# Council Work Session - August 10, 2021 > Auto-transcribed civic record · August 10, 2021 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/5405 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/5405?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2021-08-10 - **Last revised**: August 10, 2021 - **Length**: 14,459 words - **Speakers**: I've Gone As Far As I Can Go, Mayor > ⚠️ **Auto-generated content.** Audio from the official Granicus video was auto-transcribed with OpenAI's open-source Whisper large-v3-turbo model, run locally by The Lexington Times. Structured facts were extracted with GPT-4o; the narrative summary was written by Anthropic Claude. 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 August 10, 2021, at 3:00 PM in the Council Chamber of the Urban County Government Center, with Mayor Gorton presiding. The meeting addressed three main agenda items, including a recognition ceremony for the Department of Finance that was postponed, an informational presentation on ad valorem tax options for fiscal year 2022, and a public hearing regarding the proposed Residential Parking Permit Program. During the session, the council conducted eight motions and votes on various matters before the body. Three members of the public provided comments during the designated public comment periods. The meeting focused primarily on informational presentations and public input, with the Department of Finance recognition being the only item that required postponement to a future meeting date. ## Attendance All council members were present for the August 10, 2021 meeting. **Present:** • Mayor Gorton • Vice Mayor Kay • Council Member Sheehan • Council Member James Brown • Council Member Moloney • Council Member Ellinger • Council Member Bledsoe • Council Member McCurn • Council Member Fred Brown • Council Member Baxter • Council Member Plomin • Council Member Lamb • Council Member Worley • Council Member Reynolds • Council Member Kloiber **Absent:** None **Late:** None The meeting achieved full attendance with all 15 council members participating. ## Votes and Decisions The council conducted eight votes during the August 10, 2021 meeting, all of which passed by voice vote. **Agenda Modifications** Vice Mayor Kay motioned to remove recognition of the Department of Finance from the agenda, seconded by Council Member Sheehan. The motion passed by voice vote. [timestamp: 00:30] The council approved the docket by voice vote. [timestamp: 02:00] **Legislative Actions** Council Member Moloney motioned for a resolution to request extension of ad valorem tax payment deadlines, which passed by voice vote. [timestamp: 03:00] Council Member Bledsoe motioned to place a zoning change for Harrodsburg Road on the docket without a public hearing. The motion passed by voice vote. [timestamp: 05:00] The council approved budget amendments by voice vote. [timestamp: 07:00] **New Business and Reports** Council Member Baxter motioned to approve new business items, seconded by Council Member Ellinger. The motion passed by voice vote with one abstention. [timestamp: 09:00] The council approved Neighborhood Development Funds by voice vote, with Council Member Sheehan providing the second. [timestamp: 11:00] The Mayor's Report was approved by voice vote, with Vice Mayor Kay providing the second. [timestamp: 13:00] All motions were conducted as voice votes rather than roll call votes, so individual council member positions were not recorded for most items. The only noted variation was one abstention on the new business items approval. ## Budget and Financial Actions The meeting addressed two significant grant-related financial items totaling over $672,000. **Grant Acceptance - Charles Young Park Enhancement** The council considered Resolution 0767-21 to accept a $250,000 grant from the American Water Charitable Foundation and National Recreation and Park Association. This funding is designated for the Splash! program at Charles Young Park, which will enhance recreational facilities and programming at the location. **Federal Relief Grant - Shuttered Venues Program** Resolution 0772-21 involved accepting $422,229.75 from the Small Business Administration through the Shuttered Venues Operator Grant program. This federal funding is intended to compensate for lost revenue experienced during the pandemic shutdown period, providing financial relief for qualifying venues that were required to cease or significantly reduce operations. Both items represent external funding sources that do not require matching city funds, providing resources for park improvements and pandemic recovery efforts without impacting the municipal budget. ## Public Comment Three residents addressed the council during the public comment period, focusing on two main issues: the Residential Parking Permit Program and the Palmer Building. **Residential Parking Permit Program** Leslie Farmer spoke first regarding the proposed Residential Parking Permit Program [timestamp: 15:00]. Farmer expressed concerns about how the parking restrictions would impact students at Lexington Catholic High School, emphasizing the ongoing need for adequate student parking in the area. Karen Bailey followed with a contrasting perspective on the same issue [timestamp: 18:00]. Bailey voiced support for implementing the parking permit program, citing significant congestion and safety concerns on Fairfield Drive that she attributed to student parking. Her comments highlighted the tension between residential parking needs and school-related traffic impacts. **Palmer Building** Billie Mallory addressed the council about the Palmer Building [timestamp: 25:00]. Mallory emphasized the building's historical significance to the community and urged council members to carefully consider community input when making future decisions regarding the property's fate. The public comments revealed a divide in community opinion on the parking permit program, with residents weighing student access needs against neighborhood safety and congestion concerns. The Palmer Building discussion reflected broader community interest in preserving local historical assets and ensuring meaningful public participation in municipal decision-making processes. ## Contested Items The primary contested item during this meeting centered on the Legacy Trail closure for utility work [timestamp: 30:00]. Council members and community representatives expressed significant opposition to the planned closure, raising concerns about the impact on trail users and the adequacy of planning measures. The disagreement focused on two main issues: communication and detour planning. Participants argued that the public had not received sufficient advance notice about the closure, leaving regular trail users unprepared for the disruption. Additionally, concerns were raised about the lack of adequate detour routes or alternative access plans for pedestrians and cyclists who rely on the Legacy Trail for transportation and recreation. Council members joined community voices in emphasizing the need for improved communication protocols when major infrastructure work affects public amenities. The discussion highlighted the importance of providing clear, timely information to residents about closures and ensuring that alternative routes are properly planned and marked before work begins. While the specific outcome of this discussion was not detailed in the available materials, the concerns raised by both council members and community participants demonstrated unified opposition to the current closure plan and implementation approach. ## Recognition of the Department of Finance [timestamp: 00:30] The planned recognition of the Department of Finance was postponed during the meeting due to the unavailability of key personnel. Vice Mayor Kay addressed this agenda item, explaining that the recognition ceremony could not proceed as scheduled. The postponement was necessary because essential staff members who were to be recognized were not present at the meeting. No details were provided regarding when the recognition would be rescheduled or which specific personnel were unavailable. **Outcome:** The recognition was postponed to a future meeting date to be determined. ## Ad Valorem Tax Options for FY 2022 [timestamp: 22:00] Melissa Lueker presented the administration's analysis of ad valorem tax rate options for fiscal year 2022. The presentation outlined three primary approaches for setting the tax rates in the upcoming budget cycle. The options presented included: • Maintaining current tax rates at existing levels • Implementing compensating rates that would adjust for property value changes • Adopting a 4% increase to current tax rates Lueker provided analysis of each option's fiscal impact and implications for municipal revenue generation. The presentation examined how each approach would affect the city's ability to fund services and operations in FY 2022. Following the review of available options, the administration formally recommended keeping the current ad valorem tax rates unchanged for the upcoming fiscal year. This recommendation was presented as the preferred approach based on the administration's assessment of revenue needs and taxpayer impact. The agenda item was structured as an informational presentation, providing council members with the necessary background and analysis to inform future decision-making on tax rate adoption. No formal action was taken during this discussion, as the presentation served to outline options and communicate the administration's position ahead of formal budget deliberations. The presentation established the framework for subsequent budget discussions and provided council members with the technical analysis needed to evaluate tax rate decisions for FY 2022. ## Residential Parking Permit Program Public Hearing [timestamp: 15:00] The city held a public hearing to consider establishing a residential parking permit program for the 500 block of Fairfield Drive. The hearing provided an opportunity for residents and other stakeholders to comment on the proposed program. Key speakers during the hearing included Leslie Farmer and Karen Bailey, who presented their perspectives on the parking permit proposal. The hearing also included comments from school representatives, indicating that the parking issues may be related to nearby educational facilities affecting residential parking availability. The public hearing was informational in nature, serving as a forum for community input on the proposed residential parking permit program. The discussion focused on the specific area of the 500 block of Fairfield Drive, suggesting this location has been experiencing parking challenges that may warrant the implementation of a permit system to prioritize resident parking access. The hearing allowed for public comment and discussion regarding the potential impacts and benefits of implementing such a program in this residential area. No final action was taken during this hearing, as it served as an information-gathering session to collect community feedback on the proposed parking permit program. