to make sure that lots of trees get planted. I'd like some sort of commitment for you guys to work with our urban forestry department on this because a lot of people plant trees all over the place that die. You need help with species selection, maintenance programs, and things like that. So I would like to see some agreement to that to make sure this gets done properly out there. I'd also like you to investigate the possibility of minimizing impervious surface, if you possibly can, maybe grassy pavers and things like that. I know you're pretty far away from details like that, but I want to get started early. This is a big project, and I'd like it to be done in an environmentally sensitive way. But thank you. Thank you. Council Member Akers. Thank you. I wasn't sure if it was me or the Vice Mayor, but he spoke, I guess, also. What are your, do you have, I'm sure that you do, it's probably in the report that you provided, estimated revenues for the facility? The economic impact and feasibility study, and it is in there, actually shows a loss for the first five years of the project. I think it gradually goes up as it gets more events and programmed better. The margin, according to the economic impact study, was about $150,000 after year five on profit. So not a wide margin or a lot of margin for error, which is why a company like the Sports Force and gym may make a lot of sense for this from a management standpoint. And I appreciate that. And I think that obviously it's going to be important to keep it booked consistently to bring in the revenues. And I was just curious and trying to think of creative financing or flexible financing that we could somehow low interest loans or something. But obviously if you're not going to have any profits for five years, then a loan probably isn't going to be very helpful to you. But I will say that when we talk about Town Branch and we talk about the courthouse and other very large projects that the city is taking on and bonding, that I don't think any of them, although I'm sure some disagree with me, but I don't think any of them will bring the economic impact to the entire city that this complex will. That may be a personal opinion. So I think that if I were to rank investments and return on investments, I would rank this one a little bit higher than some of the others. I am concerned, though, on the, again, fixing Parker's Mill is good, but who's paying for that? Then that's the next question. I believe it's the state roads. Is that state going to pay for that? Is it in the governor's budget? Lots of questions like that. So I think that's all I have for now. Thank you. Thank you. Vice Mayor Kay. Thank you, Mayor. I realized after listening to all my colleagues' comments that I forgot to mention that I, too, had twin sons who played select soccer and traveled all over the world. So I don't want to leave that off the table. And my grandkids aren't old enough to travel yet, but when they are, I want them to come here. I think there's really a couple of threshold questions, and I presume we'll have these answers before we have to make a decision about the budget. I think traffic is perhaps the most important one. I'm fairly familiar with that piece of land and with that access point. I have grave doubts whether the state will allow a significant access and egress off of Versailles Road at that place. It is way too close to the entrance to New Circle Road. So I may be wrong, but it seems to me that that's, given what they like to do and not do, that's going to be a tough call for them. That means that somehow it's going to have to go through the other roads that service other parts of the community. And so I think that needs to be known, what's possible, what the plans are for getting the traffic in and out of that facility. And secondly, my own perspective, and it's been echoed by a few other council members, I want to know a lot more about what the general public use will be, not just walk trail, bike trail, but will there be fields? We're proposing to take 110 to 120 acres of potential parkland. This is as big as Shillito Park. So people need to think about what could go there. Think about what now goes on at Shillito. It's roughly comparable. So we're taking that basically out of general use. I hope that there be a clear indication of what ways the general public will be able to use that piece of property before we make a decision. But, again, thank you for your presentation. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. All right, that's all we've signed up. I want to thank Brian, thank you, and your colleagues. Paul, thank you all so much for being here today, for all that you've done, for working with the council members and with the administration on this really very engaging and very exciting and very important project for our community. Thank you all. All right. That allows us to move to council reports. If you'll please log in, and then we will go. Oh, that's right. Summary by Councilmember Stennett of the Budget, Finance, and Economic Development Committee meeting from February 23rd. Thank you, Mayor. I'll be brief, and again, this does require action and a motion at the end. Our meeting we met on February the 23rd. The revenue number through January 26th in the Big Four, we were up 2.9 million, or 23.7 percent in our Big Four revenue categories. Overall net position, which includes expenses and all revenue, We were $11.2 million to the positive. On economic indicators for the month, home sales were up in January over the last previous two years, as well as foreclosures were actually down as compared to the previous two years. Next on our agenda, we had the SCORE presentation from the SCORE group where we annually allocate $7,000 to SCORE to help business owners and businesses in the community. Next, we have had discussion on Downtown Development Authority. It was a lengthy discussion. There were a lot of good points made, and I'll let you read the minutes to understand those. Next, we had the occupational license fee exemption. That was postponed until today's meeting. Following that, we had the continued discussion of the contingency fund changes to our economic contingency fund, and there was a motion, and I'll read that to Council now. Now you have a copy of the ordinance in front of you that was in the packet during the meeting and moved forward. A motion was made by Council Member Farmer to approve the contingency fund draft ordinance. It was seconded by Council Member Massadi, and it did pass without dissent in the committee, so I'll bring that to this full council now. So moved. Second. Motion by Council Member Stanton, seconded by Council Member Farmer. