# Council Work Session - Virtual Meeting Packet - August 18, 2020 > Auto-transcribed civic record · August 18, 2020 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/5189 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/5189?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2020-08-18 - **Last revised**: August 18, 2020 - **Length**: 3,503 words > ⚠️ **Auto-generated content.** The transcript on this page is the Granicus stenographer's live closed-captioning track, captured at the time of broadcast (typos and broken sentences common). Speaker labels come from the same track. Structured facts were extracted with GPT-4o; the narrative summary was written by Anthropic Claude Sonnet. Verbatim wording and speaker attribution 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 virtually on August 18, 2020, at 3:00 PM, with Mayor Linda Gorton presiding over the session. The council addressed four agenda items during the meeting, focusing primarily on routine business matters and neighborhood development funding. Three motions were voted on by the council, with approval granted for the meeting summary, new business items, and neighborhood development funds allocation. The council also received an informational report from the Planning & Public Safety Committee. No public comments were heard during this virtual session. ## Attendance All members of the council were present for the August 18, 2020 meeting. **Present:** • Mayor Linda Gorton • Lisa Higgins-Hord • Vice Mayor Kay • Council Member McCurn • Council Member James Brown • Council Member Mossotti • Council Member Swanson • Council Member Lamb • Council Member Reynolds • Council Member Farmer • Council Member Ellinger • Council Member Plomin • Council Member Moloney • Council Member Bledsoe • Council Member F. Brown • Council Member Worley **Absent:** None **Late:** None The meeting achieved full attendance with all 16 members present. ## Votes and Decisions The council took action on three items during the August 18, 2020 meeting, with all motions passing unanimously. **August 11 Work Session Summary Approval** [timestamp: 00:45] Vice Mayor Kay moved to approve the August 11 work session summary, with Council Member McCurn providing the second. The motion passed unanimously. **New Business Items Approval** [timestamp: 02:00] Council Member McCurn made a motion to approve new business items. The motion passed unanimously without requiring a second. **Neighborhood Development Funds Approval** [timestamp: 03:00] Council Member McCurn moved to approve neighborhood development funds. This motion also passed unanimously without requiring a second. All three votes were conducted as unanimous consent votes rather than formal roll call votes, with no council members voting against or abstaining from any of the items presented. ## Budget and Financial Actions The council approved several contracts and agreements totaling over $284,000 in expenditures during the August 18, 2020 meeting. **Mental Health Services Contract** Resolution 0753-20 authorized a $170,000 agreement with NAMI-Lexington to provide services for the Fayette County Mental Health Court. This represents the largest financial commitment approved during the session. **Infrastructure Projects** The council approved Change Order No. 1 for the Dartmouth Drive Culvert Replacement Project under Resolution 0773-20, adding $3,916.29 to the existing contract with Churchill McGee, LLC. This change order likely addresses unforeseen conditions or scope modifications discovered during construction. Additionally, Resolution 0774-20 approved a Memorandum of Agreement with the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the University of Kentucky for sanitary sewer infrastructure replacement work valued at $110,828.50. This agreement appears to involve coordination between multiple government entities for essential utility improvements. **Emergency Medical Services Partnership** Resolution 0775-20 established an agreement with the Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical Services for a Community Paramedicine Program. No specific dollar amount was associated with this contract, suggesting it may involve in-kind services, grant funding, or administrative coordination rather than direct municipal expenditures. The approved financial actions demonstrate the council's focus on essential services including mental health support, infrastructure maintenance, and emergency medical services. The total identified expenditures of $284,744.79 reflect ongoing commitments to public health, safety, and infrastructure needs within the community. ## Appointments The council took action on one appointment during the August 18, 2020 meeting. • **Lisa Higgins-Hord** was appointed to the 6th Council District. This appointment represents a single personnel action taken by the council during this session. No additional details about the appointment process, term length, or specific responsibilities were provided in the available meeting materials. ## Contested Items The primary contested item during the August 18, 2020 meeting centered on the issue of no-knock warrants and the appropriate policy response to community concerns. **No-Knock Warrants Policy** Community members expressed opposition to the use of no-knock warrants, with disagreement emerging over whether the city should implement a temporary moratorium or pursue a complete ban on such warrants. The nature of the contention involved community opposition to current practices, with residents advocating for stronger restrictions on law enforcement's ability to execute warrants without prior announcement. The specific concern raised focused on the distinction between a moratorium, which would temporarily suspend the use of no-knock warrants, versus an outright ban that would permanently prohibit