# Council Work Session - June 24, 2008 > Auto-transcribed civic record · Council · June 24, 2008 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/532 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/532?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2008-06-24 - **Body**: Council - **Last revised**: March 2, 2026 - **Length**: 7,342 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 June 24, 2008, with Mayor Newberry presiding over the session. The meeting focused primarily on informational presentations and committee updates, with three main agenda items scheduled for discussion. The Council heard updates from the Corridors Committee and Planning Committee, as well as received a presentation from the Kentucky League of Cities. During the course of the meeting, the Council conducted 10 motions and votes on various matters, though no public comments were recorded for this session. All three agenda items were informational in nature, indicating this was largely a briefing and update session rather than one focused on legislative action. ## Attendance The following Council members were present at the June 24, 2008 meeting: **Present:** • Mayor Newberry • CM Blevins • CM Stinnett • CM Ellinger • CM Beard • CM Gorton • CM DeCamp • CM Myers • CM McChord • CM Lane • CM Blues • CM Henson • CM Blavats • CM Gordon • CM Crosby **Absent:** None **Late:** None All Council members were in attendance for this meeting, with no absences or late arrivals recorded. ## Votes and Decisions The Council conducted ten votes during the June 24, 2008 meeting, with nine passing unanimously and one requiring a roll call vote. **Procedural Approvals** The meeting began with standard procedural votes. CM Blevins motioned to approve the docket, seconded by CM Stinnett, which passed unanimously. CM Ellinger then motioned to approve the summary from the June 17, 2008 meeting, seconded by CM Beard, also passing unanimously. Budget amendments were approved unanimously on a motion by CM Blevins, seconded by CM Gorton. **New Business Items** CM DeCamp motioned to approve new business items A through U in a single vote, seconded by CM Myers. This comprehensive approval passed unanimously. **Audit-Related Decisions** Two motions addressed audit matters for the Family Health Care Clinic. CM Gorton first motioned to approve hiring a CPA auditor, seconded by CM Ellinger, which passed unanimously. A second motion by CM Gorton to place MP audit recommendations into the appropriate Council Link, seconded by CM Myers, required a roll call vote and passed 8-5. Additionally, CM Gorton motioned for Paul Schoninger to send notice regarding MP audit recommendations, seconded by CM Beard, passing unanimously. **Infrastructure and Property Decisions** The Council approved several infrastructure improvements. CM Lane motioned to install a multi-way stop at Saron Drive and Forest Lake Drive, seconded by CM Myers, passing unanimously. Another motion by CM Lane to rename Jimmie Drive to Jimmie Campbell Drive was seconded by CM Blues and passed unanimously. **Property Condemnation** The final vote addressed property enforcement. CM Ellinger motioned to initiate condemnation proceedings for 1426 Bryan Avenue, seconded by CM Gorton, which passed unanimously. The only contested vote involved the MP audit recommendations placement, suggesting some Council division on audit-related procedures, while all other matters received full Council support. ## Budget and Financial Actions The Council approved several significant financial items totaling over $3 million in grants, contracts, and purchases during the June 24, 2008 meeting. **Grant Awards Accepted:** • Resolution 346-08: $46,410 grant from the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice for the Lexington-Fayette Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Council • Resolution 360-08: $100,000 grant from the Bluegrass Area Development District for the Division of Youth Services Out-of-School Youth Program • Resolution 362-08: $410,940 grant from the Kentucky Cabinet for Health & Family Services for the Department of Social Services New Chance Program and other services **Major Contracts and Purchases:** • Resolution 361-08: $2,029,040 in Purchase of Services Agreements with various partnering agencies, representing the largest financial commitment of the meeting • Resolution 347-08: $115,450 contract with Mountjoy and Bressler, LLP for the financial audit of LFUCG funds for fiscal year 2008 • Resolution 359-08: $265,000 engineering services agreement with Strand Associates, Inc. • Resolution 355-08: $75,880 purchase of Rain Tainers for the 'Lily' Program • Resolution 348-08: $7,200 datacenter hosting services contract with The Center for Rural Development The approved items reflect a mix of federal and state grant funding for youth services and social programs, along with necessary operational contracts for auditing, engineering services, and technology infrastructure. The largest single expenditure was the multi-agency service agreements totaling over $2 million, while the smallest was the $7,200 datacenter hosting contract. ## Contested Items The Council meeting on June 24, 2008, featured one contested item that resulted in a split vote among council members. **Management Partners Audit Recommendations** The primary point of contention involved a motion regarding the handling of audit recommendations from Management Partners. The disagreement centered on whether to place these audit recommendations into the appropriate Council Link system for further processing and consideration. The motion ultimately passed, but with a narrow margin that highlighted the division among council members. The final vote was 8-5 in favor of placing the Management Partners audit recommendations into the Council Link system. While the specific details of the audit recommendations and the nature of the opposition were not detailed in the available materials, the close vote suggests there were substantive concerns among the five dissenting council members about either the content of the recommendations, the process for handling them, or the implications of formally incorporating them into the Council Link system. The 8-5 vote outcome indicates that while a majority of the council supported moving forward with the formal processing of the audit recommendations, a significant minority had reservations about this approach. This type of split vote on procedural matters involving external