# Council Work Session - May 13, 2008 > Auto-transcribed civic record · Council · May 13, 2008 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/496 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/496?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2008-05-13 - **Body**: Council - **Last revised**: March 1, 2026 - **Length**: 7,579 words > ⚠️ **Auto-generated content.** Audio from the official Granicus video was auto-transcribed by OpenAI Whisper-1. Structured facts were extracted with GPT-4o; the narrative summary was written by Anthropic Claude Sonnet. Speaker labels and verbatim wording may contain errors. See [methodology](https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/about/methodology) or [report a correction](mailto:editor@lexingtonky.news). --- ## Meeting Overview The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council convened on May 13, 2008, at 3:00 PM with Mayor Newberry presiding over the session. The Council addressed six agenda items during the meeting, ranging from routine business approvals to informational updates and public recognition activities. The meeting included one public comment period focused on agenda issues, allowing community input on matters before the Council. Council members conducted eight formal votes throughout the session, with items including approval of meeting summaries and new business matters receiving approval. The Council also received several informational presentations, including a Services Committee update, a Public Service Recognition Week proclamation, and an update on the LexTran Bus Shelter Taskforce initiative. The session balanced both administrative functions and community engagement, with approved items moving forward while informational presentations kept Council members updated on ongoing municipal initiatives and recognition programs. ## Attendance All council members were present for the May 13, 2008 meeting. **Present:** • Mayor Newberry • CM Myers • CM James • CM Blues • CM Beard • CM Lane • CM DeCamp • CM Ellinger • CM Gorton • CM McChord • CM Crosbie • CM Henson • VM Gray • CM Stevens **Absent:** None **Late:** None The meeting achieved full attendance with all 14 members of the council present, including the Mayor and Vice Mayor. ## Votes and Decisions The Council conducted eight votes during the May 13, 2008 meeting, with seven items passing and one procedural motion to adjourn. **Meeting Summary Approval** [timestamp: 00:30] CM Myers motioned to approve the summary of the May 6, 2008 meeting, seconded by CM James. The motion passed by voice vote. **New Business Items** [timestamp: 03:00] CM Stevens motioned to approve new business items A through L, excluding item J, seconded by CM DeCamp. The motion passed by voice vote. **Committee Referral - Item J** [timestamp: 02:30] CM Blues motioned to place item J into the Services Committee, seconded by CM Beard. This was the only roll call vote of the meeting, passing with 12 ayes and 3 nays. **Budget & Finance Committee Referral** [timestamp: 05:00] CM Myers motioned to place the issue of abatement fund recaptured money into the Budget & Finance Committee, seconded by CM Lane. The motion passed by voice vote. **Planning Committee Referral - Electrical Inspector Fees** [timestamp: 06:00] CM McChord motioned to refer the issue of electrical inspector's fees to the Planning Committee, seconded by CM Myers. The motion passed by voice vote. **NDF Approval** [timestamp: 07:00] CM Crosby motioned to approve the NDF, seconded by CM Myers. The motion passed by voice vote. **Planning Committee Referral - Audits** [timestamp: 08:00] CM Stevens motioned to refer the management audit and the upcoming audit of the Family Care Center to the Planning Committee, seconded by CM Myers. The motion passed by voice vote. **Adjournment** [timestamp: 09:00] CM Myers motioned to adjourn the meeting, seconded by CM Stevens. The motion passed by voice vote. All motions passed, with the majority of business involving committee referrals for further review and discussion. ## Budget and Financial Actions The Council approved several financial items totaling over $229,000 in expenditures and grant awards during the May 13, 2008 meeting. **Grant Awards and Agreements:** • Resolution 243-08 authorized acceptance of a $10,256.41 grant award from the Kentucky Community & Technical College for the Department of Public Safety, Division of Fire & Emergency Services to purchase bicycles • Resolution 253-08 approved a $9,000 agreement with The Salvation Army for an Essential Services Project for Homeless Families • Resolution 246-08 authorized a $153,000 agreement with the Board of Education of Fayette County for the Summer Food Service Program **Technology and Infrastructure Purchases:** • Resolution 249-08 approved an additional Software License Agreement with New World Systems Corporation for $31,780 • Resolution 244-08 authorized the purchase of a Temporary Construction Easement for the Twelfth Street Neighborhood Improvements Project for $1,550 **Contract Modifications:** • Resolution 254-08 approved Change Order No. 5 to the contract with Nesbitt Engineering, Inc., adding $23,500 to the existing agreement The largest single expenditure was the $153,000 Summer Food Service Program agreement with Fayette County's Board of Education, while the smallest was the $1,550 construction easement purchase. The technology upgrade with New World Systems Corporation represented a significant investment in the city's software infrastructure at $31,780. Grant funding totaled $19,256.41, helping offset some of the city's direct expenditures for bicycle purchases and homeless services. ## Public Comment During the public comment period, one community member addressed the Council regarding youth programming needs in the city. **Lewis Cobb** spoke about youth programs and community support [timestamp: 10:00]. Cobb emphasized the importance of expanding youth programming opportunities and urged the Council to prioritize community support initiatives. Specifically, he advocated for the allocation of municipal funds to support basketball camps and other youth activities, highlighting these programs as essential community investments. The public comment period provided an opportunity for residents to directly engage with Council members on matters of local concern, with youth programming emerging as a key community priority during this meeting. ## Contested Items The Council encountered one contested item during the May 13, 2008 meeting that required additional deliberation beyond the regular agenda process. **Employee Automobile Usage and Reimbursement Ordinance** The primary point of contention centered on an ordinance addressing employee automobile usage and reimbursement policies. Council members engaged in debate over the proposed regulations, though the specific nature of their disagreements was not detailed in the available meeting records. Rather than proceeding to a final vote on the ordinance, the Council ultimately decided to