their use. Community members appeared to favor the more restrictive approach of a complete ban rather than the less definitive step of a temporary moratorium. The disagreement highlighted broader tensions around police reform measures and the extent to which local government should restrict law enforcement practices in response to community safety concerns. The debate reflected ongoing national conversations about police accountability and the balance between public safety operations and civil liberties protections. No specific outcome or resolution was documented in the available materials for this contested item, leaving the final disposition of the no-knock warrant policy question unclear from this meeting's proceedings. ## Approval of Summary [timestamp: 00:45] The council considered approval of the summary from their August 11 work session. Vice Mayor Kay and Council Member McCurn participated in the discussion of this agenda item. The summary was approved by the council. ## New Business [timestamp: 02:00] The council addressed several new business items during this portion of the meeting, with Council Member McCurn serving as the primary speaker for this agenda item. The discussion focused on the approval of various agreements and contracts that required council action. Council Member McCurn presented the new business items to the council for consideration and approval. The council proceeded to review and discuss the proposed agreements and contracts presented under new business. Following the discussion, the items were approved by the council. **Outcome:** All new business items were approved by the council. ## Neighborhood Development Funds [timestamp: 03:00] The council considered approval of allocations for various community projects under the Neighborhood Development Funds agenda item. Council Member McCurn served as the key speaker for this discussion item. The agenda item focused on the approval of funding allocations for multiple community-based projects, though specific project details and funding amounts were not detailed in the available materials. The discussion centered on distributing neighborhood development resources to support local initiatives. Council Member McCurn presented the funding recommendations to the council for consideration. The discussion appeared to proceed without significant debate or concerns raised by other council members regarding the proposed allocations. The council ultimately approved the neighborhood development fund allocations as presented. The approval allows the various community projects to move forward with their allocated funding support. ## Planning & Public Safety Committee Report [timestamp: 04:00] Council Member James Brown presented the Planning & Public Safety Committee Report, providing an update on several key law enforcement policy matters currently under committee review. The report focused on three primary areas of committee work: • **Police Department Policies** - The committee has been conducting a comprehensive review of existing departmental policies and procedures • **No-Knock Warrants** - Discussion of current practices and potential policy changes regarding no-knock warrant procedures • **Collective Bargaining Agreements** - Review of ongoing negotiations and agreements with law enforcement unions Council Member Brown delivered the report as an informational presentation to update the full council on the committee's ongoing work in these areas. The report served to keep council members informed about the committee's progress on these public safety policy matters. This was presented as an informational item with no formal action required from the council at this time. The committee continues its work on these policy areas, with further updates expected in future meetings. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve the August 11, 2020 work session summary - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve new business - **Motion** — passed (0-0): approve neighborhood development funds - **Motion** — passed (0-0): adjourn at 3:48pm --- ## Full transcript chief let's go ahead and start the meeting since we are late understand I'll start with the covid statement. This meeting is being helled via live video teleconference pursuant to 2020 senate bill senate bill 150 in accordance with krs 61.8 because it is not feasible to offer a primary physical location for the meeting. And so with that, I'll call to order the August 18, 2020 council work session. On this, the 100th anniversary of the passionage of the 19th amendment to the constitution giving most women the right to vote. Welcome everybody there are no rezoning or docket to approve so first up is our table of motions. >> for August 11 work session. Do I hear a motion? >> move approval. >> second. >> vice mayor kay moves approval. Council member Mccurn seconds. Are there any questions? All those in favor show your hand, please. Thank you, that passes unanimously. There are no budget amendments and if I could please have ar motion for new business? >> move approval. >> second. >> thank you. Now, are there questions? If you will use your blue hand to please we'll get to questions. I see no blue hands. There are only four items all those in favor please raids your hand that motion as proved unanimously. And next is continuing business I'll need a motion for neighborhood development funds, please. >> so moved. Second. >> thank you council member Mccurn are there any questions j all those in favor please raise your hand. That's unanimous yes vote. Now I believe council member james brown and council member mossotti's object sense is prepared to give planning and public safety judge 16 report. >> thank you, mayor. Planning and public safety committee report out summary we approved the minutes of the May 26, 2020 committee