audit recommendations often reflects broader disagreements about implementation priorities, resource allocation, or the scope of recommended changes. ## Corridors Committee Update Chair CM Stevens provided an informational update on the Corridors Committee's ongoing projects and initiatives during the meeting. The presentation covered the committee's current focus areas, with particular emphasis on two main projects. Stevens reported on the Richmond Road cleanup efforts, which represent part of the committee's broader mission to improve the appearance and functionality of major transportation corridors throughout the city. Additionally, Stevens discussed the committee's tree maintenance activities, highlighting the ongoing work to maintain and enhance the urban canopy along key corridors. This tree maintenance program appears to be a regular component of the committee's responsibilities for corridor beautification and environmental stewardship. The update was presented as an informational item, with Stevens serving as the primary speaker reporting on the committee's activities. No specific action items or decisions were presented to the Council as part of this update. The presentation provided Council members with current information on the Corridors Committee's progress and ongoing initiatives, maintaining transparency about the committee's work in managing and improving the city's major roadway corridors. ## Planning Committee Update Chair CM Gorton provided an informational update on several key planning initiatives during the council meeting. The update covered three main areas of Planning Committee activity: • **Liberty Road** - CM Gorton reported on ongoing developments and planning considerations for this corridor • **Downtown Streetscape Plan** - Updates were provided on the progress of downtown improvement initiatives and streetscape design planning • **Management Partners Audit Implementation** - The committee chair discussed the status of implementing recommendations from the Management Partners organizational audit This was an informational presentation with no action items or decisions required from the full council. The update served to keep all council members informed of the Planning Committee's current work and progress on these ongoing municipal planning initiatives. No specific concerns were raised during the presentation, and no formal outcome or vote was required as this was purely an informational update to the council. ## Kentucky League of Cities Presentation Sylvia Lovely, Executive Director and CEO of the Kentucky League of Cities (KLC), delivered a presentation to the Council regarding the services and support that KLC provides to municipal governments across Kentucky. During her presentation, Lovely outlined the comprehensive range of services offered by the Kentucky League of Cities to member municipalities. She highlighted two key areas of support: insurance services and training programs. The insurance services help cities manage risk and provide coverage for municipal operations, while the training programs offer professional development opportunities for city officials and staff. The presentation was informational in nature, designed to educate Council members about the resources available through KLC membership and how these services can benefit the city's operations and personnel. Lovely's role as Executive Director and CEO positioned her to provide authoritative information about the organization's capabilities and offerings. This agenda item served as an educational opportunity for the Council to learn about the broader support network available to Kentucky municipalities through the League of Cities. The presentation did not require any action from the Council and concluded as an informational session. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approval of the docket - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approval of the summary of 6/17/08 - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approval of budget amendments - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approval of new business items A-U - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Motion to approve hiring of a CPA auditor for Family Health Care Clinic - **Motion** — passed (8-5): Motion to place MP audit recommendations into appropriate Council Link - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Motion to have Paul Schoninger send notice regarding MP audit recommendations - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Motion to place a multi-way stop at Saron Dr and Forest Lake Dr - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Motion to change street name of Jimmie Drive to Jimmie Campbell Dr - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Motion to initiate condemnation process for 1426 Bryan Ave --- ## Full transcript Going into the fiscal year 2009, I just wonder who is tracking all the requests that we're asking for in terms of grant matches and whether or not we ultimately get it. What happens to that money that we budgeted that we're not going to use for the match? Does your department track those, Paula, on all the grant matches? Because I see we're budgeting a lot of matches we hope to get, but if we don't get the matches, what happens to that money we budgeted and who is tracking that for us? It is currently right now in everybody's individual division budgets. Budgeting does keep track of it as a whole. If we don't get the grants, the divisions are told and then actually the match will sit there unless there is another use for it. So those funds can be budget amendment and used for something else. Does it make any sense or have we ever looked at putting all those matches under one spreadsheet or one department so we can see where we're getting them and where we're not? Because I see a lot of them we've applied for and we don't get and that money just goes and moves somewhere else. There's not a lot that we return. Most of the match that we budget in 2009 are usually for continuation grants. They are not usually for new grants. They are always generally for continuation. So most of them we do get. The only new ones are the ones, those are just new and usually they're not a part of the budget process. They're usually done separately as a separate budget amendment. Okay. Very good. Thank you. You're welcome. And then I have a question on E. I know Commissioner Coe is in the back. Do we put a time frame in our