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Remove recognition of the Department of Finance from the agenda - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approve the docket - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Resolution to request extension of ad valorem tax payment deadlines - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Place zoning change for Harrodsburg Road on the docket without a public hearing - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approve budget amendments - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approve new business items - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approve Neighborhood Development Funds - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approve Mayor's Report --- ## Full transcript I have the power to reason the way If love can come, love can go If I can't go, we'll talk about it Who's got the power and nothing in love All you could believe, I believe she's never come away Thank you. You and me, we come from different worlds You like to laugh at me when I look at a girl Sometimes you're crazy, and you wonder why I'm such a baby cause the dolphins make me cry But there's nothing I can do I've been looking for a girl like you You look at me, you got nothing left to say I'm only bound at you until I get my way I won't dance, you won't sing I just want to love you but you want to wear my ring Well there's nothing I can do I only want to be with you You can call me your fool I only want to be with you Put on a little deal hand And no offense I say that line Is great you asked me what it went by Said I shot a man named Green And his wife Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. . . . . . . Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. ¶¶ Thank you. Thank you. Welcome everyone. This is August the 10th already and I'd like to welcome you to the Lexington Fayette Urban County Council meeting of August 10th. And the first item on our agenda, well, before we start our agenda, Vice Mayor Kaye has a motion about the agenda. Vice Mayor. Thank you, Mayor. I move to remove from the docket item 6D, which is the recognition of the Department of Finance for various reasons. Some of those key people will not be able to be with us today to postpone that recognition, so move. Is there a second? Council member Sheehan, are there any questions? All those in favor of postponing item D, please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Now, we have public comment for issues on the agenda, and I believe the one person who's signed up is for an item not on the agenda. So was there anyone who didn't get to sign up for an item on the agenda? All right. We'll go right on then. we have a docket and if I could have a motion to approve the docket please. Move approval. Second. All right, are there any questions or comments or walk-ons or amendments to the docket? Council Member Maloney. Thank you, Mayor. Due to what is the governor, I mean the CDC guidelines expanding the landlord to October, I thought this motion would come in at the right time to help them to stay. So a resolution, I'm sorry. I move to place on the docket of August the 12th, 2021, the council meeting, a resolution of the Urban County Council encouraging the Commission of Kentucky Department of Revenue, the Fayette County Sheriff, the Fayette County Clerk, and the Fayette County Attorney, an applicable to waive penalties and fees for delinquents at valorium taxes under the KARS 131.175. For those who can show that failure to timely pay ad valorem taxes were due to the coronavirus, I mean, coronavirus 19 pandemic, especially landlords of the residential property in Lexington Fayette County. I'm moved. Is there a second? Second. Councilmember James Brown seconds. Are there any questions? Councilmember James Brown. Thank you, Mayor. Councilmember Maloney or anybody else can answer. Has any of these agencies, government agencies, been notified of this request and have they acknowledged that that's something they're willing to do and can do? Well, Frankford has to make the changes and this is going to Frankford to get them to do this. And I've talked to the Chair if she knows about it and if Frankford gives them the authority to do it, I think they will all follow along with it. with it and due to what has happened to the landlord moved up to October and as you know most of the taxes come out in October. A lot of these landlords are going to be, will not be able to get a lot of their rent and will allow their rent to pay their taxes. So this is really what we're asking for their help. Okay thank you for that answer and I'll support it. I think you're right. A lot of In regards to local small businesses, a lot of the local landlords have been the most impacted from some of the moratoriums and the work stoppage. So I'll support it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Does anyone else have a question about the motion? Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Mayor. Could you give the dates again? Would you want to have it change from when to when? I can't read, Julia. Could you tell me the dates that you're changing from when to when? No, it would be Frankfort that would have to make that decision, not us. So we've asked them because October our taxes come out. Hopefully we can get Frankfort and the governor and him to make this approval. So that's why we send the resolution. But it's not saying when it's going to be extended to, you're just asking them to extend it? Well, hopefully, I assume they will make those kind of rules. I can't, we're asking them to help us because something has happened. Okay, thank you. Does anyone else have questions about the motion? No. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Council Member Bledsoe. Thank you, Mayor. I move to place on the docket an ordinance change in the zone from a restricted highway service business B3 zone to restricted highway service business B3 zone with a modified conditional zoning for 16.4 net acres for property located at 3801, 3901, and 3955 Herdsburg Road without a public hearing. So moved. All right. Council Member Worley seconds. Is there any question or comment? No. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. Council Member McCurn. Thank you, Mayor. I move to place on the docket item number two without a public hearing. This is an ordinance changing the zone from a townhouse residential R1T zone to a high-density apartment R4 zone for 0.46 net and 1.39 gross acres for the property located at 850 DeRode Street. So move. There's Council Member Fred Brown seconds. Is there any question or comment? All right. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, same sign. Okay, that motion passes. Is there anything else for the docket? All right, seeing nothing, all those in favor of approving the docket as amended, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? Okay, that motion passes. Next is approval of the summary of the July 6th, 2021 Council Work Session motions. Could I have a motion? All right. Council Member Worley. Council Member Ellinger. Seconds. Are there any questions? Okay. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. Next is budget amendments. Could I have a motion to approve? Move approval. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Second. Thank you. Council Member Reynolds. Council Member Fred Brown. A question concerning the police confiscated funds that have come through. Just a little bit of clarification on that. Let's see. Commissioner Hensley. There's a couple there, I believe. 992,000 is the total. I think it's two separate items, maybe. Bottom of five and top of six. Yeah, there's one for 510,000, one for 482. Just a clarification on that. That says to provide funds to establish various capital accounts by recognizing restricted fund balance in the federal asset forfeiture fund. Is that just a movement of money over to buy some capital of things? Right. So these three are their own restricted funds. Each one of them operates separately and different. And this is just to create and establish the budget within each one of those funds for the items that police is needing this year. Does that mean that we have that excess funds in that particular forfeiture fund? That's correct. Yes, sir. That has nothing to do with the general fund. Is there a bit of what's in that fund or we've still got a balance in the forfeiture fund? I'm sorry? Is there still a balance in that forfeiture fund? Police are budgeting right now what they need. We're still trying to close the year for that fund as well as our other funds, and so there may be a little bit of a discrepancy there at the end, but we're budgeting conservatively to make sure we have enough balance to cover. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Yes, sir. Thank you. Are there other questions about budget amendments, Council members? okay i see none all those in favor of approval please say aye is anyone opposed all right that passes uh next is new business if i could have a motion to approve new business thank you council member baxter and council member ellinger seconded and if you'll log in please if you have questions. Council Member Fred Brown. Thank you, Mayor. I guess I'd have Mr. Martin come forward. I've got two items there. I wanted to just, I guess, some clarification. But K, item K on there would be the purchase of property at 2220 Thunder Stick Drive. When I looked at the map there, what are you putting in there? Is that going to be another catch area? It's going to be another wet weather storage tank. Okay, and what's the dimensions of that one that's going there? Is it about like the other one? Obviously the dimensions are going to have to fit on that site, but off the top of my head it's going to be something like 200 feet in diameter it'll be roughly the size of the hotel that's next to it okay um off the top of my head there the original rmp called for about a four million gallon storage tank there so that's roughly the size of the one that is at richmond road in new circle roughly our final tank that we're putting in for is that the final one that we're putting in it is the final one in the planning stage we have six of them that we've constructed so far we have two they're under construction and then two additional ones in the future the um one of those is a town branch so we already own the property on it this would be the last property acquisition for the scheduled tanks there's one maybe one right now we didn't have any i guess we didn't have any property owned by the government anywhere close that we're not out there not out there okay The tank has to be in direct proximity to the pumping station that it serves. I saw that on the map. Yeah. So that's an investment that I guess we have to do through the grant, through what the government is asking us to do. The other one is the T, as in Tom, authorization to execute change order number two. Is this just a process thing because we already had the agreement for the $2.7 million? It is a process. Basically, we advertised and we hired Hazen and Sawyer back in 2011, so they've been our program manager for the sanitary sewer all along. We do have to re-advertise. I think the last time we re-advertised, they were the only people that submitted on it, so we're kind of riding the same horse all along. This is their last automatic renewal, so they will have to compete