summary. President-elect flarmt policies and procedures divided into five separate presentations statutory authority, keith warren attorney with the law department provided information on police discipline reviewing the ordinance that regulates this process. He said the course of discipline process derives from statutes ordinances collective bargaining agreement and the police general orders most of the discussion centered around the disciplinary process and disciplinary review board. No knock warrants, chief weathers of the lexington police department explained the multistep process for obtaining a no knock warrant there. Was concern expressed regarding a moratorium as opposed to a ban on no knock warrants. Chief weathers emphasized that with the moratorium in place no (Inaudible) Your audio is corrupted. i don't know what you did. >> is it still corrupted? >> there you're good. >> okay. How far back do I need to go. >> not far at all. It just started. >> chief weathers emphasize the moratorium in place would only be executed in emergency situations and it is important to consider. >> I'm not sure if you need to get out and then get back in but it's corrupting your speech again I'm not a tech person so I don't know what to do about that except try getting back in. >> or lean back and pij up your paper. You May be doing it yourself. >> can you hear me now. It's clear now. >> I'm getting a notice on my screen saying something about it. I think it's more than that. I can try logging on another computer. Collective bargaining agreements. Attorney with the law department reviewed the cba for the police and sergeants which will remain in effect until a new agreement is reached. He highlighted the disciplinary issues covered under article 15 which incorporated state law and in order to make changes, state law would need to change there was some discussion about collective bargaining not taking place due to the pandemic and the agreement remaining in a continuous status there was also some discussion about council - involvement in the process which at this time agreed is only ratifyin the agreement. Presentation on the fop policies and procedures and provided clarification to the demands that have been highlighted in recent protests. There was some discussion regarding internal disciplinary investigations especially those taking place at the same time as criminal proceeding. Chief weathers explained that eight can't wait is a campaign to bring immediate change to police departments he said the website states we only use three of the eight policies and he reviewed each of the eight policies and explained how lexington employees each of those in training and techniques and there was concern expressed regarding policies and technique and chief weather addresses those concerns and explained the reasons for using some of the more dangerous techniques and the consequences for not following policies. No further comments or action was taken on this item. The meeting adjourned at 7:13:00 P.M. So moved. Thank you very much. Are there any questions for council member brown thank yo very much for that report. Next up is council reports. If you'll log in. We'll work through those. Thank you, mayor. We received an email we, being the council members, I believe they sent it to everybody or to a few, Miss Jessica winterers, an attorney that is involved in a planning commission recommendation not only for my district but for another district I believe might be council member Mccurn's she was bringing up a comment or a concern about when these planning commission recommendations are going to be brought forward to us via work copy docket via tuesday's work session and she was concerned about they're not able to be public comment which I understand that but I I don't know if she is listening to this work session and I can respond to her but I believe that when it comes to that type of a matter, they will be dealt with in a different manner. If there is an attorney that is going, that has a request for a zone change matter, that they would actually be dealt with differently and I just wanted clarification on that for those purposes. >> council member lamb, we are working on that to make sure -- it's a little different with a hearing opposed to just public comment so we are working with chris edwards and planning to figure out a way to do that. And I don't have all the details of that to share with you right now but we will have that very shortly. >> I appreciate it. I just know when we have the work copy docket in front of us, unfortunately, that didn't come out right fortunately there is an opportunity there that the public has to, well, people have to be allowed to request a public hearing or make their comments. Either that or we have to hold off further on the planning commission recommendations that are coming forward so I appreciate that information and that we are working on it, thank you, mayor. >> council member reynolds. >> thank you. Mayor. Tomorrow from 3-5, a mass distribution of food through God's pantry along with community action council and oxford circumstance. I will probably be -- that will probably be their last mass distribution. They did it every week for a while in cardinal valley and back and forth with winburn, the one tomorrow will probably be their last one and if anybody needs food, they can go to the God pantry's food bank and the one on cambridge to get a week's worth of groceries. I just wanted to make sure everyone was aware of that and also tomorrow once again from-47, the -- from 4-7, the farmers market. There has been a variety of farmers there every wednesday and lots of great produce. I hope people will check it out thank you. >> qowcialg james brown. >> thank you, mayor. Is director duncan available? >> one moment and I'll let him in the