agreement with our outside audit folks as to when we should expect that back? Because I know in the past it's usually been mid-October. Is there a deadline that when we hope to receive that back or is it open-ended as soon as they get it done? Because I know in 2007 obviously we had some difficulties with some software. We do work with a scope of work that has timelines in it. We're actually hoping to be finished the second week in September this year. That's the plan that's on the table right now. So when we approve E, that date is in there or is that just... It's not in the agreement, but it's in the... We agree upon an audit schedule once they first start working with us. We sit down and decide who needs to do what and under what time frame. But they understand clearly that we intend to be finished the second week of September. And you have all the data from, I guess, O-8, I assume, is good data that we can use and proceed forward? We do have good data this year, yes. Thank you. And then last on G&H, I know the Sanitary Sewer Oversight Committee had an opportunity to review some position additions and changes in the Sanitary Sewer Department and Environmental Quality, et cetera. I didn't know if Commissioner Taylor, I don't think she's here, but if we could get a... Maybe every council member who's not on that committee as well can get a synopsis of how many positions we're adding over in that department, how many we're taking away, and how the reorganization is working. Because we're seeing a lot of these that came up during the budget process as well. So if we can kind of see that spreadsheet again for every council member so they can understand what all the new positions are and how they're being funded, et cetera. Ms. McFadden, do you understand the nature of the request? If you'll follow up... I think you already have it. I just don't think every council member has been given a copy. All right. Thank you, Mayor. And then lastly, a comment on T. If the council will know there's a rescission that we approved a previous resolution, a new resolution will be coming forward to council on Thursday to make up for item T. So I just want to make you aware of that's coming. Thank you. Council Member Gordon. Thank you, Mayor. I had a question on you, which I see Rama is in the room. This is about our partnership with U.K. for the downtown wireless network. And it's page 8 of the packet. I was just curious about this wireless network because it says it's for public safety, but then there will be some limited use for the citizens. So go ahead. Well, from Lexington's standpoint, it's for public safety. What we're doing is we're partnering with U.K. What this partnership will enable is they will manage the network, we'll become part of their network, and they'll open their network also to public safety for us. And since they're administering it, our policy is if they open it up to the public, which they do have limited access to public, after they make sure their students are able to access their network, they have a little layered network. And we have agreed to comply with the same standards they have in place. What sort of area? This is the same from Midland to, I guess. This is a network that Skytel put in place that we had purchased for $10. It's the downtown area that we're talking about over here that will become part of U.K.'s network. U.K. has about over 800 access points on campus that they'll be making available to the city public safety officials. So the citizen part of it will be that a citizen, would a citizen be at U.K. to use it? Or can I bring my laptop downtown and sit on a bench and use it, or how's that going to work? Sure. You can use it, but priority will be given to public safety network. So in other words, let's say if it's a 1.5 megabit pipe, U.K. will allocate half of that or probably 80 percent of that to public safety, which means they're going to have the priority to access that network. Okay. And then what's left over, you have the capability to, you know, join. So would that be managed then by whoever's signing on to it? Is that how that works? It'll be managed by U.K. They'll have a guest user log in, and you'll have to abide by the policies that they put in place. Okay. Now, in the, on page 44, the detail of it, it says that future expenses are budgeted. Can you tell me what those are? Basically, this is replacements for the access points downtown. What we have agreed is any replacements, U.K. will assume, will pay 50 percent of the cost, and we will assume 50 percent of the cost. This is only for the one downtown. Anything on U.K.'s network, they're going to take care of it 100 percent. Okay. They will also take care of the cost of administering the network that is on the back end of making sure the logins and routers and things that have to go in place. Okay. We have to provide some fiber connectivity to their connection where we have to meet their broadband connection, so. How much is budgeted? $5,000 is what's budgeted right now, which is a small amount, and we thought this would be a pilot project, and we have decided to work with the police department initially to move forward on this. Okay. Thank you. Council Member Henson. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to point out, I believe, an error on page 3, item D. It's bullet number 2. The total project cost should probably be, I believe, $77,000, rather than $777,000. Is that correct? Commissioner Helm or Paula? Is that correct? Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. I also had a question for Commissioner Kelly on R. And, actually, I was just interested to find out more about the temporary housing and how that's going to take place for the Newtown Pike extension. The site development is pretty well completed, and then this summer, we're scheduled to bring, start bringing in the units. Okay. And hopefully before fall, we'll have the thing fully in operation. So they're going to be like temporary trailers? Well, they're modular units rather than trailers, but that's correct. Okay. Maybe sometime then you and I could sit down if you could talk to me about that. I'd be interested to see what's going to happen. Maybe we can visit the site and I can show you what's going on. Okay. And then maybe will these folks be relocated eventually? This is temporary until the permanent housing is completed. Okay. Okay. Well, thank you. Council Member Blavats. Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to have Charlie Martin or Penny McFadden come down and explain to the Council the Lilly program that's proposed in Section F and give the public an overview of what this program is. It looks pretty exciting to me. We thought a picture would be worth a thousand words, but we have a picture of the Lilly, which is our new family member that goes along with Herbie, Rosie, and Lenny. And if you can see in the right-hand corner with the flowers on the top, it really kind of blends into the landscaping there. But the Lilly is a new program that we hope to launch, a pilot program. We're going to purchase 500 Lillies, and they're really like rain barrels, but they're an improvement upon the rain barrel because they're aesthetically more pleasing than a rain barrel, and they also have some things that rain barrels don't have, which is a better connectivity to your downspouts and the ability to put in soaker lines so that as the rain goes down into the Lilly, you can slowly leach out the rain or the water. And what we're hoping to do is maybe do some kind of a match program with the folks in the neighborhoods where we pay possibly 50 percent or more of the cost of the Lilly and then have them go online and register for a Lilly, and that way we can kind of track and keep information on how the Lilly's working. So we're really excited about having the new member of our family. Well, thank you so much. I just want to make sure we got that out to the TV viewing audience as well. This is an important addition to our arsenal of water quality weapons, and I thank you for all for doing the program. Oh, and we'll have a big coming out party for her, so. Any other discussion with regard to items of new business? Seeing none, we'll proceed to vote. Those in favor of approving the new business items, please let it be known by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, no. The motion carries. We're now ready for the presentations. The first is from the Corridors Committee. Dr. Stevens. The Corridors Committee met in its regular session last Tuesday on June 17th. We discussed some of the pending activities. One is our project on Richmond Road to try and clean up along the creek by the country club and along the apartments on the other side of the street. The creek kind of goes underneath Richmond Road, then back again in front of Applebee's. So we would like to clean that up and get rid of the foreign vegetation and make it more of a visual amenity, as it is not now. We haven't heard about our grant for the Tate Creek sidewalks. The downtown trees are doing okay, but are going to require some maintenance this year, and we have little money in the budget to do that if we approve it Thursday night. And the Corridors Committee will probably have to pick that up and use some of our money, which has been allocated to continue the tree maintenance program, if necessary, downtown. The trees are doing well, and we want them to continue to do so. And we don't want them to suffer from neglect. We are on the budget for next year for 108, and we hope that stays through Thursday night. The two projects that we have a grant for from the Transportation Enhancement Funds are for Sayles Road and Newtown Pike. And we welcome any suggestion from citizens. We have contracted or are in the process of contracting with M2D, a new landscape firm, which is the amalgamation of Oregon McElvain and LandPlan, formerly LandPlan. And they are working on both these projects. On the Newtown Pike, we probably won't do much in the plan between the interstate and the new town and New Circle Road, because the Highway Department plans on building a six-lane road there after 210, and which will disrupt all the landscaping on both sides of the road, which they will replace. But it doesn't seem much point in doing something now and have it torn up in two years. So we'll concentrate on from New Circle Road to Main Street. And some of those properties we hope to help and make a better entrance into our town. I know some people are concerned about the trees on Tate's Creek Pike. As you know, we took out the honeysuckle there the year before last, planted trees, and most of them had done very well. So we contracted with a contractor to replace the dead trees and also put some new trees at each end. So now it goes from Alumni or actually from where the median starts just south of Lakewood all the way down to New Circle Road. But unfortunately, the trees, unbeknownst to the contractor or anybody else, were dead when they were put in the ground. And they never came to life. So if you see a bunch of dead trees on Tate's Creek, it's a recognized phenomena. And the contractor will replace them at the right time of the year. And we're not sure whether we want to go ahead and rip them out now and leave the barren holes or just leave them until we replace them. So their death is noted and will be taken care of. We do have some people in town who were given permission to remove trees in front of their business with the promise they made that they would replace them with proper vegetation. And those people have not replaced them. And the building inspection, who is responsible for that, is working with them and will issue the necessary citations if they don't replace the trees. The State Highway Department is working on the tree nappers that got the trees in front of Denny's on Newtown Pike. That's in their jurisdiction. And they have in the past required property owners who illegally cut down trees to replace them. And we hope that's what will happen there. If anyone has any ideas about what they think might help Versailles Road or Newtown Pike, we're open for suggestions. Thank you. Thank you very much. Council Member Stephens, any questions? All right, we're ready for the Planning Committee report. Council Member Gordon. Thank you, Mayor. The Planning Committee met June the 17th of 2008. We had three issues on our agenda, the first of which was the Liberty Road update. And Bob Baird of our Division of Engineering gave the update. The Phase 1A is moving right along and the Starshoot Parkway connection has been made and the light signal should be going up shortly. The second item on our agenda was the downtown streetscape plan, the master plan. And Mike Webb of our General Services, who is the project manager, gave this report along with the consultants. And one of the main things that we looked at, this is the second time the Planning