refer the matter to the Services Committee for further review and discussion. This motion to refer indicates that Council members felt the item required additional examination before reaching a final decision. The referral to committee suggests that Council members may have had concerns about specific provisions within the ordinance, questions about implementation details, or desired more time to consider the financial implications of the proposed automobile usage and reimbursement policies for city employees. By sending the matter to the Services Committee, the Council ensured that the ordinance would receive more focused attention and allow for additional input before returning to the full Council for consideration. This procedural outcome demonstrates the Council's commitment to thorough review of policy matters affecting city operations and employee benefits, particularly when initial discussion reveals the need for further deliberation among Council members. ## Public Comment - Issues on Agenda [timestamp: 00:10] During the public comment period for issues on the agenda, no members of the public came forward to address the Council. This portion of the meeting was opened for community members to speak on any items scheduled for discussion or action during the May 13, 2008 Council meeting. The public comment period serves as an opportunity for residents and stakeholders to provide input, raise concerns, or offer support regarding specific agenda items before the Council begins its formal deliberations. However, no speakers participated in this segment of the meeting. The Council proceeded with the remainder of the meeting agenda following the conclusion of the public comment period. ## Approval of Summary [timestamp: 00:30] The Council considered approval of the summary from their previous meeting held on May 6, 2008. Council Members Myers and James participated in the discussion of this agenda item. The Council approved the meeting summary without recorded debate or concerns raised during the proceedings. **Outcome:** Approved ## New Business Items [timestamp: 03:00] The Council addressed several new business items during this portion of the meeting, with CM Stevens and CM DeCamp serving as key speakers for the various proposals. The new business items encompassed a range of municipal matters, including grants and agreements related to public safety and community services. These items represented ongoing efforts to secure funding and establish partnerships that would benefit city operations and residents. During the discussion, Council members reviewed the details of each proposed item, examining the terms and potential impacts on city services and budgets. The items required Council approval to move forward with implementation. Following deliberation on the various proposals, the Council voted to approve the new business items. This approval allows city staff to proceed with the implementation of the grants and agreements as outlined in the proposals. The successful passage of these items demonstrates the Council's commitment to advancing public safety initiatives and community service programs through strategic partnerships and funding opportunities. ## Services Committee Update [timestamp: 11:00] Chair CM Ellinger provided an informational update on recent Services Committee activities during the May 13, 2008 Council meeting. The committee chair discussed two primary areas of focus for the Services Committee. First, CM Ellinger addressed solid waste enforcement matters, though specific details of enforcement actions or policy changes were not elaborated upon in the summary provided. Second, the committee has been working on stormwater ditch projects. These infrastructure projects relate to the city's ongoing efforts to manage stormwater runoff and drainage systems, though the specific locations, scope, or timeline of these ditch projects were not detailed in the presentation summary. The update served as an informational briefing to keep the full Council apprised of the Services Committee's current work and priorities. No action items or decisions were presented for Council consideration during this update. The Services Committee typically handles matters related to public works, utilities, waste management, and infrastructure maintenance for the city. This regular reporting mechanism allows committee chairs to communicate ongoing work to Council members who may not serve on the specific committee. ## Public Service Recognition Week Proclamation [timestamp: 12:00] Mayor Newberry presented a proclamation designating May 19-23, 2008, as Public Service Recognition Week. The proclamation formally acknowledged the contributions and service of public servants working in various government roles. The Mayor read the proclamation, which recognized the dedication and commitment of public employees who serve the community in various capacities. The proclamation highlighted the important role that public servants play in maintaining essential services and supporting the needs of residents. This was an informational item with no discussion or action required from the Council. The proclamation serves as an official recognition of the week-long observance honoring public service workers and their contributions to the community. The proclamation was presented without debate or questions from Council members, representing the City's formal participation in the national Public Service Recognition Week observance. ## LexTran Bus Shelter Taskforce Update [timestamp: 13:00] Kevin Wente provided an informational update to the Council regarding the LexTran Bus Shelter Taskforce and ongoing efforts to expedite the placement of bus shelters throughout the city. The presentation focused on the taskforce's work to accelerate the installation process for new bus shelters, addressing the need for improved public transit infrastructure. Wente discussed the group's strategies and progress in streamlining shelter placement procedures. This was an informational presentation with no action required from the Council. The update served to keep Council members informed about the taskforce's activities and the status of bus shelter expansion efforts within the LexTran system. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approval of the summary of May 6, 2008 - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approval of new business items A-L, except J - **Motion** — passed (12-3): Place item J into the Services Committee - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Place the issue of abatement fund recaptured money into the Budget & Finance Committee - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Refer the issue of electrical inspector's fees to the Planning Committee - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approve the NDF - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Refer the management audit and the upcoming audit of the Family Care Center to the Planning Committee - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Adjourn the meeting --- ## Full transcript Pardon me. Let's go ahead and call the meeting to order if we could. Is there anyone here who wishes to comment on issues that are on the agenda for consideration today? Seeing none, we'll move along. We have no docket approval today, but we do have an approval of a summary. Is there a motion? So moved. Second. We have a motion by Council Member Myers and a second by Council Member James to approve the docket, excuse me, approve the summary for May 6th. Any discussion? Seeing none, those in favor, please vote aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. We have no budget amendments. We do have a few items of new business for your consideration. I move approval of the items of new business. Second. I have a motion from Council Member Stephens and a second from Council Member DeCamp to approve the items of new business. Is there any discussion? Yes, Mayor. Let's see. Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Jay, please, and I will give the Commissioner time, Kimmerer, I'll let you take your time to get down here, or Bob, would you like to? Could you just tell us what's going to happen with this, just the changes that's going to be occurring in this new ordinance, please? The change is that currently the employees petition their division director for the right to drive their own vehicle and get reimbursed at the Federal rate. What this does is it would mandate that the employee's vehicle be used up to 100 miles a day maximum. And it would put a cap on the amount of the money that we would be paying out to the employees. After that, a rental car would be obtained. Now, if somebody, let's say someone from the law department went to Frankfurt, and that's less than 100 miles, and the law department called them and said, well, we need you to go to Louisville to pick up something, they would go ahead and do it. They wouldn't stop in the middle of the road and rent a car. I guess one of the questions I've received some emails on and some people, is about insurance and how that's affected. Could you explain if that's going to change? If they're on company business, city business, the city's insurance takes precedence. Okay, thank you. That clears it up. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I have a question on item F related to a change order. I read the accompanying materials, page 18, 19, and 20, but it seemed that this was a project that started off at $99,930, and it's had several change orders, which now brings it out to $228,458, and it just seemed that that was a little out of the range of the usual change order, and I was wondering what happened to this project that generated those rather... It's part of the Meadows, Northland, Arlington group of projects, which were funded for partial design, and so as it's progressed, they've added cost to that. We have put together at the council request a summary of all those projects, which are probably good just to go over with you at some point in time. We talked about it some time ago. It's entirely... I mean, there's nothing unusual about it other than the fact that it's much higher than what started off. And so you mean when it was began, it was not anticipated, it was began as a partial project, but it went to a full project, is that it? Right. By phase rather than doing the whole thing at once, it was designed in phases. And those phases would be considered a change order and not a... That's correct. Okay. Thank you. I'm having a problem with my microphone. Can you all hear me out there? All right. Could somebody increase the volume on my microphone? Council Member Beard. Thank you, Mayor. I guess my microphone got increased also. I too have a problem with item J, and it has to do with determining when you're traveling the 100-mile situation, predetermining the 100-mile situation to go rent a car, and in some cases driving 6 or 7 miles to the airport to get a car when you're going in the opposite direction. And if you come back late in the evening, then you've got to go take the car back. It just doesn't work for me. I'm sorry. I just don't see it working for me, Bob. Under that scenario, I would agree with you. However, the rental firm that we're using has multiple outlets in Lexington, and they come and get you. And who is that? National. I wasn't aware of that, I guess. I knew Enterprise had some... I mean Enterprise. I'm sorry. What is Enterprise? Enterprise. Oh, okay. And they do have the... Did they submit an RFP to us and select... We're taking a state contract. Oh, okay. And the rate is... That's nice to know, because I didn't know. Yeah. The rate is $34 a day for a Malibu type of car. You know, I still think it's a little unwieldy, to tell you the truth. The 100-mile situation is a little unwieldy. A hundred miles is, if you take the 50.5 cents a mile that an employee gets, and the rate that we would have to pay for the rental car, and the gas that would be put in that vehicle, it comes out that the employees are ahead by about a dollar, even on a hundred miles. Ahead of what, I guess? I'm sorry. Ahead of what? Ahead of they don't lose anything driving their vehicle a hundred miles. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Blues. I also have a question about Jay. I understand that this proposal is, you know, emerges from the management audit, which does recommend in H-30 develop incentives to encourage employees to use personal vehicles when it is more economical to do so. I think what we've got here is something more than an incentive. And reading the audit to it, it refers in at least a couple of places to a lack of data on the kind of information that would be useful. For example, the utilization data regarding number of trips per month, number of miles per trip, and availability are not being captured, which makes it difficult to determine if the motor pool should be expanded or not. Another place, based on the limited data available, it is unknown whether employees preferred using their own vehicles for long or short trips rather than checking out a pool vehicle. In light of these uncertainties, I'd like to move, Mayor, that we take Jay off the docket and place it in services for a more complete discussion. So moved. Second. We have a motion and second to put Item J in the Services Committee. Is there any discussion? Council Member Lane. Mr. Starkweather, if we put this in the committee, will there be any adverse effect on the Orem County Government for doing so? Can I add something? Yes. Council Member Lane, the reason that this is before the Council today is we're trying to implement the recommendation that says to the vehicles that have been determined are low-utilized vehicles for the government. We want to surplus them and sell them. In order to implement that recommendation, we need some employee-friendly tools available to give those folks who have been using a fleet vehicle on a limited basis an alternative to continuing to use that fleet vehicle. So this is what