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. If not, then we can vote. All right. Council Member Fred Brown didn't see that. Yeah, I think we vetted this pretty good in committee, but I would be remiss to at least, there was a couple of things that I wasn't crazy about, and I'm going to point them out. One of them is number five on the first page there. A monthly deposit in the amount of $50,000 will be required each physical year unless the 10% funding goal has been met. I don't like that we are mandating the $50,000 in this manner. If we're short on the thing, then I think we could go to our budget process at the end of the year and replenish that. I don't have any problem with the 10% funding goal, but I would make a motion to amend that we take number five out. I didn't think I'd get a second. Motion? I didn't hear a second, Captain Farmer. I go on record allowing us to spend that $50,000 each month, but we're not going to be able to do that now because it goes in escrow. And it's a restricted fund, that money, and you're talking about $600,000 a year sitting there in restricted fund until the end of the year, I guess, and we make that decision. The other thing that bothered me was the fact that the 10 percent of the previous year's total general fund revenues, that's okay, but we've got number three there where we say interest earned on monies in the contingency fund will accrue to the fund. But we don't commit that interest as part of the 10% revenue. And I don't know if I've got that, if I don't understand that, or it's not worded enough to say that that interest is part of that 10%. Mayor. Does anybody? Yeah. Council Member Susenthal. The reason why number three is in there, the interest goes to the fund. So that would be included in our calculation of how we reached our 10% goal yet. All right, great. Interest would be included. Okay, thank you. All right. All right, is there any further discussion? And Mayor, this is for Thursday night's docket to put on the first reading. All right, any further discussion? Councilman Evans. Thank you, Mayor. One quick question. Okay, so what happens when we reach that goal of 10%? We're just done? Is that? Okay. And how close are we to reaching that goal already? well on your first question is the way it's drafted is if we reach it during the fiscal year we don't put the deposit in we don't put the 50 000 and we just maintain the 10 percent and then where we're at um we're right at if i believe i'm correct and i know bill's not here but we're at we're at 30 million and change and change but to this year obviously if the budget's $350 million, then we need $35 million. It'll be a moving number based on whatever we make the general fund each year. All right. Any further discussion on the motion? If not, then we can vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Council Member Stendon, is that it? All right, thank you. Now we can go to Council reports. If council members would please sign on for council report. Appreciate it. Council Member Stenney. Thank you. Everyone should have received an email on the upcoming budget cow schedule, so I move the place on the docket for the March 17th council meeting, an ordinance amendment in section 1 of the ordinance number 136-2015, adopting a schedule of meetings for the LFUCG council for the calendar year 2016 to add Committee of the Whole Budget meetings on April 19th at 11 a.m., May 26th at 2 p.m., and June 7th at 9 a.m. These were not previously scheduled last year but need to be added to our calendar for budget process. Second. All right. Motion. Council Member Stenet, seconded 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, Mayor. Council Member Scutchfield. Thank you, Mayor. I have a motion to amend the NDF list to include an allocation to the Alzheimer's Association of Greater Kentucky and Southern Indiana in the amount of $1,850. So moved. Motion by Council Member Scotchfield, seconded by Council Member Sadi. 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. All right. Council Member Gibbs. Thank you, Mayor. For my council report, I wanted to report on my weekend, and I didn't do any work. I just had loads of fun, all of it in downtown, all of it in some way supported by LFUCG. Friday night, I went to the Kentucky Theater to see a movie, as I do most weekend nights. Kentucky almost went into oblivion. The city saved it. The city owns it, and I'm thankful for it every weekend. The big event was on Saturday. I went to the St. Patrick's Day festivities. Growing up in an Irish Catholic family in the Northeast, when I first moved here in the 70s, I was pretty disappointed. We've come a very, very long way. Parks and Rec did a wonderful job organizing events. I'd also like to thank Master Organizer Bill Enright and his helpers from the Bluegrass Irish Society, the Lexington Celtic Association, and Altec supplied crucial support as well. I don't know if you made the parade. The parade gets better every year. Lexington's March Madness Band is always a delight. We had floats from locally owned, well, Irish-owned