Committee has heard and discussed the streetscape master plan. One of the main things we heard was how they are considering sustainability and the environmental impact on our streetscapes. They're working very hard on the bicycle mobility and design guidelines for the bus shelters. So they're partnering with Lextran on that. And the Planning Committee expects to hear the final draft of the streetscape master plan at its August 19th meeting. And then the final issue on our agenda was the management partners audit implementation and Mr. Joe Kelly from the Mayor's office gave that update. And there were some motions to come out of this discussion. And the first is a motion by Councilmember Stephens to hire a CPA auditor to perform a financial audit for the Family Health Care Clinic, which was seconded by Councilmember Crosby and is now passed on as a motion to the Council. I have a motion by Councilmember Gorton and a second by Councilmember Ellinger to hire a firm to conduct a financial audit of the Family Care Center. Clinic. Clinic. Excuse me. That's okay. Any discussion? Those in favor, please vote aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. A second motion by Councilmember Blues to table the motion to place the management partners audit issues into council links failed. A third motion by Councilmember Beard to place the management partners audit recommendations into the appropriate council links was seconded by Councilmember Crosby and passed with an eight to two vote. So that motion comes forward today to the Council. Is there a second? Second. I have a motion by Councilmember Gorton and a second by Councilmember Myers to refer the management partner audit to the appropriate links committees. Any discussion? Those in favor, please vote aye. Aye. Opposed, no. No. Let's vote electronically and get the accurate vote. Those in favor, please vote aye electronically. Those opposed, vote nay. And it appears I'm checking to see here we have a couple of Councilmembers who have not voted. It passed. Uh-oh. And, let's see, Councilmember Crosby voted aye, is that correct? Okay. Motion carries by a vote of eight to five and two absences. All right. And the final motion by Councilmember Crosby to have Paul Schonegger send notice to the division directors for them to send him the management partner audit recommendations discrepancies by August 15th of 08, and Mr. Schonegger will then send them to Councilmembers, Council Administrator, and the administration by September 5th, 08, passed without dissent. And I'd like to bring that forward as a motion. Second. I have a motion by Councilmember Gorton and a second by Councilmember Beard, and I'm not going to try to repeat it. Does anybody have any questions? Those in favor, please vote aye. Aye. Those opposed, vote no. Motion carries. That completes my report, Mayor. Thank you. It's my pleasure now to invite Sylvia Lovely, the Executive Director of the Kentucky League of Cities, to come to the podium for a presentation, and, Sylvia, I appreciate your role as patient. I imagine this is not the first City Council meeting that you've had to sit through for a little while. Absolutely. Thanks for being here. Actually, really enjoyable. It really is. I love this work. This is democracy in action. I'll wait until you get your handouts. Thank you, Mayor Newberry, Vice Mayor Gray, and members of the Council for this great opportunity to come before you today. It's always a pleasure to do the hop, skip, and a jump just right over here from we're kind of catty-cornered from you. Let me begin by, first of all, thanking you for your belief in buying into our insurance product. I want to congratulate you because you own this insurance company. It's your hometown insurance company, so it's sort of a perfect segue into what I want to talk to you about here today, and I have such a pleasure to do that, to tell you more about the Kentucky League of Cities. I have a couple of folks with me here today. I'm sort of two-eightieths, I guess, of the staff. I have 80 staff members, and there are actually much more. They're very, very important staff members. Bill Hamilton, who you already heard from, is Deputy Director in charge of our insurance and financial services programs, and Robin Cooper, next to him, is the Director of Member Services. He's uniquely qualified to talk about that, as he was a mayor at one time of Paintsville, Kentucky. So here we are, and again, I thank you for an opportunity to come and tell you more about the Kentucky League of Cities. I'd love to do that, and so thank you for that. Several years ago, I made a presentation when a certain movie was out, and so we called it A League of Your Own. It is A League of Your Own. Proud to call Lexington our hometown, I just had a board meeting here where I had about 50 mayors and city officials, and they're assorted guests, so we bring people in all the time. This organization was founded in 1927, and sometimes in the middle of the General Assembly session, I look like I've been there since 1927, and we're in the middle of something right now. But I've only been with the League since 1988. Makes me sound rather youthful, doesn't it? But we are in Lexington because of an affiliation, historically, with the University of Kentucky. And though we have a Frankfurt office, Lexington is where our corporate roots lie. KLC and the 370 member cities, from the smallest to the largest, own the community trust building that you are very aware of, just a couple of buildings up. We occupy the top two floors and have some great tenants. And I have 80 employees that I'm very, very proud of, as I alluded to, consist of highly professional experts in a variety of fields, including insurance, legal, facilitation, and many other specialties that I'll tell you a bit more about in a while. The reason that I'm able to have 80 people on two floors is because so many of those folks are out on the road every single day. We call them the road warriors, actually. They offer training and education and their expertise, and in some instances, just listening to ideas and keeping their ear to the ground. Things like in Paducah, the artist relocation Lower Town project that's making national news. Or Owensboro city officials who ask us to help them figure out how to align their city ordinances with the vision of the community. KLC is a complex business, and I want to explain that. I have 370 member cities, as I said, governed by a board of