we're trying to do with this ordinance change and then it will be a CAO policy change is to make this easier for the employees that are impacted. So by delaying this, we are delaying the sale of the surplus vehicles. Well, if we went ahead and implemented the program today so that you could start the disposition of the surplus vehicles and problems arise, are you all willing to bring a modified version of the ordinance back or let the Council recommend a revision so that, you know, we could adjust it over time? Oh, absolutely. Well, the intent of this is to make it easier on employees. Okay. Thank you. That's all I've got. The motion on the floor is to refer this item of business to the Services Committee. Is there any more discussion on that motion? Those in favor, then, of referring it to Services, let it be known by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, no. No. Motion carries. Can I see who that no was? Did you vote no? Okay. Any other discussion on the items of new business? Then are we prepared to vote? Those in favor of approving the items of new business other than item J, let it be known by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. I think we're now to the point where we are ready for the presentations, and the first is a report from the Services Committee. Thank you, Mayor. The Services Committee met on May 6th. All committee members were present. We dealt with two items. The first one was a solid waste roll cart enforcement that was brought by Councilmember DeCamp. He gave background information on this item. He asked how they can step up enforcement and fine so people know they are serious about having this program. Penny McFadden from the Department of Public Works said that they don't have enough people to go out and be proactive in this. Mr. DeCamp stated he would like for Waste Man to work with the Council Office to come back with the committee with some firm suggestions on how they can step up enforcement, and they said they would do that. The next item was the Zandel stormwater ditch update. Councilmember Beard gave us an update on the Zandel stormwater ditch. Morgan Whalen, who's a landscape architect, gave an overview of the options for the Zandel stormwater ditch. Councilmember Beard stated that he didn't know if there's any baby steps that we can take to this, but he knows the numbers for the projects that was presented was too high. So the architect stated that one option is phasing this. He stated he could come back with numbers for a smaller-scale project for softening the look of the area. And he will do that, and we'll leave this in committee. And that is what we dealt with in the service committee. We adjourned at 149. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you very much. Any questions for Councilmember Ellinger? All right. Let me step to the podium for purposes of making a presentation. I'd ask Commissioner Kelly if he would join me there, please. I would have asked any one of a number of different folks to join me at the podium, but I ask our Public Works Commission to come forward because this is an individual who has been in and out of public service during the course of his career, as have several other of the commissioners. But I just wanted to share with you a proclamation in regard to public service recognition this week. Whereas federal, state, and local public servants improve the quality of life, safeguard, educate, and protect the freedoms of American citizens, and whereas many public servants, including military personnel, police officers, firefighters, border patrol officers, embassy employees, health care professionals, road crews, solid waste workers, and others risk their lives or work in challenging conditions each day, and whereas with efficiency and integrity, public servants provide the wide variety of services that the American people demand of their government, and whereas the collective experience and knowledge of public servants makes democratic government, in which elected leadership changes regularly, function efficiently. Now, therefore, I, Jim Newberry, Mayor of the Lexington-Fayette-Urban County Government, do hereby proclaim May 19th through 23rd, 2008, as Public Service Recognition Week and encourage all citizens to recognize the accomplishments and contributions of government employees at all levels, federal, state, county, and municipal. This particular recognition, I think, is very appropriate. Those of us who serve in elective office know that we come and go, but the real work of government continues from year to year as a result of a lot of dedicated civil service employees here in local government, but also at the federal and state levels as well, and it is appropriate that we, at least one time during the year, express our appreciation to all of those folks, and so, Commissioner Kelly, let me present this to you on behalf of all the employees. Thank you. Applause. Next, I'll ask Kevin Winty to step to the podium and give us a little bit of an update on the LexTran bus shelters. Thank you, Mayor. I must add that was an excellent segue to what I'd like to present to you today. Back in September of last year, Commissioner Kelly was approached by former general manager of LexTran, Terry Garcia-Cruz, to assist LexTran in facilitating a more expedited process in placing bus shelters throughout our community. With the blessings of the Commissioner, I took it upon myself to start to coordinate with the various divisions within Public Works to assist in just that process. And I think effectively formed a technical review committee that is basically being headed by our Lexan area MPO and members of the Division of Engineering as well as Traffic Engineering where we can basically review the locations to where LexTran is seeing an increase in ridership. We can assess that ridership and the need for an additional shelter, public safety concerns for the placement of those shelters, ADA compliance, traffic impacts or implications for those locations, and facilitate, if anything, the use of public transportation throughout our community. I think this is a very timely effort given, obviously, the increase in gas prices, the need for increased public transit, and I think it's an effort that is long overdue personally from the standpoint of Public Works at least and Urban County Government working with LexTran to facilitate these locations. We have the Lexan area MPO with the, Joey David actually is spearheading this effort to bring these groups together. When the folks from LexTran have a group of shelters based on their ridership that they feel they want to have an additional bus shelter located, they will approach us and we will formulate that technical review committee in order to address those needs. I think I've gone through as far as what's in your packet. I've listed those that are involved in the review committee. One thing I wanted to mention, though, as we look towards mass transit, just not only within our community but also