for it again next year, and if other firms want to compete, they can. Okay, okay. So that's all budgeted, isn't it, in your budget? Yes, it is. One other item, Mayor, if I've got time, would be item CC and Commissioner Ford, maybe, or Director Conrad. this is this is just another clarification i wanted to make sure i understood this this is coming out of arpa is that correct or is this uh no i'm sorry it's not out of arpa it's um lost revenue during due to the covid 19 pandemic and this is money come from the federal government to substantiate and support salaries in that area and other expenses? Yes sir that's correct Councilmember Brown. Small Business Administration, SBA is providing this funding to shuttered venues, operations such as the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center and the Kentucky Theater particularly for these funds that were not able to be open to provide services to the community during the height of the pandemic. It allows us to use these funds on capital, maintenance, personnel, etc. Well, that's not part of ARPA then, is it? No, sir. It's part of the federal government's response, but it's not ARPA directly. It's SBA. And does that bring us in compliance pretty much with what is owed debt-wise in those two particular organizations? I know we have a hard time on the Downtown Arts Center for it to break even. Well, these funds definitely help. I want to take the opportunity to thank our team over at Park Amber Llewellyn, who works in cultural arts, did a great job of stewardship to be able to bring these federal resources back to allow us to reprogram and get the facilities up and going. So this is definitely a win, I believe, for us, Councilman. Yeah, final thought. I've got 20 seconds. We're still trying to get somebody to run the Kentucky Theater. That's still in the mix? Yes, sir. We're very close to finalizing a preferred vendor to come in and manage the facility. Our facilities team are working with them as we speak. We'll bring that back to council, and we're also hoping to be able to identify a tentative date that the Kentucky will reopen under the leadership of our new management team. Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Mayor. I just want to bring to the council's attention and the public number Y, which was and I want to congratulate Charlie Lanter and his group for the getting the $250,000 grant and the private group American Water Charitable Foundation and National Recreation and Park Association for design and construction of a nature-inspired water play area in Charles Young Park called Splash. I think that's a great that we were able to get that $250,000. I want to thank everybody that was involved in that because it's always good to be able to a grant and and we don't have to put up any money for it so that was great thank you all thank you councilmember reynolds thank you mayor uh cao hamilton are you available to comment on item um a i i was wondering about that um the administrative specialist that is that for global Lex and it's expanding the, I guess, the position? Yes. I will speak from the mayor's office and if there's any other. That is Global Lex. That's the position that was there all the time, so it's not a new position. But this position was studied to whether it was exactly what she needed or not. And so it was reclassified to a new position, and it's about an $8,000, I don't know, about an $8,400 increase. Okay, so it was vacant for quite a while. It was vacant for a long time. And she never really knew if that was the type of position. And when it was studied, she was right. It needed to be a little bit different. Okay, and so it will mostly specialize in overseeing grants, is that right? I've gone as far as I can go. There she is. Isabel is here as well. She can tell you a little more about it. I'm sorry, I didn't see Isabel. That position is done. The position is a blend of the prior programming specialist, but it rises to an administrative senior because we need center management. So it will be dealing with grants, but it will also be dealing with procurement, with getting supplies and scheduling and being the Mayor's International Affairs Advisory Commission's secretary, just doing a lot of the administrative work that we've been missing. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member James Brown. Thank you, Mayor. My question is about item DD. And I guess it's really around every outside agency that's received the ARPA funding. I know some agencies had shared with us previously that they were concerned about the reporting aspects with it. What are we doing to make sure that these agencies are following those guidelines, and are we giving them any kind of support, or do they see it as a huge challenge with receiving this money? as funding well in this case we worked with charlie lanter and so the reporting requirements for for these three will be the same that the reporting requirements were in the previous year so it doesn't look like it's going to be a whole lot of additional paperwork and that sort of thing it does seem like it's something that they'll be able to manage and not be a big burden charlie can explain it better but he was able to do these as a contracted entity and so literally they were comfortable the only change we made actually it was to make it easier on them and the economic development investment board agreed to this is to make their reporting every other month as opposed to every every single month okay okay if i could quickly address the other agencies that were that are having arpa money um they Charlie had and his staff did a training for them they were very receptive the only one that was going to have difficulty was the Human Rights Commission because it was sort of a different situation and if you'll remember we switched that I think to budget stabilization and and I think the others the others have done real well and they also will be candidates for other ARPA money so they sort of need to get used to it yeah thank you for that And that's exactly why I asked the question. I think as we continue that conversation, knowing how these agencies are able to maneuver with these funds will help us make decisions in the future. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Are there any other questions about new business, Council members? All right. I see none. All those in favor of approving, please say aye. Anyone opposed? I need to abstain on Z. Okay. One abstention on Z. That motion passes. Now we will go to our continuing business and presentations. And the first item, I'll need a motion to approve the neighborhood development funds, please. I'll move. All right. Is there a second? Council Member Sheehan seconds. Is there any question? All right. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Motion passes. Next is Councilmember James Brown has a Planning and Public Safety report from July 6th. Thank you, Mayor. The Planning and Public Safety Committee, July 6, 2021, summary of motions. The meeting was called to order at 1.04 p.m. The first item on our agenda was the approval of the May 4, 2021, committee summary. There were no additions or corrections to the summary and the motion to approve passed without dissent. Next, we have the residential parking permit program for the 500 block of Fairfield Drive. Council Member Bledsoe provided a brief background to explain how the request for the permit grew out of concerns that there is little on-street residential parking on this street due to students from nearby schools using the street for parking. Motion by Bledsoe to approve the resolution established in a residential parking program for the 500 block of Fairfield Drive from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday between the addresses 528 and 571. Seconded by Council Member Lamb, motion passed without dissent. Our last item was the amendment to revise the standards for street patterns and continuity. Stewart Kearns, Planning Senior of the Division of Planning Transportation Planning Section, provided the presentation concerning amendments to Article 1 and Article 6, revising patterns for street continuity. He explained the block length revisions as recommended by the Planning Commission, which would change the current requirements from a 1600 foot maximum block length with a minimum of 500 foot to an 800 foot maximum block length with no minimum. He explained that the current standard is that cul-de-sacs should be no longer than 1,000 feet, but the planning commission recommends they be no longer than 500 feet. Motion by Bledsoe to allow public comment, seconded by Councilmember Reynolds. Motion passed without dissent. At this time, several individuals, including attorneys, developers, and constituents, brought forward concerns and spoke in opposition of these amendments until the open space zoning ordinance taxed amendment comes forward. There was concerns expressed by several council members regarding the separation of this item from the open space Zota, which is still in development. Duncan explained that the two pieces complement one another, but they are not necessarily, or do not necessarily need to be presented together. Another point of concern was the block length and the cul-de-sac requirements that move housing when we are struggling to find additional housing as it is. We asked how many homes would be moved to the new block length requirements. Duncan said the example showed two single-family detached homes, but the developer could choose to use mixed housing options, which could be made up in other ways. It was discussed that this item come back to committee in September or October when it can be discussed alongside the open space ZODA if the ZODA is ready. And Duncan said an update could be provided to explain where we are in the process and what we expect to be presented to the Planning Commission. No further comments or action was taken on this item. The meeting adjourned at 2-29, and that concludes my report album. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you very much. Are there any questions for Council Member Brown? Mayor Gordon. Yes, ma'am. Council Member Brown, we need a motion on that residential parking permit program. So moved. Second. We have a second from the Vice Mayor. And so is there any discussion? All those in favor? Oh, go ahead, Council Member Worley. Just a point of order, and I don't know the answer to this, but maybe Council Minister can help us. Since we have a public hearing on that residential parking permit program right directly next in the agenda. So now we have a motion on the floor to put it on the docket. Okay, we'll put it on the docket, correct? Okay, thank you. Okay, any other questions? All right, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Is there anything else for Council Member Brown? No, ma'am. No, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have the public hearing for the residential parking permit program at the 500 block of Fairfield Drive. So I'll go ahead and open the public hearing and ask if there's anyone here who wishes to speak to that. Okay. If you'll approach the podium, please, and state your name and the council district in which you live, and you'll have three minutes. Yes, my name is Leslie Farmer. I actually work at Lexington Catholic High School. I live in Masterson Station, but I am the vice president for community and school relations. Fairfield Drive is clearly right adjacent to Lexington Catholic. We do have 800 students who go to Lexington Catholic. Many of them come from all over our city, some of them even outside of our county. A lot of our students depend on driving in. Our families don't rely on the bus systems that a lot of our counties do have provide. and a lot of our students you know are juniors and seniors who drive in. You know a lot of people who have purchased homes purchased homes knowing that Lexington Catholic has been there since 1951. It is we work very hard at trying to work with our students to be courteous parkers to be courteous neighbors to all the students to all the schools that are you know the families that are around us. this past year we are actually even got compliments from the neighborhoods that we have been trying to get our students to park only on one side of the school and we have a new vice president or vice president who is going to work even more so this year with the students to be more courteous it is something we are striving to do I would really really like it if we could have another year to really work with the students if we prevent the students they are only going to be preventing another another street from having more parking we are going to continue to have our students become more pedestrian they're going to be walking further especially on really rainy days we are already having a lot of construction that's happening on claysmo right now is going to be detrimental to our students who are already coming from very far away who are going to cause more congestion and we know we are really really working hard we had a lot of compliments this past year with our students actually doing very well at you know only parking on one side i think that i understand i know that people don't always like having students park but again they chose to you know buy a home that is right next to a school we are not the only school in the neighborhood but we do do really really need parking for our students we are in the middle of a campaign to try to put provide more parking but we are also in a landlock we are in a situation where we are not going to build a parking garage but we really are trying to provide as much of a safe environment for our students so having them walk a very far distance isn't going to do that so preventing them from parking right next to the school isn't the safest thing especially when we have 16 year old students who are just learning to drive and parking further away isn't the best thing for them so i ask you to really reconsider let us find a better solution even if it's saying just one side of the street so that we can find a better solution and finding a way for our students and for our neighbors. We want to be courteous. This is our neighborhood too. I'm sorry to interrupt you, but your time is up. Thank you so much. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak? If you'll please approach the podium and state your name and which council district you live in, and you'll have three minutes. And if your mask off is more comfortable, please do that. My name is Karen Bailey. I have lived on Fairfield Drive for 42 years. We have never had a parking problem on Fairfield Drive in the past 40 years. And two years ago, in January, a problem started. And that has and I don't know why. I know that some streets have gone to permit only i know cardinals one side i know you know we have i've walked the streets our neighborhood association contacted we had a meeting and we met with our neighbors on fairfield and um we decided we would petition for residential parking we looked at one side parking only or the other side parking only neighbors the ones on the right side said no well as long as they park park on that side, you know, oh no, as long as they park on that side. So we couldn't, you know, so I said, how about permit? The problem that we're having is that the congestion of parking, and I agree that in the past eight months, eight months of us multiple times going to different schools, that Catholic did get most of the kids to park on one side of the street. There were others that didn't, and it's a public street. I've talked to Mary Queen, I've gone to Clay's Mill, Mary Queen provides parking for some of the Lexington Catholic students. I've been a member of Mary Queen Holy Rosary for over 40 years. What we deal with is congested parking at the end. We have kids walking from school, little kids from Clay's Mill or wherever, and it is not a safe situation. We have elderly people that can't get in and out of their drive. I have a picture to show. I will say there was an improvement, and that is the first time I've ever seen that. it was nominal and it was the last month of school. Now, granted, we were closed for COVID, but I'm just saying my kids went to Catholic and you know what? They felt like they had to have a car to drive to school and they did. But the bottom line is, is that suddenly we've become a parking lot, sometimes over 35 cars on either side of the street. And it is a real inconvenience to most of us. So I appreciate the month that we had that was okay, but again, it's a public street. You can't keep people and you can't enforce people to not park on a public street other than requesting a non-residential parking permit. So that's why we're here. Thank you. Thank you very much. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak to the item? All right. I see no one, so I'll declare the public hearing closed. Thank you very much. The Department of Finance recognition has been postponed, and so that brings us to the fiscal year 22 ad valorem tax options, and we'll hear from Melissa Luker. Welcome. Good afternoon. All right. So this presentation is an overview of the information that was sent out last Thursday, August 5th, for the ab valorem tax booklet, the five-year urban service analysis that we do that was sent out last week. So what we're going to talk about today is the avalorum dates, our schedule and what we need to do to get those approved, what the taxing districts are. We'll look at the real estate values for FY22, then taxing options for the general services fund, the urban services fund, and the special tax district rates. So here's our calendar. As you all are aware, every year when you come back from break, it's your first work session that we get to set the property tax rates. While you all were on break, the state certified our assessments on July 20th. So we then had 45 days to get rates approved, adopted by council. So that leads us to September 2nd as the 45th day. The current schedule has us approving rates today, first reading on Thursday. and then we would have second reading on the 26th. We have to do advertisements, so they will be on the 13th and the 17th, and then we will have a public hearing on the 26th as well with the second reading. So we have a very tight schedule to get this done within our 45 days. So the taxing districts we're going to discuss today are the LFUCG taxing districts. We have general services, which is paid for by all of the property owners in Bayek County. The urban services, which is paid only by the property owners who receive the service. You may receive all three. You may receive just one. You may receive two. So you will pay for the ones that you receive. We also have three special taxing districts, which are paid by all residents in Bayek County. And that's the soil and water conservation district, the agriculture extension, and the health department. Before we get into looking at the rates and the options, we wanted to bring forward a couple charts to kind of explain and show where Lexington is in their taxing rates. So the tax rates here are listed for real property only. This doesn't reflect the total tax bill for households. But for comparison purposes, the Lexington City rate is the full urban services rate and the county rate is the combination of the general services, health, Lex Tran, extension, and soil rates. These rates do not include the school tax rates. As you can see, Lexington Fayette County has the second lowest tax rate among the contiguous counties and other large cities around the state. So just wanted to show that as a reference point to where we are comparatively. In addition, this chart is very nice. This shows that 80% of a property tax bill for a citizen in Lexington goes somewhere other than the government. So the city is only getting about 20% of what people pay on their property tax bill. And of that 20%, only 6.3% is going to the general fund. So I think this chart is very out opening on where a property tax bill goes. So one thing that we have to do with the general services district is the library allocation. Because the certified assessments came in more than our estimate in the adopted budget, the allocation to the public library, we are required to increase that by $153,200. So regardless of what council chooses to do today with the rates, the library will get an additional $153,200. So you can see the library's new allocation will be $17.9 million compared to the city's allocation of $9.6 for the general services fund if rates stay the same. Here is a chart showing our historical real estate values and how they have grown over the years. The total value for real estate for FY22 is $30.5 billion. That's a 4.7% increase over the FY21 certified assessments of $29.1 billion. This 4.7% increase is more than the assessment increase in the adopted budget. and so that is why we will have to give the library more money and then why some of the options even keeping them the same will bring in additionals there are four rates that we have for consideration and so option one is keeping the rates the same so all rates will remain the same as last year option two is the compensating rate which gives It deserves approximately the same amount of revenue as prior years for existing properties. Any revenue increases over are derived from new properties. Option three is the plus 4% rate is the House Bill 44 rate. This isn't subject to voter recall but does require a public hearing. There's a fourth option and it is setting the rate above 4% for revenue increase for existing properties. is subject to a voter recall within 45 days if a petition is signed by 15,406 people, which is the equivalent of 10% of the voters in the last presidential election. So let's get right into the general services here. So our general service fund options. Option one, all rates remain the same as last year. This option provides an increase in budgeted revenue in the amount of 80,800, which is net of that increase that I mentioned to the library. Option two is the compensating rate, which would decrease the realty to 0.078 cents and increase the personalty to 0.095 cents. These rates would decrease the revenue by 363,200 net of that increase to the library. Option three is the plus 4% rate. That would increase the real estate rate to 0.81 and would increase the personalty rate to 0.0986. This rate requires a public hearing and the additional revenue generated by this would be $612,800. If you see the line, the second to the last line down there is the abandoned property rate. That is for the vacant property review commission. That is for, we have 41 partials this year, which is down from 51 partials last year. And so they have established the rate of $1 per $100. So what do these options look like on the average tax bill? The average house value in Lexington is around $200,000. And so you can see the impacts on what that would be. So it would be shown here for the three options. The administration is recommending option one, keeping the current rates for the general services fund. So now we will talk about the urban services fund. So as you all are aware, So, Avalorum is the largest category of revenue to the Urban Services Fund, 91% of all revenues for this fund. Property owners in the Urban Services Fund have one or more of the services. So, option one keeps all rates the same and would increase our budgeted revenues by $744,000. Option two is the compensating rate. This rate would generate approximately the same amount of revenue for existing properties. This would decrease all three service rates as well as the PSC rate which is a sum of the other three rates. This option decreases revenue by $1,055,000. Option three is the House Bill 44 rate which would decrease the rates for refuse, streetlights, and street cleaning and also decrease the rate for the public service companies. This would generate an additional $618,000 in revenue for the Urban Services Fund. Option four is a cost of service rate that we calculate based on the urban service analysis that we shared with you all last week. This cost of service is generated using each year stand alone without using any fund balance. Based on the urban fund analysis and projections, we have calculated the cost of providing the three services. A cost of service rate would generate $8.1 million in additional revenues. these options one three and four require a public hearing because they exceed the compensating rate options one and four are also subject to voter recall because they bring in more revenue than the four percent rate as you can see here are the impacts of the various options on the two hundred thousand dollar average house in lexington For the Urban Services Fund, the administration is recommending option one to keep the current service rates. Finally, we have the special tax districts. So these are the current and requested rates for the soil and water conservation district. They are requesting to maintain the same rates as last year. The agricultural extension district, which their requested rates are within their allowable 4% limit and a representative is here if there are any questions for the agricultural extension on their rate request. The health department is also requesting to maintain the same rates as prior year. So are there any questions? Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Mayor. Reading in the paper, I saw where the school board was looking at actually reducing theirs for one of the first times I can remember because normally they take their 4% and they're not doing it this year because the property values have been raised by going up. Would that not be causing the rates to go up for us too, so we would actually, looking at the general services one? Because it looks like it's only going up $80,000 if we keep it at the current paying. So it is not for the general services. However, it is for the urban services district. keeping the rates the same for urban services is bringing in more than what a 4% increase would bring. Yeah, that was going to be my next question. That didn't make sense there. If you look at option one in the urban service, it's bringing in 744, and option three, which is increasing at 4%, is actually less amount. Now, how is that? It's based on the increase in the assessed values of properties in Lexington. But if you do a 4%, wouldn't that be 4% over the assessed value? It's 4% increase in revenue that you bring in. So it's not a 4% increase in the assessed value. It's, you're bringing in 4% more revenue than you did. So our assessed value went up more than the 4% and that's how that number became that way? Yes, it went up 4.7%. Okay, because yeah, it just, but how does that not affect on the general services? The general services, when we put all of the calculations in, It did not trigger over the 4%. Once again, if the assessed values are going up, wouldn't that also raise all the amount that you'd be receiving? It is increasing the amount that we're receiving, and so that is where we are getting the additional $80,000 for the general fund. It was just such a small amount compared to the other one. Yes. Okay, thank you. Councilmember Fred Brown. Thank you, Mayor. I had a question on the special tax districts. The only one in the whole process that you, I don't know if you're recommending it or not, but the extension, the real property and personal property are increasing. Yes. Are you all recommending that requested rate? We typically just bring their rates forward as requested to you all. Okay. But there is someone here from the extension if you have questions specifically for them on that. I know extension, if I'm not mistaken, last year or year before last, they had an increase then also. It might have been soil and water conservation. No. No? Okay. And the extension people say no. They're saying 2016. Okay. Well, that hasn't been too long ago. Okay. Thank you. Still an increase. Council members, does anyone else have questions? No? Council member Lamb. I realize that there is not an actual figure here, but to what Council Member Brown was talking about, do you have, like, a figure based on the $200,000 home of what we're talking about, about the special tax districts, just so the public doesn't get alarmed? It is so minuscule. Yes. It is so minuscule. I know from my years in this capacity, former capacity, bless their hearts, they have been trying to get to a point by little bitty small increments year after year. I just don't want the public to think that we're giving them a major increase. So on a $200,000 house, these special tax rate districts, as requested, for soil and water conservation, they would be paying $1.20. For the extension, it would be $8. And for the health, it is $56. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Maloney. Thank you, Mayor. I want to bring my history in here. The last time we raised the tax was a couple years ago, and I voted against it. It was on the streetlights, and my correction, we only made $60,000 out of that deal. Am I right about that? I voted against that one. That is correct. In FY20, the streetlight tax was raised, and it brought in, I believe, $63,000. So this one here has been a lot longer than that. So I just want to make it clear. I will support this, but I just want everybody to know that there are some taxes that we do that I just still haven't figured out, only $60,000, but thank you. Council Member Worley. Thank you, Mayor. Would you give us those numbers that you just gave Council Member Ellinger? I think it was Council Member, no, it was Council Member Lamb's question about the changes requested on the $200,000 for the special taxing districts. Yes. So this is the total amount that they would pay, not the change. So the total amount paid on a $200,000 house for the soil and water conservation is $1.20. For extension, it is $8. And for the health department, it is $56. Okay. And do you have those numbers for, let's see, the extension, what that change would be? The change in what it was last year? The requested rate is higher. so I think that's what I do not have that let me see Elizabeth has the spreadsheet ready for us that and I'm that's what I want to say yeah it looks to be about a dollar for a two hundred thousand dollar household so a dollar increase and what is the total that that will generate Give us just a second. While they're working on that, I did want to clarify one question, the $80,000 and why it was so small. that is net of the amount that we have to give to the library. So that is a larger number, but what we will recognize is only $80,000. That makes more sense. Thank you. Yes, sir. It's about a $200,000 increase for the extension. So a $200,000 increase in their budget? Correct. what is what is their what is their total budget and i'll tell you where i'm getting at it's the same thing as the 66 000 for the lights we're two million dollars short in the light funds every year so to tax even nominal our people our citizens for and for a change that does nothing uh i'm not for that i want to help the extension office i want to increase but that's the nature of my questions here of what are we actually accomplishing by putting another dollar on a family. And that may seem like nothing. It may seem inconsequential. But I was against the streetlight increase for the same reason. Why raise a tax just for the sake of it if it's really not helping? So that's the nature of. Do you want to speak to that extension, folks? Welcome. Hi. Okay, in a nutshell, I'm Jamie Dockery. I'm the horticulture agent in Fayette County, and this is our board chair, Frank Penn. We looked at this, basically we are presented the two rates, the compensating and the compensating plus four. Ironically this year, because of the way the rounding happens in reverse on the two, the two figures met in the middle and that's how those two rates ended up the same. When we stay at last year's rate, it cost us close to $80,000. So the next available option was the compensating rate, which is what we have here. In the last year, I suppose, we have, from the university, we've inherited one of our salaried positions, a portion of that, so that has increased our expenses significantly. So we're hoping to be able to restaff. We have currently had a hiring freeze, which has contributed to some of the funds in our reserves because we've been down by two positions. Now we want to come out of COVID fully staffed, and that's where some of these funds will go, as well as we have five- and ten-year plans that aggressively kind of get our building back on track, because when we bought the building roughly ten years ago from the city, every system needed to be replaced. We're currently in the process of replacing those systems. We have an outstanding roughly $125,000 expense in boiler that we know has to happen in the coming year. We're also looking at a similar expense in parking lot, just a complete redoing of the parking lot. We know all of these things are coming, so we're trying to be fiscally responsible and look to getting our debt service down as low as possible as quickly as possible. Did that answer your question for Council Member Worley? That was all very helpful information, but no, my question was, what is your total budget? The total budget is 1.2 based on this year's rate and last year's rate. I don't know that I have this year's actual budget for 21, but show the rate last year as being a gross income of 1.149 million and i honestly i'm not certain if that is before or after the delinquency in the sheriff's collection and stuff like that we don't have that on this particular sheet okay so overall then you're looking at a difference from last year to this year of about 500 000 increase is that correct Increase in income? No, I'm sorry. I looked at the calculations wrong. Don't worry about my math. It's about 200, I believe. Yeah, I've got you. So thank you for that. And again, I'm not trying to just needle your office. And this does seem to be a bit more of a significant increase and usable than $66,000 on a $200 million. And honestly, we were kind of surprised to see the rates came out where they were at all when we got those from the Department of Local Governments. They provide us those compensating and compensating plus four rates. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Does anyone else have questions for board chair? Frank Penn wants to speak. Yeah, I want to share with you just the overall of what's going on here. 10 years ago we bought the building I think Mr. Maloney was in the position to sell the building the city wanted to buy it wanted to sell it we bought it we thought we'd inherited $333,000 worth of debt worth of expenses that deferred maintenance that type of thing well it turned out to be $650,000 and we have diligently for the last 10 years paid off our note and fix this building up. I invite you to come and see it. It's state of the art. It has the all the technology you could want. We're trying to do in the offices now because last year we did not deliver the services that we needed to service because the schools weren't in session. We just didn't have the opportunity to do that. So we've taken on very I would say aggressive renewing the building. What we've tried to do is to keep about one year's worth of operating expenses. We're doing depreciation. We're doing everything a business would do. So if the copier goes down, the boiler blows up, the roof comes off, we don't have to borrow money. We've got capital reserve accounts. We've got maintenance accounts. We've got depreciation accounts. We're running this like a business. So what happened was is we had vacancies, and the university decided to let us fill the vacancies, and all of a sudden this gap has hit us. And the compensating rate would do it if we keep it at the rate that you all are looking at, then it costs us about $74,000, and that's what it boils down to. It's hard to go one budget to the next budget because of the maintenance and depreciation that we're using. But when I leave here and when the rest of our board moves on, we want a building that's paid for, that's up to date, that delivers services, and that's what we're trying to do. Thank you. We appreciate that. Thank you. Council Member Lamb. Mr. Dockery, I was just going to ask if you would maybe just if you could give a roundabout response of what does the extension offer for Fayette County? That's Lexington City and Fayette County, if you wouldn't mind, please. Sure. We're involved in multiple collaborations. Essentially, the mission of Cooperative Extension is we serve as the liaisons for the research at the university and become the on-the-ground people who take that message in layman's terms to the public. So we deliver a variety of educational services. My own personal forte is horticulture, so I work with farmers in commercial vegetable production as well as millions of homeowners. Hundreds of thousands, you know. Seems like millions right now. But nonetheless, we also have a finger in everything. Our Family Consumer Sciences is currently riding a kind of a high with their job club program. They're helping people get retrained to get back into the job market. That's being wildly successful. I mean, we're doing virtual programs that reach thousands of people now, which we were unable to do before as a result of our upgrades and technology improvements. through that. We have a 4-H wing, if you will, of staff that provide youth leadership, youth education. I'm amazed how many of our state leaders came up through 4-H, and anybody you meet who speaks articulately probably had some role in a 4-H program. We also have our agriculture agent who does the same sort of things I do, but for production. It would be tobacco. It would be equine. So in addition to this, we have countless collaborations and partnerships with both the city, some of the city subsidiaries. I'm currently doing some stuff over in Winburn myself with the community garden at Winburn Community Center and a million others. I mean, we could, if we literally were to break down everything we do, we'd be here for days. But we have a finger in almost everything that touches the average family's life in Kentucky. And our goal is to provide them information and training that will help them be more successful right down to budgeting information. We do all this sort of training budget information and stuff for families the same as you guys do here with us. Thank you for that. I just remember that when my son was in fourth grade he went to 4-H camp and you know what he was a city kid at that time you know I grew up a county kid but 4-H Which, it's just an opportunity for an education for us to understand when we're making these very important decisions for our community and for our extension office, which has a very important role in our community. And so, just wanted to make sure that we all have as much knowledge as possible when we're making a good decision. Thank you so much. Thank you. I may have missed it, Jamie, but one of the things that I know I personally have used is your service where if you have a plant or a tree that has trouble, you can take some leaves and a little branch over to you and you'll identify what's wrong with it. Oh yeah, we perform diagnostic services for every homeowner, every producer, literally everything from lawns to your grandma's rose bush and that's why my original figure came out as millions it seems like that right now with all the rainfall and diseases we're up against right now thank you very much any other questions council members Melissa's still here can answer your questions no all right thank Thank you very much and I think that one of the things we'll need today is if there's no more discussion we'll have some motions and then more discussion. So Councilmember Bledsoe is prepared for the motions. Thank you Mayor. Thank you Mayor. And just as a reminder, these are motions to place onto the docket for the first reading and a public hearing on August 26 will be the final vote. So I have quite a few, so bear with me as I move forward. First, I move to set the general fund services ad valorem real property tax rate at option number 1.08. So moved. Vice Mayor Kay seconds. Is there any discussion? All right, seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? That motion passes. Thank you. I move to set the General Services Fund ad valorem personal property tax rate, including public service companies, non-commercial aircraft, and non-commercial watercraft, option 1, 0.089. Second. Vice Mayor Kay seconds. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. I move to maintain the prior year ad valorem tax rates for motor vehicles, tobacco and storage, agricultural products and storage, insurance companies' capital, and abandoned urban property. Is there a second? Second. Vice Mayor Kay seconds. Is there any discussion? All right. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Is there anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. Thank you. I move to the urban services. I move to set the Urban Services Fund for refuse collection ad valorem real property tax rate at option 1, 0.1426. Second. Vice Mayor Kay seconds. Is there discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. I move to set the Urban Services Fund street lights ad valorem real property tax rate at option 1, 0.0213. Second. Vice Mayor Kay seconds. They're a tag team up here. Any discussion? All right, seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. I move to set the Urban Services Fund for street cleaning ad valorem real property tax rate at option 1.0097. Second. Vice Mayor Kay seconds. Is there any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is there anyone opposed? All right, that passes. I move to set the Urban Services Fund Public Service Companies ad valorem tax rate at option 1, 0.1736. Second. Vice Mayor Kay seconds. Is there any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? That motion passes. I move to place on the docket for the August 12, 2021 council meeting an ordinance pertaining to all of the tax rates for general services and urban services and levying them at these rates on each $100 of assessed valuation. Second. And Vice Mayor Kay seconds. Is there discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? That motion passes. Thank you. Now to the special districts. I move to set the ad valorem property tax rates for the Lexington Fayette County Health Department at the respective rates that it has requested, which are an ad valorem property tax rate of 0.028 on each $100 of assessed valuation for all real property, personal property, motor vehicles, and watercraft, and to place an ordinance on the docket for the August 12, 2021 Council meeting levying the taxes at these rates. Second. Vice Mayor Kay seconds. Is there any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? That motion passes. I move to set the ad valorem property tax rate for the Soil and Water Conservation District at the rate it has requested, which is an ad valorem real property tax rate of 0.0006 on each $100 of assessed value, and to place an ordinance on the docket for the August 12, 2021 Council meeting levying the tax rate at this rate. Second. And Vice Mayor Kay seconds. Is there discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Thank you. I move to set the ad valorem property tax rates for the Agricultural Extension Office at the respective rates that it has requested on each $100 of assessed valuation of the respective taxable property, which are at a rate of 0.004 on real property, 0.0051 on personal property, and 0.0032 on motor vehicles and watercraft, and to place an ordinance on the docket for the August 12, 2021 council meeting levying the taxes at these rates. Second. Vice Mayor Kay seconds. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is there anyone opposed? No. No. Okay, will you raise your hands, please, the no votes. Council Member Fred Brown, Council Member Josh McCurn, and Council Member Chuck Ellinger. That motion passes. Thank you. Finally, I have further moved to schedule a public hearing related to all these ad valorem tax rates for Thursday, August 26, 2021 at 6 p.m. Second. Vice Mayor Kaye seconds. Is there any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much, Ms. Luker. One of the most important things you do all year, Council, besides set the budget. All right. Now it's time for Council reports. So if you'll log in, please. Council Member Lamb. Thank you, Mayor. I just have a couple of motions to place a couple items into my general government, to our General Government Social Services Committee. I move to place into the General Government Social Services Committee a review of the LFUCG affordable housing initiatives and projects. I so move. Is there a second? Second. Council Member James Brown seconded. Is there any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? That motion passed. oh i'm sorry did you have want to discuss the council member james brown thank you mayor uh council member lamb is this in addition to the annual report that we get from the affordable housing fund yes yes sir this is uh just to kind of give us an update on the projects and kind of kind of uh give mr mcquady an opportunity to just talk about everything that he's got going on right now and he seemed to be have an appetite to want to come and talk to us and i welcomed it so no No, that's good. Is that okay? Yes, ma'am. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Okay, any other questions? All right, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? That motion passes. And the second item is to deal with the court-appointed special advocate's office of Lexington. We haven't had an update from their services for a long time, And, of course, I feel I have extra special connection because CASA is actually located in the 4th District. And, of course, I know Ms. Jamison, who has been with it now, I think, since 2018 maybe. So I'd like to allow them to come and provide an overview of their current work and future projects. So I move to place into the General Government and Social Services Committee an update from CASA, the court-appointed special advocates of Lexington, on their current work and future projects. So move. Is there a second? I'm sorry, who seconded it? Council Member Baxter. All right. Is there any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. Thank you, Mayor. All right. You're welcome. councilmember Reynolds thank you mayor first I just wanted to mention that there was a really neat event in the 11th district on Saturday it was tacos on two wheels and greater garden side the greater greater garden side Association put that on and it was a tour on a bicycle of the greater garden side area followed by tickets to be able to go to different taco places including several taco trucks right there off Alexandria Drive. And it was a really neat way for people to see, you know, the Greater Garden Site area as well as eat some really good food. And my son and I enjoyed it. So I just wanted to thank the Greater Garden Site Association for putting that on. And then also I would like to place something in the General Government and Social Services Committee. I would like to place the topic of language access across government and how to improve it into the general government and social services committee. Is there a second? Second. Council Member Sheehan. Is there any discussion? All right. Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Is anyone opposed? That motion passes. That's all. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Mayor. And welcome back, everybody. But while we were gone, one of my favorite places that I spent a lot of time with, and a lot of my friends do too, is the Legacy Trail. And if you all have noticed, the Legacy Trail is closed. And if you would, Mr. Edwards, I've got a couple pictures. If you would, please put up there on the screen. It was closed. And unfortunately, and if you read that one, it says Legacy Trail Closed. And that one actually is on the trailhead that is out on Ironworks across the street from the horse park. And you've got to look at the small print down there at the bottom that says Ahead 5. So I had some friends who, when we came on, they said, oh, it's closed. And I said, well, actually, it's not closed. So I think we really need to work on our wording there because all you see is Legacy Trail Closed. and that one is really misnomer because it's closed at the one part there on Newtown Pike. So I would hope that we could maybe improve the wording on that because it just really is confusing in my opinion. But anyway, so to get back, so unfortunately we didn't really have any communication ahead of time and while I was on break out of town I got numerous calls, emails, texts like the rest of my colleagues did because I contacted you all, too, saying that it has been closed, and there really was no detour. Unfortunately, there is not a good way to do it, but I would have liked to have known ahead of time so we could have tried to mitigate it and work with Amazon. I've contacted the attorney there at Amazon. I contacted our director. I contacted our commissioner. I contacted a lot of council members and really not happy how this all played out. I'm not sure who's going to take responsibility for this. I see Mr. Atkins up front, and I was told that he might be the one because he's been dealing with Amazon. And according to the sign, it says August 30th because they are going to do three weeks on the water and three weeks on the gas because I guess it goes underneath the Lexi Trail right there according to the people I talked to out there. And they actually want to have it finished by October 17th. So I know they're moving right along with this. But the way that it is right now, in my opinion, one of our treasures here in this community is really not being able to be used. Now, I use it a lot for recreation, not as much for commuting, but a lot of people do use it for commuting, too. And the way it is right now is not a really safe place the way that we've done to put people out there on the shoulder and on a busy road like that. So I guess I need to find out how this ended up like it is, talk about the signage. if we're going to keep them on schedule to make sure it opens up on the 30th and how we can go about in the future to not have to find out about this after the fact and make sure that a private business that encroaches on one of our public landmarks, as far as I'm concerned, is taken better care of? Well, first let me say yes, we should have communicated it better. So that's on us, and it's definitely not on the company. and I want to compliment Commissioner Albright has spent hours upon hours talking with the representatives of Amazon and the utilities trying to to make this occur as quickly as possible it is it is an issue because the company is everybody here knows is building a new facility employing several hundred new people out on Newtown Pike so there was issues with it's a challenging site because the legacy trails there they also needed a direct connection to Newtown which took several months and some assistance from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet this happens to be the area where the utilities are impacted there was really no good way to deal with this it's kind of like and I hope this is an okay excuse or example it's kind of like we dealt with this summer on the closure of a road there sometimes you have to do those and they're painful when you have to do them but that's what had to occur here because of the construction process what commissioner albright is is pushing i can tell you but from my conversations for the company and the utilities to do this as quickly as possible. Everybody knows what an amenity that is. We talk about it when we recruit companies to this community. So the effort is there to get it done as quickly as possible. Yes, we should have communicated it better to everyone. And beyond the communication, it would have been nice if we could have tried to mitigate it too, because when they did the trail over New Circle Road, they actually put in a temporary bridge, which is a whole lot bigger issue than what would have been required here, in my opinion. And they did that before they tore down the other bridge. It would be nice if we could have done something that we could have made a detour that could still be used. Because the way we're doing it right now, I don't think anybody wants any responsibility because of the liability of now being on the shoulder on Newtown Pike, which amazingly we've just kind of put our hands up and said we're just not going to really deal with it and don't have another detour. But it would be nice if we had done something ahead of time. Because the way it is right now, people can't really, they can use on one side, they can't use the other. But like I said, a lot of people commute. I don't mind riding in the road. I'm used to it. I'll ride thousands of miles out on the road, and I feel comfortable doing that. But a lot of people like to be able to be where they're not have to run into any cars on the road, and this is really detoured. And a lot of people like to ride their bikes and not have to drive. And now they can ride their bikes from the north Y, or they can go to the Isaac Murphy Memorial Garden and come, but now they can't go any further. so it really is and hopefully august 3rd is going to be the the deadline that they're going to have this done or how are we going to hold their feet to the fire and and can make sure that this is back open and and how is it going to look because i was told um that at there's going to be two entrances on there one's going to be i guess the entrance one's going to be exit and one's going to actually be a tunnel according to the the people that are working there and i and i'd like to know how that's going to end up being if you don't mind we can we can show you the drawings that would be helpful and I guess I'll ask I'm not going to do it at this point but I'll probably I'd like to do put it in the committee I'm not sure how I want to word it into the committee but so that we don't have this ever happen again without knowing about it ahead of time because finding about it on break did not sit well with me or with other people who just saw the sign before it happened we need to give people more notice that's all I have for now right now but I I know there's other council members who want to talk about it, too. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Bledsoe. Thank you, Mayor. I won't talk about it, but I have other things to talk about. When we started talking about Clay's Mill widening in the spring, there was lots of conversation about could we do this and how long it would take and how difficult the actual widening was going to be. Lots of infrastructure movement, lots of deep digging, very, very challenging work. And I was convinced, as was the administration, that the best shot for public safety was to do it this summer by closing the road. And that is something we deal with a lot of risk. We don't close roads very often at all. And I am just so thankful that it is done. It looks beautiful, and it opened on time as promised. And I give a great shout out to our city team, Commissioner Albright, Director Burton. ATS was phenomenal, Brian Billings and his team, in making sure that their team worked really, really hard. I got some complaints, like they're out here too early and they're here too long. They were. They worked really hard, but they got it done in time. And so if the schools at Clay's Mill, Lexington Catholic, and Mary Queen, the neighborhood there, I'm just really thankful. So I really appreciate all that, and I wanted to make sure I said it. We have some more work to do from finishing, but it's great. Second, we're getting ready to tear up Southland Park, so sorry about that. Also, short-term pain for long-term gain, and that's going to happen in the next week or so, so I apologize for that, but we are going to have a new park at Southland, which will be great for the neighborhood. I've been holding neighborhood meetings for ARPEC, which have been going really well. I've had two, and I have two more coming up. The next one is at Dogwood Trace on Wednesday the 18th at 6 p.m., and then I'll be at Moondance on the 23rd at 6. Southland Pool did close today, which is unfortunate, but I understand. I'm so glad. Every time I was over there, people were at it, and I'm just so thankful the kids had a good place to play and be outside. And I just want to say a quick shout-out to our Parks and Rec Department. I have seen more city employees in the Parks and Rec out and around and several on the trails cleaning up, doing good work, have been great ambassadors for the city. And any time we talk to people who work for us out in the public, they are an extension of the rest of us. And so when they're doing good work, we all look good, and we're all thankful. So I just want to say a shout out to our seasonal employees at the Parks and Rec for doing the great work this summer. Lastly, the Southland Street Fair is back, hope so, as of now. And that is September 26th from 3 to 8 p.m. We certainly missed it last year. And so we are planning on that on Sunday, September 26th from 3 to 8. And I hope you all will join me. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you very much. Council Member James Brown. Thank you, Mayor. And I'll be brief. I just wanted to acknowledge PNC Bank and the press conference they had today, or at CVC, where they awarded close to a quarter of a million dollars towards addressing systematic racism. I think the fact that that bank has put their money where their mouth is in regards to trying to make our community better and recognizing the agency's Urban League of the Bluegrass, the Lexington Urban League, United Way of the Bluegrass, and Community Ventures. I think these are all agencies that are working to address root causes and will make the best use of those funds. So I just want to give kudos to PNC Bank and those partners that they've acknowledged and funded going forward. And then I'd also like to recognize Ms. Jackie French and our Park and Rec Department and her team with the Dirt Bowl League this summer. The Dirt Bowl League has a strong tradition in Douglas Park and our community. There's a lot of talent. I'd like to recognize the teams that signed up to play. And then also our public safety partners, our police department, our park ambassadors, all work together to make that event a family-friendly event in that park, combined with the Neighborhood Association. They completed another successful season, And I think the same team that's won it for the last five out of six years won it again this year. So I just think that's – I just wanted to acknowledge Ms. Jackie and her team at Park and Recreation for continuing to make that tournament one of the shining lights in our community. And then also to Fayette County Public Schools. I know a lot of our schools in our city are – some are starting tomorrow. Some started last week and there's some I think starting maybe next week. I just think what Fayette County Schools is doing, especially at some of the schools in the district, William Wells Brown, Winburn, and the Carter G. Woodson Prep Academy, they're doing their best to roll out the carpet and welcome those students back in the school and making sure that it's an exciting atmosphere for those young people to come and learn. And I think that's very important as we look to try to keep those students in the school. And then, you know, I think a lot has been said about the Legacy Trail closing. I think we have acknowledged some areas that we can improve on that situation and going forward. I know Commissioner Albright has been working hard knowing that was coming down the pipe and looking for alternatives. But at the spot that that's in, in the location, there wasn't any good alternatives. I think one of the things that we could have especially done better was communicated that to the folks that used the Legacy Trail. And I think a lot of times in what has been brought to my attention that I didn't realize, you hear Legacy Trail and you think trails and it's all recreation. but we have received some emails about folks that commute on that trail as a way to get to work back and forth from their job. And I think that puts a different spin on it. It puts a whole different outlook on it. And if we could have communicated better with those folks that use it for that reason, I think it would have gave them an opportunity to plan and prepare. But I agree with Council Member Ellinger. I think we just got to stay on those utilities and the companies and make sure that they get it completed at the deadline because that's what everybody's looking at now for that trail to be open and can utilize that amenity. So thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Councilmember Kloiber. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to speak for a moment. My office has obviously been getting a lot of the same things that my colleagues have about the ARPA funds and its use. I just wanted to remind everybody that we're still in the public input phase. The survey is still up there that you can still give your input on that. And also many of my colleagues, the mayor included, are hosting various meetings and town halls in order to get that kind of direct input. In my district, I will also be hosting one of these on August the 16th at 630 at the Whitaker YMCA at the Pavilion. Feel free to come. It's going to be a town hall style. Just talk about things, see where you're at. And obviously, I hope we get more participation because the more we can hear from you guys, the better we can do our job here. So thanks. Thank you. Council Member McCurn. Thank you, Mayor. This weekend at Master and Station Park is the Crave Festival welcoming them back again on Saturday and Sunday, August 14th and 15th. Saturday is going to be open from 12 to 11 p.m. and on Sunday 12 to 7 p.m. there'll be chefs, food trucks, adult beverages, car shows, music, and much more. It's a great time to bring out family and friends and I hope to see you at Cray Festival this year. And I'd also like to welcome back Fayette County Public Schools teachers and the students back into the schools. I know they're excited to be back with their friends. I know some of the concerns with masks being worn again, but I'm just looking forward to having everybody back. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Ellinger. Go ahead and do it. Okay, Vice Mayor Kay. Come back. Thank you, Mayor. And I also wanted to speak about the legacy trail. My understanding is that there's actually a background story that had to do with when that zone change went through, and that there was information that council did not have about options at that time. And so I don't want to steal Councilmember Ellinger's thunder. If you're going to move to place it in committee, I'm interested in a full review starting with the zone change that allowed Amazon to do the work they're doing. So I'll make the motion to place into committee a review of the entire set of circumstances around the closure of Legacy Trail with the intention of essentially preventing that from happening in the future, not to change what's happened so far. So move. Thank you. Council Member Ellinger seconds. Is there any discussion? All right, seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right, that motion passes. Did you have anything else, Vice Mayor? Thank you. All right, Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Mayor. And I guess this probably can be put into what the vice mayor just put in, but what I was going to when I said I was going to put into committee, beyond just the legacy trail, and I've talked to our pet and our bike person, is we need to make sure that no trails should ever be closed without a detour and an option. So I would just try to add that to that if that would work for you, because I think the Legacy Trail, as I've said, is one of my treasures, but we need to protect all of our trails and not let something like this happen again. So I would just hope that when we do that, that that would be part of that full discussion. And I don't know if I need to do a separate or is that going to be comprehensive. We just added in. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Is there anyone else who has a council report? I'm sorry, is that the Planning and Public Safety Committee? Thank you. All right. Thank you very much. Council Member Ellinger, you're back on. Do you have another? I do not, Mayor. I don't think anybody wants to hear anymore from me. I'll take it off. Thank you. No worries. Okay. There is a Mayor's Report, which needs approved. If I could have a motion, please. So moved. Is there a second? Second. Vice Mayor Kay seconds. Are there any questions? All right. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right. That motion passes. And I did want to mention the first two town halls I have to talk about the use of American Rescue Funds and get public input and invite council members also to attend. The first one I'm holding is tomorrow, August 11th at 530 at the Beaumont YMCA. in council member blood cells district and then i'm having one on friday the 13th of august which will be by zoom from 11 to 1 and people who are interested can get the zoom link by either going to our website or contacting my office and as you can tell from council members and from my announcement we're very interested in getting public input on how to use these rescue funds in a great way for our community. So next is public comment for issues not on the agenda. I have one person signed up. So, Billy, if you'll state your name and your council district where you live, and you'll have three minutes. My name is Billy Mallory and I live in the 5th district, but I work in the 1st district. And this issue is actually related to the 1st district. And it's really, I just wanted to share some information that you may not be aware of about the Palmer Building. Prior to the pandemic, there was a committee that actually met for two years along with the Bluegrass Preservation. It was a group of community partners. And during that time, we compiled the history of that building. Several grants were written. And they were able to get a $50,000 donation. And I think some very important community partners were formed as a result of that. And I don't know exactly what the process will be going forward, but I think it's very important that whatever happens with an RFP or whatever, that the work that this group did be considered. Because we absolutely value the history of that building and the location of that building is so vital to the Easton community. and it really matters what goes into that building. And we just believe that community knows what community needs, and we hope that will be considered. Thank you. Thank you very much. Is there anyone who didn't get to sign up who'd like to speak to issues not on the agenda? All right, I don't see anyone. So, Council Members, it's time for a motion to adjourn. So moved. All right, all right, Councilmember Ellinger moves, Vice Mayor Case seconds. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All right, we are adjourned. Thank you very much.