room. >> yes ma'am. >> yes, sir, this is council member brown. I know just recently last week we voted on the first -- we had the first reading of a resolution in regards to the floor to area ratio change in the zone text. I'm supportive of that but I think we just need to give some public explanation of what that is and how that works into the whole comprehensive plan so director, can you give us some information about that? >> certainly, happy to. Thank you, council member brown this is something that came out of the 21 comprehensive plan. There were a number of initiatives that were recommended by the planning commission that we pursue as updates to the zoning ordinance to really potted earnize the ordinance and the tblar area ratio was one of those. The regulations as they exist currently date back to the 1970s tet of merger so the floor area ratio standards were developed at a time when infill was not a planning priority and when there was a vastly different amount of land available for development what we did was look at floor area ratio and see how could it be modernized to address our our our our our our our and the standards set through the comprehensive plan. So just to say quickly what floor area ratio is, it is the relationship usually measured in square footage of the building and lot size so, for instance, you have a 10,000 qair foot lot and in the zoning ordinance it says for that zone, the floor area ratio is.5, you can build up to 5,000 square feet of building on that lot. Any time there is a floor area ratio greater than a whole number or greater, then you can ostensibly cover the entire lot or have you to build up so it really describes how much building square footage can be on a site. And the reason this is become a problem is that it is one of the dimensional aspect as long with setback and building height and parking that controls ultimately how much building you can have and in the r-3 r-4 and r-5 zones where we have our apartment buildings primarily, we are finding that more and more apartment developers are bumping up against the far first and causing them to have to make decisions about how much density they can provide because the far is limiting so we reviewed it carefully. We looked at the standards in the community and came up with an update to far that we feel is more accurately reflects what builders are looking to provide and that would provide the kind of, the density of housing we are looking for in our higherrence difficult residential zones that's what we propose so for the three apartment zones, we propose an increase in the floor area ratio and some instances, an increase in the height which wouldn't necessarily add more floors but enables you, for instance, in the r-3 to make a proper third floor so r-3 would have three stories r-4 would have up to four stories and r-5 up to five stories and this was, we actually presented this to the building industry association. They were very supportive of it. The planning commission was supportive and we think this is just one more tool to help us achieve additional housing, particularly on our infill lots that will help us to achieve some of our housing gold I think it impacts in a variety of different ways and I think it's just important that we share that and let people know what it is that we are doing to help address infill and housing affordability and that sort of thing. And I apologize, I meant to ask you for some information on this last week. But I think it's still relevant and timely so thank you. >> thank you, mayor. >> thank you, thank you, director duncan. >> yes ma'am. >> next up is council member swansonson. >> thank you, mayor. I don't know if charlie martin is in the chamber but a big congratulations for, they've completed laying all the sewer pipe on the euclid avenue project over a year ahead of schedule. The amount of good that will do to this city in terms of economy recovery when businesses reopen and U.K. Comes back in very impressive. Not only was it exemplary speed but there was really good work on communications with neighbors and businesses and I really just want to commend him and his team for their great work on that. >> thank you, mayor I see commissioner albright, I'm sure she will message to charty martin. >> yes, I will, thank you very much, that's a big job well done for them I totally agree with you and the communication team as well. thank you and also I told Mr. Martin this a couple weeks ago and he immediately transferred the cred to it his team which is both the sign of a good leader and you only get a good team if you are a good leader. Congratulations all around on that I think that might have been partially a silver lining to covid-19. There are a tiny few I just wanted to -- I have a couple of different things first in conversations with the administration and vice mayor kay, we have moved the budget meeting to 11:00 on tuesday. We are going to start that meeting with the discussion and presentation about the small business development grant program. We'll do that first. After that, full discussion we will take a break and the meeting provide everybody time to have lunch, and come back at one or before and allow them to start with the presentation from the commissioner of finance on our budget which will take a great deal of time. I'm anticipating and following that up with a presentation on the rental and the tenant housing presentation so that's the intent of that meeting. We'll get the agenda later this week but I wanted to give you a heads up and if you have other requests for cares money that would you like to have in that conversation, make sure you let us know so we can put it in for the conversation as a whole second, we have had a great success at moon dance and they're going to be begin with the concert friday night