surrounding communities, we're also looking at a regional transit application, and we would like to, at least I hope I'm not over speaking, we'd like to address these issues and concerns through our MPO process and our TTCC meetings so that regional representatives are aware of our efforts and may want to come to the table at some point where we're facilitating a more regional type of mass transit organization. That's to come down the road. Right now we're just in our baby steps of getting this review committee together and assisting with LexTran to facilitate that infrastructure placement. In addition, we also listed some other interested parties in this process, one of which is the Corridors Committee, which is thanks to Dr. Stephens. They provided a $14,000 grant to the folks from Arts in Motion to provide a bus shelter that is effectively a public art display, and that will be placed along Bursells Road. We would like to see Arts in Motion more involved in that process as far as fundraising activities. I've met with Yvette Hurt and Joey David from the MPO to try to facilitate, at least to brainstorm some ideas as to how we can provide fundraising techniques and means to provide that service. All around, I think it's an excellent and overdue effort among Urban County Government and LexTran to facilitate these needs for our community, and I'm also proud to say that as of yesterday afternoon, I received a signed memorandum of agreement between the general manager, Mr. Rocky Burke, which I will bring to your office, Mayor, and will be read through resolution so that we can have a more binding agreement to facilitate the placement of this type of infrastructure. I wanted to keep this brief, so if any of you have any questions for me, I also have Representative Jared Fort from LexTran here, and if any of you have any questions, we'll be happy to entertain those. Does anyone have any questions for Mr. Winty? Council Member Blevins. Thank you, Mayor. Mr. Kevin, I just want to say a public thank you and a job well done. As you know, I brought this to the Corridors Committee some months ago, and it arose out of the frustration that the community had that we had all these bus shelters in storage, but they weren't being installed, and the ire was turned at LexTran, and LexTran said, we need help, and you and the department have risen to the occasion and provided the help. This is a great example of cooperation between the city and other agencies to get something done. I don't think any citizens or anyone in the Corridors Committee, for that matter, recognized just how complex the regulations are surrounding the right of way to put in a simple bus shelter. It seems easy, but it really isn't, and it required some assistance. So, bravo. Thank you for doing it. Thank you very much. Vice Mayor Gray. Just to sandwich on what Council Member Blevins had to say already, Kevin, thank you for working with the arts in motion, Yvette Hurt and her group. It's a nice illustration of how we can take six pillars, innovative and imaginative urban planning, into an existing operational opportunity, and thanks for doing that, too. Certainly. Yes, sir. Thank you. Council Member Beard. These shelters, are they similar to the ones we had, like on Main Street, that had the clear Alexan panels on them that ---- The Chair might be able to better answer that as far as the actual construction of that infrastructure. I guess my point is that if so, they became poster boards for people who want to stick whatever message they want to stick up there on them. They were very easy to mar with a knife, and they became cloudy, and then they were filthy on top of all that. So hopefully we can find some way to at least keep them clean and free. I don't know what we'll do about the posting. They aren't supposed to post them on all the various utility poles either, and you go by a utility pole, and there may be 3,000 staples stuck in them. Council Member, I couldn't agree with you more. One thing that, as far as some of the research, preliminary research I might add, that I've done with respect to working with Arts in Motion, and trying to facilitate these shelters with the blessing of Lextran as more of a public art type of facility, but also a functional use facility, we see that there's a decrease in postings and graffiti and those types of abuses to these types of shelters, where if you just have a cookie cutter type of shelter out, it does serve a purpose, but it does make itself a target. If we can facilitate these to be something somewhat more decorative, and the community is willing to assist in those efforts, I think, not to speak for Lextran, but I think we're all on the same page, that we'd like to use that as an opportunity to foster that type of utility. Well, hopefully that'll happen. I agree. Thank you very much. Certainly. Council Member Stevens. Do you know when the bus shelter in front of the Ferrell's building will be ready to start installation? I may have to defer that to my colleague. All the hurdles have been cleared? Good afternoon, Councilman. Right now, they haven't established a date yet. They say sometime in the fall. That's where they're looking to have it completed at this time. I believe all the other hurdles have been taken care of at this time, and they've talked to us, and when they are ready, we're going to do the ones. Our construction company is going to lay the foundation and the path for them. Well, we're all looking forward to that particular bus shelter. I've worked with Mrs. Hurd since she began her effort, and it's an example of a citizen who wants to help her community by putting around art at various bus shelters. I know once she gets this one going, we hope that it will keep going and have others. This is in front of a government building, and we had problems there trying to get everything worked out and trying to do it on private property and the sidewalk and other places. It creates, as Mr. Blevins said, a lot of hurdles. I'm glad you all are helping resolve that red tape. Just as Mr. Muente mentioned, we are working with Yvette and her organization to do some more of those type shelters, and we met with her several times, and we are very amenable to that. Well, she's a very determined person, and I know it will happen unless somebody gets in her way. Thanks. Council Member Stennett. Thank you, Mayor. Before you leave the podium, do you have a schedule over here? Do you have a schedule of where all the shelters are going to be placed and what order you're going to go in? Have you already developed that type of plan? Actually, since we began meeting with Mr. Muente and his personnel, we've placed about ten shelters already. Well, I'll say seven, and we have six that are going to the state right away at this time, and then we have one that is going to go on Fortune Drive with ACS that they're working on for us right now, and we have one that has not been identified yet. And then we do have another list, a set of shelter locations