businesses. is Falcha, just a gem of a shop over on Upper Street. McCarthy's Bar had a float. And then after the parade, there was music and dancing over in the cheap side. I went with my colleague James Brown and had a beer. And after he left, I stayed for hours. And it was just marvelous. And even the basketball game came on at 2.30, and it was still packed. People stayed. We have great Irish music around here. We have two Irish dance group, McTaggart dancers, who my daughters dance with, and then also the Irish Lexington dancers. And so I just had an absolutely marvelous day. And then on Sunday, I attended the second Sunday Sessions concert at the Downtown Arts Center. The Downtown Arts Center is an LFUC-owned building. It's managed by Parks and Rec, so thank you, Monica. The manager over there is Celeste Lewis, who's doing a marvelous job. She's re-energized that venue. The band was Vandiver, and it played to a sold-out audience. It was just a great concert. Anyway, I had a great weekend. I'm proud of my city and the role that my city government plays in it, and so I'm hoping for many more fun weekends. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Henson. Thank you, Mayor. I wanted to invite my colleagues to join me in a photo. And I believe, Mayor, that you may have done this, but Fayette County Schools has taken on a project, just taking photos. They're trying to get 1,000 photos, and I think they're 150 away from reaching their goal. and all we need to do is hold a sign that says Kentucky KISS can do anything. So did you do that, Mayor? If not, we'll get a picture. We're going to get another one. We'll get another one. That's the spirit. But I was hoping that Thursday night that we could fit in a picture if I can get a sign made and find a photographer. On the overhead. Okay. And you'll put the sign on the overhead? Okay. That sounds great. So I think we'll, in between our confirmation hearing and council meeting, if we could get a photo in, I appreciate it. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Henson. Council Member Farmer. Thank you, Mayor. I wish I could compete with Jake Gibbs' weekend. I'm so sorry. Well done, sir. I may have been at CCI for part of that. All right. I just wanted to, I was glad to be with Council Member Evans and Council Member Scotchfield this morning. We went out and opened the new Eastside Library, which I will just tell you where it is. There it is. There it is. What a great thing. I took my mom. We turned in two large print books. We checked out four more large print books and had a great time. And probably there's about, don't you think, 200 people there, somewhere in their age at least. and they had the choir from Crawford was there, and they sang. It was a great reuse and, I don't know, just great for our library system, which is appreciated by so many people on so many levels. So I was just glad to be there today and help be one of the first ones to check out a book. And then is this the week we start picking up yard waste again? I think that's great because so many people in my block are in open rebellion and have left their stuff out from last week to this week, And I think when we work on budget things this year, and this falls in length that I helped take care of, we've got to look about when we suspend that, what it costs us, when we don't pick those things up. And folks rely on these streams, these different waste streams that we have placed before them. And I can tell you by the number of containers on my street, they're looking forward to it to begin again this week. So we look forward to working on that. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, sir. Council Member Fred Brown. Thank you, Mayor. Just a couple of housekeeping items. We're supposedly having a paving subcommittee meeting that's canceled for today. And also the Transportation Policy Committee meeting that was supposed to be here at 1.30 tomorrow, it is also canceled for those who are affiliated with that. Thank you, Mayor. All right. Thank you. Council Member Hensley. Thank you, Mayor. While my weekend didn't compare to Jake's, it was very busy. It started Saturday morning at the Kentucky Horse Park at the Kentucky Farm Bureau's annual auction where they raised money for scholarships for their scholarship fund and took a GTV crew with me out there and kind of going to educate some of our constituents about the greatness that's going on at the Kentucky Farm Bureau auctions on the weekends. But I did catch up with Councilman Gibbs and Brown at the St. Patty's Day Parade and blessed a keg and watched the parade. So that was a great day. And then ended up back out in the 12th District at the Bluegrass Airport on Sunday to welcome the Cats back for their SEC championship. So it was a great weekend as well. I've got a motion that I would like to make. to put an item in the finance committee to have our finance division study the PVA's analysis of our tax valuations in Fayette County. So moved. Motion by Council Member Hensley, second by Council Member Farmer. Is there any discussion on the motion? All right. Is there any discussion? Council Member Lamb. I'm asking for clarification. You're asking for the Department of Finance or? Yes. To, okay. To review the data from the PVA office. Okay. And do we? We just need access to their data. I'm sorry? We want to analyze their data to establish a picture of the valuation of property in Fayette County as they're projecting it. I want to put that in a finance committee to review. Okay, cool. And when will this be reported out? Will there be a time for it to be reported out, their findings? I mean. Whenever they can get to it. Okay. There's no timing issue to it at this point. I mean, I think this is good, and I just wanted to get more clarification, so thanks. Thanks. All right. Any further discussion on the motion? All right. Then