your peers. Mayor Jim Newberry sits on my executive board. Vice Mayor Jim Gray sits on the board, a policymaking body. It's an association business, really, in three parts. One, the association business is most known for its advocacy mission. We're a little bit busy right now. I just testified yesterday on the pension reform bill, and we're hoping, of course, for some good results out of that. But in addition, I have a legal and inquiry service, publications, City Magazine, KLC Direct, wage and salary survey that we do each year, a legal handbook, special reports, such as our groundbreaking work and updated work constantly on tax reform, research on city matters that you can learn from. For instance, we're getting more and more into the conservation movement. Not only is it good for the environment, but we're finding that we can find ways to help you find efficiencies and cost savings that are so important today. In addition, a second part are our insurance and financial services businesses. And you know about those in great detail, and again, that insurance company is owned by the cities. And finally, the New Cities Institute, which is a separate nonprofit that was founded several years ago to look into the new issues of the day, kind of how do you create new cities of the 21st century where citizens are very, very different, can live and work anywhere. And we have assisted you in high-level leadership training and education and others around the state envisioning through the considerable resources of your citizenry. Our mission, it's quite simply to help you in the complex job of running your city. We know that the world is changing rapidly, and one of our jobs is to hover at 30,000 feet and help you out and look around and see what's going on out there. We know that the world itself is bewildering and that your jobs are difficult. You have dwindling resources and rising expenses. You have a changing relationship with our state and federal government as they face their own fiscal crisis. Environmental matters, understanding the changing public and its needs, just to name a few, as you move into a global economy and competing for jobs and talent all over the world. And we know that many of you have other jobs, and we know that when you decided to dedicate yourself to public service, you could not have known the complexity of what you would find when you arrived at City Hall, and thank goodness you agreed to do it and continue to agree to do it. But that's where we come in. Again, we're just a hop, skip, and a jump away from you or an email or a phone call, and we run into you at the grocery store, right, because you're our hometown. And to paraphrase the muffler commercial, we know cars and we love them. We know cities and we love them. We love Lexington, and we love to do our work here. And so what I want to do here today is to invite you to partake of more of our services, and if you know more about them, perhaps you can do that. I have the handout in the KLC folder. One, I'm going to refer to one in particular in a moment, but there's a whole array of listing of our services in there in the second piece, and the last piece is a book about city basics, just a quick guide on what cities are about, the legal structure of cities. We know that you are a large city. You have staff, unlike many of our small cities, that are dedicated to some topics. For instance, you have an excellent full-service legal department, and I must admit we do trade back and forth ideas and thoughts because some of this stuff in the city business you can't make up, right? So we do compare notes from time to time. But I want you to know that I'm, again, thankful for your taking our insurance product and congratulate you for that. But I want to show you the top page in the handout about some other ideas that we have that might be of particular interest to you, and it's entitled Leadership Center Programs and Events. One of the things that I'm most proud of is that we truly are educators. That's what we do. We go around. I do quite a bit of speaking. I have staff that do quite a bit of that and conduct seminars. That contains a listing. One of the more popular programs we offer assists city officials, though, in knowing their legal roles in the context of the form of city government in order to move the city forward in the most effective and efficient manner. It is a complex system out there in different cities, and Lexington is certainly unique. And we specialize in finding ways to help you become better versed on those differences. Why? Because we believe to become the quality communities that you have to be in the 21st century and knowing that you love your city and your work, that this is very, very important work. And I would point out that in your retreat last year, the council discussed that it was important for the mayor and the council to understand their respective roles in policymaking. And sometimes those roles become blurred. And I want you to know that we have the expertise and the experience that we believe we can design something. And that's one of the things I'm proudest of. We don't go in and do cookie cutter workshops. What we do is design these to fit your very needs. So knowing that and knowing that we wish for you to succeed and knowing that you do, I know that our hometown is a great place. And as we look around the world, we know that Lexington outshines so many. We just want to be a part of that success because, again, this is our hometown. We believe that Lexington is on the verge of explosive success. We want to help you achieve that and not only just have pride, but really tell Lexington's story everywhere. So that is my presentation, and I'd be glad to answer any questions or roll up my sleeves and help you design something right here and now that can help in any way to make this a better place. Does anybody have any questions for Ms. Lovely? Council Member Lane. I'd like to thank you for coming over today, Ms. Lovely. I was wondering if you had a budget stretcher you could bring in. We're trying to help you out on that. That's one of the biggest juggling acts. Our legislative program is very active in that arena. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Let me follow up on that question. I was going to mention this in the mayor's report, but I'll go ahead and mention it now. One of the situations that the League has been working on on behalf of all cities is the effort to reform the State pension plans. And it appears as though, if all goes as anticipated this week in Frankfurt, that there will be some pension reform legislation adopted by the end of the week. If adopted as anticipated, there will be a net savings to cities of 13.5 percent, I believe, is the number on our CERS contribution. That translates into roughly about a million for Lexington, if that materializes. So you ask about a budget stretcher, and, in fact, they do have a little bit of that going on right now, if what we hope is going to happen does, in fact, happen in Frankfurt this week. And we're very hopeful that it will. And if you can urge that on in any way, because it will be a savings. We have work to do, and we can't forget that. To change a complex system takes a while. But it's an important step they're taking this week. Council Member Crosby. I just wanted to say and encourage other council members. I'm sure a lot of them already do this. But to one publicly, thank you, because I know our office has contacted you on several occasions for research. And it has always been timely and just invaluable for our office, what you've provided to us on different occasions on various topics. And we could not probably have gotten that information elsewhere. So we really appreciate not only the information, but the timeliness that we're able to receive that information. And so I would just encourage other council members to really take advantage of what you're able to provide to us as officials. Thank you so much for saying that. I'm so proud of my staff. I tell you, they so crave working with you all that I'm almost afraid to mention that we might be able to design a seminar or something, because they'll just get so excited I won't be able to hold them down. Really and truly, that's true, isn't it? They love this work. Vice Mayor Gray. I want to just tag on to what Council Member Crosby was saying. You mentioned it earlier, I think, that sometimes we forget that after 15 months on this council that your guys were our original facilitators for our first retreat. That's right. And our second one, I think. And they really did a great job. I'm very proud of their work. They did a great job. And your work. I'm curious. I didn't really know about all these other workshops that you all engage. Are they contained in this? Are they described in more detail in this? Or where would we get more information? Oh, we can get you more detail on any of those that you want. Or I think the most exciting thing is how important it is to design something just for you. And we're willing to do that, taking bits and parts and pieces. The 360, 370, there are actually 435 cities in Kentucky. Three-seventy of them are members of the League. And there are basic forms of government. There are different sizes of cities, different geographic areas. And so that's what we engage in is knowing how to kind of create the core and then the edges that you need in particular. So that's what we would offer is to design something. Council Member James had mentioned not long ago some work on just the simple stuff like Robert's Rules and Protocols. And I didn't see that one on here, but I guess that that one could be fit into or carved into some other stuff. Yes, that would be excellent. And we've done that before. And we also have a very active program at our annual convention, which this year is in Louisville. But again, we can be anywhere and design those kinds of things for you. We'd love to meet with you and start doing that. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Any other questions for Ms. Ludley? All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate your time. Thank you very much. That concludes the presentations. We're now ready for council reports. Council Member McCord. Thank you, Mayor. Just a couple of things. One, I'm passing around a metrics that I had worked on, I guess since Austin we've been talking about jobs and job creation and going and looking at Austin, how they do things. And I think one of the things that we hear loud and clear with the public monies that we have given towards Commerce Lexington and towards economic development in our community is not this body, not really having an idea as to what does that mean to our revenue stream, how many jobs are inside Faye County versus outside. Granted, when we create jobs outside of Faye County in the region, there's an induced effect. There's an indirect effect. Definitely, it does raise the tide for all of us. But as it relates to our main source of income inside this government, it's really hard to translate that sometimes. And I think that working through this economic development task force, I really appreciate the Vice Mayor and Council Member Stinnett putting it together because it at least helps get at some of the questions and it allows us to see some of the folks with certain expertise to come in and help us. I wanted to pass this around as a point of information at this point in time. But what I would like to do is, next week or before our break, is to potentially adopt this metrics or with any kind of changes that we may have for the use of any public funds that go out for economic development. In this case, it would be the monies that we give to Commerce Lexington. And what you'll see is just a year-by-year breakdown, very simply, of within Faye County, what's happening, number of jobs, average salary, you know, resulting payroll tax dollars, those types of things. A column for outside Faye County with those same things and some totals. I believe we can do this with any entity that's in our community, whether it be U.K. Hospital or whomever. But I believe that with regard to our tax dollars that we give for economic development, this may be a way at least for this body to get a handle on it. And what I'd like to do is ask for your all's input if there's anything missing or if you'd like to change this before next week. But then when we come back from break, what I'd like to do is add this to the report out of Commerce Lexington when they come to report to us at their quarterly reports. I think having this would be an excellent thing, excellent tool for us to have. So this is for information only, but I would appreciate any kind of comments and I'll bring this forward next week. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Stennett. Thank you, Mayor. I just have one quick issue today. I know several of us over the last week received phone calls in regards to our policy of what signage is displayed on our flagpoles downtown. And if, Mayor, if we could, as a council, get a copy of what our current policy is, I know it's handling your office through Penny Hebel, if we can just get an idea of the cost, how the flags are paid for, just so when people call, we have an understanding about what our current policy is as a government. I know we don't currently pay for any of the flags. They're paid for by outside people. But if we can just get a policy as to how we're currently operating under. Sure. I'll ask Ms. Raybold to get Ms. Hebel to pull that together for you. There's a committee that oversees that, and we'll be glad to make that available to you. Thank you, sir. I think it probably needs to be a little clearer to some of us and also to the public. Thank you. Council Member Wayne. Thank you, Mayor. I wanted to bring before the council a multi-stop proposal for CERN Drive at Forest Lake. Okay. I just, I was going to make, thank you, Councilman Myers. I did want to just make a quick comment on this, that this request came in about a couple of months ago, and after the road had connected. And there was an accident a few weeks ago, which I think came at our recent meeting. However, we just received a report on June 19th from Traffic Engineering. And although the traffic counts do not really warrant a multi-stop at that intersection, their wording exactly was, based on the above results, the Division of Traffic Engineering does not object to a multi-way stop being installed at the intersection of CERN Drive and Forest Lake. And their primary reason for that is there are four bus stops for schools that run between Clearwater and Taste Creek Pike along CERN. And because they had indicated that the speeds had picked up some on CERN, so they felt that that would be okay. So we do have that motion made and seconded. And I appreciate approval of the Council to put that on the docket. The motion is to add an item to the docket authorizing the creation of a four-way stop at the intersection of CERN Drive and Forest Lake. Yes, sir. All right. Okay. We have that. We had a second by Councilmember Myers. Any discussion? Those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Those opposed, no. Motion carries. Okay. I'd also just like to give a quick report on the CERN Drive matter. I'd like to thank the Streets and Roads. They came out on Father's Day and got the sod installed, which is a real nice treat. And a lot of the neighbors have been very appreciative. All the temporary construction barrels are gone. And our next status is they're going to be putting some trees in in the fall. I think they'll be putting a final surface down as soon as they can get asphalt available for that location. Okay. My last item is I hereby move to place on Thursday night's docket a resolution changing the street name of Jimmy Drive to Jimmy Campbell Drive in memory of the late Jimmy L. Campbell, the former director of the Division of Sanitary Sewers. This name change is being made at the request of David Lucas in 9-1-1 because of, and I believe this will clarify some issue regarding identifying the street. So for public safety purposes. So my motion, I'd like to make this motion. So moved. Second. I have a motion with Council Member Lane and a second with Council Member Blues to add an agenda item for Thursday's docket to change the name of Jimmy Drive to Jimmy Campbell Drive. Any discussion? Those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Thank you, Mayor. That's all. Council Member Ellinger. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. I want to thank the Mayor and the Council Members who participated. We finished up our senior intern program last week and had 39 graduates that received their diploma on Friday along with over 200 people who came to the alumni luncheon. It was a great success. I want to thank all the LFUC employees that participate in here. They get an opportunity to learn about government and from all the evaluations. Everybody really enjoyed it and it was a very big success. I also want to thank the committee members, especially the co-chairs, Shannon Settles and Omar Gayhart. And also it's a public-private partnership where the program would not be successful if we did not have National City with Harry Richards and M&M Sanitation with Carrie Loy who give financial support and help us out on it. So I want to thank everybody who participated. It was a great success and I look forward to next year, which will be our 25th anniversary of it. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Thank you. Does any other member of the council wish to make a report? Seeing none, we'll move on to the Mayor's report. I don't have one today, but I do want to recognize Dr. Melinda Rowe from the Health Department who's here with us today just to tell you we're glad to have you with us. The last item on the circulated agenda was public comment on issues not on the day's agenda. We've already had some earlier today. Does anybody else wish to address the council? Very well. Vice Mayor Gray. Thank you, Mayor. I've got a motion to move into closed session. I move pursuant to KRS 61.8101C to go into closed session for the purpose of discussing proposed litigation involving the Lexington-Fayette-Urban County Government. Second. I have a motion by Vice Mayor Gray and a second by Council Member Ellinger to go into closed session. Any discussion? Those in favor, please say aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. I now authorize and direct the Department of Law to institute a combination process in Fayette Circuit Court to obtain title of the property located at 1426 Bryan Avenue for the construction of an open channel system for improvement of the stormwater conveyance system for the Meadows-Northland-Arlington Phase 3B improvements project. So moved. Second. I have a motion by Council Member Ellinger and a second by Council Member Gordon to initiate condemnation proceedings on the property he described. Any discussion? Those in favor of adding that item to the docket, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed, no. Motion is approved. If there's no further business, a motion to adjourn would be in order. So moved. Second. I ask Council Member Blevins to adjourn. And who was the second? Council Member Ellinger, seconded. Those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed, no. Meeting is adjourned.