that we're going to bring to them to help us with at a later date. Can you get the Council a copy of the ones that you already placed and the ones you hope to place here soon and whatever you hope to do in the future? Yes, we can. Thank you. Council Member Blevins. Thanks, Mayor. I just wanted to add to Dr. Stephens' comments. I met with Ms. Hurt this morning and Jared as well at the Southland Association, and she relayed, Dr. Stephens, that the design for the Vercels Road Shelter is due today, the engineering drawings and everything, so it's progressing nicely. And in that conversation, Jared allowed that the LexTran is going to open up a new route on Southland Drive, and the Southland Association is interested in working with Ms. Hurt and are in motion to try and do another shelter in that area. So that's progressing as well. Thank you. Anything further? Seeing none, we're prepared to move to Council reports, and we'll start with Council Member Gordon. Thank you very much, Mayor. Just two items. There is a lot going on in our community this coming Saturday, May 17th, and I just wanted to make note of one announcement, and that is the Armed Forces Day Picnic, which will be at Woodland Park from 1130 to 1 o'clock on Saturday, May the 17th. And the rain site for the picnic is the Dunbar Community Center at 545 North Upper. So if it rains, we encourage people to go to the Dunbar Center. And I'd like to encourage, in particular, anyone who is a military member or a family member, as well as the community, to come celebrate Armed Forces Day at a picnic, free food. And then the second item is, this is just something that I was really happy to hear about from our Parks and Recreation folks. A few years ago, probably, I'm looking at Council Member Myers, maybe three or four years ago, three years ago, we started talking about putting more services online for our community, and I noted that Parks and Rec has had great success with registering citizens online. In particular, they have, since yesterday morning at 9 o'clock, well, actually, it's been less than 24 hours, I think, they've registered 262 citizens to take swim lessons, and that's just online. And then they signed up more than 600 campers online last month, and I think this is one of our good successes at offering a service to our community where people don't have to drive, get in their car, drive to a place to sign up for a class. And I just want to send out kudos to Parks and Rec for this really good success of online registrations. Thanks. Let me elaborate on that just briefly. By saying it took a lot of cooperation from the folks in Parks and Recreation to get those particular classes online. I think some of the shelters can be reserved online now as well, and they've had a lot of assistance from the folks in the Office of the Chief Information Officer in terms of making all the technology work, so it's been a collaborative effort, and I appreciate your kind words. Thank you. Council Member Myers. Thank you, Mayor. Mr. Jarvis, could you come up for a second, please? Thank you for coming in today. You're welcome. Could you give us an update on the Code Enforcement Abatement Fund? We are currently, that fund is empty. There is no more abatement money in that fund. We are making plans now to transfer money from our demolition fund. That's the monies we use to tear down dilapidated properties. We did that in January. We transferred $20,000 out of that fund. We'll do that again now, another $25,000 that will come out of the demolition into the nuisance abatement fund. Okay. Do you think you'll need that money by the end of the year? Absolutely. In the demolition? Absolutely. In the demolition side after you move it? Oh, in the demolition side. Demolitions are one of those things that we have to, there's a long process to get ready to tear a house down, and it's one of those things that we can push that back a little bit to take care of the immediate issues. And the immediate issues, of course, right now are grass, weeds, trash and debris. So we can really, we can manipulate those dates on the demolition side, and we should be okay. Okay. Can you give us an update on how people are doing at recapturing, how we're doing at recapturing those funds after we abate? Normally, when we abate a property, we'll send a bill to a property owner, and that's collected through the law department. And then the law department, they take the collections, and then the money is then transferred back to the general fund. Okay. So do you have a record, or do you know how much we've received back, how much we've recaptured? I do not. This year? No. I'm sure the law department could probably answer that. Okay. We normally just, we issue the funds, and we abate the properties, and then we send it on to the law department, and then really we don't get involved much past that. Okay. So those funds go in the general fund rather than back into your line item for this fund? That's right. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Mayor, I have a question, and I don't know how we best address this issue, but is there an ordinance that requires that these abatement dollars, when they're recaptured, they go in the general fund instead of back into the abatement fund so that we can continue that program? I don't know the answer to that question. Let me see if one of the commissioners happens to know that offhand. We'll be glad to check and get you an answer on that because I don't know. Okay. They may not know the answer off the cuff, so. Maybe Commissioner Bennett does. Thank you, Commissioner Bennett. Sure. As a general rule, all of the revenue collections, absent a specific ordinance otherwise, would go into the general fund. There is no separate ordinance directing that these go back into the abatement fund. So currently they just go into the general fund. The abatement fund is then funded through the normal budget process. And looking forward to 2009, where we're currently working with our link, which Councilmember Lane is chairing, and taking a hard look at that abatement budget and seeing if there's some adjustments that need to be made there. So we'll be working with that as we go forward also. Okay. Thank you. I guess I'd like to make a motion to put this into committee. It seems to me to make sense just to, if we're going to set up an abatement fund, that when we recapture those dollars they would go back into the abatement fund so that they wouldn't have to move monies from different funds in order to continue the program. And I don't know, I don't want to just make a motion to do that. So I'd like to make a motion to put that into, I guess would that go into services committee? Or budget and finance? Okay. So I move to put that issue into budget and finance. Second. I have a motion by Councilmember Myers and a second by Councilmember Lane, I think it was, to refer the issue of abatement recollection proceeds to the budget and finance committee. Any discussion? Those in favor of them, please vote aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Thank you. And I will be attending both the Gaines Way Neighborhood Association meeting tonight as well as the Center Parkway Neighborhood Association meeting tonight. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Councilmember McCord. Thank you, Mayor. A couple things. There was an issue that had come before our law department from the Commonwealth Inspection Bureau with regard to the electrical inspector's fee schedule and looking at that, and it has not been, that fee schedule has not been moved in a number of years and there's a number of folks that like to talk with council about that. And so I'd like to refer that issue of the electrical inspector's fee schedule into the planning committee. So moved. Second. I have a motion by Councilmember McCord and a second by Councilmember Myers to refer the issue of electrical inspector's fees to the planning committee. Is there any discussion? Councilmember Gordon. Is this a financial issue? Yes, ma'am. And you would like it in planning? Well, it falls underneath building inspections, so wherever the most appropriate place to put it would be, that was my, as we were talking to the law department, where we felt like it should go. Okay. So it's a fee schedule study. Yes. Okay. Any further discussion? Those then in favor of referring that item to the planning committee, let it be known by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. And with that, whoever is staffing that, Councilmember Gordon, from the council office, I would ask that Stephen Vickroy be a part of that schedule to speak to that. He's the attorney for this group and can bring forth that information and would like to speak on their behalf. So I'd just like to make sure he's on the agenda when we convene. The next issue is we keep talking about the management audit. I know employees see the management audit online and have a number of concerns. And I want to point out that the management audit was done and it's really nothing more than 420 recommendations. And I think that a lot of times people look at things like that and there's certainly a great deal of fear and a great deal of uncertainty with something like that. And I just want to point out that as council works through this with the administration, it really boils down to what are the recommendations of this outside entity. What are the validity of them? Are we going to pursue any, all, some? But it is that, just 400 and some recommendations. And, again, to allay some of the fears within urban county government, please know that. The second thing is in our employee extra, on the front cover, we talked about the two new fire bikes, the bikes that were for our fire department. And I appreciate Commissioner Bennett and Chief Hendricks for having these extra medics for our special events. And we look forward to kind of expanding that public safety bike program and offering it to police and fire. And that kind of segues into the last issue, which is this is bike week. A number of bike events are going on. I'd encourage folks to go to lfucg.com and to look at the schedule. But it all kind of culminates on Saturday morning at the courthouses. We have a 10-mile car-free ride. The police will block off traffic and you'll be able to ride for 10 miles across Lexington on your bike with your family. And this is a precursor, Mayor, to something that we've been talking about for about a year, of the opportunity to close roads for pedestrians and for bikes and offering opportunity for people to get out and move around and without having to interface with traffic. And so some of that's going to be coming later as well in the year. But this weekend, Saturday morning, that begins at 10 o'clock. I would invite everybody out. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you very much. Council Member Crosby. Thank you, Mayor. I move approval of NDF. Second. I have a motion by Council Member Crosby and a second by Council Member Myers to approve the NDF. Is there any discussion? Those in favor, please vote aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Thank you. That's all. Council Member Hinson. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to announce that Monday night, the 19th, there's a Gulfview Estates neighborhood meeting. And a lot of the neighborhoods in the 11th District will be participating in the Great American Cleanup this weekend. And I plan to clean up Preston Cave, which is adjacent to McConnell Springs. Thank you. Thank you very much. Vice Mayor Gray. Thank you, Mayor. This is Preservation Week across America. And yesterday, a ceremony was held here in the Council Chambers. Mayor Newberry presiding. I believe Council Member Stevens was here. Anyone else? Council Member Blevins. I'm about to get to that. And at the conclusion of the ceremony, our very own Council Member DeCamp was honored as the recipient of the Special Preservation Award. And so far as I know, I don't think there ever had been one of those before. So I thought it would be appropriate that we all recognize Council Member DeCamp. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Stevens. I'm not sure how old you have to be to get a history award like that. But maybe someday you'll catch up with me, in age at least. But I wanted to move that the management audit and an upcoming audit, especially of the Family Care Health Center, be placed in the Planning Committee for further discussion. The motion is to refer the management audit and the upcoming audit of the Family Care Center to the Planning Committee. Family Care Center Health Service Clinic. All right. I had a second from Council Member Myers, I think it was. Any discussion? Those in favor, please vote aye. Those opposed, nay. Motion carries. I wanted also to thank the Emergency Medical Services. I was attending a funeral yesterday of a friend, and his brother-in-law collapsed during the latter part of the Mass. And the Emergency Medical Service was called and came to the scene in, I think, less than four minutes, Chief, maybe. And the gentleman who collapsed had fainted, and somebody knew that I might have gone to medical school, so they tapped me and went back there and was helping him. And he recovered. He fainted. But we took him on to the hospital. I understand he's doing fine today. But the emergency medical team, both the ambulance and the fire company that came, handled the incident with great discretion and dispatch, and it didn't interrupt the service. And the widow of the deceased for whom the funeral was being held, it was her brother. And she is very thankful to you, Chief, and to your crew for what you did. And so am I. The third thing is I heard there's going to be an election sometime next week, and to that effect, the Fifth District is having a meeting tomorrow night at Henry Clay High School cafeteria. There will be no food service, but we will serve up to three candidates for the Fifth District Council, who are running in the