we can vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Council Member James Brown. Thank you, Mayor. I'd just like to say I did have a good time this weekend with Council Member Gibbs and the other Council Members that was at the parade. But I also wanted to make an announcement about a public meeting tonight at the Lyric. It started at 4 o'clock. It's the 7 o'clock to talk about the Legacy Trail and its proposed route. I know it's a lot of excitement built up about the trail, and I know some residents that live in the area that the trail is going to come through have some concerns. So anybody that is able and willing, and if I get out of here in time, I'll go to that meeting as well. Please attend that meeting tonight at the Larrick. Thank you. All right. Council Member Scotchfield. Thank you. As Councilmember Farmer mentioned, Councilmember Evans, Farmer, and I were at the new Eastside Library this morning for its ribbon cutting. I want to encourage people to come out and check this space out. It is amazing. It was a former car dealership, and you don't think of libraries as having all this light, and this library is filled with light. It is filled with amazing open reading spaces. The upstairs has a craft room where you're able to go in, and they'll have different classes. They're making a pen or a pencil tonight. They've got the drive-through window, which is a wonderful thing, especially for out in the suburbs. You know, you drop it off, you don't have to get the kids out of the car and go in. But absolutely was honored to be there today, and I encourage everybody to go out and check out the new facility. I did not have as much fun this weekend as Council Member Gibbs. I was in a convention center for a dance competition. So, thank you, Mayor. All right, thank you, Council Member Scotchfield. Council Member Henson. Thank you, Mayor. And I forgot to mention something when I spoke earlier, but CAO Hamilton and I had the pleasure. We had probably almost as much fun as Council Member Gibbs. We hung out with three classes of first graders at Garden Springs Elementary and talked about our careers in Lexington, and they asked some of the funniest questions. Very smart kids. I was surprised. But I just wanted to thank you, Sally, for going with me. And one little boy said when he grows up, he is not going to do anything because we told him he'd have to pay taxes. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Henson. Thank you. Councilmember Bledsoe. Thank you, Mayor. I think many people know that this weekend is Sweet 16, starting tomorrow, and I'm excited to give my shout-out to the Dunbar Bulldogs who are playing on behalf of Fayette County tomorrow night. It's the one time I'll be wearing red rep arena and cheering for them. So I just want to say thanks to, I know a lot of our cities have been working hard on that, good economic development tool to see all the state teams coming here to play, and I'm excited to watch them, and I hope that they play well tomorrow. Thanks. All right. Thank you, Council Member Bledsoe. Council Member Akers. I also look forward to cheering on Dunbar this week and hope that they prevail in the tournament. I'd like to announce that tonight the Masters and Station Neighborhood Association, or HOA, is holding their meeting at 7 o'clock at the clubhouse. The Highlands Neighborhood Association is holding their neighborhood meeting on Thursday night at 7, and that will be at their community center at Highlands Park and that's at 1991 Mark Avenue. And then this weekend, I think it's this weekend, maybe next weekend, Lexington is also hosting the Women's NCAA Tournament. And so if you have an opportunity to catch, the UK Women will actually be playing here at Memorial Coliseum and then hopefully we're up for round two, but Lexington will be very busy in the next few weeks. So be nice to everyone and patient in traffic for everybody that's in from out of town. And give directions as needed. So go Cats. Thanks. All right. Council Member Stennett. Thank you, Mayor. I apologize. I feel to recognize. I want to recognize Rick Curtis and the work done at the PSOC. We had the opportunity to tour it this morning. I know some of my colleagues are going on Thursday. But it's a remarkable facility. And thank you to all your hard work and everyone else's who went in to plan that. Mayor, thank you for your helping and pushing us down to this level because this is a far cry from spending $40 million. So I think we came in well under budget, and it looks fabulous out there. So thank you, Rick, for the tour this morning, but thank you for all your work on that. Just like I would say one thing, we've got another tour plan for council members this Thursday. We have a three-to-four, so if you could make this morning, we'll have another tour of three-to-four, and you'll actually see the work is progressing at this point in the last few years. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, sir. All right. That's all who signed on for council reports, which takes us to the... Who? Yeah, public comment. You're not. I don't have anybody. Which takes us to the mayor's report. Is there a motion to approve? Second. Motion by Council Member Stenet to approve, second by Council Member Scutchfield. 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. Next is public comment for issues not on the agenda. No one signed on. Okay, thank you, Mr. Mundy. I'll ask Vice Mayor Kaye for a motion. Thank you, Mayor. I move that we go into closed session pursuant to KRS 61.8101C for the purpose of discussions regarding potential litigation. All right. Is the motion or is there a second? Second. Second by Council Member Henson. Unless there's objection, we'll enter closed session. I'm sorry. I'm going to go to the next video. Second. There was a motion and there was a second. I can't believe it. Okay. I'm sorry.