I want to give a shout out to our park staff who has done a really good job of making sure that people follow the guidelines and are respectful of others. We have 400 people coming to that event and the number of people who have come up and said thank you for allowing, working hard to allow to us have some semblance of normalcy has been great. I want to say thank you to that. If you want to go, you can register online the since from us with the outbreak of the jail, was I can't believe it hasn't happened sooner. While we are all concerned and mindful. A special shult out to them that we do appreciate the effort that each one of you are taking in your job to be there and to do it well and to just remind you that we are appreciative of your efforts to do so that it is hard in those situations to protect everyone and thank you to them and remind them the longer they do their job, the better it is for all of us just want to say thank you to them. >> I wanted to follow up on council member swansonson's comments. Construction is almost over in chevy chase and it's a great thing. It was such a thing to watch and when you consider the amount of people out walking and out doing who had children with them who found this to be such an interesting ballet of sorts. It was free entertainment for a lot of people for most of the% summer and the drive to the finish in the last week and a half has been nothing short of tremendous. They poured a lot of concrete out here you were right, this is one of the few silver linings of covid and then second I brought up about trying to organize another practice zoom meeting. I would like to give voice to that again I know there is not a hurry but something we are deprive is ourselves of an opportunity of and then earlier in the planning and public safety committee meeting which was very good there are some comments that are good and fine comments and I support them all but when we say we have been lucky here in lexington it's really a tough time. It's a tough time in every community and I think that part of what you do is you make your own luck and certainly the level of professionalism and training that our first responders, especially our police in this instance, under some arduou circumstances has shown itself every time. To me that's one of the main factors that has let us be lucky. We have had quality people and quality positions well trained and well versed and acting in the best interest of the entire community so I just want to give that personal shout out because I think that we benefit from a lot of things and like council member swanson said, good people have good -- good leaders have good people around them and we see that. >> council member lamb. Sorry about this. I forgot there was one more thing I needed to ask. is Mr. Lanter in the council chamber? Did I see him earlier? I received a question last night via text about the divine providence incorporated funds that we apparently we were talking about on tuesday and what I'm trying to discern is is that part of the proposal that the mayor made and that we put on to the budget finance or is that part of that grant that that was and I don't remember, I don't have it in front of me. >> I understand there May have been some conversations in the community out there about some funding which did not come from us and we are not we have not created any kind of plan yet that has been finalized there have been lots of internal discussions we are preparing a plan for the 1.9 million that council allocated last week for household assistance. We've got some really great opportunities to provide assistance and different options for how to deliver that assistance but there have been have been have been have been have been have been have been have been have been has been some misconversation in the community to that regard so I just want to clear that up. That process is still very much internal. And we are finalizing those recommendations which we will bring to council. >> I appreciate that clarification. i I thought maybe there needed to be clarification on that matter and so thank you very much Mr. Lanter. I appreciate that. >> thank you. Council member reynolds. >> I forgot to ask a question. Is chris edwards around by any chance? Is he around? I'm not sure. >> setting up for breaking the bronze ceiling so he has not been around all afternoon. >> I'll wait and ask my question later. Thank you any other questions or comments all right. Thank you. There is no mayor's report but I did want to say some of you commented on leadership in various areas and I can't stress enough the fantastic leadership of our cao sally hamilton, who, particularly during this the covid-19 times since early March, has let a crew of commissioners who are top notch and our division directors and everybody has risen to the location and it has been such a great team effort that way challenges that we never, ever in our wildest imagination could have foreseen and sally and the commissioners and the directors have just wrangled the beast and every time there is a new challenge, they turn and they have a creative solution. And so I see cao hamilton in there and I just thank all of you so very much. It has made a difference. Our chiefs and our directors of public safety, every one of them have worked so very hard and so we are happying that this pandemic, we don't know how long it will last, but we know we have a great team to deal with it. So thank you. And there is nothing else on our agenda today so I want to encourage the public to get online and watch this virtual ceremony at 8:00 P.M. You can do it through lexingtonky.Gov/btbc breaking the bronze ceiling or look on your cable tv, your government channel. Everybody have a great night. Is there a motion to adjourn. >> so moved. >> second. Thank you very much.