primary, and all citizens are invited. They will be able to hear their candidates and ask any questions they wish. Thank you. Does any other member wish to make a report? I have no formal mayor's report. I would simply request that the Services Committee meet and deal with the issue of the employee auto usage as promptly as it can. And that is that will stall us from being able to sell the excess automobiles that we've got. And so it's costing us money to We'll put it on the first item on the next meeting. Great. Thanks very much. That takes us down to the last item on the agenda, which is public comment on issues not on the agenda. Is there anyone who wishes to address the counsel? Mr. Cobb. Peace and love to the council. I'm grateful for my life today. Lexington is changing. We've got new people coming in town, new mentalities. I'm asking the council to bear with us. Set aside some money for the young people of Lexington. We need basketball camps. We need micro city again. We need something delicate for the young people. I would like to shine everybody in their shoes. I'm not too proud to do that. I don't have to shine shoes. I'm called to do that. It keeps me grounded because I could easily get a big head. But we need to ask God to have mercy on us. People are getting wiped out by cyclones, gunshots. We've got to put our differences aside and work together, love everybody, and somehow figure a way how to get along. God is watching all of us. And I'm asking him to have mercy on my soul because my friends are dying all around me, white, black, it don't matter. It's a life. I respect the council. I've said things in the past that might sound crazy or whatever, but I respect y'all. Y'all got a hard job. Y'all job is hard as the president. I respect y'all. I ask y'all, please, let me shine your shoes. We set up shoe shines everywhere. We can solve all the economic problems from the ground up. We've got to start at the feet. I ask the mayor. The mayor has been patient with me. I thank you for your patience, mayor. I done fussed at him, argued at him. He's been patient with me. I thank you for your patience. You've got a hard job to do. But I'm on your team, baby. When I come against somebody from out of state, my mayor is better than your mayor, baby. Believe that. Thank God for Lexington, Kentucky. We can do something with what we got. Let me shine your shoes. I want the hardest criminals. I'm going to teach them how to shine shoes because we all got to bow. I did a commercial for Dan Glass. He asked me to create it. And I told him I want to come out there with the Burger King commercial, with the Burger King man. He said, why you want to do that? I said, we all got to bow. In five seconds, peace and love. I love you, Andrew. I love you, brother. I love you, mayor. Peace and love, J. Greg. One. Thank you very much. Does anyone else wish to address the council? Let me bring up one thing that I've been reminded I failed to do during the mayor's report. We have a brief report on the status of the consent decree, our efforts to implement that. It shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes, but if you'd like to hear that today, we can do it today. If you prefer to wait until some other time, we can do that. If there's no objection, we'll go ahead. Seeing none, Ms. Taylor. Okay. This is quick. If you'll remember back a couple months ago when Charlie and I came and gave a presentation on the consent decree and what the requirements of that were, we told you that what we wanted to do was provide good communication, frequent communication, so that you feel like you have the information you need about progress we're making versus the requirements. And this is our first draft. What we are handing out is sort of a monthly update that we thought we could provide you in general to the council, and then in more detail we're covering specific items on that draft in the sanitary sewer and stormwater oversight committees. So this is kind of a written overview of where we are with a lot of events. We can give you a quick highlight, a couple of the top things today if you'd like, or you can kind of skim through that report. We could e-mail this to you. We could do a presentation. Basically, we're inviting your input, how you would like to receive communication. So if you have any comments or thoughts about that. I don't want to read it to you, because obviously you can read it for yourselves, but. Let me just say we're willing to do this in whatever fashion you all prefer. There may be some benefit in terms of doing it verbally so that it will be communicated via GTV3 to the public. But if you prefer for us to merely do it in writing on a regular basis, we're okay with that, too. So if anybody has strong feelings one way or the other, feel free to voice them now or let Commissioner Taylor or me know over the course of the next week or so. We can touch on highlights, however you want to do that. We have a couple things we've done that we're happy with. Obviously, the part that says no deadlines missed is a good thing. Anything? All right. What we'll plan to do then is monthly or so give you an update. Council Member Blunt. Just real quick, Mayor, since you invited us to comment. We have currently two committees that oversee some aspects of the EPA consent decree implementation. That's the Sanitary Sewer Oversight Committee and the Stormwater Oversight Committee. It's my feeling, and I don't want to speak for the entire council, that those committees are focused on sort of details in those areas. But what we don't have is a way of keeping an eye, oversight, I'm not sure what the right word is. That's too heavy-handed. That's not what I mean. But a way of keeping informed about consent decree activities in particular. And what I would like to request is that as we get our management partner on board, which we've now selected and hired, is that they come forward with a recommendation for how to form a project team, a management team. And that may include council resources, and perhaps we can solve it with one entity instead of setting up yet another subcommittee of the council. Let's just do double duty with an entity that I suspect you're going to form anyway. So I guess I'll look to you guys for a recommendation on how we go about that. Well, for the time being, until we have not yet hired them by virtue of getting the contract signed, but we do have a recommendation we'll be bringing to you shortly. And until that process is firmly in place, we'll come to you with a three or four-page summary on a periodic basis just to where you and the public will be aware of what's going on, and then if that gets too cumbersome for whatever reason, tell us and we'll adjust. Thank you all. If there's no further business, we'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Second. We have a motion by Councilmember Myers, a second by Councilmember Stevens. To adjourn, those in favor, please say aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries.